Killer Cannoli (A Terrified Detective Mystery Book 2) (19 page)

I was lost in my thoughts when someone rapped on the restaurant door so hard I jumped. I grabbed my gun and sneaked into the dining room. I could make out the visitor’s profile from the side window. Alex.
What was he doing here?
I ignored his knocking, but he began to yell, “I want to help, Claire. Let me in.”

I blew out a breath.
Why was he here?
I didn’t want anybody complicating things. The only way I would let him in was if he had Joey’s flash drive or his uncle’s head on a plate. I kept silent.

“I know you’re in there. Please.”

I sighed and softened. What was a minute when I’d have eternity to feel guilty over my aunt? I cracked open the door. “What is it, Alex?”

He looked down by his shoes. “This isn’t why I’m here, but someone, not me, left something here for you.”

I opened the door wider. A glass jar like those used for canning rested on the edge of the building. My heart jumped into my throat. Inside it were my aunt’s bloody earrings.

Chapter Twenty-Six

M
y God, someone ripped these out of her ears.
For a moment I couldn’t catch my breath and thought I would pass out. Alex moved in to support me, but I slapped him away and leaned against the door frame instead.

Once I sufficiently felt in control of myself, I grabbed a paper napkin and gingerly picked up the jar. My hand still shook so much I was scared I’d drop it. I set it down on the closest table and covered it with the napkin. I couldn’t bear to look at it.

I turned on Alex. “Who left this here?”

“I came by to, I guess, support you. It was already here when I arrived and I didn’t see anyone around.”

I slammed my fists on the table so hard the earrings jangled in the jar. I’d trusted Alex, and I was wrong. Again. “What’s your real part in this, Alex? Is it to play the outraged nephew and get close to me, watch me squirm and worry? All the while knowing where my aunt is?”

His face went from shocked white to angry red. “How could you think that? You know how I feel. I swear, Claire, I only want to help. Please believe me.”

My phone rang and I grabbed it, hoping it was Corrigan. But that familiar ugly, nightmare-inducing voice began, “Your friend found my gift to you. It’s a reminder that if you don’t come alone or you try any funny business tonight, I’ll rip more than just your aunt’s ears. She’ll tell you herself.”

A scared, frantic voice began, “Claire, I’m okay—” 

The room closed in on me. “Aunt Lena!” I wiped a tear from my cheek.

The kidnapper cruelly interrupted, “That’s enough.”

“No! Please let me talk to her.”

He growled, “Hand over the flash drive and you can.” He hung up.

I sunk into a chair and lowered my head. “He’ll kill her. It’s my fault.” I felt hot and ready to throw up. Alex pulled a chair up next to mine and silently placed his arm around my shaking shoulders.

My phone rang again. This time it was Corrigan. I pulled myself up and Alex dropped his arm. “Hello?”

“Garino, the brother, was able to give us Joey’s New Jersey address, but that was it. We let him go.” When I didn’t respond, Corrigan’s tone changed to one of concern. “Claire? Everything okay?”

“The kidnapper sent me Aunt Lena’s earrings. They had blood on them and when he called he threatened to cut her up if I tried anything.” My voice broke. Some hard-boiled PI I was.

“You’re at
Cannoli’s
?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Don’t move.”

As if I had anywhere to go
. At least not for another ninety minutes.

Alex cleared his throat. “Corrigan’s on his way?”

I’d almost forgotten he was there. “I think you better leave.”

He rose from the chair like a man burdened with the world’s woes. “Okay, but believe me, I want your aunt back safe and my uncle in prison where he belongs. I swear it.”

I sighed. I was too worn down to argue. “I believe you.”

He gave me a sad half-smile. “Call if you need me.”  He waited until I nodded, then left.

I stayed seated, staring at my outstretched hands. My head throbbed with the highs and lows of my emotions, not to mention lack of sleep. I pulled myself up and decided some tea might help. I headed into the restaurant kitchen to make some while I waited for Corrigan.

I’d just started to pour the water into my cup when Corrigan knocked on
Cannoli’s
dining room door.

He had gotten only halfway through the door when he asked, “Where are they? The earrings?”

I pointed to the jar. “And I’m doing fine.”

He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Sorry. How’re you holding up?”

