4 Cupids Curse (16 page)

“That was after you’d visited your mom. She lived in that big house with the pool and horse stables
, and she had a staff that took care of the cooking and cleaning, and you were convinced she must really be some sort of a princess if she could have such fabulous things. When your grandfather’s aide brought you back to me, you insisted that if your mom was a princess, then you must be too, and insisted on having a castle. I couldn’t give you a real one, although believe me, I wished at the time that I could. I built the one in your room and you seemed happy. I think you were five, or maybe six.”

“Was it hard for you to let me visit Mom?” I asked a
s I continued to go through boxes of long-forgotten treasures.

“Yes and no. I wanted you to have a relationship with your mother
, but I missed you when you were gone, and I always felt bad that I couldn’t give you the same things when you came back with tales of swimming in her pool or learning to ride a horse.”

“Yeah
, but what you gave me was so much more.” I held up a silver candlestick. As long as I was going through boxes, I figured I might as well search for something to use as a weapon if I was given the chance to use it. “I visited Mom, but you were the one who never left. I think Mom really wants to be a better mother this time around.”

“
When is she due?” Dad asked as I considered whether silver candlesticks or crystal goblets would work better as a means of self-defense.

“April.”

“And everything is going well?”

“She says this pregnancy has been harder on her th
an when she was pregnant with me, but she seems to be doing okay.”

“I sure hope we get out of here
.” Dad sounded scared. “I’d hate to miss watching Harper grow up. Being a father to you is the most important thing I’ve done in my life. Now that you don’t need me anymore, I find I’m really looking forward to having another opinionated, impulsive, and intuitive daughter to raise.”

I found a blanket and wrapped it around
Dad’s shoulders. He continued to shiver, and I began to suspect that the shivering had more to do with shock than the cold.

“You know how much I like being right,” I teased, “
but I really am sorry I was right this time. I know you cared for Blythe.”

“I was lost when your mom left
last fall. Blythe came along and filled a void. I never really loved her, but I’ve been alone my entire life and it felt right to have someone to come home to. These past few years since you’ve moved out have been lonely. Although”—Dad groaned as he adjusted his position, and I could see he was in pain—“I do suppose that being alone is preferable to shacking up with a killer.”

I snuggled up to Dad as close as I could. I willed my body to share its warmth with the person
who meant more to me than anyone else on the planet.

“I guess we’ve all ha
d dates from hell,” I teased. “Remember when I was totally into Drake Bitterman?”

“That
hippie wannabe who wore tank tops, bell bottoms, and sandals, even in the winter? He talked about free love, finding yourself, and living without the constraints of modern mores. I was so worried you’d marry him and move to a commune or something. I’m not sure I ever saw the guy when he wasn’t high. Whatever happened to him?”

“He made millions of
dollars selling medical marijuana. The last time I saw him, he was wearing a suit and heading for a medical conference.”

Dad laughed. “I guess you never can tell about people.”

“Yeah, I guess not.”

Dad stiffened. “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah.” I listened. “It sounds like voices.” The voices were coming through the heating vent, but they weren’t loud enough to make out. “I bet it’s Zak.”

“
I hope he won’t end up down here with us.”

“He’s much smarter than I am. I doubt he’ll come waltzing in unarmed.”

The voices quieted and I heard the door close.

“Whoever it was left,” Dad said.

“Yeah, it might have been a door-to-door salesman for all we know.”

Dad let out a deep breath. I could tell he was beginning to lose hope.

“Don’t worry. The good guys always win,” I promised.

“I love you
.” Dad looked directly into my eyes.

“I love you too.”

“Whatever happens, I want you to know that having you in my life has made all the difference.”

I was pretty sure I was going to cry
, but then we heard a rustling coming from upstairs. Dad and I held hands as footsteps neared the basement door. We held our breath as it opened. Blythe stood at the top of the stairs with the gun she’d had earlier.

“As much as it
disturbs me to do so, I guess we’re going to need to hurry things along. I hate to end things early, but I really can’t abide any more interruptions.”

“Your real name is
Adriana.” I suppose that fact was irrelevant now, but my instinct told me to stall by keeping her talking.

“I had a f
eeling you weren’t going to be convinced that Anthony simply made a mistake. I really hoped you’d drop it after Joey was killed and you got distracted with the murder case.”

“You killed Trent
?”

“No, Anthony took care of that for me
.” Blythe, or I guess I should say Adriana, chuckled.

“But you knew Trent, or I guess I should say Joey
.”

“
I did,” Blythe admitted. “Joey and I are from the same neighborhood in New York.”

“You belonged to the same
Mob family that Joey did,” I realized.

“I married into the family.
Giovanni Lombardi was my father-in-law, a position, I might add. that he was less than thrilled about. I made the mistake of falling in love with his oldest son, Russo. When Giovanni found out, he tried to break us up, but Russo told his father that if anything happened to me, he’d leave the family. Eventually, Giovanni gave in and blessed our union. Russo had to swear that he’d put the family first in all situations.”

Blythe pause
d. I could tell she’d really loved Russo. Her face softened and the demon looked almost human for the first time since I’d met her. “Things were fine at first. I knew Russo was involved in illegal activities and that quite a few deaths in the area could be attributed directly to him, but I loved him and he loved me. He’d come home to me every night and I’d forget about the details of his day job. The problem started when my brother joined a rival family. Giovanni ordered Russo to kill him. Russo refused. Giovanni reminded him that he’d sworn to put the family first, and that he wouldn’t let his marriage to me interfere with his duties to them. When he still refused, Giovanni killed my husband right in front of me, on Valentine’s Day. I guess he felt he needed to send a message, but I loved Russo so very much.”

