Revenge (20 page)

An inspector in the black and red uniform of
the
carabinieri
approached them. “Maresciallo Capo Silvio
Fuente,” he introduced himself. At Kate’s look of confusion, he
clarified his rank for her in lightly accented English. “Chief
Marshal. May we talk elsewhere?” he asked Enrico, though it was
clear from his voice that it wasn’t a question.

They went downstairs to the study. Kate and
Enrico sat side by side on the sofa and Fuente took one of the
chairs, crossing his ankle over his knee. He removed his hat and
perched it on his knee.

Enrico picked up the phone and called
Maddalena. He asked for espresso for all of them.

Fuente looked at Enrico closely. “So, at last
we meet,
signore.
”

Something passed between Fuente and Enrico,
and Kate picked up on it. “Why do you say that?” she asked.

Fuente raised an eyebrow at Enrico. “She
doesn’t know?”

“Know what?” Kate asked.

Enrico reached over and squeezed her hand.
“Nothing.” He turned to Fuente. “May we have a word in
private?”

Fuente gave him a small, tight smile. “Of
course.”

They walked outside to the rear terrace. What
did Enrico want to say to this man that he wouldn’t say in front of
her?

Enrico escorted Fuente out to the moonlit
garden. He glanced at Kate through the window. One wrong word from
Fuente in front of her…. He turned to the inspector. “You obviously
know who I am reputed to be.”

“Reputed? It is a fact.”

Enrico smiled, the same tight smile Fuente
had given him earlier. “But never proven in a court of law.”

“The law has limits; the truth does not.”

Enrico almost liked the man; he didn’t mince
words. “The
signora
does not know who I am alleged to be.
For her own safety, I wish to keep it that way.”

Fuente stroked his dark moustache with one
finger. “You are friends with Maggiore Alfonso, yes?”

Enrico wanted to smile, but he held it in.
Major Alfonso was the station chief in Milan. “I am. Very good
friends.”

“I have four children. They all wish to
attend private universities, but I have only a
carabiniere’
s
third-rank pay. It’s hard to get a promotion to fourth rank.”

“Practically impossible, as far as I
know.”

“
Sì.
It’s almost unheard of for an
inspector to be promoted to a commissioned officer’s rank.”

Enrico held in a smirk. “However, a man like
you—a thorough, honest man—should be noticed and rewarded. I’ll
speak to Maggiore Alfonso.”

Fuente inclined his head. “I am in your
debt.”

“And I am in yours.” Enrico clapped the man
on the back. “Do we have an understanding?”

Fuente smiled. “We do.”

When they returned, Kate’s eyes darted
between them, questions on her face.

“I apologize for the interruption,” Fuente
said to her.

“It’s nothing.” She looked hard at Enrico.
“What was that about?”

“My family was involved in a rather notorious
case years ago.”

“What happened?”

Time for the truth. Kate couldn’t be
frightened any more than she already was. “Carlo Andretti’s men
assassinated my mother and my two brothers.”

She stared at him in shock. “You told me they
died in an accident.”

“I didn’t want to alarm you. Carlo had
intended to kill us all. But my father and I were both stricken
with the flu and stayed home that day.”

There was silence for a moment while she
absorbed the information. Then Fuente spoke. “What Signor Lucchesi
has failed to mention is that the alleged assassins were all found
dead some years later.”

Fuck
. Enrico glared at Fuente.
What
kind of game is he playing
? “I fail to see what that has to do
with me.”

“Their deaths came shortly after your return
from England. Right before you married Andretti’s daughter, I
believe.”

“Yes. A few days before. But again, I fail to
see the connection.”

“You’re right,” Fuente said. “Nothing was
ever proven.”

“I was never even questioned. And I resent
being accused now.”

“Am I accusing you?” Fuente asked, his voice
mild.

Enrico took a deep breath. He’d taken the
bait.
Stupido
.

“I was merely informing your…”—Fuente waved
his hand at Kate—“houseguest of my interest in you.”

“Are you finished?” Enrico kept his voice
neutral. “We both are exhausted.” To make his point, he took a sip
of the steaming espresso Maddalena had brought in.

