Page 88 of The Unraveling of Julia

Thepositivotest results were on the kitchen table, and neither of them were laughing anymore. Julia told Courtney everything that happened, and her best friend understood the gravity of the situation.

Courtney clucked, shaking her head. “This is bad.”

“I know, I tried to tell you that.”

Courtney puckered her lower lip. “Iwasjudgy.”

“I get why. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I’m coming around.”

Courtney eyed her, brushing back a strand of hair. “So let’s review. What’s going on? Bottom line it for me.”

“Somebody killed Mike, and I think somebody tried to kill Gianluca, too, and the crimes are connected. Detective Malloy says it’s a jurisdictional mess, so nothing will happen soon, and Marshal Torti is Italian, so nothing will happen soon. So the cops are useless, and two different men are following me for reasons I don’t know.”

Courtney mulled it over. “If they wanted to kill you, they would have already.”

“True, and theycouldhave. The night they went after Gianluca, they could have come after me. I was home alone.”

“And the night they went after Mike, they could have come after you.” Courtney shuddered. “And they’re drugging you and you suspect that theydrugged Rossi, too. So they might have manipulated her, but they didn’t kill her. They might be manipulating you, but they’re not killing you.”

“The question is, why?”

Courtney snorted. “No, the question is, what the fuck?”

“Right.” Julia shook her head. “I think it’s about the underground cell and whatever kidnapping scheme was going on here, if one was. There could be conspirators still alive that don’t want it to come out. I hate being here now, knowing what was going on. Rossi wasn’t even drugged during that time. Anna Mattia didn’t come until thirteen years ago.”

“Anna Mattia could’ve been in on it.”

“Maybe, but I doubt it, because it looked like the wall had been closed up for a long time.”

“No matter how you slice it, Rossi looks bad.”

“She was a monster.”

Courtney hesitated. “What if she’s your bio grandmother? I thought she was, in the beginning. People don’t leave money to strangers, and she’s about the right age.”

“I know.” Julia’s thoughts were confused. “Everything I’ve learned about her—that she let this villa fall down around her, that she was paranoid and delusional, that she smacked the grocer’s daughter, that she was a hermit, had no friends, andnow, an underground cell that she puts akidin—” Julia couldn’t finish the sentence. “That’s insanity, that’scriminality, and IprayI’m not her biological granddaughter. I pray my anxiety isn’t inherited from her, or that I end up like her.”

“Of course you won’t.” Courtney frowned, sympathetic.

“Plus I don’t know where she got all that money from, and I don’t know if I even want it anymore. How could she have family money from the Sforzas? What the hell was she up to? Is she collecting ransoms for kidnapped children?”

“I have a question, Jules.” Courtney met her eye with characteristicfrankness. “Do you believe you saw Caterina or do you think it was the drug?”

God knows.“I’ve been asking myself that since I found out why Bianco got sick. All I can say is, I don’t know, but I haven’t seen Caterina since Anna Mattia left. The drug should be out of my system in a week or so. So we’ll know then if I see Caterina, have any nightmares, or believe I can talk to Gianluca in my mind.” Julia felt a pang. “I wonder how he’s doing.”

“The receptionist’s friend was going to text you.”

“Yes, and she hasn’t.” Julia felt a new determination. “I’m going back to the hospital tonight.”

“What about his family?”

“I’ll figure it out when I get there. It’s for his benefit, not only mine. I feel like I could help him if I was there.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. Communicate with him? Just be there?” Julia realized for the first time that she felt like shebelongedthere, with Gianluca.

Courtney cocked her head. “Why didn’t you just tell the sister you’re a widow?”

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