La Sposa (44 page)

She tortured him. Crashing in bliss, and
grunting with passion, together they released.

America –

Catalina strolled around Mira’s office.
Strangely, she felt Mira everywhere. Hell, even after all these
years, the room and belongings smelled of her. There were swaths of
fabric left around, and an easel with a half drawn design. An
antique sewing machine sat next to a modern one. The desk and
computer, along with bookshelves and dress mannequins, were all to
be expected. What stopped her cold were the photos. She was drawn
to a tack board with images of the city, parks, things captured
from the window, and other daily events frozen behind camera
lenses. Mira had circled some of them. Placed Post-it cards under
others, with notes of colors and design themes. She even saw a few
sketches of dress designs, apparently inspired by a few.

And the photos were only the beginning.
Catalina’s attention riveted toward several, with Mira posing in
the arms of the Asian man. She had read so much about this man.
Mira looked happy. The man did appear to be captivated with her in
every picture. One image depicted them against the backdrop of
snow-capped mountains in ski outfits. Another image looked like
they were at a formal affair. He was strikingly tall and
handsome.

Catalina gathered all six photos up and
stacked them in a neat pile on Mira’s desk. She then turned her
attention to the others, pictures of Fabiana and Mira. So many, the
pang of sympathy for how Fabiana died, pummeled her heart. Catalina
suppressed tears. Fabiana was a fireball, and it wasn’t just her
red hair. She had a larger- than- life personality. Every award or
fashion show they’d had during their years together, was captured
in the silver-framed photographs. Catalina walked around the office
and gathered every single photo. She stacked them neatly on the
desk and went to the phone.

“
Vicki, can you come in here
please?”

The receptionist walked in and
smiled.

“
We need two boxes. One for trash.”
She pointed to the images of Kei and Mira. “And another to mail
these,” she pointed at the images of Fabiana. “Back to Italy. And
also, bring me the project design plans for this season and
next.”

“
Those are Carole’s and she is very
particular.”

The request was a highlighted one from Mira,
in the folder Catalina studied. “I don’t care. I’m here to review
Carole’s designs because Mira said so. Bring them in to me. That’s
all.”

The young woman nodded and walked out.
Catalina sat down behind the desk slowly, unable to stop grinning.
Mira had told her what to do, but she never told her how gratifying
calling the shots on anything outside of the family affairs of
Melanzana
would be for her. She could really see herself as
the boss.

Riker’s Island –

James Walker swallowed down his pain. He had
years of practice after being caged behind bars for a crime he
didn’t commit. He was now seated again in front of Dominic, stone
faced. But he was talking. And he had one helluva story to
tell.

“
Lisa was too young to get a job
when we ran away. I was too fucking ignorant to take the jobs given
to a colored man then. I wanted more for my baby—and myself. I
planned to set her up in a nice house and treat her like a fine
lady. Like them rich white women where we from.”

Dominic nodded, encouraging him to
continue.

“
Anyways, there is only one way a
nigger like me can make that happen. Either steal it or flip the
shitty hand dealt my way. My height and strength made me able. We
ran away to Philadelphia.” He paused. Dominic patiently waited for
him to continue. “This was before the civil rights movement. Things
were hard for us. Really hard. The only job I could get with decent
pay was for the Italians who ran the neighborhood club called
Manny’s. Lisa refused to sit home and do nothing. She got a job at
a Chinese Laundromat not far from the club, making pennies. One
day, she came to meet me after she got off work. I normally walked
her home because it was kind of rough, the area we were in. She got
tired of waiting and went inside. Lisa was brave but really naïve.
Coloreds weren’t allowed in Manny’s unless they were part of the
staff. And they sure as hell didn’t walk through the front door.
Lisa knew this, but she figured it was my job, and it would be okay
because it was a neighborhood spot. She’d never been inside a club
before.”

“
And then what happened?” Dominic
asked, pressed for time. James would not be rushed. Speaking about
Lisa seemed to be some kind of therapy for him.

