Lynda La Plante - Bella Mafia

Nuccio Miano cleared the phlegm from his throat and adjusted his vest, refusing to say anything at this time, but he had listened long enough. He wanted to leave.

Tony Castellano picked up on his associates' agitation and gave a barely noticeable nod to Peter Salerno. With Miano irritated by the women's audacity, Castellano knew there would be repercussions from Sicily when he reported back.

Sophia thanked each man cordially for coming to the meeting, then turned to Graziella and smiled. But it was the smile of Luka that Graziella saw on her face. All sweetness had gone, and her eyes telegraphed a warning to each woman to remain silent. Their visitors must get no hint from any of them that she was about to lie.

Sophia then continued. "What none of you realizes is that there remains an heir to the Luciano estate, an heir who wants only what is rightfully his. If he is refused, you give the family no option but to look elsewhere. … La spine della rosa sono nascoste dal Jiore."

The other women watched Sophia as she insisted on serving more wine to her guests with her own hands, handing Peter Salerno his glass last. She smiled at him above the rim of her own glass, lifting it as if in a toast. Then she turned her attention to the three other guests, speaking to each man in turn and saying that it was sad that the Lucianos were not given the respect of meeting the two other families interested in negotiating with them. She spoke the two names without any show of emotion.

She ended the meeting as abruptly as she had opened it: courteously and without a trace of fear. Her voice had been soft and persuasive and never at any time less than cordial.

Now, as the three men walked from the room, she rested her hand on Peter Salerno's arm, gave him yet another smile, and this time leaned toward him and kissed him on his astonished lips.

"Arrivederci, signor, we thank you."

The men agreed it was farcical of Sophia to believe there was even so much as a possibility of her becoming part of the organization. Yet there remained the fact that to date the women had already got away with fifteen million and still retained the entire Luciano holdings in both America and Palermo.Sophia's demand for Paul Carolla's estate furthered the rumor that someone was behind the Luciano women, someone who had schooled them well, and someone who was prepared to kill for them. And who was the heir she claimed? Miano spit in disgust at the thought of men willing to take orders from four women, one of them just out of school, another a grandmother.

The car passed through the wrought-iron gates, which closed soundlessly behind them, and the hidden video cameras swiveled back into place. Peter Salerno, sitting in the backseat, could not resist a last look back at the impressive house. He looked up at the top-floor windows; a woman, clothed in black and partially hidden by the security bars, was watching them leave. She was in the shadows, but he was sure he recognized her.

"I think Sophia Luciano's different, a different kind of woman from what we're used to. She's-"

The men in Salerno's car admitted that she unnerved them; she was, they joked, an unknown commodity. None of them had ever had any dealings with a woman like her, in business or bed. They all agreed with less humor than before that she was bella… bella mafiosa.

But Salerno didn't laugh. He stared from the car window. What had made her so different?

The slush spattered the road and the gleaming sides of the limo. The cigar smoke made him feel sick, and he pressed the button to lower the window, gasping for the freezing air. How had she known just which of the families were involved? He went over the meeting virtually word for word, picturing her face as she quietly listed men who didn't even know of one another's complicity. This meant she had to know every man involved in the murder of her family. Salerno was chilled by the ramifications because if she knew who they were, she must also be aware of the money transferred from Sicily, the Luciano fortune.

Someone asked him to close the window. He reached for the button; the pain in his gut was like an explosion, blowing his bowels apart. The burning sensation swept up through his chest and into his throat, choking him, and spittle ran from his lips. His mouth flapped soundlessly as if he were trying to warn the other men, but he never uttered another word.

Peter Salerno's name was scratched from the back of the photograph. The photo of Michael Luciano was set back in its place of honor. Graziella Luciano, widow of Don Roberto Luciano, Teresa, widow of Filippo Luciano, and Rosa, the tragic bride-to-be, waited expectantly to hear the outcome of their meeting, unaware that Sophia, widow of Constantino Luciano, mother of little Carlo and Nunzio Luciano, had already acted. The seeds of the vendetta that had begun with the murder of Michael Luciano would continue. La spine della rosa sono nascoste dal fiore. The thorns of the rose are hidden by the bloom.

Lynda La Plante (born Lynda Titchmarsh) is a British author, screenwriter, and erstwhile actress (her performances in Rentaghost and other programmes were under her stage name of Lynda Marchal), best known for writing the Prime Suspect television crime series.

Her first TV series as a scriptwriter was the six part robbery series Widows, in 1983, in which the widows of four armed robbers carry out a heist planned by their deceased husbands.

In 1991 ITV released Prime Suspect which has now run to seven series and stars Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison. (In the United States Prime Suspect airs on PBS as part of the anthology program Mystery!) In 1993 La Plante won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for her work on the series. In 1992 she wrote at TV movie called Seekers, starring Brenda Fricker and Josette Simon, produced by Sarah Lawson.

She formed her own television production company, La Plante Productions, in 1994 and as La Plante Productions she wrote and produced the sequel to Widows, the equally gutsy She's Out (ITV, 1995). The name "La Plante" comes from her marriage to writer Richard La Plante, author of the book Mantis and Hog Fever. La Plante divorced Lynda in the early 1990s.