Page 43 of Tito
“What about Rocky?” Romeo asked.
“He never knew about this!” I exclaimed. “He wouldn’t keep something like that from me.”
Romeo defensively raised his hands at me. “I didn't mean that. I mean we need to tell him.”
I stared at him. “We?” I asked.
“Damn, Tito.” Romeo scoffed at me. “You're my cousin. No, you are actually more than that. You and Rocky grew up here right beside us. You are our brothers. So yes, damnit.We!”
I reached over and patted him on the shoulder. “Ok, ok. Calm thyself, Romeo,” I teased him then glanced over at the clock. “Rocky’s at home with his wife right now. So I can’t talk to him. I really need to do that before I do anything. Then maybe he’ll have a plan. I mean I don’t want to…How will Mama react if we dredge this up? She still mourns our dad.”
“First stop after Rocky should be Stephano,” Julianna stated firmly. “There is no way that he didn’t know. He’s still connected to Cicily and the old country as it is called.”
I stared at her.
Raising her hands, she explained, “Hey, I’m a lawyer and I know the angles.”
“Yes and if this gets dicey, you and Romeo shouldn’t be anywhere near this,” I told her.
“Dicey?” Valencia asked.
I shrugged. “This is about murder, Valen. It will be dicey as hell.”
“Ohhh.” She shrugged. “I never thought that today would be…” She leaned her head onto my shoulder. “...so bad for you.”
I patted her head. “I lost him a long time ago… And it was bad for me then. But this murder thing makes no sense to me. He wasn’t mafia. He was just an ordinary Italian man with a small business.”
“Married to…the sister of an all out mobster, Tito,” Romeo bravely stated the facts.
I waved that off. “For one thing, your father wasn’t all that big in the mob back then. For another…why kill his brother-in-law, Angelo Bruno? He wasn’t well known and he never hurt a soul.”
No one answered.
“It’s a real mystery,” Julianna said as she looked thoughtful and distracted.
“Now, now,” Romeo admonished her. “I know you love mysteries, but Tito’s right, we have to be careful about this.”
“Come on,” Julianna whined. “A decade old mystery? Happened in Italy? With no witnesses and no motive? I want to start looking into it…like now.”
I smiled at her and looked over at Romeo.
He nodded at me. “Yes, this is what she’s like most of the time. Her life revolves around the game of Clue, I think?” He laughed. “We watch a lot of crime-drama shows.”
“You told me you loved them too!” Julianna retorted.
“I said, I loved watching themwithyou,” Romeo replied. “But the truth is…I love to watch you get animated as you're guessing about who done it. You have these stages. Like first, you get real quiet then your breathing picks up. Next, you are biting your lower lip and mumbling to yourself. Then I love your finale when you jump up and shout, I KNOW WHO DID IT!”
Valencia and I both smiled. No one could ever say that he didn’t love Julianna.
Valencia shook her head. “So you really are Romeo and Juliet! It was fate.”
“At least you two are funny together and not tragic like the play,” I mused.
“I mean I know you always thought your name was Julianna but wow! Romeo and Juliet?” Romeo exclaimed as he looked at Julianna. “It just makes it complete, ya know?”
I shook my head at him. “How can it be that you turned that whole name thing around? To make it about you?” I smirked at him.
He shrugged. “It’s a gift.”
