Page 6 of Stolen Kisses
No one was that hard to find, and it was the evidence itself.
I kept seeing that damn coffee mug on the table of the penthouse suite. The coffee mug, the newspaper, the empty plate, and Christina’s purse. The person had been there, looked like they lived there, yet the cops said the place wasn’t registered to anyone. I knew all of it had to be bull shit.
Adding insult to injury not even Raphael was able to help. The man could move mountains, but not in that instance.
Couldn’t get a name. Couldn’t get shit.
Something like that should have been easy in our circles, unless the person you were looking for was a bigger fish than you. There were many categories of sharks in the sea, some were more vicious than others. Some had more power than others.
Obviously, that was what had happened here.
Even with all of my theories and assumptions I was still here years later with nothing.
Not even a lead.
It was a hard thing to accept.
Every year I came here I hoped to have better news, but all I had brought was
flowers. I came with flowers and love.
Today’s visit hadn’t been planned. It just felt like I should come see her again. I was here at least once a month. In the beginning it was every day, then my friends weaned me down to a week, then the month.
I’d been a broken man trying to find a way back to myself.
The rumble of an engine pierced through the silence. I knew the sound all too well.
It was a bike engine.
No … not just one, but two bikes. I knew who they belonged to.
Claudius and Gio.
Alex wouldn’t come because he’d think it was inappropriate.
He came on Sunday, because I needed them all here; my three best friends.
He wouldn’t come today. He wasn’t around at the time when Christina was alive. It was like our stories were similar, but not exactly the same and the differences were enough for him to realize he didn’t understand my pain.
The thing was I didn’t care about that, but I got it. It was a sort of respect.
The same sort of respect we showed each other in our personal life and business.
Claudius was the new boss. He was in charge now and us with him; the whole Chicago operation. Billions of dollars may be involved, but to me we were still The Four—Claudius Morientz’s men, the guys who got involved when shit was going down.
Gio, Alex, me, and …
Jude.
Jude was Alex’s brother. He was also a traitor. He was no longer with us in every sense of that word.
Alex killed him to save Claudius and that was possibly another reason why he wasn’t here today. It had happened over a year ago, but it was fresh death, and at his own hands—new pain. He’d had two older brothers and both of them were dead.
On Sunday when we were together it was in a crowd of my closest friends and family. We wouldn’t be talking out our pain.
Not like we would be today.
Claudius was the first to pull up. Both he and Gio were dressed in black leather biker jackets. Claudius took off his helmet first and his long black hair billowed in the wind.
