Affliction (20 page)

Nico squeezed
the tension from his eyes. “Damn, what a fucking mess.” He grumbled, before going to the kitchen for a beer. He drank it down in a few gulps. Ari was not going to handle this well.

Nope, not at all.

***

The Giacanti estate boasted a bed of flowers, lined in colorful gallantry. The dark horror Alfonzo found when he first set foot on the property seemed a nightmarish dream long ago by the light of day.

Selange’s hand never released when they entered the stately interior. Security branched out to inspect for intruders, but found only empty
corridors and rooms.

The floors were polished, walls plastered and painted, leaving no trace of the bullet riddled walls. Someone had lovingly restored the interior, keeping the antique fixtures. There was a large vase filled with fresh flowers. Death had gone.

Alfonzo peered inside the room where he’d last seen his Uncle Alberti’s corpse. A thumping so loud kicked his chest and he retreated.

Selange held his arm. “Is this the room?”

Alfonzo nodded.

She released him
to push wide the doors. She marched inside, stopped in the center of the floor and smiled at her husband rooted in the hall. “I loved that man. Gosh, how do we take people for granted? He reminded me of the Riddler in Batman. Riddle me this-riddle me that.” She laughed. “Did you ever understand when he talked like that?”

Alfonzo walked in. “Took me a while to solve, but eventually I did. I didn’t think of the Riddler, I likened him to Yoda.”

“Oh, yeah, classic Star Wars.”

Alfonzo relaxed. A grin
displayed his prominent dimple. “Nena, you’re good.”

“What, what did I do?”

“Tu sabé.” He grinned. “Man, sometimes I am in awe of that mind of yours. When did you have this place renovated?”

“Sophie did
after Alberti died. She told me her plans.”

“But you never told me.”

“I’m telling you now.”

“That’s true.” His forehead furrowed. “Did she do anything to the sub-basement?”

“I’m not sure, let’s see.”

They walked swiftly to investigate. Alfonzo had read the diary in entirety. He also recalled riddles from Alberti.
Many of the stories were about family, loyalty and duty.

“Hold on babe, we’re going to need a flashlight,” he said before they were about to descend in the dark.

She waited near the staircase as he went in search of one. In a storage room he found workman tools often left behind on jobs. He shook the industrial flashlight when it flickered and the light stayed on.

His babe looked so cute in her
sweats and sneakers. Her appearance took him back to when they first met. Surprising, how quick time passes. The love when it’s strong doesn’t, though.

A lot of marriages crumble. The
irs shifted during a storm, but the foundation remained strong as hell.

He pointed the light
down the stairs and led the way.

Selange held on to the back of his shirt as they carefully navigated the stairs. They reached the upper level of the basement.
He imagined old furniture stored here. But this wasn’t where the secret meetings were held.

He shone a light around the walls and the floor until he discovered the entry was actually in plain sight. A door blended to look like the wall
was opened with a pull inward. He propped it open with a brick, used the flashlight to pan around to gauge the condition of the stairs and width before stepping a sole on the step, testing the weight and then fully descended.

Selange was his shadow through-out.

Nothing out of the ordinary at this level, he thought.

He put his arm around Selange’s waist. “Might be a wasted trip.”

“No, your dad was clear. He referenced those your grandfather assisted. If people are in hiding, they don’t want to get caught. We’ll find something.”

“All right Indiana Jones. You like this mystery crap, I
don’t.”

“It’s fun. Do you know puzzles and riddles keep the mind alert and can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s?”

They were examining the walls and floors, walking slow in order to ensure they didn’t miss anything.

“I heard that somewhere,” he answered.

Selange chuckled. “Do you kno
w
Fanta originated as a result of difficulties importing Coca-Cola syrup into Nazi Germany during World War II due to a trade embargo?”

“No, didn’t know that.”

“Did you know Norway and Denmark had a Jewish population of 10,000 between them, Denmark saved almost all its Jewish citizens, while Norway managed to save about half?”

“Nope,” Alfonzo answered as his hand reached in darkened corners, touching cobwebs and dust.

“Did you know America was suffering the Great Depression and refused to accept Jewish refugees?”

“Yep, I knew that one.”

“Did you ...”

Alfonzo spun around. Selange had touched a broken slab of brick and dammit found the concealment area that saved hundreds of lives if not thousands of Jews and others during the years of Hitler’s campaign to exterminate people like insects.

They entered the area by squeezing through a space that Alfonzo widened with a metal pole found on the floor. They spent hours sifting through old books, crinkly with age, things of no importance to anyone other than the owners.

He pulled cloths from pictures and coughed from the stagnant dust. Hi
s eyes examined an oil painting which matched the description he’d been given.

He called Nico. “We found it.”

“Hot damn!” Nico exclaimed and then his tone became downright gloomy. “Tomorrow come by the house. We have another development that I’m sure will make your morning.”

“Come on Nico
.” Alfonzo croaked from the dust,

Selange looked up from
the paper she held with tears in her eyes. Alfonzo frowned. The woman had such a big heart he was glad he had a part.

“What
’s that?” he asked when he put the cell away.

“A
drawing by a child”

“If
he or she were here, they were safely transported.”

Selange wiped her eyes. “
I hurt sometimes knowing there are still wicked people who want to hurt others because they’re different.”

