Jeff Carson - Foreign Deceit

The yard of the house was perfectly manicured, surprisingly flat for how steep the surrounding area looked. The stucco concrete house was one story in front, with a walk out bottom level to a stone patio, where two boys were playing soccer below.

“Ciao ragazzi!” Rossi bent over the railing, then yanked the door to the side entrance.

“Ciao!”

“Ciao, Daddy!”

Inside, a male Italian singer was belting out high vibrato notes from a loud speaker system. Perfectly cooked Italian food smells saturated the moist air inside. A slightly disheveled looking woman wiped her hands and kissed Valerio quickly, then gave a loud welcome to Lia as they kissed each other’s cheeks.

“Ciao, sono Maria.” She extended a hand to Wolf.

“Ciao,” he said. “I’m David.”

“Nize-a to meet you,” she laughed. “I am terrible Eenglish.” She pointed to herself with a red faced smile.

“Not as bad as my Italian.”

Rossi’s home office had dark green ceramic tiles on the floor, and color photos of vineyards adorning the bright yellow stucco walls. Rossi turned on the tall floor lamp and ripped open the shades, revealing the view below. The sky outside was now a dark orange, high white-stoned peaks gleaned, and the city below speckled with lights. Rossi plopped down at the dark wood desk, fired up Skype, and showed Wolf how to use it.

Rossi opened the door, letting in the loud music from the rest of the house, “Take your time. We’ll be having apperitivo.”

Wolf picked up the headset and took a seat. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mom, it’s me.”

“Oh thank God. What’s going on over there?”

“Well, I’m just taking care of everything. Getting John on a plane home.”

She paused. “So?”

“Well, I really haven’t got any news yet, Mom. I just wanted to check on how you were doing. Is everything okay?”

“Have you seen him?”

“Yes, I’ve seen him.”

A rustling sound filled the headset. “How did he look?”

“He looked good. What…how’s it going? Has Nate checked on you?”

“Yes, he was here last night. He made me dinner.” She sniffed. “Then I will probably go to dinner over there tonight.”

“Oh, good.”

And so it went. Hey, I don’t think John killed himself, and I’m going to find the son of a bitch that murdered him . Wolf didn’t say those words. They were well implied. The Wolf family was always more interested in results and actions, not talk.

They squirmed their way through a few more minutes of long silences and said their goodbyes. He would check in later. He would let her know what was going on.

He called Jack and left a message, disappointed, but thankful he wasn’t answering his “emergency cellphone” in class.

He dialed another number. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Wolf.”

“Hey,” Nate said. “I was wondering what this random phone number was. I hoped it was you. How’s it going over there? You find anything out?”

“Well, maybe. It’s taking some time. There’s definitely something going on that doesn’t look right.”

“Jesus, really? What’s happening?”

“Ah, I can’t talk about it now. I think we’ll find out some more stuff tomorrow though. Anyways, I talked to my mom. She says you made her dinner last night. Thanks for that.”

“Of course, man.”

“I just wanted to know if you’ve been keeping an eye on Jack? Have you seen him?”

“Yeah, he’s been here every day this week with Brian. He seems good. He keeps asking about you. Have you talked to him?”

“No, not since I left. I finally got a chance to use Skype just now. Tell him I’ll be home Sunday, and I’ll see him then, okay?”

“Yeah, sure. No problem,” he said. “I’ve been checking on things. I took him home yesterday, even though he had his bike. I insisted I drive him home. I went in and said hey to Sarah. She looked okay. Didn’t look strung out or anything. Nobody was at the house except for her. Apparently her parents were out and about doing something. Otherwise I’ve driven by the house four times. Nothing seems to be happening. But — ” He stopped.

“But what ?”

“Well, I saw her with a guy in town walking around yesterday. They weren’t with Jack, he was over here. But anyways, the guy looked, like, normal looking. Not like a junky. Had all his teeth and respectfully dressed and shit.”

“Yeah, I know. I talked to him before I left.”

“Yeah? Well so did I, ” Nate said. “I introduced myself.”

Wolf smiled. “Introduced yourself?”

“Well, yeah. I kind of pulled him aside and talked to him a bit.”

Wolf put his head in his hands and laughed silently.

“What?”

“Nothing. What did you say to him?”

“I just told him to keep his hands off Jack, or I’d kill him.”

Wolf smiled wide, thinking of Nate’s tough-man face.

“What?”

“Nothing, man. Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“No problem.” He sounded proud. “You coming back Sunday? There’s a lot of talk around town. Apparently Dickhead is trying to make it sound like you jumped him the other day. I talked to Rachette yesterday.”

Wolf wiped his hands down his face, pulse quickening. “All right man, well, thanks. I’ve gotta make some more calls.”

“All right. I’ve got everything covered with your family here. Don’t worry about that,” he said. “Just get the guy.”

“Thanks. I’m workin’ on it.”

“Rocky Points Sheriff’s Department.” The connection was garbled, but it didn’t sound like Burton.

Wolf wondered if he dialed the wrong number. He thought he dialed the Sheriff’s direct line. He looked at the screen and saw he dialed correctly.

“Sheriff Burton please.”

There was a long drawn out pause. “Who’s calling?” Who’s callink . The call reception went back to fine. It was Connell, sounding like he had a nose plugged with gauze.

Wolf gritted his teeth. “It’s me. Where’s Burton? What are you doing answering his personal line?”

“Just covering for him for a bit, we’re a bit short handed with officers skipping town and whatnot.”

Wolf paused for five seconds. “You telling people I jumped you, Derek?”

“I’m just telling people what happened , Sergeant Wolf,” he said. “Doesn’t look too good what you did to me, then skipping town right before the Sheriff appointment. Not too good for you at least.”

Wolf sat silent.

Connell gave a quiet chuckle, “Damn good timing for brother John, though. I tell you what,” he said. “Aaaaaaanyways, have fun over there. I hope you enjoy your vacation.”

With a sploosh sound the Skype session ended. Wolf stared at the screen and ripped off the head set. He stood and flexed every muscle in his body as hard as he could, hissing through his clenched teeth.

Dinner turned out to be a needed distraction, and some of the best food he’d tasted in his life. Valerio and Maria Rossi’s two boys seemed like good kids, despite Wolf not understanding a word they said.

It was fascinating to observe the foreign tongue and animated gestures. They would all laugh, and Lia would stop to translate, and then he would laugh, well after the magic of the moment. Nonetheless, he enjoyed the company.

“Lia used to try to be one of the boys,” Rossi explained. “We would be playing soccer as you Americans call it, or calcio as we call it, and she would insist to play all the time.”

Lia was concentrating on her meal with a quickly ripening face.

“She, of course, was better than everyone,” he said. “Except me!”