Page 235 of Niccolo

For me to be a man…

To ‘forget the outside world’ for a while and not talk business.

But I wouldn’t go along.

Ihadto keep pushing…

Ihadto keep trying to be the puppet master…

And I’d fucked myself royally in the process.

95

The taxi ride from Taormina to Catania took a little over an hour. The airport is the busiest in Sicily, and there were nearly a dozen flights daily to Florence. I grabbed one at the last minute and arrived two hours later.

Another taxi ride from the airport, and I was home less than six hours after my fight with Sofia.

The entire way, I stewed in an emotional acid bath.

When I got back to the house, there were new distractions – but things didn’t get any better.

I found Dario in the safe room at his makeshift desk.

“So – where’s our mole?” I asked as I entered.

He looked up from some papers. “Down in the basement.”

“Underground, where moles belong,” I joked. “Is someone guarding him?”

“Adriano’s been keeping him company.”

“Let’s go, then, while Lazaro can still talk.”

“What happened with the femaleconsigliere?”

“I’ll tell you on the way.”

As we were leaving the safe room, our house manager walked up with a girl. I remembered hiring her to work in the kitchen, but I couldn’t recall her name.

“Don Rosolini,” the manager said, then nodded at me deferentially. “Signor Rosolini. I have some unfortunate news.”

“What?” Dario asked.

The manager gestured to the girl. “Marianna says that a fellow worker has stolen a large amount of money from someone in the house.”

I looked at Dario with aYou’ve got to be fucking kidding meexpression.

“Caterina?” I asked the girl.

Marianna nodded. She looked proud of herself – even a little bit haughty – for bringing it to our attention. “Yes,signore.”

“Yousawher steal it?” Dario asked.

Marianna still wore her slightly haughty smile. “No, Don Rosolini… but she hadfarmore money than she could have possibly saved in the time she’s been working here.”

“This is a serious accusation,” Dario said coldly. “Perhaps she had the money before she came here.”

The girl realized she had somehow landed on Dario’s bad side. “I – it’s possible, I suppose – but it was all in cash, Don Rosolini.”

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