I rolled my achy shoulders. “I just want Aunt Lena back.” I stopped and noticed for the first time the dark hollows under Corrigan’s eyes. The man was exhausted from doing everything he could for my aunt, and I appreciated him all the more for it.

“Yeah, I know.” His hands dangled awkwardly by his side. He looked uncomfortable doing nothing so he sprang into action, pulling out gloves and an evidence bag. “I’ll get this to the lab. Come with me. I don’t want you here alone.”

I didn’t want to leave. Not with such little time left. “I’m going to stay here. I need to be alone for a little while.” When he started to object, I interrupted, “I’m not going to do anything foolish.” At least not anything more foolish than what I’d already done. I’d run out of options.

He finally pulled up a chair. “Then I’m staying with you.”

Two good-looking men wanted to make me feel better. But instead of a dream come true, it added to my nightmare. Only finding my aunt would make me feel better. I looked at the time. Fifty minutes until I was to meet with the kidnapper. Fifty quick minutes.

His phone went off and while he listened, his eyebrows shot up. “I’ll be right there.”

He hung up. “Someone’s cleaning up after themselves. Valcone’s former employee, LoPresti, was found in his backyard with a bullet in his head.”

I didn’t think anything at this point would shock me, but this did.
Were Aunt Lena and I part of what needed cleaning?

“As soon as I finish up over there, I’ll call you. Or better, why don’t you wait for me at the station.”

I declined and he scowled. “At least lock the door behind me.”

I watched him get into his car then did what he’d asked. I was grateful for all his help and struggled with the urge to tell him about the exchange, but I had to meet with the kidnapper alone. That was the only way I’d get my aunt back in one piece.

I rubbed my face with both hands then remembered my tea and returned to the kitchen. I reheated the water and chose a tea bag from a box on the supply table. I needed some sugar, but there weren’t any small packets of it around and I didn’t want to waste time searching for them. So I grabbed the jumbo plastic container of sugar my aunt used for baking and dug one of her big metal scoops into it. I hit something small and hard. I dug under the object with the scoop and with my other hand, pulled something out that caused my heart to hit hard against my ribcage. Joey’s flash drive.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

T
he drive, the flash drive.
I couldn’t believe it. My hands shook so much I dropped it and it bounced onto the floor. I couldn’t lose it now. Down on all fours, I found it at the edge of the linoleum. I straightened, ready to kiss it.
But how did it get into the sugar container?

I quickly ran through what I remembered from Aunt Lena’s statement. She said she didn’t see Larry, but that he did come into the kitchen. He probably knew someone was after him and had looked for the closest place to ditch the thing. 

I rubbed any remaining sugar granules off the device with my shaky hands and glanced at the kitchen clock. Thirty-five minutes to go and it’d take me about fifteen to get to the park. Dread turned my stomach sour and I tossed out the cup of tea.

Time was short, but I wanted to see what was on the flash drive. My aunt had a desktop computer in a tiny, cluttered room off the kitchen. I flicked it on but got stumped on the password. I tried all the easy ones, like
Cannoli’s
, her middle name, my uncle’s name. None worked. Precious time passed and it was getting harder and harder to keep panic at bay. I kept trying different possibilities. In desperation I yanked open the desk drawer. Maybe she had it written down on a piece of paper. Sure enough. My fingers danced across the keyboard and when the computer was ready, I shoved the flash drive in. I swore and ripped it out of the computer. I should have known. The damn thing was encrypted.

No doubt the police would be able to decipher it, but I’d already lost too much time. I couldn’t waste more explaining how I found the flash drive. What I could do was copy the information from Joey’s flash drive onto one of the blanks I bought earlier. The second of the two I’d purchased could be a decoy.

I tapped my foot and looked at the clock while I waited for it all to copy. When it finally finished, I slipped both of them into my purse. The remaining blank I’d bought I slipped in my pocket and took off.

I was so nervous I nearly sideswiped a car. It was hard to concentrate on anything but the drop off. The flash drive in exchange for my aunt. Calling Corrigan passed through my mind and I had a pang of guilt over it, but I was terrified he’d interfere and demand I give him the flash drive. Sure, turning it in to the police was the nobler thing to do, but saving society from Bucanetti wasn’t my priority right now. I had to get Aunt Lena back. I had to make sure she was safe.

