“It absolutely is, but whose message? Did Maria kill this guy? Was it her father? One of his people? We need solid answers here before we approach this dying woman and/or her mobster father. Greeley, reach out to the medical examiner, see if he’s got the lab results. We need this info ASAP.”
“You got it,” Greeley agreed, pulling out his phone.
“Find out what you can about the Marino family. What were they into? What’s their status now.” Fitzgibbon sighed. “I know this case might not have anything to do with Maria’s family, but we have to rule them out.”
“The mob angle might also explain the six spirits Ten saw in Maria’s room yesterday. They all had duct tape over their mouths. Maybe they were snitches who got more than stitches. Ten doesn’t know if the ghosts were friends or foes. If we can figure out who they were, maybe that will give us a leg up as well.”
“Good idea, Ronan. Let me know if you need anything. I have a conference call with Cisco. He’s not going to be happy with what I have to tell him about this case.”
“Keep Maria’s cancer diagnosis off the record for the time being,” Ronan said. “We both think it’s our ace in the hole. One I think Jude is going to be able to work with the best out of all of us. If Cisco or someone from the organized crime unit shows up there and tries to press her, we might not get anything.”
“I agree,” Fitz said with a nod. “The most important thing for the time being is identifying Head Doe. Once we can bring him back to his family, then we can worry about who killed him.”
“I’ll take criminal record,” Ronan said. “For Maria and the Marino crime family.”
“Sounds good,” Jude said. “I’ll get on Maria’s personal life.”
After making himself a cup of coffee, Ronan settled in at the conference table one seat over from Jude. He turned on his computer and pulled up the criminal records database, typing “Maria Marino Cullen” Her results were clean. Maria hadn’t had so much as a parking ticket over the course of her life. Next he went to public records and found a bit more information about the woman. “She’s got no criminal record.”
“Interesting,” Jude said. “Especially in light of what I found. Maria was born on May 4, 1955 to Antonella and Salvatore Marino. She was a first generation American, with her parents having passed through Ellis Island as children in August of 1939. Talk about a lucky break.”
“What was lucky about that?” Ronan was a lot of things, a student of history wasnotone of them.
Jude shot Ronan an are-you-kidding-me look. “Hitler invaded Poland two weeks after Maria’s parents arrived in the United States.”
“And the Marinos had been living in Poland?” That didn’t make a lot of sense to Ronan.
“No, dumbass. Hitler invading Poland started War II. The families had made it out of Europe just in time. Italy lost half a million people over the course of the war.” Jude shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe he had to explain this to Ronan.
“How the hell do you know that?” When had Jude become the Mr. Wizard of 20thCentury European Warfare?
“We watch a lot of war documentaries on Netflix after the kids are in bed. Cope was sick and tired of watching idiotic reality television,hiswords, and suggested we try something different. I wanted to keep getting my dick sucked, so I agreed.” Jude snorted. “The other benefit of watching those shows with Cope was learning a thing or two about history.”
“Interesting. Maybe text me the name of your favorite later.” It hadn’t crossed Ronan’s mind to study history once he’d graduated from high school, but it was obvious Jude’s knowledge was coming in handy in this case. “What else did you discover?”
“Maria’s parents, Antonella and Salvatore married in 1947. Over the next five years, Antonella gave birth to two stillborn sons before Maria was born in 1955. Antonella died in childbirth in July of 1958, her son, named Giovanni, passed three days later.”
“How awful.” Ronan sighed, he couldn’t imagine how hard it was for Maria not to have grown up with her mother. Ronan had lost Erin when he was in his early twenties and not a day had passed that he hadn’t wished she was still with him. “It must havealso been incredibly difficult growing up in the shadow of three dead brothers. Sons are prized in Italian families, especially ones whereLa Cosa Nostrais the family business.”
“So you haven’t watched war documentaries, but you’re well versed inThe Godfather?” Jude asked with a chuckle.
“Something like that.” Ronan rolled his eyes. “What else did you learn about Maria’s life?”
“In 1979, Maria married Brian Cullen, who happens to be the son of Lawrence “Lucky” Cullen, rumored to be Salvatore Marino’s trusted advisor orconsigliere.” Jude obviously knew a thing or two aboutThe Godfatheras well. “Moving on, Salvatore gifted the newly married Cullens with a house, the one in Salem where Head Doe would later be found. Lastly, there’s a divorce decree issued in 2001, which awarded Maria the house, and split the remaining assets 50/50. No spousal support had been ordered.”
“They were married for twenty-two years. Any kids?” Ronan asked.
Jude shook his head. “No biological and no adoptions. After what Maria’s mother went through, I’m not surprised.”
“Okay, so wait a minute. If Maria had no surviving siblings, where did these nieces and nephews come from? Sofia said Maria was her great-aunt. So did the Neanderthal nephews, Tony and Little Sal.”
“In all those mob movies, family isn’t just blood. Maybe the kids are related to one of Fat Sal’s crew.”
“Good point.” Family had always been the thing Ronan had been most interested in when it came to mob movies. His mother had been an only child, so there were never aunts, uncles, or cousins.Erin’s parents were dead before Ronan got to high school and when she died, Ronan had no family left. He’d always dreamed of having a big family of his own and thanks to his time at the Boston Police Department, he’d found Fitz, Jude, and Tennyson. “Got anything else?”
“No, that’s it for me. How about you?”
“When I saw that Maria had no criminal record, I did a complete background check. Maria graduated from Salem High School in 1974 and had graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Education from UMass in 1978.”
