Chapter 15

Carlita cautiously made her way into the room at the end of the hall where her son Vinnie stood.

Enzo, Danny Lombardo's associate, lay sprawled out face down on the floor with a gunshot wound in his back. His right arm jutted at an odd angle. His left leg was in a similar position.

"It's Enzo. Is he…is he still alive?" She pressed a trembling hand across her mouth.

"I don't wanna touch him."

"How awful. It looks like some violence may have been involved. Poor man." Carlita fumbled inside her purse for a packet of travel tissues and handed him one.

Vinnie placed the tissue against his neck. "Nope. No pulse."

"We gotta call the cops."

"Do you know how this is going to look?" he asked.

"Like we killed him." Carlita felt as if someone had punched her in the gut. She had both motive and opportunity. This guy and Costanza were trying to get money from her. Money she didn't have, not to mention the "protection agreement" she didn't want or need.

Her mind whirled. Had Costanza killed him? Maybe it was Danny Lombardo. Wouldn't that be something—to kill your henchman and set it up so that a debtor who owed a lot of money became a prime suspect?

Another chilling thought occurred to her. "Tony, Mercedes and I were here yesterday and now Enzo is dead."

"Luigi and I were asking questions about him and the other guy last night at the Black Stallion," Vinnie reminded her.

"We can't just leave him." Carlita rubbed the sides of her arms. "I have a legitimate reason for being here. Technically, this property is still owned by Vinnie…by me."

"Your call, Ma. If Lombardo didn't take him out and Costanza didn't take him out, they're gonna think you're behind this," Vinnie said grimly.

Carlita placed her hand on her forehead. Yesterday, she thought things couldn't get much worse. Boy was she wrong!

"I'll have to figure it out. In the meantime, we need to call someone to come get him." Carlita dialed 911 and briefly explained the situation, how she and her son were checking on a vacant property they owned and found a body upstairs.

"The police are on the way."

Vinnie slowly circled around, studying Enzo. "This isn't a typical hit."

"Why?"

"They're not gonna come inside a building, climb the stairs, corner the guy and shoot him. Hitmen are more of a drive by group. It's a lot less messy."

"This is definitely messy. I need to go downstairs and wait for the cops."

"I'll go with you." Vinnie hesitated. "We should probably snap a couple of pictures. There's something weird going on here."

"Good idea." Carlita turned away while her son snapped photos of Enzo's body using his cell phone.

Back on the first floor, they made a beeline for the sidewalk, careful not to touch anything on their way out.

Carlita leaned against the building and closed her eyes. She felt a light touch on her arm. It was Vinnie. "You look a little pale. I can handle the cops."

"I'll be all right. To be honest, the police are the least of my worries. I can't help but feel somewhat responsible for this man's death."

"You didn't kill him, but someone did. I'm gonna give Tony and Mercedes a heads up to be on the lookout for Costanza." Vinnie typed out a group text, adding they would fill them in when they got home.

Less than five minutes later, two cop cars arrived.

Carlita greeted all four officers who emerged. "I'm Carlita Taylor, the owner of this property. My son and I were here checking on it and found a man's body upstairs."

"Do we need an ambulance?"

"Unfortunately, he's deceased."

"Show us where he's at."

"I'll take ‘em upstairs."

Carlita stood off to the side, letting Vinnie lead the officers into the building. She made a move to follow behind when the tips of her ears started to burn, a sure sign she was being watched.

She pivoted. Her eyes were drawn to a business catty corner to the property. Directly above the doors and in big bold letters, was Spiffy Clean Laundromat. Below it and in smaller letters was, Dry-Cleaning.

It was the same laundromat mentioned in the dated news story about the suspicious vandalism and destruction right around the time of Vinnie's death.

Despite the black metal bars, Carlita could clearly see through the floor-to-ceiling glass window. A woman, well advanced in years and hunched over, stared back at her through binoculars.

Carlita took a step off the curb and hesitated. On one hand, she wanted to chat with the owner or manager. On the other, she needed to be upstairs to keep an eye on what was going on. Although she knew Vinnie could handle the situation. In fact, she wasn't overly concerned about the police suspecting her.

She and her children were innocent. Her biggest concern was why Enzo was at her property and why his killer had left his body in her building.

