Page 49 of Small Town Secrets

Ramos didn’t so much as move, though Laila figured she was best to get out from behind him should a real fight break out. She stepped to the side and increased her distance from the men, where she also had a better view of what went on.

“I have every reason to care what happens here today.” Though his words hinted at his feelings for Laila, the disconcerting iciness from that first run-in with Gerry was back on his face. “Back up, now. Go join your family.”

Gerry’s face went red, and he did the opposite of what he was asked, puffing his chest out and taking up more space. “You telling me what to do again?”

“Sure.” Despite the sarcasm, Adrian gave nothing away. “It worked out so well for you last time. Now, run along.”

Gerry’s face turned all red and angry, a hint of shame perhaps adding to his color. He was a high school bully not used to being bullied. Conditions such as these held the potential to erupt in unpredictable ways. “You lot have ruined everything. We’re all gonna die. You think I give a shit about doing what you say?”

He made a hocking sound and then spat at Adrian’s feet. All chatter in the hall died instantly. Again, Adrian didn’t react, which only added to the weighty anticipation in the air. And then, Gerry, in all his impulsive stupidity, lunged forward and shoved Ramos hard in the chest.

Ramos held his ground but put a hand out to create more distance. Gerry flinched, seeming to misinterpret the move as an attempted strike, and swung a fist out at Ramos.

His blow connected with Adrian’s right cheek. Laila gasped and shielded Whitney’s eyes from whatever happened next. Meanwhile, to her right, Gerry’s wife screamed. His kids were quick to start sobbing. Lenny, on the other hand, looked pale and inched back into the crowd. All bluster and no action. And Laila’s attention caught on an uncharacteristically gray-faced Rochelle nearby.

“That’s enough, Gibbons!” Sheriff Marlin bellowed out and came up to Gerry, wrenching his arms behind him and hauling him away from Ramos. “If not for the fire, I’d have you locked in a cell.”

“We have nothing left.” Even as the sheriff dragged Gerry toward the door, he struggled and shouted, the red anger in his eyes now verging on tears.

The crowd’s stunned silence continued, and Gerry’s hostility hung like a prickling heat in the air. That heat turnedher thoughts to her visions of the town on fire. To Emilia’s face upon learning her house was gone. To the multitude of familiar faces around her holding unfamiliar looks of despair.

Maybe Gerry was right. Maybe anyone remotely linked to the syndicate should have left. Maybe she was in part to blame.

“Don’t you worry, Gerry.” Lenny Brooks seemed to find his words again, as he pushed back out through the crowd, his face beet red while he stabbed a finger toward his friend. “We’ll get ‘em all back some way.”

Her stomach dropped, his threat feeling like yet another bomb ready to explode. As if this town didn’t have enough threats and real-world tragedy to worry about…

“Stop it. Just stop it!”

The usually even-keeled Rochelle jolted forward, her tone a frazzled shout as though she’d lost her very last bit of patience. “I thought this was a sweet little town full of equally charming people…”

She shook her head, making it clear she didn’t think that way anymore.

“When will you all just stop attacking each other?” She ran her gaze over the feuding men, and across to Gerry’s sobbing children, the pull of muscles over her face releasing to a slack sort of resignation. “If you want to hate anyone, then hate me. Just stop fighting, okay?”

Gordon stepped out and draped his arm around her shoulder, rubbing her upper arm as he dropped a soft kiss to her head. “No one here could ever hate you.”

“Yes, they could.” She gave a small, but shaky nod directed at the ground, and tears welled in her eyes. “And they should hate me.”

Though the violent tension faded from the air, a heavy silence remained, the whole town listening to see what this woman would say next.

Rochelle’s tears broke free and splashed down her perfectly made-up cheeks, and she lifted her gaze, seeming to address all the people staring at her. “You all should hate me because I’m Rudolph Manzinni.”

Twenty-Nine

A simultaneous gasp broke across the large room at town hall, before the rumble of murmurs spread like a slow tidal wave over the crowd. Adrian stared at Rochelle and struggled to make sense of what she’d just said. That she was Rudolph Manzinni.

A soft shuffling sound brought his attention to Emilia pushing through the stunned faces to his left, her cheeks hollow and eyes wide with shock.

“Rochelle?” She moved past him, her voice wavering on a breathy tone.

She’d known Rochelle far longer than anyone in this town. With her past run-ins with the syndicate, Rochelle’s unlikely claim of being Rudolph Manzinni seemed extra cruel.

The pinch of Rochelle’s face eased, and she lifted her hands in a gesture to the crowd, her eyes taking on a soft and heartbroken sheen. “There’s a raging fire outside. Everyone is turning on each other... I just… I just never thought it would come to this.”

Emilia stood before her friend and shook her head in a slow and seemingly unconscious motion, her eyes welling as she spoke again. “What are you saying? What have you done?”

“Nothing intentional.” Rochelle took a quick step forward, but Emilia held a hand up and backed away.

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