Chapter 15: The Night

Dario stood, and his chair scraped back across the floor.

"Count if you like," he said. "Then count what Gallo brought to a high school fundraiser."

"A gun," the oldest captain said slowly. He had turned his hearing aid up.

"In front of three hundred people and a girl in a gold dress."

"Ruvolo," Mr. Gallo said. "Whose child is she?"

"Marisa's."

"That is not an answer."

"It is the only one you will get on this hill."

The oldest captain looked down the table at me for a long moment, and I looked back.

"Mr. Gallo's complaint is dismissed," he said. "He sent armed men into a public room."

"He will leave this house, and he will not come back up the road."

Mr. Gallo rose on his cane.

He did not look at me again.

Two of Dario's men opened the door for him, and Jared watched him go with his mouth slightly open.

"He was going to help me," Jared said.

"He was going to eat you," I said.

The captains took Jared's phone, his keys and his watch, and handed back his coat.

He walked out in it, and Eli stopped in the doorway to look at me.

Then he followed his brother down the hill.

That evening Alessia's note was on the refrigerator, under a magnet shaped like a lemon.

Staying at a friend's. Two of Dario's guys are on the porch, so don't panic. Don't wait up. Say it to him.

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