Page 36 of Vendetta
Valentino smiled apologetically. ‘Please don’t take it personally.’
‘It’s fine,’ I lied, turning from him and hurrying across the kitchen. My gaze fell upon a large black frame to the left of the door. It was hoisted midway up the wall and was unmissable from this angle. Inside the frame was the same crest I had seen on Nic’s knife – jet-black with a crimson falcon at its centre. Below the crest, in cursive red script, it read:la famiglia prima di tutto.Family before everything– Nic’s grandfather’s words, I remembered.
‘It’s just the timing of it…’ Valentino called after me.
I felt tingly all over and I wasn’t sure why. Everything felt so intense all of a sudden. Feeling my cheeks prickle as the colour drained out of them, I pulled the double doors of the Priestly kitchen closed behind me.
I had barely made it to the end of the block when someone grabbed the back of my T-shirt. I stumbled backwards and bumped against a small cushioned body with a softoomph!
I sprang around, shrugging away from the vice-like grip.
‘Mrs Bailey?’ The shrillness in my voice alerted me to an octave I didn’t know I could reach. ‘What are you doing?’
The old woman contorted her face like she had just bitten into a lemon. ‘I could ask you the same question, Persephone Gracewell. What on earth do you thinkyou’redoing?’
‘I’m on my way home. My shift at the diner starts in an hour.’ I wrung my hands to keep from shaking her. With the day I was having, this was the last thing I needed. ‘And my name is Sophie!’
‘I saw you go into that house,’ she shot back. ‘I told you to stay away from that family. You were in there so long I nearly called the police!’
‘Are you serious?’
She stiffened. ‘Haven’t you been reading the papers?’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘I’mtalkingaboutseveraldisappearances andtwostrange deaths in the last two weeks – all of whom were members ofthiscommunity, andyouhaven’t even noticed. Open your eyes, Persephone!’
‘They are open!’ Or so I had thought. I obviously had a lot of googling to do.
Mrs Bailey was still ranting, pointing her finger directly in myface. ‘People don’t just drown in their own bathtubs, you know. And they don’t accidentally fall off roofs either!’
‘What are you saying?’ I asked, folding my arms to keep the sudden chill at bay.
Mrs Bailey dropped her voice. ‘I’m saying there’s a wrongness in that house and it’snotsomething you should be anywhere near.’
I didn’t make an attempt to hide my irritation. Another day, another rumour. ‘You can’t just go around saying stuff like that, Mrs Bailey!’
‘There’s a darkness,’ she hissed, her resolve unbroken.
I started walking again, quickening my pace so that she had to scurry to keep up. ‘It’s grief! They’re mourning their father.’
She didn’t seem the least bit surprised by my response. In fact, she snorted.
I gaped at her. ‘Do you find thatamusing?’
‘That man deserves to be where he is.’
I skidded to a halt.
She caught up with me, her chest heaving.
‘What did you just say?’
‘Listen to me very carefully, Persephone.’ She tugged at my arm, pulling me closer so that she could whisper. ‘That man deserves to be in the ground. And if those boys are anything remotely like him, then they do too.’
For a long moment I stared at her, my fists clenched at my sides, my nostrils flaring. I was desperately trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, but with the way my emotions had been back-flipping all day, I wanted nothing more than to reach out and throttle her. Was that the kind of stuff she said aboutmebehindmyback? Her thoughts on my father had alwaysbeen crystal clear. ‘How could you say something like that?’ I demanded.
Mrs Bailey looked over her shoulder, her eyes darting back and forth. ‘Persephone,’ she hissed through trembling lips. ‘There’s a reason that man was called the Angel-maker.’
