Chapter 13

Carlita gingerly stepped into the gated area and onto a blanket of fluffy snow. She held out her hand, palm turned up. A white flake drifted down and melted on her warm skin. "It's snowing."

"This is my new snowmachine." Elvira proudly patted the black box. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Why are you making snow?"

"Because of these." Her former neighbor held up a snowshoe. "I'm practicing."

"I'm not sure I want to go down this rabbit hole, but what the heck. Why are you making snow and walking in snowshoes?"

"For my trip to Alaska. I contacted a television producer up there. He's considering letting me have a look around their gold mining operations. It's in Whittier. Have you ever heard of it?"

"Nope."

"It's a cool place. The entire town lives in one big building. They live there, work there, even shop there. The schools are in the building. Everything."

"It sounds…interesting," Carlita replied diplomatically. "So…you're going to go see how an actual gold mining operation works."

"Yep. My mind is like a sponge. I figure I can go up there, check out the operations. By the time I come back home, I can tweak what I'm doing and maybe finally hit on something solid."

Carlita playfully peered into Elvira's ear.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking to see if there's anything else rambling around in your head that doesn't involve treasure, money, gems or gold."

Elvira swatted her hand away. "I need to learn from the pros. I can't think of anyone who knows more about gold mining than those Alaskan adventurers."

"When are you leaving?"

"I don't know. I'm still hammering out the details." Elvira told her she was trying to combine her trip to Whittier with a cruise on board Siren of the Seas to visit her boyfriend, Sharky Kiveski. "He'll be up there all summer. Timing is key. I'll need to time it right so I can hop on board. Whittier is the ship's turnaround port."

"I guess this means you'll be putting Pete's project on the back burner."

"No way. However, until we can get an archaeologist here to look at it, we're dead in the water," Elvira said. "Pete's got the tunnel locked up pretty tight."

Carlita grinned. "Triple locked. You've already checked it out."

"I may have swung by to make sure the tunnel was secure. You don't want to have someone snooping around, sneaking in and messing things up."

"No, we wouldn't now, would we?" Carlita arched a brow.

"Hey, I have to protect my potential investment too."

She changed the subject. "Show me how your snowshoes work."

Elvira's efficient snowmachine had been hard at work, adding another dusting and leaving a fresh blanket covering their tracks.

"Stand back." Elvira lifted her leg and took an awkward step forward. She tottered to the left, almost losing her balance. "It's harder than it looks."

"They look clunky. I think boots would be a better choice. What's the purpose?"

"I'm not a hundred percent sure. From what I can figure out, they're designed to keep you from sinking in deep snow." Elvira took another step and wobbled again. With arms flailing, she fell flat on her face.

Crack. The tip of the snowshoe broke off. "Great. These things are a pain in the Rumpelstiltskin."

"Maybe you should save them for when you have deeper snow. It could be you don't have enough to walk around on."

"Yeah. True. I was excited and figured it would be fun to try." Elvira flopped over, pulled them off, and tossed them aside. "Good luck with your collection people. So what kind of debt are they trying to collect?"

"A loan on a property here in Savannah. Vinnie bought the place not long before he died. I had no idea it even existed."

"Where is it?"

"Morton Street."

Elvira curled her lip.

"I know. It's not in a great area, although Annie Dowton seems to think it wasn't too bad of a deal. Tony, Mercedes and I took a look around yesterday. The place is nothing but a shell of a building."

"If you don't mind me asking, how much do you owe?"

Carlita rattled off the amount.

Elvira made a choking sound. "For a dump on that side of town? I wouldn't pay over a thousand for a place on Morton Street."

"Neither would I, but like I said, Annie didn't seem to think the price was too far off. Still, why Vinnie purchased the property from a less-than-reputable lender when he had these over here on this side of town is beyond me. The lender lived out of the country. I don't think he had any idea what he was investing in. He's here now and sent his associates to collect on the debt."

"And if you don't pay?"

"If I don't pay, there's a chance my businesses will end up looking like the building Vinnie bought."

"Reading between the lines, I'm guessing they're mob men. They're gonna blow them into smithereens, shoot ‘em up or firebomb them," Elvira said. "I've watched enough reruns of The Sopranos to know they'll get their money one way or another. A piece of free advice…make sure your properties are heavily insured."

"Which is another thing. My son, Vinnie, is here. He's been doing a little digging around. Rumor has it my husband bought the place and then torched it to collect the insurance."

"And this mob lender found out, so he's gonna squeeze every penny he can get out of you." Elvira slowly stood. "It sounds like you have a mess on your hands."

"There is another minor issue. They were hinting around about how even if I pay off Vinnie's debt, I'll be required to use their protection services. For a fee, of course."

Elvira let out a low whistle. "A good old-fashioned shakedown. You'll never get rid of them."

"That's what I'm afraid of. Either way, the Sicilian mafia has the Garlucci family in their sights."

"What about Vinnie? I mean, I guess I never asked, but is he part of the same family? Maybe he can help."

"Unfortunately, the two are unrelated. They're two separate families."

"The Castellinis versus the…"

"Lombardos. The boss's name is Danny Lombardo. I noticed an addendum to the original loan papers. There was an original lender and then this Lombardo guy took it over."

"Probably by killing someone." Elvira shook her head. "You can't make this stuff up."

"It appears not. Especially if it involves my family."

"Like I said, good luck."

"Thanks. I'm going to need it." Carlita turned to go.

Elvira stopped her. "It looks like the archaeologist chick is trying to squeeze a visit in within the next month or so. At least it's a little positive news, right?"

"Yeah." Carlita attempted a smile. "I'll take all the positive news I can get right now."