Love and Liquor

Uncovering

XXVIII.
Uncovering

Grace felt pudgy fingers pressing against the tear-chafed skin of her cheek. It took a few seconds, but she finally willed her tired eyes to open. Her mouth turned up in a sleepy grin when she came face to face with Milo’s chubby cheeks. The little boy’s mouth was set in a pouty line.

“Where’s Mommy?” he asked in his angelic little voice.

Grace pushed herself into a sitting position in the bed.

“Mommy’s still sleeping,” she told her nephew.

Milo seemed to ponder this for a moment.

“She must be pretty tired. She has been sleeping for a long time.”

“Yes. She has.” Grace kissed the little boy’s forehead. “Don’t worry, Milo. Your mommy will wake up before you know it. Are you hungry?”

Milo nodded fervently.

“How about some pancakes?”

“Okay!” Milo followed her into the kitchen.

As Grace lit the stove and gathered the ingredients for breakfast, she noticed that Luca wasn’t in the apartment.

“Milo? Do you know where your Zio Luca is?”

He shook his head no.

Grace pursed her lips. He must have gone out early to meet up with Donny.

She wondered what they were discussing. From the conversations last night, it seemed very important. Maybe it had to do with why Luca was gone almost all of last night, and why he had returned with blood on his collar.

Grace believed him when he said he hadn’t killed anyone, but she still had her suspicions that whatever he was doing wasn’t considered legal. She had let the topic go last night for fear of ruining the fragile blossom of a relationship between them, but it still sat at the forefront of her mind. Something was happening with the Venzettos, and she had a feeling it was something big, that the incident with Nina was only a tiny piece in a much bigger plot.

The very thought frightened her.

She looked down at her griddle to see a black pancake smoking. Grace had been so caught up in her thoughts that she had burned the breakfast. She tossed the bad pancake in the garbage and started over, this time paying careful attention to the bubbles forming around the edges.

Grace and Milo ate their breakfast and listened to the radio. After Milo had finished his food, she sent him into the other room to wash up.

As Grace gathered the dirty dishes to be washed, there was a thump out in the hall. Grace dropped the dishes in the sink and went to investigate.

She opened the door to find a squad of policemen standing in the hallway. They were coming in and out of Mrs. Whitmore’s apartment.

Grace tapped the shoulder of the nearest officer.

“Sir, what’s going on out here?”

“Poor Mrs. Whitmore was murdered last night,” the officer reported solemnly.

Grace gasped audibly.

She had been right! There was a gunshot last night.

“How horrible!” she exclaimed, genuinely sorry for the loss of the kind old woman.

“Yes, truly a tragedy. We are looking for witnesses. As her neighbor, you wouldn’t have happened to have seen or heard anything suspicious last night, would you?”

Grace opened her mouth to tell him about the gun, but then thought twice. If Luca or anyone else were involved in what had happened, she would be betraying her family.

She shook her head.

“No, Sir. I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.”

The officer let out a harrumph.

“Very well then, have a nice day Mrs.…”

“Hanson. Mrs. Hanson.” She gave a tight-lipped smile.

The officer tipped his hat to her before walking away.

Hanson. Grace had no idea what had possessed her to use her maiden name with the officer. It sort of just happened. She supposed she didn’t want the police to know that she had any ties to the Venzetto crime family. But she also knew there was more to it than that.

Deep down she knew she could never forgive herself if she sold someone in her family out. And even deeper within her, she knew that they were guilty of what had happened.

 

On the other side of the big city, Luca sat in a nicely furnished office in the back of a restaurant. His brother’s sat on either side of him and his father had taken up his usual resting place in a leather chair behind an cherry desk.

“His name is Peter Schepp,” Russo began.

Valentino lit a cigar.

“Who is he?”

“Some kid, nineteen, maybe twenty. He went to high school with Grace.”

“Grace?” Valentino sounded genuinely surprised to hear the girl’s name mentioned.

“Grace,” Luca confirmed, making a steeple with his fingers.

 “And you believe that he’s behind what happened to Nina?”

“What happened to Nina, the break in at the warehouse and Russo believes he’s got something to do with what’s going on down in Philly.”

“Philly? What do they have to do with this?” Vincent interjected.

“That night Al came over for dinner, he said something was going on in Philly, that he couldn’t contact Johnny King,” Russo explained.

“And you think this Schepp character has something to do with that?”

Russo and Luca nodded.

“If Schepp has managed to take over down there, then he has all of King’s resources. It’ll be hard to find him. He’ll send others to do his dirty work.”

“Like George Hanson,” Valentino concluded.

“Exactly."

“That doesn’t explain why he’s doing it,” Vincent noted.

“He’s got some weird obsession with Grace. He had plans to marry her after he took King’s empire. Needless to say he was pretty pissed to find out she had already married Little Venzetto over here.” Russo pointed a thumb in his brother’s direction.

“Pissed enough to try and kill her husband,” Vince added.

Luca nodded.

“Do you think he’ll try and come after our supply or establishments?”

“I don’t think so. He is a scorned lover,” Russo watched Luca’s jaw tighten and the vein in his forehead pulse. “He doesn’t need anything from our operation. This is personal for him. He wants us dead.”

“He wants Grace,” Valentino specified.

Luca slammed his fists on the desk, sending ripples through the snifters of brandy sitting on its surface.

“Like hell! I swear to God that man will have to step over my dead body to get to her.”

Valentino looked at his youngest son with something akin to mirth in his eyes. Only a few months ago, Luca had complained and tried to bargain his way out of marrying the same girl he now planned to die for.

“Calm down, son. It will not come to that.” A puff of cloying smoke left his mouth with the words.

“We need to take care of this before it gets further out of hand Father,” Vincent spoke up.

Russo stood from his chair and began pacing. He felt a nervous energy take over every fiber of him. He was excited and scared at the same time. This was one of his favorite feelings and he only got it when something big was about to happen.

“I’ll catch a train to Philadelphia this afternoon. If Schepp has messed with anything down there, I will find out.”

Russo searched his pockets for a cigarette to calm his nerves, but came up empty. He cursed under his breath.

“Go then. You have two days. I want you back in time for dinner on Thursday. The last thing any of us need is your mother worrying after you more than she already does.” Valentino rolled his eyes, but all of his boys knew he loved Gia more than life itself and that he’d do anything in his power to keep her happy.

Russo left the room with a curt nod in his father’s direction.

Luca turned back to Valentino behind the desk.

“What do you want us to do?”

“You two need be with your wives. Nina needs you, Vince. And you,” he said turning back to Luca, “If someone is looking for Grace, I want her by your side all the time. Don’t leave her alone.”

Luca nodded.

“Yes, sir.”

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Happy New Year! {2015, WOOT WOOT}
SW