Page 71 of The Italian Reckoning
Mary sniffles and rubs one eye with the back of her hand, further smearing her makeup, but she either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. “I was kidnapped.”
The trembling crack in her voice sends a lance of pain through my heart. I know that tone. Real fear—deep,gutturalfear—leaves a scar in the voice. I’ve heard it from many victims over the years, including myself.
“Well, let’s start from the beginning.” The second Detective, Carter, brushes some leftover sugar from his hands by slapping his palms together, causing Mary to flinch. “Where were you kidnapped from?”
Mary stares hard at her cup and swallows audibly. “I was walking home last night and I—” She coughs suddenly and lifts her cup, drinking quickly. “I was supposed to meet my friend at the club but I was running late, so I took a shortcut and the next thing I know, I’m being hit from behind and everything went dark.”
“Go on,” prompts William.
“I woke up tied up in the backseat of a car and I could hear voices. The man who took me was arguing with someone and when I looked out the window, there was another car. I thinkthey had some sort of collision or something, I don’t know. But they were arguing and I—I just kicked open the door and ran.”
She escaped. She has no idea how lucky she really is.
“And then what happened?”
Mary whimpers suddenly and presses one hand over her mouth. “I ran.” Tears well in her eyes and pour faster and faster, then she curls in on herself. The two detectives share a glance.
“Miss Del Prete, I need you to tell us more about the argument. What did they look like, what the other car looked like? These kinds of details are important because they can help us catch the man who took you.”
“I don’t know,” Mary weeps, her voice hoarse. “I was running and there was a gunshot, and I fell, and then?—”
The door to the interrogation room flies open and Rocky stalks his way inside, his face dark like thunder. The sight of him makes my heart leap up into my throat and warmth flushes across the back of my neck.
Rocky.
“Did I just walk in on you questioning her without her lawyer present?” Rocky barks at the two detectives as they leap from their chairs.
“She didn’t ask for one,” stammers William.
“Did you even ask her if she wanted one?” Rocky steps forward, and the other two shrink back, then a tall gentleman dressed in a dark suit enters the room.
His silver hair is combed back and a short, silvery beard hugs his strong jaw. With dark eyes, golden skin, and the sharp wrinkles of age striking around his eyes, he cuts quite the intimidating figure but when he speaks, his voice is very soft.
“Mary, darling. Let’s go.”
“Dad!” Mary surges up from her seat, knocking it to the ground in her hurry, and throws herself into the older man’sarms. He sweeps her under his coat and holds her close, then escorts her swiftly from the room.
Dad.
So that’s Domenico Del Prete, huh?
“Actually…” Carter steps forward. “We’re not done here.”
“Yes, we are.” There’s a dangerous lilt to Rocky’s voice and when Carter steps forward, Rocky lifts his hand and prods at Carter’s chest. “I said we’redone.”
“Sir, you can’t just—” William has the same idea as Carter, and getting Mary back seems to be their top priority. The only trouble is that neither of them seems to recognize Rocky for who he is.
“Step. Back.” Rocky’s voice hardens with a note of anger, and I can see the situation going south far too quickly.
Abandoning my hiding spot, I hurry from the room and approach the door. “Is there a problem?”
Rocky straightens up instantly and turns to face me, his eyes briefly betraying a hint of softness when they lock with mine. “No,” he replies stiffly. “We were just leaving.”
Domenico stands at the far end of the hall with his arm around his daughter, watching us intently. Rocky only spares me a single glance, then he leaves the interrogation room and strides down the hallway to join Domenico.
“We need to finish questioning her!” William hurries from the door, but I put out one hand and stop him from going any further.
“Don’t you know who that is?” I say. “That’s Rocky Barati. Which means you won’t be talking to her ever again.”
