Page 136 of Vita Mia

“Your daughter may not have told you all about me, but I’m kind of a conspiracy nut. My research, the reports of the explosion after the car went off the cliff, it doesn’t really add up. And then your disappearance and reappearance. Some people think he’s alive. Some people have said to even seen him. A servant of yours in Mondello swore to authorities she saw his ghost on the beach. And soon after that you went into hiding. Was it to protect him.”

The phone in the room rang. Mirabella glanced to it. She didn’t move at first. Ryder felt almost compelled to answer it for her the ringing was so loud. Then she turned her gaze to him. “Ryder, let’s take a break for a moment,” she said while staring at the phone.

“I’m sorry Ms. Battaglia if I offended you.”

The phone stopped ringing when he apologized. She turned her gaze back to him. “You didn’t. And don’t apologize. You’re here to be curious. I just think we should save the answer to your last question for the video camera,” she said with a smile.

“Okay. Should I come back in ten or twenty minutes?”

“Give me thirty minutes, and we will continue.”

Ryder agreed. He got up from his seat and went to the door. He paused at the door and looked back at her once more. Mirabella was already speaking into the phone. He glanced up to where the camera had once been aimed at them during their conversation. It had moved and was now pointed directly at him. The men in the room with the video equipment glared at him too. He decided it best that he leave and not look back again.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Reviving the Dead

The Past - 1996

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“MUMMY?”

Mirabella sat at the table waiting for the phone to ring.

“Yes sweetie,” she replied.

“Where did Nico go?” Eve asked. She pulled out a chair and joined her mother.

“He had to take care of some things for me.”

“Oh,” Eve rubbed her hand. It was one of the rare moments where she didn’t have on her glove. “Did you see Papa the other day?”

“I did. And guess what?”

“What?”

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