Chapter 16: The Table

On Thursday night eight men sat down at the long table on Todt Hill, and the chair at its head stayed empty.

Dario had not come home in two days.

Ettore stood against the wall with his hands behind him.

Mirella sat at the foot in the cream cardigan I knew best, with a handkerchief folded in her lap.

She looked like the injured party, and I understood that this was her gift.

Agata struck the table with her cane.

"The wife of this house has called the table," she said. "By our oldest right she speaks first. Carina."

I stood up.

I had a leather folder in my hands and my knees were not quite steady.

"Last Friday an ambulance came to this house for me," I said. "Two men with a canvas jacket. Do you know who sent it?"

"The doctor, and the Don," said the capo whose wife adored Mirella.

"Then look at the committal order. There is a box for the head of household's seal."

I passed the page down the table.

"It's empty," Agata said. "I never signed it. The Donna's seal has not been broken in this house."

The page went from hand to hand.

"Who asked the doctor to write that I was unwell?" I said. "He told us on Tuesday, and he gave us this."

I laid down the cheque.

It reached the capo with the loud wife last, and he read it twice.

"Santoro Holdings," he said. "Forty thousand. December."

"Three months before I took a single pill," I said.

Mirella looked up.

"Cari, that was for the Don," she said gently. "He asked me to arrange your care. I've done everything in love."

"The pills were in a bottle with your name on it."

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