“
The club wasn’t open yet. Lisa,
being who she was, gravitated to the piano and began to play. She
loved music. Played the organ in her father’s choir. That’s where I
first saw her, in church. I was three years older than her.
Prettiest chocolate baby I ever seen. And then the day came when
she got up from that organ and took the microphone. No one could
sing like her. I fell in love. Her father put a gun on me. Said she
was too young, and I was to stay away. I never did. Before, I
seduced her with words of love and she was mine. All mine. There
was no going back after that.”

“
Go on.”

James cleared his throat. “She sang right
there in the empty club. Sang her head off, I heard later from one
of my boys. A few people who worked for Manny’s gathered and she
didn’t stop. It wasn’t long before one of the Italians heard her.
Instead of throwing her out the door, he went in the back room and
got Manny Cigars. They called him that because he shot a man once
for taking a cigar out of his private cedar box without asking. He
was the only Sicilian in the mix. He came straight off the boat. We
called his kind ‘zips’. Sicilians were worse than the Italians.
They were cold-blooded, prejudiced motherfuckers that were dirt
poor but still felt superior to any one in the business. They
created the mafia and let the Italian boys know. Manny Cigars spoke
mostly in Italian, except when it came to American curse words.
Manny had a thing for cursing you out in English. I heard he
arrived from Sicily to get out of some Mafia war or something and
set up business with Frankie Dimes and Boss Pete. Mean fucker.
Silent, and deadly, is what we would say. Manny would be the
bastard who walked up on a father and a sleeping baby, put a knife
in him and the child if it got in the way of his strike. He’d slit
your throat, and then step over your body to sit down to eat the
dinner you left on the table. Everybody was afraid of
Manny.”

“
Including you?”

James gave a single nod. “He opened the club
for the Italians. Funny though, shortly after it opened they turned
around and signed it right back over to him. It was a strange time
with Italians and Sicilians mixing it up regularly. Like they were
one. But then they were fighting and gunning each other down in the
streets of Sicily and Italy, I hear.”

Dominic frowned at the history lesson, trying
to connect the dots. James continued, “When Lisa was singing, they
went and got Manny. The wrong fucking bastard to ever lay eyes on
my sweet chocolate baby.”

“
What happened when Manny saw
her?”

“
I don’t know exactly. When I
arrived, he had her sitting at a table with him alone. That’s how I
found them. I confronted the motherfucker. Yelled at her. Scared
her to death. Not Manny though. I’ll never forget the amused look
he gave me. He smiled. Said some stupid shit in Italian and called
off his boys from cracking my skull, for the disrespect. I think he
lied to her. Said he could make her a star. Because after that
meeting with him, she asked me over and over again if I thought she
could be. I did lose it because of jealousy, but Lisa was special,
and I had to protect her. You have to understand, she was young,
but so beautiful. She had dark skin, the kind to make you think of
an African princess or something. And the curvy body of a grown
woman. Nothing she wore, no matter how modest, could hide how fine
she was. And her skin! Man, I’m telling you it made her flawless.
You just had to see Lisa.” James inhaled. “She was beautiful. And
she had a lot of hair. It was thick and curly. She wore it in these
puffs and fros that reminded me of a black halo.” He chuckled. “But
cute on her. It was her style. My sweet chocolate baby was
beautiful, inside and out. White and black men stopped and checked
for baby girl when she entered a room. She never noticed those
looks. But I did. I always did. And that day, I saw Manny had that
look too.”

“
So Manny pulled her in?” Dominic
guessed. He knew how things went down when a man took an interest
in a woman, in their world. Typically, a man in the organization
would be afforded respect by the others; and no matter how
appetizing their wife or girlfriend was, the oath of the Mafia
dictated that you not make a move on her. But James wasn’t even a
cugine
—a solider in training to be a
capo
. He was
nothing more than an associate—a black one. Lisa was fair
game.

