Treasured Dreams (4 page)

Rosalina hesitated, unsure if Nonna was serious, but before she could decide Nonna stood up herself and reached for the bottle in the cupboard at her right. She plucked two wine glasses from the hanging rack, splashed a generous quantity into each glass and handed one to Rosalina. Before Nonna sat back down, she took a large sip.

Nonna rolled her tongue over her bottom lip as she returned to her seat. She wrapped both flour-caked hands around her glass, then she let out a long, slow breath. ‘Your mother met another man. She never told anyone his name. It was just a little fun, she told me once. Nothing serious. And it was.' Nonna paused, took another sip of wine, and swallowed hard. ‘Until she fell pregnant.'

Rosalina cupped her mouth. A wave of fire flooded her body as she watched Nonna swallow another large gulp of wine. She too had a sip, hoping the wine would settle her churning stomach.

‘Filippo?' It was a question, although it need not be. Rosalina already knew the answer.

Nonna rocked ever so slightly back and forward for a long moment. ‘When your mother passed away during childbirth, your
padre
was forced to look after a child that was not his own flesh and blood.'

Chapter Four

Nox casually strolled his way to the kitchen, pleased that he'd gone undetected. He pushed open the door and nearly walked straight into Brother Linchin.

‘
Scusami
,' Brother Linchin said, as he placed a large ceramic bowl of creamy pasta on the table and stepped back.

The bald man had put on significant weight since Nox had last seen him. Nox waited, watching his eyes for a flicker of recognition, but there wasn't one.

‘
Scusate un po 'perso
.' Nox pretended to be lost. Then, he realised his mistake. Shadow, his beautiful grey cat, was going to ruin his disguise. Nobody had been able to even get near Shadow other than Nox.

Linchin blinked, lowered his eyes and backed up farther. When sweat beaded on Linchin's upper lip, Nox was certain his ruse was over.

‘Still sneaking food I see, Linchin.'

Linchin's lips quivered. ‘Don't hurt me.'

‘Why would I hurt you? We're just having a conversation.' But Linchin's words almost proved that Nox had been identified as a murderer. Nox wondered which murder it was. There'd been a few.

‘I thought you were …'

‘Dead.' Nox finished his sentence. ‘You can't believe everything you see in the media.' Nox laughed as he put Shadow on the table. The cat slinked towards Linchin's bowl of steaming pasta.

Linchin's back was against the bench now, his hands up. ‘I … I didn't …'

A little beat of curiosity pulsed through Nox's brain as he raised his eyebrows. ‘What are they saying about me?'

The fat man's chins trembled. ‘They say you tried to … to kill some people in Greece. I thought you'd been shot.'

‘
Si
.' Nox nodded. ‘That's all true. I did try to kill them. And yes, I was shot with a spear gun.' Nox winced at the memory. ‘I drifted for days at sea until a couple of complete fools found me and held me captive on their island for God knows how long.'

Nox realised he'd been babbling like a madman, but he had so much to say. An extraordinary number of things had happened to him since he'd last left this room. Nobody knew what he'd been through. If he told them, nobody would believe him. Nor would they care.

Shadow made loud smacking noises as he helped himself to dinner.

Linchin blinked at Nox. Fear riddled his eyes as he inched sideways.

Nox spied the big pot sitting on the stove. The very same pot he'd used to make the poisonous mushroom risotto he'd fed to his father. He was surprised it hadn't been taken away as evidence in the murder.

‘So you did try to kill those people?' Linchin's eyes were as big as Shadow's.

‘Yeah,' Nox said flippantly. ‘They had my treasure.'

‘Oh no!' Linchin's entire body trembled. His eyes darted from Nox to the door. Suddenly, he made a run for it. His rotund belly bounced off the table as he tried to round it.

Nox dodged to the front of the table, blocking his escape, and Linchin halted, trapped. A blaze of red flooded his cheeks. Sweat trickled from his temples.

Nox's own sweat dribbled from his armpits. It would only be a matter of seconds before his pungent fish odour filled the room. Nox spied a large kitchen knife on the bench and reached for it. He had his fingers around the handle and waved the blade at Linchin before Linchin could even move.

Nox had never killed with a knife before. He imagined blood gushing from the fat man's neck, and the thought made him cringe in disgust. There were many other ways to kill, without getting messy.