“Babe, it’s okay.”

She blinked trying to stem the flow. “I dealt with girls like that in school. Every day, every damn day I held my breath not knowing what they’d do next to try and hurt me when I’d done nothing to any of them.”

Alfonzo didn’t know that.
“Oh nena.”

“They didn’t like me
for silly reasons honey. They said I thought I was cute or I talked too proper and junk like that. They’d pull on my book bag and laugh when I’d go to the library to just sit by myself. I preferred studying over being mean to other people and that’s what many of them were. They ran around in stupid ass cliques messing with girls who hadn’t done anything but want an education. I dealt with that mess and didn’t tell my parents because sometimes that makes it worse. I started defending myself after getting so damn tired.”

He w
ent and put his arms around his babe. “There are assholes in this world that enjoy trying to break other people down.  I’ve dealt with my share of the fools. That’s really all they are, ignorant people who can’t do shit so they’ve mastered causing drama for others.”

“I know…
but Shanda wasn’t afraid to step away from those girls and say they were wrong. She stood with me when everybody else was scared to have my back. Oh, honey I loved her so much for that and every time I think of her I remember a brave girl.”

“You were very brave
every day nena. You walked through a pack of hyenas who tried to rip you to shreds, but you fought alone and never backed down. And what Shanda recognized was a true leader. All she did was stand with a lion. That’s how I see it.”

Selange sniffled. “I suppose.”

“Babe, that kind of hate are girls who hate they’re not you. Uptown dudes went hard when we got hate from jealous motherfuckers. It was like fuel. We let ‘em talk smack while we got paid, moving up and leaving their asses still sitting on crates in front of bodegas. Babe, those people talking shit are always left in the dust. They’re too busy worrying about somebody than taking care of their business.” Alfonzo chuckled. “Ah man, this world’s a trip. All I can say is keep being who you are. One of the reasons I love you is because you are strong with a beautiful heart.”

“You’re right, I know I had to go through stuff and it’s only made me see what’s important.
I miss my friend…I miss her voice.”

“
Yo sé. I know, but can I be a friend, too?”

“You’re more than a friend.”

“Word?”

She grinned as the sadness floated
away from her body. “Word.” Then she asked as she folded the drawing and placed it in her pocket, “What happened with you and Domingo. I know how much you loved him?”

The time had
come; there was nothing but bared truths around. Among discarded items of a persecuted people he found the courage to expose himself completely. He stared in her watery eyes.

Naked.

Tatted.

He revealed the ugliness.

“Domingo put a bullet in my heart babe. He was doing drugs and selling me out. I confronted him and he pulled a gun on me.” Alfonzo’s jaw clenched for a moment. The tightness was his heart squeezing to pump the blood out. “I killed him because I saw our future die if I let him live.”

Selange caressed his face. “That had to be hard
.”

“What’s harder is learning he was still abusing Teresa
around the kids and I didn’t hear about it.”

Selange frowned. “Who was
that guy Jesús?”

“Teresa’s lover
who she confided her troubles to, but you can’t start a relationship that way, there’s nothing good found in lies.”

“Dang.”

He kissed her forehead. “Come on, let’s go home and I’ll cheer you up properly.”

Selange nodded. “Yeah, let’s go home
and I’ll do the same.”

Alfonzo’s mouth twitched. He had to grin at her appearance. She was the chica in BK, sweats and sneakers, ghetto cute, catching the attention
of guys on corners selling or cruising by. Uptown, same damn thing and in every ‘hood there’s a Selange. Some rise above their circumstances and some never leave the ‘hood. Selange used education as a lifeline; way before he came in the picture she found opportunity through hard-work. Nobody gave her anything, she fought with books.

Tough,
was his woman, yet she remained soft.

Not many can handle finding corpses or outsmarting
the law.

She
had and more.

A leader takes
action; too many only talk and when shit pops off they scatter like cucarachas.

A
leader stands and will fight even when everyone else has gone.

T
he way he saw things, he was lucky to have snagged a BK star with a really good heart that stood for something other than frivolity.

S
he stood for family.

St
ood up for others when they were knocked down.

For him, e
ven now.

Selange
had character and stood her ground.

“Uh, babe,
” he said.

“Yes?”

He pointed to her face. “You might want to wipe that snotty booger off your nose, that shit looks nasty,” he said before reaching for the painting.

C
HAPTER NINETEEN

Giuseppe’s body was weightless, light as a feather. He had a restful slumber after a passionate night. His head twisted to the side and the down where his eyes met red hair and a womanly form with an arm holding on to his stomach.

He remained still
and then he felt the throbs punching awareness to his body that he was no longer a teenager. What transpired last night was not a dream and he recalled in detail the scene of grown people becoming acquainted with the other’s body.

Nicole had undressed him, touched and caressed his muscles, smil
ed when he flexed to make his pectorals leap like speakers.

“Show off,” she teased and then slipped out of her dress, reach in her purse and hold between fingers a gold wrapped condom.

He said nothing when she bent to sheath his member, rubbing and stroking him so sweetly he growled. What pleasure he took in making her purr like a kitten until the guarded restraints came down. She roared then and the clutches made bruises and her claws came out. He didn’t compare her to Shanda because no other could replace her in his heart. She was Nicole, the pianist, tender and passionate, unbound.