Alfonzo (27 page)

Carl smirked when Marchese nodded confirmation of the second find then shouted to the Nassau team, “You guys better d
ust the sink for fingerprints
.
”
Up u
ntil
Marchese’s
arrival they’d uncovered a dead body and no other evidence.
Atleast, now they had something tangible
to go on.

They walked away from the sink when the Nassau team
descended and strolled to the living room.
Carl stated with arms folded, “
W
hy kill this
kid and take my daughter?”
If
Winoski’s
theory proved accurate then Shanda was merely a pawn.

“I’d like to interview the kid, anybody else in the house?”

“My daughter lived here with her friend Selange. You remember I told you?”

“The one whose mom was killed in Brooklyn, right?”

“Same one.”

Detective Marchese found the news interesting.
Pieces of a puzzle starting to fit.
He pulled Carl to the side,
“ You
got a picture of your daughter handy?”

Carl removed a picture from his wallet, “I carry this always.”
Shanda smiled at him beneath a graduation cap.
Eyes lively and full of promise.
Marchese tucked the picture away, “I’ll return it as soon as I can,
meanwhile
I need
to speak to those kids.”

“So do
we
!” The FBI agent Mark Townsend interjected from the doorway.

Marchese wondered how long he’d been eavesdropping.
“Hey, who’s stopping you?”
Marchese wise-cracked.

Detective Johnson calmed the tension, “ Look if they have anything to add we’ll
tell you, right now I need to talk with my daughter’s friend.”

“No problem, but we want to interview them when you’re done.” Mark responded.

The young couple sat at the table engrossed in conversation. Their conversation
ended
abruptly
when the detectives
arrived
.
Marchese watched the Diaz kid closely. The
soft
blue eyes hid a dark side.
His face was stone. Winoski said this kid was the piece in this puzzle. The young man was physically fit, taut,
muscular
with a smooth sun-tanned complexion.
Overly handsome by all standards and angry.
Sitting across from the young man
, up close and personal he noted the confident erect posture,
the square
obstinate
jawline
and
the eyes…an aquatic blue with speckles of silver light
. It was as if her were staring at an archive picture of Luzo Palazzo. The resemblance was uncanny; the only
difference
was
this youth looked more lethal.

He waited for Detective Johnson to speak first
,
“Selange
this is
Detective Marchese
he wants to ask you a few questions
.”

Marchese took out a pad,
“ Describe
what Shanda was wearing.”

Selange looked puzzled, “I’ve already given that information to the detectives.”

Alfonzo leaned
casually
back in
his seat
, cold eyes trained on the detective.
He’d
seen Detective outside his mom’s house last night.
The cops had something but what?

“Just formality, please tell me again.”

Bullshit, he’s lying. What do you know?
Alfonzo thought. The FBI mentioned someone name
d Luzo Palazzo. Was this man the person who hired this Freddie, if so why?

Selange described in detail what Shanda wore then pointed to her hair.

“Oh and she changed her hairstyle, she wore it loose, like mine.”

Alfonzo saw
a glimmer in the detective’s eyes. Why did the mention of Shanda’s hairdo cause them to sparkle? Alfonzo inhaled, he understood.
Connected the dots.
The person who killed Jay abducted
Shanda,
however it was Selange he was after.

Marchese stopped writing and stroked the pen’s apex
,
“Anything unusual happen yesterday?”

“No.”

Marchese rose, “Well, thanks.”

He looked at the Diaz kid, “What about you, notice anything
unusual?”

Alfonzo’s face remained stone, “Yeah, two cops outside my house.”

Marchese smirked, “We usually check on crime victims to ensure they’re alright
especially when we haven’t apprehended a suspect.”

Carl seemed surprised.

“Well it’s nice to know you’re concerned about me.” Alfonzo quipped
.

The
detectives walked away and Carl said quietly to his buddy,
“
You
going to
tell me what that was about
Anthony because
we both know s
urveillance of a crime victim isn’t standard
procedure, th
e
kid
know
it,
too.”

“I’ll fill you in later, right now I
gotta
’
do something.”

Carl moved aside, “We’ll talk soon.”

Outside
the home
Marchese called Carey
as he hurried to
is
car,
Hey
,
guess what?”

“You’re in Long Island, abduction and murder
involving who else but the Diaz kid.”

“Are you clairvoyant? No, don’t answer that
, I told you already but get this the girl
Shanda;
she changed her hairstyle. I’m thinking the killer believes he has
Alfonzo’s girl
.
” He heard police radios and men talking, “Y
ou’re with Hanlon aren’t you
?”