Linchin's body quivered like jelly. ‘Don't. Please. I won't tell anyone I saw you. I can keep a secret.'

‘Like the secret about Sofia. You remember her, don't you?'

A flicker of recognition crossed the fat coward's eyes.

‘You were the only one who knew how I felt about her,' Nox persisted, softening his voice. ‘I told you in confidence. You were supposed to be my friend.' He enjoyed watching the fat man squirm. ‘I knew it was you who set me up.'

Red spider veins crawled across Linchin's bulging eyes.

‘She was a pretty girl,' Nox continued, merciless. ‘She didn't look so pretty on her deathbed, though.'

Shadow finished licking the bowl and began purring as he cleaned his whiskers with his front paw.

Nox waved the knife. The kitchen lights glinted off the blade. ‘Humiliation is a powerful motivator.'

Linchin lunged for the fork on the table, and Shadow arched his back, bristling his hairs.

‘I'm sorry.' The fat man aimed the utensil at Nox like a weapon.

‘You don't look it.'

Shadow was up on his haunches now, hissing at Linchin.

‘Good boy,' Nox said to his feline friend, his only friend for as long as Nox could remember.

Nox's body odour flooded the room. He usually didn't smell his own pungent scent. Times of excitement or fear heightened his stench, and in this moment, excitement was dominating.

‘I … I p-promise I won't tell anyone.' Linchin's body odour soured the room too.

‘I know you won't.' Nox chuckled.

A gasp released from Linchin's throat and he lunged for the door. Nox slashed with the knife and a bloody wound opened up on Linchin's arm. The fat man screamed and backed away, glaring at the red gash.

Linchin's incessant high-pitched squeals echoed off the ancient stone walls.

‘Shut up, you fool.' Nox hissed though clenched teeth.

But he didn't. Spittle foamed at the corners of Linchin's mouth, the white of his eyes blazed and his knuckles bulged as he clutched at the bench he'd backed up to.

Nox raged with adrenaline as he grabbed the big steel pot off the bench. He crossed the distance between them in a flash, and as he stared into Linchin's startled eyes, he smashed the pot over Linchin's head. A handful of the creamy pasta escaped the pot and splattered up the wall.

Linchin dropped so hard and fast his head hit the stone floor with a loud crack. Nox clenched his jaw and whacked Linchin over the head again.

Nox backed away, and with the room silent again, he grew conscious of his cat purring.

He wiped the sweat from his brow. Then he used a spoon to scrape the remains of the pasta from the pot and dished out another feed to share with Shadow.

Chapter Five

Archer and Jimmy worked quickly, stripping back the damaged curved lounge, reducing the area to its shell. Jimmy attacked the damaged furniture, yanking at any loose bits and pieces with his bare hands.

For a fifty-year-old, Jimmy had bounced back remarkably well after being shot by Nox. But Archer certainly didn't need him ruining his recovery by acting out his anger. ‘Calm down, big fella, you'll hurt yourself.' Archer rested his hand on the corded muscle running over his mate's shoulder.

‘You know our treasure is going to end up on the black market somewhere.' Jimmy tossed a large wooden splinter into the growing pile of rubbish.

‘I know.'

‘That's
our
treasure.' Jimmy's squared out jaw and steely eyes underscored his rage.

Archer bit back the temptation to share his anger with Jimmy. It was a pointless waste of energy. ‘We found it. But it doesn't mean it's ours.'

‘Bullshit! Don't give me that crap; you had every intention of laying claim to that treasure.' Jimmy clenched his jaw, forcing the muscles in his chin to bulge.

Measured control was nearly impossible. ‘Agreed, but then we were handing it over to Alessandro's museum for safekeeping.'

‘Right, so you
were
going to claim it first.' The tendons in Jimmy's neck were cables of steel. ‘Like I said. It was our treasure.'

Archer wiped his brow. Having the treasure stolen from them while they were celebrating his engagement to Rosalina was what hurt the most. It had not only ruined their special night … it meant that Ignatius Montpellier had been listening in to their conversations for some time. There was no other way to explain how he'd known exactly when they would be off the yacht and for how long.

