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“Because it’s my fault they’re dead.”
Another punch to my stomach. I feel sick. I scramble to my feet, running for the bathroom. It all makes sense now. Enzo didn’t want to tell me because he knew what the truth would do to me. He’s Death. That’s his name. He killed them. One more job. Hired to do it. That’s why he knows about all this. That’s why I saw him in the flashbacks. He had the gun to my face back then.
My stomach cramps get worse as I sit in front of the toilet bowl, bringing up the coffee I just had and anything else that was down there.
It’s a long time before I get to my feet. When I clean myself down and head back out, Enzo is still sitting there like nothing’s happened.
I want to punch him in the face. “Am I only alive because you didn’t want to kill a child?” I ask. “Is that what you’ve been keeping from me? I remember you pointing a gun at me. That’s real, isn’t it? Why am I alive? Why not shoot me?”
“You’re alive because your parents sacrificed themselves for you.”
“They did?”
“Let me fill in the details. Umberto and Jacob had this plan to blackmail Blizzard. He was mayor back then and thinking of running for Senate. Don was thinking some things too, thinking that if Blizzard gets some real power, the famiglia gets its claws into the Senate. They knew he was into some dark shit so they came up with a plan.”
I think I’m going to be sick again. After several retches, I get a hold of myself. I don’t want to move from here until the story’s done. I swallow down my nausea as best I can.
Enzo continues, his eyes darkening. Anger or sorrow? Impossible to tell. “Sandra got the hooker for them to give to Blizzard, told her it was a big gig, a chance for her to earn enough to quit and start again with her kids. They knew the whole time what Blizzard was planning to do because he talked it through with them. They lied to her. They knew she’d never come back alive. Only they had someone watching, taking snaps of it all. He put the snaps in one box with the necklace she wore when she died, put the negatives in another, sealed them both with the Don’s seal.”
“Where does the necklace come into this?”
“Blizzard paid for the necklace with money he’d borrowed off Umberto, first got him in debt to the mob. Gave it to the hooker. That necklace would help identify her and tie her to Blizzard. Bought it from a mob jeweler who could connect the two and swear in court. Someone in authority could join the dots if they ever look hard enough and the starting point to do it is that necklace. One of a kind. Only now the jeweler’s dead. Dwayne’s dead. Walter’s so shit scared of the Don he’ll never tell anyone what his father got up to. Knows he’d be dead the same day if he blabbed.”
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Let me get this straight. The sheriff of my town and the Don of the Felici family were in cahoots, happy to film a hooker get chopped into pieces without lifting a finger to stop it? All so they could blackmail the guy who was doing it. I got that right so far?”
“Pretty much.”
“So where do I come into all this?”
He sighs. “Back in a minute.” He gets up and walks into the kitchen, coming back with a whiskey bottle which he takes a long swig from before sitting back down.
“What happened to my parents, Enzo?” I ask him as he takes another shot. “Why are they dead and I’m alive?”
“The Don told Jacob to keep the photos safe until needed but where he’s supposed to keep them? At the station where anyone could find them? At home? Same problem. So he buries them only he doesn’t tell the Don they’re in two boxes. Wants an insurance policy of his own if anyone comes to arrest him. The Don finds out he buried them, and tells him it’s on him if they ever get dug up. He doesn’t think that’s likely but fast forward in time and along come your parents with their metal detectors. Boy, does the shit hit the fan after that.
“When your parents went to Jacob at the sheriff’s station, they took the photos they found and the necklace but they either didn’t see the other box in the hole or more likely, they left it there in case things went south. Which they did. Jacob acted shocked when they showed them to him. Told the two of them to stay put while he went to fetch something but they smelled a rat before he could get them into a cell and ‘accidentally’ kill them. So they grabbed the box and the necklace, then they ran.
“Now that’s a big fucking problem. So Jacob’s called the Don. He’s sent someone who was already there to collect the monthly take from the sheriff. Guy named Vito. Don tells him to take care of it. Take his assistant if he needs to.
“Meanwhile, your parents make their way back up to Chippewa Falls. They set to digging up the other box but Vito’s got a camera on them from the trees, taking his own set of snaps on the Don’s orders. Polaroids that spit out at once. That’s the photo you saw that fell from your file. Part of a series. Your mom wearing it one last time, your dad telling her to put it back in the box while you’re playing in the dirt beside them.
“Your parents are halfway through digging up the other box when they spot Vito’s assistant giving them a warning wave to run. So they run. Only it’s easy to follow their footsteps in the mud after all the rain the previous day, especially because your folks are slowed down by carrying you with them.”
He takes a deep breath. “This is where I come in.”
“You? Were you the one tailing them?”
“I was Vito’s assistant. My first big job. My chance to get made, he tells me. That means getting my first official murder. Only I couldn’t do it. While he’s taking photos, I see you with your parents and the thought of killing the three of you makes me feel sick to my stomach. So I warn your parents and off you all run, dropping the necklace on the way. Jacob picks that up later and takes it back to the station with him. Keeps it hidden until I come to collect it all these years later.
“Anyway, I think you’ll get away but Vito just follows your footprints to where they’ve hidden you. We get to you and he shoves a gun in my hand and tells me to take you out while he goes after your parents. So I point the gun at you until he’s out of sight and then I move you to a new hiding place, tell you to stay quiet until I get back.
“I go to help your parents but Vito’s already killed them. They were around the corner, getting ready to jump him but he saw them coming, shot them both.”
I hear the shots, somewhere deep inside me. Two deafening cracks in the darkness of the woods.
Enzo’s breath hitches but then he gets a hold of himself and manages to keep going, like if he stops now, he’ll never start again.
“Something in me snaps and I grab hold of Vito. He’s telling me it’s just a job and then he starts yelling at me just like my foster dad used to, smacking me over the head. I grab hold of him and we fight over the gun. He was a lot stronger than me, got me on the ground but I grabbed his arm before he could get away. I remembered your frightened face and that gave me the strength to get the gun off him.”
