Enzo’s face darkened. “I want to rescue Bianca and kill Vitale.”
He said it in a matter-of-fact tone, but the look on his face and the energy that came off him in waves left no doubt in Kathleen’s mind that he was serious and every bit as dangerous and deadly as this Vitale.
The ball of fear in Kathleen’s stomach hardened into rock.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“We need to find out more about this whole situation,” Kathleen commented as she leaned back in her chair. The exhaustion was back. Her limbs felt heavy, but she knew they needed to sort all this out as soon as possible. Bianca needed them to be as well-armed as possible against anything that could happen. Information was part of that. A big part.
Enzo snorted. “That’s an understatement.”
Kathleen tried not to be impatient, but his attitude was getting under her skin. Her words were clipped when she replied, “What I mean is we need to talk to Alex.”
“I already called her while you were in the shower.”
“You’ve been busy,” she said, a little miffed that he’d already reached out to her friend. Then Kathleen reminded herself of what was at stake. “What did she say? Alex has to know something. She’s the one who set all this up in the beginning. She was supposed to steal Ernie for someone. Whoever that was has to know more.”
“Agreed,” was all Enzo said.
Kathleen pulled out her phone and hit Alex’s number, the excitement of solving this riddle overriding her hesitance atinterrupting Alex and Mitch’s honeymoon. This was important. “Let’s see if she’s found out anything yet.” She put the phone on the desk and put it on speaker.
Alex’s voice came down the line. “Kathleen, what’s going on? Has anything changed?”
“A few things, but maybe…” she glanced at Enzo. Had he told Alex about Bianca already? He shook his head.
“OK, just a second. I’m going to put you on speaker.” A fumbling sound came out of the phone, and then, “I’m here with Mitch, Gage, and Logan, and Lacey.”
“Wait, what? Aren’t you on your honeymoon?”
“We came back early, after we first heard about your trouble in Switzerland,” Mitch replied.
“I’m sorry—” Kathleen began.
Mitch cut her off. “Don’t be. The whole mystery of that ugly gnome is intriguing. It sure has caused a bunch of big problems… for a small, ceramic bauble.”
“Okay, well, hi, everyone,” Kathleen said.
Enzo grimaced.
Kathleen continued, “I’m here with Enzo Valardi. He’s a good friend of my brother’s.”
Voices came down the line in a chorus. “Enzo, nice to meet you.”
“I assume Alex filled you all in.” Enzo’s tone indicated he wasn’t pleased about this turn of events.
“No, I didn’t provide details,” Alex countered. “But I think it would be wise to bring them in if the situation is as dangerous as you say.”
Enzo’s brows pinched.
Kathleen stepped in. Enzo could nurse his ego later. They needed all the help they could get. “Well, it turns out that Ernie the gnome, the ugly statue Alex was supposed to steal, had a treasure map inside. I think Enzo mentioned. Only now,somebody new is after that treasure and has taken someone else hostage because of it.”
“What?” Alex’s voice came out as a harsh bark.
“Did she say treasure map?” a voice said. She thought it was Logan.
She understood his incredulity. Even as she had said it, Kathleen thought about how ridiculous this sounded. “I know. A treasure map. It’s just so over the top, but that’s where we are. There’s more to it, of course. The hostage is a friend of Enzo’s. Anyway, we’re supposed to give this man the map to get the hostage back.” She licked her lips before continuing, “I think it would be smarter to recover the treasure first and then do the trade. But either way, we need more information about the whole thing.
“Have you talked to Leo? Do you know anything more about who wanted the statue in the first place and what the story is?”
