Chapter 17

"You need to come to my office and check it out for yourself." Circling around to the front of the building, Carlita and her family followed Elvira into the EC Investigative Services office via the front door.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" A blue and yellow macaw started squawking. "Take ‘em down. I repeat, take ‘em down."

Carlita approached the bird's cage, which was sitting on top of a file cabinet next to the window. "Who is this?"

"Snitch, the bird I adopted," Elvira said.

"I didn't know you were an animal lover."

"As a general rule, I'm not. They're messy and a lot of work, but I got to thinking about Pete's bird and how he keeps a close eye on what's happening."

Carlita grinned. "So you thought you would adopt a talking bird?"

Elvira tapped the side of her forehead. "Snitch. Get it?"

"You bought a parrot to spy on your staff." Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"Snitch doesn't miss a thing," Elvira boasted.

"Gotta keep an eye out. What's going down?" Snitch let loose an entire monologue, most of it involving food.

Elvira snapped her fingers. "Time for a rest."

"Time for a rest." Snitch tucked her head down and closed her eyes.

"And very well trained, I might add," Pete said. "Gunner hardly ever listens to me."

"Snitch is smart as a whip. However, she does like to talk a lot. I have to admit, I'm a little concerned. She seems a little off today."

"What do you mean?" Carlita asked.

"She's barely touching her food."

Pete walked over to the cage, studying the parrot. "She could still be adjusting to her new environment. Or she may be lonely and in need of a friend."

Elvira brightened. "Maybe I could bring her over to meet Gunner."

"It might help."

"Thanks for the offer. I'll continue monitoring the situation." Elvira eased into her office chair and lifted the screen on her laptop. "Back to the matter at hand. For the most part, things were quiet up until around midnight when something odd happened."

The group gathered behind Elvira's computer screen, studying the alley between the buildings. Appearing from the right, coming from the vicinity of the parking lot, a man clad in dark clothing moved at a brisk clip past Ravello's rear employee entrance. He walked all the way past Carlita's apartment building until reaching the pawn shop at the opposite end.

Elvira switched cameras. The man reappeared. Although the image was grainy, Carlita was almost positive it was Costanza. "This is the other guy, Costanza."

"Yep," Tony agreed. "It's him."

"At least he's alive."

They watched as he pulled something from his pocket. He knelt next to the side of the pawn shop and then slowly made his way to the other end.

"What is he doing?" Mercedes asked.

"I don't know." Elvira hit the pause button and zoomed in. "Planting explosives?"

"Bite your tongue." Carlita slipped her reading glasses on. "It almost looks like he's measuring."

"I was thinking the same thing," Pete said. "He's measuring the buildings."

"To figure out how many explosives he's gonna need to take down all three?" Elvira asked.

Carlita slugged her in the arm. "Stop with the talk about blowing up buildings. You're making me nervous." She turned to her oldest son. "What do you think, Vinnie?"

"I gotta agree. It looks like he's taking measurements. Check it out."

Elvira pressed the play button again.

Costanza shoved whatever he was holding in his pocket, pulled out a flashlight, and began shining it along the side of the pawn shop.

Mercedes and her mother exchanged an uneasy glance. Costanza was near where they had found the Marshland Isles Diamond hidden away behind the brick wall, except it was inside…in the basement below the pawn shop.

Yet, the man was in the general vicinity. Carlita remembered how Vinnie had named the property after the diamond. Had Danny Lombardo and his men done some digging around, found out about the diamond and thought it might be hidden somewhere on the Garlucci family's properties?

They wouldn't be far off. It had been there but was now long gone, thanks to Mercedes and Carlita's relentless hunt to find it.

Once again, Vinnie had put a target on her back from beyond the grave. Perhaps he thought he was being clever, believing the original lender would have no clue what the name meant.

Was Costanza on the hunt for the Marshland Isles Diamond? Maybe they thought Carlita killed Enzo and were plotting their revenge, but wanted to track down the diamond before they turned her properties into piles of rubble.

"He's looking for something," Elvira said.

Carlita couldn't remember if she'd mentioned the diamond to Elvira. Those standing around her, as well as Tori Montgomery, knew about the diamond's existence. So did one other person—Ozzie Stagusso—who was currently safely locked up and serving time in a New York prison.

Carlita stared at the image of Costanza examining her wall, the pieces falling into place. Ozzie Stagusso was involved with Danny Lombardo. Carlita would bet her life on it. "Lombardo might be a new resident here, but something tells me he has connections."

She placed her hands on her cheeks. "Who else was snooping around recently, searching for gems, I might add?"

"Louise Delmario," Elvira said. "Your building's previous owner."

"Who else?"

"Ozzie Stagusso," Mercedes and Tony said in unison.

"Bingo. Let's go with the theory Lombardo arrived here with his team. He's setting up his business, collecting old debts, including Vinnie's. He's a smart man, does some digging around, and somehow connects with Stagusso."

Tony picked up. "Stagusso tells him about the gems and wants in on the deal. Maybe Lombardo plans to take our properties out but won't because Stagusso convinces him Delmario's gems are here."

"I have plenty of upstate connections," Vinnie said. "I can find out if scumbag Stagusso teamed up with Lombardo."

"We need to know," Carlita said. "If they think there's something here, it will buy us some time. If they don't, the clock is ticking."

"Because Lombardo is going to be after blood," Elvira said. "If he didn't take out his guy Enzo, he's gonna think you did."

"Meaning he'll double down and make sure we pay."

Elvira tapped the keys. "I'll forward a copy of him taking the measurements to you."

Carlita thanked her and headed for the door. "The first thing we need to do is figure out what happened to Enzo."

"Start blowing stuff up," Snitch said. "Scumbag Stagusso."

Vinnie excused himself to make a few phone calls.

Meanwhile, Carlita, Pete, and her children gathered in the alley again.

"The next logical step is for us to go back to Morton Street." Carlita told them about the old woman with the binoculars inside the dry-cleaning business. "Something tells me she doesn't miss a thing. A hundred bucks says the cops have already talked to her."

"There's no law saying we can't too," Mercedes said.

"Later today, after they're gone." Carlita noticed Vinnie coming her way, an unreadable expression on his face. "That was fast."

"We've been keepin' an eye on Stagusso for our own reasons. Word is he has connections with someone outside the immediate New York family network."

"Danny Lombardo," Carlita said. "It has to be."

"This would be my guess."

Mercedes' cell phone chimed. "It's Sam wanting to know where we are. I told him we're in the alley. He said he has some information and is on his way down."

"Hopefully, with some good news," Carlita said. "Although I'm not holding my breath."

Sam appeared moments later. "I spoke to one of my buddies down at the precinct. They found a pack of matches in Enzo's pocket from the Black Stallion Club and went over to talk to Phil Duce, the owner. Duce told the cops Vinnie and Luigi stopped by last night looking for him."