A traffic light was out on Rocky River Drive so a line of cars backed up almost to W. 165
^th
. Panicked I’d be late, I yelled, “Everyone, get the hell out of my way.” It was a good thing my windows were rolled up and nobody heard me.

I finally made it through the intersection and pushed past the speed limit, down into the park toward the North Mastic picnic area. My hands sweated and I wiped them on my pant leg. I wheeled into the parking lot just as the car clock blinked 7:00.

A car that had been behind me since the traffic jam, slowed then drove by me and disappeared down a smaller dirt path. I didn’t have time to wonder about it because my phone rang.

The voice I hated. “Do you have it?”

“Yes.” I cleared my throat. “Is my aunt here?”

“I ask the questions.” By his tone, I could tell I’d made him mad which in turn made my heart speed up. But then he continued, calmer. “There’s a gray bag under a rock on the picnic bench closest to the road. Put the flash drive inside and cover it up again. Then get back in your car. Don’t look around. Understand?”

While he gave me instructions, I envisioned him running me over or shooting me after he got what he wanted. I hadn’t heard anything except that I was to get back in the car. “Could you repeat that?”

He roared. “Just do it.”

“How do I know you won’t shoot me after I turn over the flash drive? And you still haven’t said my aunt is here. It’s supposed to be an exchange, my aunt for the flash drive. That’s how it’s done.”

He snapped at me. “We do it my way or we don’t do it at all. Clear?”

Arguing was pointless. “Yes.”

I couldn’t give him Joey’s flash drive. If Aunt Lena wasn’t with him, he could grab the flash drive and kill her to tie up loose ends. If she wasn’t already dead.

My legs felt as sturdy as green twigs, but I managed to get over to the bag the kidnapper had mentioned. My hands trembled so much I dropped the bag and then had trouble slipping the blank flash drive into it. I hurried back to the car and my phone began to ring. I scrambled to answer it. The kidnapper again.

His voice bounced like he was inside a fast moving car racing over rough terrain. “You want to see your aunt, drive to the stables.” He hung up.

I punched the car in reverse and tore out of the picnic area.

The keys still in the ignition and my gun in my hand, I scuttled out of my seat. Instead of calling out my aunt’s name and announcing my presence, I made myself as small as possible. With my gun and my stealth, I hoped to surprise any accomplice guarding my aunt. 
If
I don’t trip on this slick-with-rain undergrowth and knock myself out.

Quiet as a cat stalking a bird, I circled the stable, stretching my neck to peer around the massive trees. I wished I had on full body armor. Better yet, that I was sitting inside a tank.

Satisfied after my quick reconnaissance and relieved nobody perched ready to ambush me, I rushed to the stable door. I frowned. The massive lock required two hands to get it open. Praying nobody waited inside holding a revolver with a bullet with my name on it, I stashed my gun in my pocket.

I grunted, unbolting the heavy, rusted lock and heaved one side of the wooden double doors open.
What if she isn’t here? She’s got to be.
“Aunt Lena?”

No answer. I called a bit louder. “Aunt Lena? It’s Claire.” Again, silence except for my heart beating in my ears. My eyes took a bit to adjust to the dim light. Once they did, I raced from stall to stall, moving faster, my heart sinking lower with each empty space.
Maybe I missed something. A trace of her.
I checked each stall again but found no evidence of Aunt Lena ever having been there. I fell to my knees and hung my head. The dirt floor turned muddy with my tears.

The force of my sobs decreased and at last stopped. Holding on to a gate, I pulled myself up and shuffled back to my car. While I slouched in my seat, a text came in.
The kidnapper?

No. It was from Corrigan. “We got somewhere on the kidnapping. Get here as soon as you can.”

My heart did a somersault.
Could he have Aunt Lena?
I sped out of the Metropark as fast as that eight cylinder motor could go.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

H
ope planted itself in my chest, but I refused to let it grow yet. Corrigan hadn’t mentioned Aunt Lena. My mind raced and I drove on automatic, surprising myself when I pulled into the parking lot. Corrigan opened the station door for me and I could have kissed him. “Did you find my aunt?”