“Yep.”

“The
feds
are there, too, aren’t they?”

“Yep.”

“
Can you meet me in one hour at Ray’s Deli?”

“That depends on whether you’re buying
or not.
”

Marchese chuckled, “My treat, anything else?”

“Yeah, tell the
feds
their boss is looking for ‘
em
and they better check in,” she said.

She frowned at the Bureau Chief eyeing her breasts.
Pig!

CHAPTER TWENTY—
FIV
E

Two
days passed since Jay’s murder. The police and FBI were looking at every
piece of evidence. So far no DNA match and the fingerprints found on the sink belonged
to one person, Jay. The killer
must have worn gloves. A
professional
killer
usually did
.

Meanwhile, Alfonzo
did not
allow Selange out of his sight.
He surmised from Detective Marchese Selange may have been the intended victim.
This disturbed him.
Selange
was safe
at his crib.
His place had a
state-of the art alarm system by
Triden
Security
. The place was practically
impenetrable
by an intruder
.
For precaution he upgraded his mom’s sec
urity and carried his registered 9mm.

Domingo visited and they went outside to talk
.
Domingo lit a joint unfazed by the undercover cops watching.
“
What’s
poppin
’
, they find that girl yet?” Domingo asked between a drag.

“
Nada
,” Alfonzo lifted his chin in the air, “check-out the
r
ent-a-cops!”

Domingo chuckled, “
Yo
, they protecting you.”

Alfonzo scowled, “Protecting who?” He turned
toward Domingo, “On your way to the spot
pay Antonia
a visit
.”

Domingo looked amused, “Why? What happened?
She
fuckin
’
up your game?”

“
I gave her thirty days to move.” He rolled his head like a fighter limbering-up, “she’s
stressing me right now…I don‘t need the bullshit!”

Domingo flicked the
clip toward the curb.
“
Yo
, what you need me to do?”

“Take her ten G’s and
tell
her
it’s now only
28 days.”

Domingo nodded
, ‘
Alfonzo the playa
’
. Antonia
was
only one of many females he discarded
when a new woman came into his life. Lately,
Alfonzo’s attention was focused on
Selange and not business.
Domingo
saw
Alfonzo cared about Selange,
more than the others
but kept this to himself.

A pretty
chicana
walking a Terrier approached. Domingo strained to check out her
attributes as she passed, “
Yo
babe with the nice ass, what’s-up?”

She smiled, “
Hola
, Alfonzo.” She said ignoring Domingo.

“
Que
pasa
Linda
.”
Alfonzo slapped Domingo
on the back, “Don’t mind my
cuz
he has no manners.”

She laughed, “That’s a
l
right,
wassup
cuz
?”

She waved bye and continued walking. Domingo jumped down the stairs hoping
to get some play.
Alfonzo shook his head
at the predictable outcome.
When Dom
ingo
’s unsmiling face reappeared Alfonzo laughed, “What happened?”

“She
ain’t
all that.”

Alfonzo failed to tell Domingo Linda was a
lesbian;
instead he changed the subject
,
“
Primo
,
I’m giving you the business. I’m getting out of th
is
shit.”

“
You
serious
?
”

Alfonzo’s eyes stayed on the detective’s car, “
I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, before all of this happened. I’m out.”

“If that’s what you really want to do then you know I got your back.”

“
Yo
s
é
.”

“You
gonna
do real estate full-time?”

“I need a vacation first. I might
visit some remote island in the middle of nowhere. No cell phones, computers, no
thing
.”

Domingo laughed, “You bugging. They got computers and phones everywhere man
but I feel you
.”

The front door opened
and
Selange peered out, “Hi Domingo.”

Domingo
flashed a genuine smile;
he liked Selange. “How you doing
chica
?”

S
he looked stressed, “
Asi-asi
.”

“You learning Spanish, I better watch what I say now,” he said good-naturedly.

She tried to smile but the eyes told the truth. She was worried about her friend.

Alfonzo spoke to her, “
Is e
verything
okay?
”

“I’m sorry to interrupt but I need to talk to you.”

He nodded, “I’ll be in
a minute.
”

The door closed and Alfonzo gave Domingo a censured look
before he had a chance to verbalize his thoughts
, “Don’t say
a word
!”

Domingo threw his hands up in mortification, “
Yo
, I wasn’t
gonna
’
say
nothing about you playing house
!”