Chapter 22

"I miss hosting these family-style dinners in the hall." Carlita circled the folding table, adding extra plates for Cool Bones, Autumn, and Sam, the tenants Mercedes invited at the last minute.

"Me too. Maybe we should start hosting them once a month, casual get-togethers," Mercedes said. "It's so much fun having everyone over."

Autumn placed plastic cups next to the dinner plates. "And ditch our weekend courtyard soirees?"

"Nah. We can do both," Mercedes said. "I love cooking for everyone and pasta fits my budget."

"We could all chip in, turn it into a potluck," Cool Bones suggested. "It's good for the neighbors to get together."

"Agreed," Sam said. "Not to mention Mercedes is an excellent cook."

"I learned from the best—Ma," Mercedes said. "Instead of block parties, we'll have hall parties."

"Where's Dernice?" Carlita looked around.

"She's on her way," Luigi said. "She wouldn't miss a Garlucci dinner for nothing."

"What about Elvira?" Tony asked.

"She couldn't make it. Something about not wanting to leave Snitch alone. She asked if we would send a dish home with Dernice," Carlita said.

"If we have any leftovers," Sam added.

"Before I forget, Detective Ellery stopped by the pawn shop. He asked a few questions," Tony said.

"What kinds of questions?"

"How long we've owned the pawn shop, how many apartment units we had, how long Ravello's has been open. I also gave him a copy of the Morton Street loan agreement."

"I was wondering when he would show up," Carlita said. "Thank you for taking care of it for me."

"No problem."

The final guest arrived. The group gathered around the table, talking and feasting on delicious spaghetti and meatballs, along with buttery slices of thick garlic bread. Despite Mercedes insisting she wanted to handle the dinner herself, Carlita brought a tossed salad and grabbed dessert from the restaurant.

She waited until they were enjoying coffee and their decadent triple berry cheesecake before asking Dernice what she'd found.

"Like I figured, June was there. In fact, she lives there."

"Lives in the same building as her laundromat?" Carlita asked.

"Yeah. She remembered your husband, Vinnie. She mentioned seeing two women and a man there the other day."

"Me, Mercedes and Ma," Tony said.

"Based on what she said, it would be my guess." Dernice pointed to Vinnie. "She also commented on seeing you and Carlita over at the property."

"In other words, she doesn't miss a thing."

"Nope. She also remembers seeing Enzo and Costanza."

Carlita's heart skipped a beat. "Going inside the building?"

"Yep. After spending time inside your property, they stopped by her laundromat."

"Awesome." Mercedes clasped her hands. "What did she say about them?"

"They were asking a bunch of questions about the property, people hanging around, stuff like that. They were also interested in who some of the other business owners on the street were. I'm guessing it was them because she specifically mentioned they were wearing suits and had Italian accents."

"So Costanza and Enzo were checking the place out," Pete said. "What did she tell them?"

"I don't know. She didn't say. She made an interesting comment about the neighbor. I think she said his name was Barnie Ziffra. He owns a check cashing business. I guess he was planning on buying the place. Vinnie swooped in and got it first."

"Ziffra should count his blessings," Carlita muttered.

"June said something along the same lines about how he was lucky and she thought the place was cursed."

"I have to agree. Bombings, destruction, death. It doesn't have a great track record."

"Did you check out the check cashing place?" Luigi asked.

"Nah. Looking back, I should have. I was right there."

"It's okay," Carlita said. "I appreciate you finding out what you did. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Dernice polished off her last bite of cheesecake. "She's a sweet little lady with spunk. I'm guessing age-wise, she isn't a day under ninety but is young at heart."

"Thank you for inviting me to your delicious dinner." Cool Bones was the first to leave, explaining he needed to head out for band rehearsal. Sam was next, claiming he had a large tour group he was meeting downtown. Luigi and Dernice helped clear the table and then headed downstairs to his efficiency.

After loading the dishwasher, Carlita and Pete, along with Vinnie, strolled back to their apartment.

Vinnie lingered near the back door, smoking a cigarette while Pete and Carlita kept him company. "Any word on Elvira finding someone to take a look at your hole in the wall?"

"She's still working on it," Pete said. "We've already gotten our own professional opinion."

"Yeah?" Vinnie flicked his ashes on the ground. "What is it?"

"The restaurant, although already a historical location, may be sitting on another historical site. The expert was somewhat vague about precisely how historical, pending some testing, but he seems confident."

Carlita nudged her husband. "Let's show Vinnie."

"Show me what?"

"Pete and I found a piece of wood wedged in the ceiling. It's upstairs in the apartment."

"I'm not much into history, but I wouldn't mind checking it out. Have you found anything else other than a chunk of wood?" Vinnie's sharp eye caught the look that passed between his mother and Pete. "You found something."

"Maybe. We found a few small gems covered in dirt." Carlita held a finger to her lips. "You can't tell anyone."

"I won't. Elvira is going to flip out."

"Which is why we plan to keep it under wraps, at least until we can figure out what we have."

As soon as Vinnie finished smoking his cigarette, he followed the couple up to the apartment. Pete carried the piece of wood into the kitchen and set it on the counter.

"This looks like an old timber, even older than the floor currently in place." Pete ran a light hand over a pair of corner notches. "These notches are significant."

"Notched out to fit with another piece of wood," Vinnie guessed.

"I was thinking the same thing. It doesn't fit in with the ceiling structure. My guess is this was created for an entirely different purpose." Pete squinted his eyes. "Why didn't I think of this before?"

"Think of what?"

"I'll be right back." He ran down to his office and returned moments later, waving a roll of paper above his head. "This is it. Proof of what I've suspected all along."

Carlita squinted her eyes. "Proof of what?"

"This timber is from a pirate ferryboat, or as we've been calling it, a jolly boat." Pete unrolled the parchment paper, showing a detailed diagram of a jolly boat in the upper corner. "You can clearly see the notches. They match the notches in this piece of wood."

"But how did a piece of the boat wind up getting wedged in the ceiling, aka the restaurant floor?" Carlita asked.

"Imagine this." Pete set the timber on the end of the paper to keep it flat. "At one time, the river came up close to the restaurant. It was filled with water, sludge, mud. Who knows what else? The jolly boat somehow became marooned on shore. With a great deal of effort, the crew managed to get it back into the water."

Vinnie picked up. "While the crew was struggling to get it back into the water, a part of it broke off and became wedged in what is now the restaurant's floor."

"It's a perfect match." Pete beamed. "If my theory is correct, it's possible the area contains more gems, coins. We might be on the brink of finding cargo left behind by the crew."

"But why leave it behind?" Vinnie asked.

"Pirates were a wily bunch. Many of them spent time in prison. Few, if any, had squeaky clean backgrounds. It could be they found themselves running from the law, were forced to leave in a hurry and left some goods behind."

"So, what are you going to do?" Carlita leaned her elbows on the counter. "You don't have to wait for Poindexter's professional opinion or Elvira's expert, for that matter."

"True, although I would hate to disturb a piece of history, a piece of Savannah's history, because I didn't want to wait."

"It's your call." Vinnie shrugged. "What if the city finds out? They could step in and try to seize the property."

"Although Georgia doesn't have eminent domain—seizing private property for public use, they might try. Even if they do, I'll hire an attorney to stop them." Pete rolled the parchment paper up. "I need to sleep on this and consider my next step."

Ting. Ting.

The outer bell chimed. Carlita ran to the wall and flipped the monitor on to see who it was. "Hmm."

"Who is it?" Pete asked.

"You better put the stuff away. It's Elvira, and she brought someone with her."