They both resumed eating.
She paused. “So, you think that that Town Council member would have voted for you before you hurt his son? I’m confused.”
He laughed. “Yeah, it’s confusing as all hell. But, yes. He probably would have voted for me over his own son. That’s probably the reason his son and I got into it the other day.”
She nodded her head as if all was crystal clear, and then she finished her last bite and wiped her mouth. “Alright. So let’s figure this whole mess out soon so you can bring your brother home and go win your job.”
He liked this girl.
Chapter 21
Lia parked the Alfa Romeo right in front of the Albastru Pub, which sat in a piazza that looked otherwise restricted to vehicle traffic.
The pub had a large dark wooden sign with hand carved lettering above the front door, with a blue, yellow, and red square flag hanging from a pole above it. A single deciduous tree grew thick from a small brick square in front.
“Romanian.” Lia pointed at the sign as they got out, answering Wolf’s forthcoming question.
They entered the pub, Wolf noting the nautical-looking clock on the wall that said 2:10 pm. It looked like the bottom rung customers were there at the moment — a few older men slumping over a yellow beer or a brownish clear liquor in their squat glasses. Punk rock music Wolf didn’t recognize buzzed softly from out of the large wall mounted speakers. Two muted televisions showed the same channel, a sports highlight show.
No one was behind the bar, nor was there any indicator bell or anything to telegraph their entrance.
Lia took off her hat. “Buon giorno!”
A thin face with buggy cobalt eyes peaked around the corner from a surprisingly tall height — higher than Wolf’s eye line.
Almost imperceptibly, the eyes widened, then a stringy arm appeared holding up a finger, “Buon giorno! Un momento per favore,” the second half of the sentence retreating away from them. There was a fast clipped conversation just audible over the music somewhere in the back, a door closing, and then the man returned.
He was tall. What Wolf thought to be a man standing on a step stool and peaking around a corner was in fact a man that stood a few inches taller than Wolf’s six foot three height. His head was shaved on the sides all the way to the skin, with tapered ridged spiked on the very top with copious amounts of gel, giving the illusion of even more height. His ears protruded from the side of his head like two open car doors. He had a large nose, with a tight small mouth below it where white spittle had built up on the corners. A gold necklace jostled around his neck, well displayed on his bared chest above his mostly unbuttoned white silk shirt. He hurried over.
“Ciao, sono Cezar,” he extended a huge hand across the bar to Wolf.
A pattern of five dots in between his right forefinger and thumb caught Wolf’s eye as they shook, like a five on a dice. He’d seen the tattoo countless times. All on bad people.
Wolf shook. “Do you speak English?”
“Yes, I speak English, why?” The faint sound of a car engine fired up toward the back of the building, revved, and gradually faded.
“Because I’m from America. I’m Wolf.”
“Wolf! What is that, German?”
“No, actually it’s not,” he said. “Do you mind answering a few questions for us?”
“Of course I do not mind! I’m Cezar.” He slumped down on his elbows giving Wolf his undivided attention. “How can I help you?”
Cezar blinked long and hard while turning his mouth downward, ending the move with a hard sniff. Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out a pack of Marlboro’s in a black box, a type Wolf didn’t recognize ever seeing. He pointed the box in Wolf’s direction. “Would you like one?”
“Uh, no thanks,” Wolf forced himself to say. He held up his brother’s driver’s license. “I need to know if you’ve ever seen this man before.”
Lia cleared her throat next to him.
Cezar paused a pulse with a blank look. “Yes! I know this guy. He and his friend come in sometimes.”
Wolf pulled the license back and Cezar pulled out his cell phone, apparently all his undivided attention used up.
“You own this place?” Wolf asked.
“Yeah, it’s mine, all mine.” He raised his arms out showing off his pterodactyl wing span.
Lia stepped forward and put her elbow on the bar. “Did you happen to see him this weekend? On Friday night?”
Cezar paused for a few seconds swiping his finger on his phone.
“Cezar?” Lia reached across and put her hand over his phone screen.
Cezar inhaled a sharp breath and burned a look at Lia. He blinked hard and sniffed, eyes transformed to a cool gaze as he opened them again. “I don’t think so, I normally remember everyone who comes in, and I don’t remember seeing him that night.”
Wolf pulled out the receipt and laid it on the bar counter.
Cezar glanced at it, then back to his phone. “He might have been in here, I don’t know. It was pretty busy that night.”
“This is my brother’s receipt from that night — ”
“Yeah, I get it. Look, I didn’t see him that night, okay? Sorry to disappoint you.” He stared with a sad look on his face, head tilted to the side. A shrug was added for good measure.
“Yeah. Okay.” Wolf stared icily. “Hey, you have a bathroom in that back room I can use?” He looked over Cezar’s shoulder to the back hallway.
His eyelids drooped lazily as he pointed to the far wall. “The toilet is over there.”
Wolf stood still, returning his unblinking glare to Cezar.
Cezar held up his arms in a defensive gesture, a vaudeville look of fear twisting his face, then laughed through his bean-toothed smile.
Wolf opened the car door. “He knows something.”
“That guy is creepy.”
“Yeah, that too.”
Lia’s phone trilled loudly, and she talked for a minute.
“Valerio is going to meet us at the station with the police report. Let’s go pick up your brother’s computer and head down there.”
Chapter 22
Wolf followed Lia into the Caribinieri station. She darted up the stairs to the left without a glance to the chaos below, which Wolf saw had escalated to biblical status.
Upstairs was light and smelled refreshing after the mid day rains. The lake in the distance was white capped once again, more aquatic boarders riding the winds back and forth across the vast expanse. He shook his head looking back at the stairway, like it was a wormhole into another universe..
The room bustled with activity, officers on phones, paperwork being shuffled from desk to desk, paperwork that wasn’t anchored down blowing off of desks. Colonnello Marino’s room to the right was closed, a booming voice rumbling from within. Detective Rossi stood up from behind a desk off to the left and greeted them with a nod of his head and wave over.
“How are things coming along, David?” Rossi folded his arms and furrowed his brow.
“There have been some developments for sure.” He looked to Lia, who sat comfortably on the edge of Rossi’s desk. “We found that the belt around my brother’s neck was not his own belt.”
“What do you mean?”
Wolf explained the length of the belt and how it couldn’t have been stretched.
“About your brother, I am working on getting all this paperwork done to release him and his belongings as fast as possible. And did you find this friend he was out with the night before?”
“No, we just went to his place of work and his apartment, and no luck at either place. It looks like he’s been missing for the same amount of time as my brother. Or, at least he hasn’t shown up for work all week.”
“Interesting again.” Rossi raised an eyebrow. He waved them to the chairs in front of his desk and sat back down. Wolf sat gratefully and stole another glance out to the shimmering water behind Rossi. His desk was amongst many others in a vast main room, a mid 1990s looking computer perched on his desk.