“My apologies.” Fuente turned to Kate.
“Signora Andretti, please tell me what happened here.”

Kate recounted what had occurred and why.
Enrico added details when she faltered or forgot them. Fuente
nodded, asked questions, and took notes. “We’ll need physical
evidence from both of you,” he said as he closed his notebook.

“We know. We haven’t even washed our hands,”
Enrico said.

Fuente’s eyes narrowed. “Nothing to hide,
yes?”

“I know how important it is to preserve
evidence.”

“Of course you do, Signor Lucchesi. Of course
you do.”

“Anyone who watches television knows that
much.” His voice had more snap to it than he’d intended.

Fuente chuckled. “Touché, Signor
Lucchesi.”

Kate looked sidelong at Enrico. Had he
murdered the men who’d assassinated his family? She recoiled a bit,
but part of her understood. The Old Testament ruled here: an eye
for an eye. If Vince had killed her parents… yes, she’d have wanted
him dead. But wanting it was one thing, doing it was another. She
knew that now, all too well. Even so, the part of her that was
appalled, horrified, by what she’d done was already drawing its
last breath.

This world certainly wasn’t the one she’d
grown up in. The rules were different; here the game had higher
stakes than she could have ever imagined. And this was the only
life Enrico had ever known. What would that do to a person? What
part of him would wither and die, what part would blossom?

And yet—this man hadn’t let all his love and
compassion go. She’d seen it in the way he treated the children at
the orphanage, in the obvious affection he felt for Antonio, and in
how he was with her, loving and gentle.

Enrico was different from her, yes. More
ruthless, more practical. Perhaps even more realistic, though she’d
accused him of not being so. But he wasn’t so alien that she
couldn’t accept him.

Unless he was who Vince said he was.

She couldn’t love a man who killed for gain.
That was a line she wouldn’t cross.

“Signora Andretti.” Fuente interrupted her
thoughts. He motioned to a female officer standing in the doorway.
“Brigadiere Clemente will take you to the hospital for
examination.”

“I’d like Enrico to go with me.”

“Of course. We’ll need to take evidence from
him as well.”

She got to her feet, grateful for Enrico’s
hand at her elbow, for the solidity of his presence beside her. She
hated needing him like this, hated feeling weak. But she was so
tired.

They walked out to a waiting police car.
Enrico helped her inside. “I need a word with Fuente before we
leave,” he said, then he closed the door.

Turning to Fuente, Enrico laid a hand on the
man’s shoulder and steered him a few steps away from everyone else.
“You are a clever man,
signore
,” Enrico said.

Fuente grinned. “If I were a
truly
clever man, I would have recorded our conversation.”

“What do you want?”

The smile left his face. “What I asked for.
And no more trouble in the district. This is my warning to
you.”

Enrico stared at the man. “Understood. But
hear me: you would much rather have me as a friend.”

“As would you.” Fuente placed his hat on his
head and tipped the brim to Enrico. “This could be self-defense, it
could be murder. You were lovers; he was her husband. It could go
either way. Don’t forget that.” He smiled at Enrico. “
Buona
sera
, Signor Lucchesi.” He turned and walked away.

Enrico watched him for a moment, then he got
in the car. He didn’t want to alarm Kate, but Fuente was trouble.
He could feel it in his bones.

At the hospital, Kate refused to be separated
from Enrico, insisting they be examined in the same room. Enrico
tolerated the doctor’s exam—the x-ray of his head, the
photographing and cataloguing of his injuries—without protest. But
his stomach churned during Kate’s entire exam. Though she barely
reacted when the doctor photographed the marks on her face and when
he took samples from under her fingernails, she flinched when he
asked if he could inspect the rest of her body. With tears in her
eyes, she nodded, and Enrico gritted his teeth as the doctor
scrutinized the bite mark on her breast, swabbing it for Vince’s
saliva, as he parted her legs and studied the bruising on her inner
thighs. But the exam and collection of evidence was necessary to
keep her out of prison. For anything less, he would have spared her
the intrusion.

The doctor, a balding middle-aged man with a
kind face, photographed the bite and the bruises, draping her with
a sheet when possible to preserve her modesty. When he finished, he
removed his glasses, closed his eyes, and rubbed the bridge of his
nose while asking his next question. “
Signora
, were you
violated?”

