Page 201 of Dark Romeo

Today was different.

Today’s headline was blackened, poisoned words shaped like knives that cut me so that all heat drained from my limbs in a rush.

Chief’s Daughter Commits Suicide.

There was some mistake. There had to be some mistake. Some other chief. Some other daughter.

I clicked through to the article, my finger shaking as it tapped the screen. I glared at the white screen as the Wi-Fi struggled to keep up.

Come on, load, damn you. I only realized I had slammed my fist on the table when it rattled my coffee cup. A few patrons turned their heads to stare at me. I was the grouchy stranger among them who refused to make any friends, and they already didn’t like me for that reason.

I didn’t give a shit what they thought. Just that this goddamn page would load and the mistake would be cleared up…

The page presented me with cold, ordered font in neat lines.

Detective Julianna Capulet, the daughter of Chief of Police Montgomery Capulet, was found dead in her apartment yesterday by her father. It appeared that she had ingested poison and her heart had stopped. There were no signs of forced entry and she left a note in her handwriting. The police have ruled it a suicide. A memorial will be held for her tomorrow at Waverley Cathedral.

Julianna.

Dead.

Suicide.

Everything in my body seized.

My blood turned to swollen hot lava in my veins. This was Chief Capulet’s fault. He should have told her I was still alive. I let out a roar that echoed across the desert plains.

I was alive, Jules.

I was alive.

The unfairness, the sweet life she just threw away, burned in my body. For what? A lie that her father perpetuated.

I was half-blind with rage as I stood, knocking my chair back. I threw money down—too much money—for my half-drunk coffee. I tumbled into my truck and turned it immediately towards the nearest city with an airport, letting my blood roar along with the engine.

I didn’t care that I would be imprisoned for life if I were caught. Tonight, I would return to Verona.

* * *

I wore a cap pulled down low over my eyes as I pulled up in a cab to the back entrance of the Waverley Cathedral grounds, the morning dusk creeping across the slated roofs of Verona. I caught a glimpse of myself in the side mirror as I got out. My four-day beard darkened my face. Sorrow made my eyes weary. I doubted even Nonna would recognize me now.

The cab crawled away across the crackly gravel. I slipped into the rusted gate that led to the graveyard. I trudged past the rows of bone-like headstones as I made my way to the back of the cathedral building. It wasn’t long until I found myself standing at the very place that I first saw her standing by her mother’s grave. The plot beside it had been dug up, a fresh headstone stood beside her mother’s.

Rest in Peace

Beloved daughter and friend.

She left us much too soon.

Julianna Abigail Capulet

My vision blurred, her name disappearing behind my grief.

I could not believe she was dead. I would have known. I would have felt it, her soul ripping from where it joined with mine when she flew away from this Earth. Was it a trick to weasel me out? To get me back to Verona by the Veronesis who wanted to finish off the last of the Tyrell line?

I knew deep down, these were just the desperate thoughts of a man close to madness. I was balanced on a knife’s edge.

Her memorial was not scheduled until later this afternoon. Just as my empty coffin had been, only a few days ago, her coffin would now be in the room at the back of the cathedral.

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