“Fine. The four robbers were wearing carnival masks that we already knew from the other robberies, but one of them was a weak link. A woman. She wore the Arlecchino mask for that robbery and she seemed… unsettled. She was crying and didn’t seem to want to shoot me, but she did it anyway.”
“You thinking blackmail?”
“What else would make someone do that?”
“What did she look like?”
“I only got a glimpse. Shorter than me.”
“Everyone is shorter than you.”
“True, but she was by only a couple of inches. Black hair, straight, down to her shoulders. She protected one of the workers at the store, so she might know them.”
“An inside job?” Valentina’s lips purse. “Hmm. Any other details?”
“Other than she had tawny skin, that’s all I saw.”
“Alright. I’ll look into it. You.” She points at me with one long finger. “If I hear you got up while I was away, I’ll come back and break your kneecap, understand?”
Lifting my hand, I gently salute her. “Understood, Ma’am.”
Valentina leans over me and presses a quick, chaste kiss to my forehead and then vanishes from the room, giving me space and time to reorient myself.
Silence falls. Without Valentina to distract me, the girl from before pops back into my mind. It was only a glimpse before darkness took me, but the sight of her long black hair spillingout of that mask remains fixed in my mind. She was scared, that much was true. Her trembling hands and the quavering of her voice told me more about her than any word she could have given me in that moment. If Valentina is right and this is blackmail, there might be more to this than just a random gang stumbling onto the Mafia’s doorstep.
Is it really my place to get involved? The ins and outs of a backwater gang silly enough to stumble onto Damian’s business hardly deserve my help, but after getting shot twice in the chest, I definitely deserve some answers.
Sleep comes not long after Valentina leaves, and I dream of nothing but rushing water, darkness, and occasionally, glimpses of that mysterious woman. Something about her sticks in my mind. Is it her genuine distress over taking my life?
Uncertainty invades my dreams and I’m woken by the sound of the door closing gently behind Frank, who enters the room on tiptoe so as not to disturb me.
“Frank?” I say, rubbing my eye. “What are you doing here?”
Frank looks a little worse for wear, as if the stress has aged him a few years. He flashes me a brief, apologetic smile and moves closer to the chair beside my bed. “Valentina told me you were awake. I had to come and see for myself.”
“I’m glad you came, Frank. Valentina told me everything. Did you really dive into the water after me?”
Frank’s tired face melts with a warm smile. “Well,” he says with teasing in his tone, “you have been paying my gym membership, so it’s only fair that I put it to good use.”
A small rumble of laughter echoes in my chest. “Money well spent, I see. Thank you, Frank. You saved my life.”
Frank brushes me off with a wave of his hand. “I did what anyone would do. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Mostly okay,” I reply. “Bored out of my mind. Valentina won’t let me up. She’s threatened to remove my kneecaps if she sees me anywhere outside this room.”
“Can’t say I blame her,” Frank replies, “given your inability to remain resting.”
“Recovery is boring and long and painful,” I reply with a deep sigh. “I’d rather distract myself by getting back on my feet. Especially when the person who shot me is still out there. Do we have any information on the robbers?”
Frank runs his hands across his thighs while nodding. “Actually, that’s also what I came to tell you. Given the CCTV footage from the jewelry store, we were finally able to get clear pictures of the masks and with your confirmation that they were carnival masks, it wasn’t hard to start tracking them down. The Bauta Mask is pretty unique. The others likely come from the same set, but the Bauta mask itself isn’t like what you would get at a regular store.”
I snort softly. “Given what I saw of the man behind the mask, I’m not surprised he had to get something to match his ego.”
Frank grunts and leans back slowly in the chair until he’s relaxed. “We have a lead on the creator of the masks, at the very least, since it’s clear the twists on the Bauta mask suggest it’s custom-made. From that, we should be able to track down who made the purchase.”
It’s a start, but it’s not enough. I need more. Two bullet wounds’ worth of more.
Frank glances at his watch and then back at me. “Just so you know, I was under strict orders to only give you that information once you get the all-clear from the doc.”