Enrico held his breath until she shook her
head. “No. It was damn close though.”

The doctor replaced his glasses and smiled,
patting her arm. “Are there any other injuries?” When Kate said no,
the doctor wrote her a prescription for Valium, then left them
alone.

No matter how careful the doctor had been,
how gentle, how respectful, the exam had continued Kate’s
violation. Enrico had never felt more helpless. He’d been able do
nothing other than hold her hand and dry her tears with his
fingertips. After he helped her dress, she leaned against him for a
moment and whispered, “Thank you.” Her gratitude made his eyes burn
and his throat ache. He hadn’t kept her safe. He’d broken his
promise.

When they returned home, he helped her into a
warm bath. Then he turned to go, to give her privacy at last, but
she grabbed his wrist, her hand wet and slick on his skin. “I don’t
want to be alone right now.”

He sat down on the closed lid of the toilet.
“I’ll stay.” She soaped her arms while he watched. “Do you want
help?”

She shook her head, not looking at him. After
a moment, she said, “What was going on with you and Fuente?”

A tingle of adrenaline shivered through him.
He’d thought she would shut down, but she’d kept her head. It was
admirable, and a bit frightening. “Fuente wants help getting a
promotion. I am friends with Major Alfonso, who heads the Milan
branch.”

“Will you help him?”

“I would be stupid not to.” She studied him
with steady eyes. What was she thinking?

“Were you bribing him?”

Enrico raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected
the question, but he should have. Kate was far from dumb. “A man
can be bribed only if he wants to be.”

“That’s not an answer.”

He smiled. She should have been a prosecutor.
“The answer is no.”

“The two of you were keeping something from
me.”

Enrico looked at the floor tiles. “Just the
details of how my family was killed.”

“Why? Was it really so horrific?”

Enrico fixed her with his stare, his anger
hot and sudden. Words poured out of him. “Was it horrific? My
mother, my brothers, they were slaughtered like animals. Mario was
only eleven. It was his birthday. They shot him over and over as he
tried to crawl away.”

Kate gasped, tears glittering in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Enrico.” She reached for him, but he ignored her
hand. After a moment, she let it fall to the edge of the tub.

He couldn’t stop talking. “Andretti’s men
left them lying in the street. Carlo took advantage of my father’s
trust. He murdered them, women and children. He violated our
codes—” He froze, his veins icing up.

“
Our
codes?” Kate asked.

“I mean as Calabrians. Women and children are
not to be killed in disputes of any kind.”

She lowered her arms and sank down in the
water until just her head was visible. Her eyes never left him.
“Vince wasn’t lying, was he? And Fuente knows it too.”

Panic roared through him. It took all he had
to hide it from her. “Vincenzo
was
lying.”

“Why would Fuente think you would help him
get a promotion?”

“The police are underpaid. If you have money,
they always try to get something from you.”

“I thought you said you didn’t bribe
him.”

“Which is the truth. He extorted a promise
from me.”

“Semantics.”

“I beg to differ. I offered him nothing. He
made a demand, and I agreed to it.”

“Why?”

“I prefer to keep out of the papers. The less
attention I attract, the better.”

Kate crossed her arms. “I told you I hated
lies.”

He took a deep breath and let it out. “And I
don’t like telling them.” He unbuttoned and rolled up one of his
shirt cuffs. “But sometimes honesty is more trouble than it is
worth.”

Kate’s mouth dropped open. “How can you say
that?”

She was far more difficult to evade than he
would have ever guessed. “It’s been a long day and I need a drink.
Would you like something?”

“Giving yourself time to think, I see. Are
you trying to distract me?”

He smiled.
Ah
,
she was a hard one.
What a woman
. “Yes, I am.”

“I’m not a fool, Enrico.”

“I never said you were.”

“Treating me like one says it just the same.”
He felt her gaze on him as he fiddled with a button on his
shirt.

He looked her square in the eye. “There are
certain… realities of my situation that I would prefer to tell you
about in my own time. When you are ready to hear them.”