Page 34 of Beguiled and Broken

Damiano looked down at me. “Take a walk with me, cugino.”

I stood up and looked back at Angelo sitting on Cat’s lap. “I’ll be right back you guys. Kids, be good.” I smiled at them. I could tell they were tired.

Damiano tossed his arm around my shoulder and patted me on the back. We walked past Nonno’s casket toward the other graves in the cemetery along the gravel road. He lit a cigarette and asked, “You ok, man?”

“Yeah. I’m good. How’re things with you? I know we haven’t gotten to talk much since you’ve been in town. I wish we had more time.” I liked Damiano. Out of all the cousins he was the one I could most relate to. He was down to earth, easy to talk to, and always dependable.

“Eh, no problem. Listen, where’s Bianca? Why isn’t she here with you? And who is the woman?” Straight to the point. The other reason I liked him. He didn’t bullshit around.

“Bianca stayed home. I’m not happy about it, trust me. Some shit is going down with her shop and some security stuff. She decided to stay back and try to get it taken care of. We aren’t exactly doing the best.” I shook my head and looked down at the ground.

“That woman…something about her reminds me of someone. Is she from here or who is she?” First Ma, and now Damiano. They were started to freak me out a bit.

“Ya know, Ma said the same thing. She’s the kids’ nanny. I hired her originally to work in the restaurant and she did that for a couple years and then she moved in as our nanny. You wouldn’t know her?” I raised an eyebrow at him. “Would you?”

“I don’t know, man. I just know I’ve seen her before. It’s very unsettling. I don’t get unsettled easily.” He shook his head back and forth as he took one more drag of his cigarette before flicking away the remaining tobacco, snuffing it with his shoe, and tossing the empty butt in a nearby can.

“Just between you and me, she’s done some weird things, but she’s great with the kids. I don’t know. I’ll look into it more. I don’t know a whole lot about her background if I’m being honest. I mean, before she came to the restaurant, I just don’t knowanything. She’s always maintained she doesn’t have any family or friends really. Can someone really have no one in their life?” I looked at him hoping he would make me feel better.

“It’s possible. And maybe I would believe it if I didn’t have this gut feeling about her. And your Ma has it too? Yeah, I’m not buying it. Be careful. If you need anything at all, I’m only a phone call and plane ride away. I mean it. I know we haven’t talked much over the years, but wearefamily. We have the resources to help you if you need it, too.” He lightly smacked my cheek, reminding me of my grandfather.

“Yeah, man. Thanks. I’ll keep in touch.”

“Hey, but beautiful kids you have. They look like Bianca. Good thing huh?” We laughed and headed back to the kids and Ma. We needed to say our goodbyes soon. I would miss my family, but I couldn’t wait to get home to Bianca.

Chapter 22

Bianca

I’d been sitting at the dining room table for hours when the police called. They’d obtained footage from the back alley camera of another store behind us and needed to see if I could identify the person in the video. My heart was thumping hard in my chest.

I walked into the police station and asked for Detective Miller, the lead detective working on my case. A tall, lanky guy with a mustache and brown hair walked out and said, “Mrs. Santorelli, I’m Detective Miller, please follow me.”

I politely smiled and followed him to a room in the station with a bunch of monitors in the corner.

“We have video footage that we obtained from Anchor Lumber. You guys share the alleyway, and they were more than happy to share their video footage.” He paused and when I didn’t say anything he continued.

“Oh, I can’t believe I didn’t think to ask them for that.”

“Well, most stores would hesitate to turn over their footage anyway, unless it’s the police asking for it, so don’t feel too bad. Anyway, there is an individual that can be seen walking up to the backdoor. Now, they tried to park down just down the road so their vehicle couldn’t be identified, but we were able to catch the front end of their vehicle. The only problem is there’s no license plate in the front. I’m wondering if you recognize either the person or the front of the car.”

My stomach was in knots. Detective Miller walked over to the tv and pushed a button to turn it on and then grabbed another remote to control the actual footage. He had it paused, and I thought I might throw up waiting for him to hit play. I wondered,Would I know this asshole? Would it be a complete stranger?Was it someone I wronged somehow?I didn’t know anyone besides our friends, and I hadn’t gotten into any altercations with anyone.Maybe I cut someone off in traffic or in the grocery store. People are so crazy these days, anything sets them off.

He finally hit play and I watched a person come from the corner of the screen. I inched my way closer to the TV and stared at the screen. First, they jiggled the handle on the back door. Then, they tried to wedge something in the door jamb. When they couldn’t get it open, they turned and walked back to the car with their head down. Just as they reached the front of the car, I could see they were holding a crowbar in their hand. Then, they turned and looked to the side, revealing their blurry face. Only to me, it wasn’t blurry at all. Was I seeing who I thought I was seeing?

I held my breath as I told the detective, “Please rewind that.” He hit rewind. “Stop! Stop right there.” He paused it where she looked to the side. My breath hitched and I felt like I was going to cry.

“Bianca, do you know this person?”

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t answer him. The front of the vehicle, though it didn’t have a license plate, I recognized as well. This couldn’t be. This had to be wrong.

I cleared my throat. “No, detective. I thought it would be clear enough and it almost looked like someone I knew, but no. Is there any other footage?”

“Bianca.” He hesitated and said, “Are you sure you don’t recognize this person. It looks like a woman. Maybe you recognize the car? Could it be one of your female employees?”

The thundering in my ears was strong but I tried to breathe without the detective realizing I was trembling. “No. No, I’m sorry. I wish I could be of more help, but I don’t know who that is. It’s not any of my employees either. Is there anything else you need me to look at?”

He shook his head and looked at me from the corners of his eyes, clearly suspicious. “No. That’s all I have for now. I’ll be in touch if we come up with anything else that might help. If you rememberanythingelse, or if you think you might recognize the woman, please call me.” He handed me his business card and said, “I’ll walk you out.”

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