“
I was told to bring her back. That
she had a job. I had no choice. Lisa sang for the club. Initially.
Manny wouldn’t be satisfied until she did more. Cornered her and
tried to force himself on her. Lisa ran off, but she told me what
he did. I walked in there and told Manny that he would have to put
a bullet in me, because if he ever touched her again, I’d put one
in him. Everyone thought I’d lost my mind. Manny however, said he
was impressed. Liked my nuts. Said he’d respect my woman and that
was the last time she sang for the club. I should have taken her
back to her people in Virginia right then and there. I protected
her from Manny, and from me. But I was weak and stupid enough to
think the fucking Sicilian could be handled. He sweetened the pot
by lining my pockets with good jobs. Ones the Italian boys did.
Even sent Lisa a few expensive gifts, as an apology.”

Dominic thought of the trafficking of women
that the
Camorra
did with the Russians and Albanians. It
turned his stomach. He was glad Giovanni ended that part of their
business when he learned of how young the women were
becoming.

“
I have a question, James,” Dominic
asked. “Did you know the Sicilian’s real name? His Sicilian
name?”

James nodded. “Marsuvio Mancini. We called him
Manny.”

Dominic’s chest tightened at the news. He
blinked, dumbfounded. “That’s not possible,” he said.

“
What? What’s not
possible?”

“
Manny Cigars. He couldn’t be
Mancini.”

“
Fuck you! It is him! I know the
fucker. Marsuvio Mancini is his fucking name!”

Dominic rubbed his brow, trying to make sense
of it all.

“
That fucking Sicilian stuck me in
here to steal my baby from me. Set me up to take a job that sent me
upstate. Burned down those fucking Italians and killed a few cops,
they were on the take too. Some Mafia bullshit, I got caught up in
the mix. The fucking dagos here told me not to finger him for the
fire. I didn’t. I’m no fucking snitch. Instead, I broke three of
their fucking necks for sport. Fuck you, zip. Fuck you and him!
Guard!” James stood.

“
Wait, we aren’t done.” Dominic
panicked.

“
Suck my dick you dirty dago! I
ain’t talking about this shit no more. Tell her daughter I’m sorry.
But if she got Manny’s blood in her, she’s part- white man devil
and I’m glad Lisa died to never lay eyes on her. So fuck you all
for what you did to Lisa. Fuck you!” he said, turning and shuffling
toward the door. Dominic dropped back in the chair. The door opened
and closed. James Walker was gone.

*****

“
You’ve been in here for awhile.
Mind if I check in?” Theodore asked.

Catalina glanced up from her reading. She
smiled her agreement and then lowered her eyes to the project plans
of Carole. They consisted of design ideas, color themes for
daywear, swimwear, and evening wear. All of it was
fascinating.

“
I see you were able to get your
hands on Carole’s designs?”

“
Technically, they belong to Mira.
Right?” Catalina asked.

“
Technically,” Theodore chuckled.
He turned and noticed two boxes with photos on the floor. “What’s
this?” He lifted the box by the flap and read the word ‘trash’ on
the side. “You’re throwing away Kei’s photos?”

“
Of course,” Catalina
said.

“
May I ask why?”

Catalina abandoned her work and sat upright.
She wanted to put everything to memory before she called Mira. But
Mr. Tate was insistent on chatting her up. “Mira wouldn’t want
those photos. My brother would never allow them in the house. They
are trash! And those.” She pointed at the other box. “Those are the
treasures Mira left behind. I’m sending them back to Italy. We all
miss Fabiana.”

“
I see. Well, you have it under
control. I wanted to offer to take you to a late lunch. It’s your
first day at work and you haven’t eaten.”

“
No thanks.” Catalina flipped the
ledger and scanned the next page.

“
I’m beginning to think you don’t
like me, Catalina.” Theodore replied.

“
Huh?” She looked up. “What did you
say?”