Page 14 of Secrets of the Brother
Matteo crossed to stand close to me, in a silent show of support. “Well, we already knew that. The question is what happens now?”
Benito cast a swift glance in my direction then shifted his gaze away. “An investigation, of course. Witnesses will have to be interviewed.”
Cesare spoke. “Not Milana.”
Benito rubbed his eyes. “Cesare, I can’t control—”
Cesare wrapped his left palm over his right fist. “I’m telling you right now. Not Milana. She has already been through too much. It’s still touch and go with the baby. I won’t have her upset over that bitch.”
The liquor in my empty stomach soured.
I resisted the urge to retch.
One more fallout from my choices.
One more stain on my soul.
One more casualty of that awful night.
Each time I witnessed my beloved brother’s pain it was like a knife to my chest. I'd caused that. Me, and me alone. It didn’t matter that Renata was the one who tried to kill Milana and damn near succeeded. Or that she was responsible for Milana’s past trauma or the fear that still plagued her and my brother over the future of their unborn child.
If only I hadn’t been stupid enough to accept that drugged cocktail that fateful night from Renata.
If only I hadn’t slept with her.
If only I hadn’t gotten her pregnant and compounded the mistake by insisting on doing the honorable thing by marrying her.
If I hadn’t brought that viper into my family, none of this would have happened.
If.
If.
If.
I bore the weight of that guilt.
Papà leaned his palms on the metal rims of the barrel and leveled a stern look at Benito. “Cesare is right, Benito. We all went to great lengths to cover up Renata’s attempt on Milana’s life, to avoid a family scandal. So there should be no reason to interview either of the girls in relation to Renata’s disappearance and murder. They both have solid alibis, as does the entire family. We stick to the story. Milana accidentally got trapped in the wine cave and was rushed to the hospital. The entire family was standing vigil waiting on news during the time of Renata’s disappearance.”
He then gestured to the file. “And according to this report, she died within hours of her disappearance which means we were all still at the hospital.”
Benito shuffled from foot to foot as he stared at the floor. “Not everyone.”
Papà frowned. “What?”
Benito cocked his head toward me. “Not everyone was at the hospital at the time of her disappearance and murder.”
All eyes in the room turned to me.
Benito continued. “Unfortunately, Don Cavalieri, it is well documented that Enzo stormed out of the hospital at some point and was not seen for quite some time afterward, until the alarm was raised over the cottage fire on the vineyard grounds.”
No one spoke.
Cesare stepped forward. He placed a hand on Benito’s shoulder. “Thank you for bringing this to us, Benito. There are some things we need to discuss as a family.”
Benito nodded. Part of our family’sunderstandingwith the police department in the village was we didn’t tell them what they didn’t strictly need to know, and they didn’t ask any questions.
Pulling his car keys from his jacket pocket, Benito gave us a final heads-up. “One more thing, the head office is bringing in an independent inspector to take over the case. I haven’t been told anything about him, or even when he’ll arrive. I’ll keep you posted when I know more. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll befriendly.” He then turned and left.
