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“Fucking finally!”
“Language, Niccolo,” comes Anna-Vittoria’s voice from the corner.
“Sorry, Maestra,” Nico mumbles with a roll of his eyes at me. “So where’s Max? Not with you today?”
I didn’t realize how much Max and I have become associated in everyone’s minds. It’s kind of embarrassing. I glance at Anna Victoria, hoping she didn’t overhear that, but the look she sends me suggests maybe she did.
“I’m not sure where Max is today.”
“He was in here the other day,” Nico says. “I guess maybe he thought today was your turn for a visit.”
I frown. “Did he ask you about the job? Whose idea it was?”
“Yeah. Me and Honeybee and Jazz, too, when she came by.”
Max must really think he’s onto something, if he’s asking everyone the same question. Or maybe he’s just chasing down another dead lead. Either way, I really need to decide what I’m going to do about him.
“How are your investigations going?” Anna-Vittoria asks, leafing through a magazine from the coffee table, as though she has very little interest in the answer. I know different.
“It’s going. Actually, since you’re here, Maestra, could you answer a question for me?”
“Always, Fabrizio.” She puts the magazine aside.
“Who was it who suggested the bank job? Far as I remember, I suggested the Port.”
She thinks for a moment. “I had a risk assessment done. The conclusion was that the Port would be more difficult, due to the Bernardi influence there. I did not want to tangle with the Bernardis at the time—now, of course, things are a little different, since they are fracturing—and so I went with the second option. The bank.”
Maybe nine in ten people would follow that up with an admission that they regretted it. Not Anna-Vittoria. But I admire that about her. No excuses. No regrets.
“Thanks.”
“I hope it helps,” she says simply. “And now, I will let you two have some time alone.”
As soon as she leaves the room, Nico asks, “Did you hear who my home carer is going to be?” I give him quizzical look. “Honeybee said she’d move in and take care of me for a while. Hottest. Nurse.Ever.”
“That’s really gross, Nico,” I tell him, patting him on his good shoulder. “Get it all out of your system now, though, so Honeybee doesn’t have to suffer.”
I’m really pleased for them both, though.
They deserve a little happiness.
* * *
I go home after an hour or so to regroup and think about how best to approach the Max situation. But when I pull up in my drive, there’s another car waiting there too.
It’s Tony the Pony. He gets out as I do, with a raised hand in hello. “Hey, Pony. What are you doing here?”
I wish he wasn’t here. I need some time alone. But he’s got that intense look he gets when he’s determined to be heard.
“Got something you need to know, Bricker.”
I knew it. “Alright,” I say, closing the distance between us. “Then talk.”
“Inside,” he says. “Never know who’s around.”
There’s something about the way he leans in, eyes darting around, that makes me uneasy. But I gesture at him to follow me into my house, where I call out, “I’m home.”
“Oh, is Peds here?” he asks, looking up the staircase nervously.
