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“Sure thing,” he replied in a casual tone.
“Can I offer you a cup of coffee,” I asked, trying to remember my manners when I was, in fact, distracted by other matters. I had heard Lorenzo earlier when he’d said to Clara, “Mia preziosa, forgive me for what I did to your mother.”
Those words had sent a chill through my veins. What had he done that he was apologizing for? My sixth sense told me that whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
“That would be nice, thanks, Anni,” replied Aloysius.
I led Aloysius into the dining room. On the sideboard was a coffeepot and cups since Adelina always brought in coffee after dinner. Pouring a cup for Aloysius, I decided to join him and poured another for myself.
Sitting down at the table, we sipped at our drinks.
“Lorenzo said you were coming over tonight to talk about the problem at the bakeries.”
“Yeah, that’s right. It’s proving to be a bit of a headache.”
“Yes, Lorenzo said pretty much the same thing.”
“I’ll be glad when we finally get to the bottom of what’s going on.”
I liked Aloysius. He was relaxed and easy to talk to, and we were getting on well.
Stealing a glance through the open dining room door and seeing that Lorenzo was still on the phone across the hallway in his study, I lowered my voice. “Aloysius, what exactly happened to Rita?” Lorenzo had told me never to ask about this again, but I needed to know what had happened.
“What do you mean?” he asked smoothly, although I detected his body stiffen slightly.
“No one talks about her, and there’s not a single photo of her in the house, not even in the children’s bedroom. Lorenzo didn’t want the kids at the funeral, and there was a closed casket.” I took a deep breath. “Who killed her and why?”
“You’ve found out quite a lot,” he observed, but he didn’t answer my question.
“If I knew what happened to her, it might make it easier for me to understand what the kids are going through and try to help them deal with their grief. You said yourself that Clara has stopped talking as much since her mother’s death—she just seems so sad a lot of the time, and I don’t know how to help her.”
“You shouldn’t ask questions about Rita,” he warned in a low voice. “You’re doing fine with the kids—they’ve improved since you’ve arrived, so just keep on doing what you’re already doing.”
“But—”
“But, nothing.” His tone was stern for once. “Rita’s death isn’t something I can talk about. And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop asking questions. Lorenzo won’t like it, and you don’t want to incur his anger.”
“Is that what Rita did—incur his anger?”
“Anni, I have work to do,” he said gently before standing up and heading to Lorenzo’s study. “Thanks for the coffee.”
CHAPTER 29
ANNUNCIATA
When I went to bed that evening, Lorenzo was still in his study with Aloysius.
I was frustrated that no one would tell me what had happened to Rita. The fact that everyone was so secretive about it was enough to tell me that her death was not an accident or through natural causes. I knew for sure that someone had killed her.
A cold shudder ran through me as I wondered whether her murderer had been Lorenzo or someone else.
My thoughts wandered back to just before dinner when I’d met Lorenzo, Clara, and Wilbur in the hallway.
I had just been about to come out of the laundry room into the hallway when I’d heard Lorenzo speaking to Clara. He’d been trying to get her to say Dadda.
“You said Wilbur—good job, Clara. Can you say Dadda as well?”
His question had been met with silence.