Oh God.
“And Joey?” I asked.

“
Joey was just a kid at the time of Russo’s death, but he recognized me when we ran into each other a while back. We both wanted to hide from Giovanni, so when he told me about this place where it was easy to get lost, I moved here. I guess I admired the fact that he stood up to the family by ratting them out. I’ve hated those people for years. I only wish I could have had the courage to do something about it.”

“So you killed innocent men instead?”
Dad chimed in.

“I did
n’t start off intending to kill anyone. It happened with the first one by accident, and then it got easier. It was Valentine’s Day, the anniversary of Russo’s death. I’d married Owen, a man I didn’t love but found companionship with, the previous November. He made my life a bit more tolerable, but as Valentine’s Day approached, I began to resent the fact that he was alive and Russo was dead. I was so terribly despondent by the time February 14 finally rolled around. Instead of enjoying what I had with Owen, I mourned the love I
should
have had. There was a storm, and Owen went onto the roof to clear an exhaust pipe. I followed him and pushed him. I didn’t intend to do it when I started up to the roof. I guess I just gave into an impulse, but I found the experience to be completely cathartic. I felt better than I had since Russo’s death.”

“Why every three years?”
I wondered.

“Russo and I were married for three years before Giovanni took him from me.”

Blythe got a look on her face that could only be described as mournful. She’d really loved Russo. I couldn’t imagine how traumatic it must have been to watch her father-in-law kill his own son in front of her because he refused to kill her brother. I felt momentarily sad for her until I remembered that she intended to kill us.

“You killed Anthony
Martucci,” I asserted.

“That was the plan
, but someone beat me to it. Now that’s enough chitchat. Both of you, stand up and face the wall.”

“It seems like shooting us lacks the imagination you put into the other deaths,” I spouted
off. “No one is ever going to buy the fact that this was an accident.”

“I had something much more imaginative planned for your dad until you showed up and ruined everything. Now get up and face the wall.”

I held Dad’s hand as we stood up. “If you’re going to shoot me, you’ll have to look me in the eye,” I said as I refused to turn around.

“Very well.”
Blythe pointed the gun at us. I held my breath as she screamed and fell down the stairs. The gun flew out of her hand and I ran to get it. Zak stood at the top of the stairs, a look of relief on his face. He rushed down the stairs and hugged me.

“Are you okay?” Zak ran his arms up and down my body to make certain I was in one piece.

“I’m okay, but Dad . . .” I turned around. My dad had passed out again.

“The ambulance is on the way,” Zak assured me.

“You heard?”

“I heard most of what Blythe said,” Zak confirmed. “I even recorded it with my phone. I guess this pretty much wraps things up.”

“With a single missing piece,” I reminded Zak. “Who killed Anthony Martucci?”

Zak looked directly into my eyes.
“I think we both know the answer to that.”

“Yeah
.” I sighed. “I guess we do.”

“I’ve called Salinger,” Zak
said. “He’s on his way as well. If you want to go with your dad, I can talk to him and let him know that he can speak to you there if he needs to.”

“Yeah, okay, thanks.”

Zak kissed me. “I’m sorry. I know you really believed he was innocent.”

“Actually,” I admitted
, “it’s not so much that I believed it, it was more that I
wanted to
believe it.”

“I know. Me too.”

Shortly after Zak arrived
, the ambulance showed up and took my dad to the hospital. I went with him, while Zak went back to his house to pick up my mom, who’d insisted on going to the hospital when she heard what had happened to Dad. Once Dad had been checked out and we were assured that he was going to be okay, Zak and I headed over to the sheriff’s office to file a report, as Salinger had requested.

Dad’s head injury was actually fairly minor
, but they wanted to keep him for a day or two for observation. Mom wanted to stay with Dad for a while, so Dr. Westlake volunteered to bring her home when he got off at nine.

“Thank you for coming,” Salinger greeted
us. “How’s your dad?”

“He’ll be okay. They
’re going to keep him for a couple of days, but he should be as good as new once his head injury heals.” I looked directly at Salinger. “I guess you were right about Kevin.” It pretty much killed me to admit that I’d been wrong and Salinger had been right, but fair is fair.

“Actually, I’m not so sure that I am.
I’ve just received the official ME’s report. The coroner has placed Anthony Martucci’s time of death at between eight and nine-thirty p.m. on Sunday evening. According to two different sources, Kevin didn’t return home from his ski trip until ten p.m.”

“So he couldn’t have done it,” I
said. “Then who?”

“We’ve brought Maureen Michaels in for questioning.
She’s denying that she’s involved in any way, but the clues we’ve been able to assemble seem to point to her. The problem is that we don’t have any real proof, so unless we can come up with something substantial, we’ll have to cut her loose,” Salinger admitted. “I was hoping you might have something that could help us nail down the case.”

“She lied,” I realized
. “Why would she lie?”

“Care to elaborate?” Salinger asked.

“When Zak and I asked her about an alibi for Kevin, she said they were together all night. If Kevin was out of town until ten, then she lied. I should have realized it. I knew Kevin had gone skiing. It was the reason Trent was at the Zoo on Sunday night in the first place. God, I’m so mentally challenged.”

Salinger laughed. “There
were many instances when I would have agreed with your assessment of your mental capabilities, but in this case, I think you should give yourself a break. You didn’t yet know the timeline for Martucci’s murder, so you probably didn’t give a second thought to Maureen’s alibi for Kevin, and you’ve had a lot on your mind with the opening of the Zoo and what not.”