Although the thieving bastard had burnt to a crisp in that helicopter crash, the precious pieces he'd stolen were never found. That meant someone else had helped him, and that pissed Archer off even more.

‘I hope you're planning on going after the
Awa Maru
treasure, boss.' This was as close as Jimmy would get to pleading. Ever since Jimmy had put his hands on that first piece of gold he'd been hooked on the obsession that'd been in Archer's veins since he was a little boy.

‘I've thought about it.'

‘And?'

‘We still need to be careful.'

‘What for? Nox is dead. Ignatius is dead. It's just us and that treasure now.'

‘I saw that boat scooting away from
Evangeline
right before the helicopter crashed. We know Iggy was working with others. We've got no idea who stole the treasure or what they know about us.'

‘They don't know everything. Alessandro only just found out about the Solomon Islands thing. They'd have no idea we were heading there. We'll have that treasure on board
Evangeline
before they even get their shit together.'

‘You know it's never that easy, Jimmy.'

‘It's been easy so far. Look how much we found at Anafi.'

‘And look how dangerous that was.'

‘Nobody died.'

Archer cocked his head at his buddy. ‘Four people died.'

‘Only the bad guys, and they don't count.'

Archer chuckled. ‘We'll have a tough time convincing Rosalina; she's certain this treasure is cursed.'

Jimmy waggled his finger at Archer. ‘No. No. She said the Calimala treasure was cursed. Not the
Awa Maru
treasure.'

‘True.' A piece of melted leather that he'd been working on for a while finally broke free, and Archer flung it aside.

His thoughts drifted to Alessandro's discovery that Kimoda had an identical twin brother. It was a long shot that the two of them would've had the opportunity to steal the treasure during the war, but it was an angle worth following. Archer couldn't believe how lucky they were to have Alessandro on board. His research skills were priceless. It should be weird, given that the Italian was Rosalina's old flame from her university days, but it wasn't. Not since he and Rosalina had got back together, and especially not since Alessandro had hooked up with Ginger. ‘Do you think Alex is onto something with this identical twin brother thing?'

‘Shit yeah. But figuring out that Kimoda Yukimura had a twin brother wouldn't have been hard.' Jimmy screwed up his face. ‘Why hasn't anyone gone down that road before?'

Archer shrugged. ‘Maybe they have.'

‘But the brother was near where the
Awa Maru
went down. Wouldn't that have put up some red flags?'

‘Possibly.'

‘Possibly! Maybe!' Jimmy threw his hands in the air. ‘Put your balls out there. Tell me what you think.'

Archer blinked at his best mate. ‘Calm down. What's wrong with you? You've been pissed off all morning. I thought helping me fix
Evangeline
would be a good thing for you.'

‘I want to go after that treasure.' Jimmy tossed an unrecognisable piece of wreckage away.

‘And we will.'

‘When?'

‘I don't know when.'

‘And that's the problem. We've been sitting around here for five weeks doing jack shit when we could be on our way to the Solomons.'

‘We've had no choice. The police have been crawling all over the place, and Rosalina has a broken leg. Not to mention my broken ribs. What else could we do? We're getting there, Jimmy. I promise.'

‘Not soon enough.' Jimmy resumed whacking at the shattered lounges with a sledgehammer.

Chapter Six

Nox was covered in sweat by the time he'd dragged Linchin's body to his old bedroom. But it was the best option. The chances of anyone going in there had to be minimal.

He returned to the kitchen and wiped his fingerprints off everything he'd touched. A surge of satisfaction coursed through him as he hugged Shadow to his chest and smoothed down the cat's fur. He was good at revenge, and there were still many more sinners on his list. Maybe he could tick off a few more while he was here. Sadly, there was no time. He had to get to Rosalina and Archer before they headed off after the treasure again. For all he knew, they may have already gone.

This next part of his plan he'd mapped out, but in order to capture Rosalina again he needed a weapon. And he knew exactly where to start.

Over the years, Nox had been to the nurse's office on many occasions. Usually he snuck in there while no one was looking. The drugs had come in handy. Morphine, in particular, was one of his favourites, and it was what he sought this time, too. He felt completely at home as he travelled the underground church labyrinth towards the nurse's office near the orphanage. With each silent step, he felt more confident that his visit would go unnoticed.