As Vinnie had pointed out, this wasn't the family's typical MO. They were more into drive-by shootings and filling their victims full of bullets types of killers.

This seemed a little more…premeditated. Regardless of how Enzo had died, he was in her building. Lombardo's guy, a man who was putting the squeeze on Carlita and her family, was now dead.

Which meant if the mafia boss hadn't taken out his own person to set Carlita up, someone else had, and Lombardo wouldn't take too kindly to it. It was a no-win situation.

Before Carlita could decide whether to chat with the laundromat's binocular-beaming gawker, an officer appeared.

"I have a few questions for you, Mrs. Garlucci."

"Yes. Of course."

Casting a final glance toward the laundromat, Carlita stepped back inside. "Your son, Mr. Garlucci, mentioned he thought you might know the deceased."

"He's an acquaintance."

"Acquainted how?" The cop removed a notepad and pen from his pocket.

"My deceased husband purchased this property some years ago, unbeknownst to me. Mr. Enzo, I'm not sure if this is his first or last name, and another man who goes by the name Costanza, showed up at my restaurant, Ravello's a couple days ago. They informed me my husband had borrowed money, now owed to their boss, who took over the loan and wanted to reach an agreement regarding repayment."

"Did you reach an agreement?"

"Not yet. They were supposed to return this morning after I had a chance to review the paperwork, to make sure it was legitimate. They never showed."

"So you stopped by here to…"

"My son, Vinnie, who lives in New Jersey, came down to visit. When Mr. Enzo and Mr. Costanza didn't show up, he asked if he could take a look at the property."

"Go on."

"So, we came here to see it. When we went upstairs, we found Mr. Enzo's body."

The officer continued writing. "We'll need to see a copy of the papers and will also need the lender's name."

"Of course."

"Do you know how we might track down this associate, Costanza?"

"I'm sorry. I don't. As I mentioned before, Mr. Enzo and Mr. Costanza were supposed to meet me at my restaurant this morning and never showed up."

He asked a few more questions, including if Carlita or Vinnie owned a gun.

"My son has one."

Vinnie appeared, and Carlita motioned him to come over. "The officer is asking us if we own a gun."

"I have one." Vinnie handed it to him.

The officer thoroughly examined his weapon, snapped a photo, and jotted down his information. His next line of questioning was about where they had been during the previous twenty-four hours, since the last time she'd seen Enzo alive. He took her address, told her not to leave the area, and promised he would be in touch.

While they were talking, a crime scene team arrived. They secured the property and ushered Carlita and Vinnie out onto the sidewalk.

While investigators continued working, another man, a person Carlita had never met before, arrived. The officer introduced him as Detective Ellery. He and the officer she suspected was in charge stepped off to the side while she and Vinnie hung out nearby.

"What do you think?" Carlita muttered under her breath.

"For now, they seem to be okay. Something tells me when they start digging around, it's gonna be a completely different story." Vinnie lit a cigarette, took a long drag, and blew the smoke away from his mother. "It could've been his boss. It could've been the other guy, Costanza. Or it could have been someone else."

"The bottom line is I'm on the hook or I'm on the short list."

"We need to figure out what happened, and fast."

The conversation ended when the investigator made his way over. "It appears the Savannah-Burnham Police Department is well acquainted with you, Mrs. Garlucci."

"Mrs. Taylor. I recently remarried," Carlita said. "I was gonna say you must be new to the police force. I know most of the investigators. Detective Wilson. Detective Polivich."

"I'll need your current address. I'll also need a copy of the documents you and Mr. Costanza and Enzo were negotiating."

"And I'll be happy to give it to you." Carlita rattled off her home address.

The investigator frowned. "This is the Parrot House Restaurant's address."

"My husband owns the restaurant. We live in the apartment above it."

"And you also own…" Ellery flipped through his notes. "Ravello's Italian Eatery."

"Correct."

The detective gave her an odd look. "We'll be in touch. As a reminder, the property is off limits until we wrap up our investigation."

"I understand."

Carlita waited until they went back inside the building. "Remember how I said the cops were the least of my worries?"

"Yeah."

"I've changed my mind. They're right up there with Danny Lombardo now."