Jeff Carson - Foreign Deceit

Lia kept her gaze on her food.

“No, she really was. All the boys were so confused by her. Here is this beautiful young girl who wanted desperately to kick their butts at every chance she could get.”

Lia jutted her head forward. “I didn’t want to kick anyone’s butts. I just wanted to be treated like everyone else.”

“It is the same today. She is one of the best soldiers we have in the Caribinieri. The boys are confused by her once again.”

“They are not confused, they are…” She looked back at her meal and resumed eating. Tension fell on the table, and everyone ate in silence for a good ten seconds.

“They are confused.” Rossi used a quiet tone. “They don’t know what to do with such a talented, beautiful, strong, and vicious young woman. You have already been recognized for your talents. We have a saying in Italy,” Rossi looked to Wolf, “‘Il tempo viene per chi sa aspettare’ — which means ‘All things come to those who wait.’ Isn’t that right, David?”

“In a perfect world, I guess.”

Rossi studied his expression. “What is your job at home? Are you an officer? A captain? How do you say?”

“I’m a Sergeant. In our town we have Officers, Sergeants, then the Sheriff.”

“Do you wish to be Sheriff some day?”

“My father was the Sheriff of the town I live in when I was growing up.” Wolf took a deep breath and rolled some spaghetti. “I would very much like to be Sheriff.”

The table went quiet again.

“I, too, lost my father,” Rossi whispered. “A few years ago. It was his time. He had a long life. Obviously your father was taken from you at a younger age than I. It must have been very difficult.”

Wolf nodded. “I’m sorry about your father,” he deflected. “I heard about it from Lia on the way up here.” He stopped himself, suddenly self conscious of he and Lia’s conversation on the way up. Like they had gone behind his back in some way.

“Yes. My father was a good, hard working man. At least that’s the way I remember him. He and my mother split when I was a child. He helped my brother’s family and my family tremendously after his death. We had no idea that he had amassed such a wealth over the course of his life. He never taught us about how to invest or save the way he did, he just quietly did it for his entire life. It was a surprise for the entire family to get such a large inheritance.” He raised his hands and looked around. “It gave us this. And gave my brother a place to call his own in Liguria as well.”

His eyes glistened as he pushed his pasta in an aimless circle on the plate. Maria rubbed his back and gently lay her head on his shoulder.

Lia reached to Wolf’s leg under the table and gave it a soft squeeze, looking at him. She pulled her hand away, rolled her eyes and resumed rolling her spaghetti on her fork. She looked up suddenly, “I’m not vicious!”

Hearty laughter burned away the tension. Rossi’s two boys joined in, giggling and staring wide eyed at Lia.

Wolf threw the tiny bag from Matthew Rosenwald’s on the table in front of Rossi. Rossi thumbed it. “It looks just like the one that I found in your brother’s apartment. The same size and look of the bag.”

They sat on the back patio overlooking the lights of Lecco, sipping a local grappa served by Rossi’s wife. Wolf felt like he was observing reality from another dimension, exhaustion overtaking his body and mind.

“I don’t know what to make of the whole cocaine thing. I’m not sure if this is even cocaine. You’ll need to test it. I don’t think my brother did drugs. He may have experimented in the past, but he never really did drugs. I know what people act like when they do drugs, and my brother didn’t. I need to find this Matthew guy. And something’s off about that Cezar guy at the pub, and Vlad at the observatory. They are holding things back. Something’s off about those two.”

Rossi took a sip and furrowed his brow. “What if Matthew was supplying your brother with these drugs?”

“I guess it looks that way. But looks can be deceiving. Then there is the whole thing about the belt. That wasn’t my brother’s belt that was found around his neck. There’s only two things that can mean, either he stole a belt and hung himself with it, or someone strung him up with it…or more accurately, smacked him on the head and strangled him, then tried to make it look like a suicide, and did a poor job of it, because the chandelier couldn’t hold his body weight. That’s what happened, and I’m sure of it. And it had to be at least two people who strung my brother from that chandelier. There’s no way one person could have done it.” He stood and went to the patio railing, gazing at the city below.

Valerio cleared his throat. “I think there needs to be more evidence. And until then, I don’t see what we can do. There is no name tag on that belt, there’s no way to find out whose it is, other than finding finger prints, which we’ll check. But it’s been handled by more than a few people by now.

“Secondly, we cannot bring in this Vlad character for questioning because he was sweating profusely as you spoke to him. We cannot arrest the bar owner for being rude to you guys.” He sighed heavily. “I do think that it is strange that this Matthew fellow left town immediately after your brother’s death, though. So, I think we need to find him. Paulo is working on it. He will look at the phone records, and find Rosenwald’s phone, and who knows what else he can uncover? He is a talented boy.”

Wolf yawned uncontrollably once again and nodded his head.

Lia stood up. “You need to get some sleep, David.”

“Yes, you need sleep. We will know more tomorrow.”

“We need to go over the police report,” Wolf said, sitting back down. “And I don’t know how the hell to read Italian, so I’m going to need your help.” An unstoppable yawn stretched his face.

Lia stood in front of Wolf and placed her hand gently on his. “You need sleep.”

Rossi set down his glass and stood. “David. Please. It doesn’t do you any good to not rest. We still have all day tomorrow.”

Wolf sat forward. “And if I need your help Saturday? What if I need more time?”

“Then you will have our help on Saturday as well,” Rossi answered immediately.

Wolf sat back in the seat hard. They were right. If they went over the police report now he probably wouldn’t remember it in the morning. Every cell in his body screamed for sleep. “Okay. Let’s go.”

“Sleep now,” she said, like talking to a small child. She turned the key and pulled out of the gate.

“What do you think? Do you really think my brother killed himself?”

“I think…I think we will find out. I think you need sleep. Go to sleep.”

He tilted the seat back and lost consciousness immediately.

A light brushing on his cheek pulled him from a dreamless sleep.

“Yep?” He popped his eyes wide open.

“We are here.” Lia’s face filled his view. She was close, tilting her head sideways to the same angle as his, her hair dangling across her face.

Wolf lay still. Without thinking he reached up and brushed her hair behind her ear.

She narrowed her eyes slowly with a short lived smile that turned to a hard gaze. Her lips parted and she exhaled loudly. He could smell the sweetness of her breath.

He reached and pulled her head close, zero resistance, zero hesitation.

Lia’s warm moist mouth gently connected with his, her tongue diving with eager swirls that tasted of sweet saliva and red wine. Her breaths came in hard pants, vividly audible over the soft Italian music that played on the radio. Lia reached between them and yanked hard on the emergency brake with a loud crank, then groped at his crotch hungrily with the same hand as she moved closer.