Caged Heat(44)
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Sam was positive that Juan Junior had been her threat and made a mention of it to Riel on their way to his house. He’d made her leave her car behind, and Kane would drop it off later. When he didn’t agree with her assessment of Juan as the sole threat, she frowned at him. “What are you thinking?”
“We still don’t know what’s going on with Danitelli. If it was your cousin Juan, he was working with a woman. I keep getting a sweet scent every time something happens to you.” Riel sounded puzzled.
Her eyes widened. “Marcia? But she’s the mousiest woman ever. I don’t see that in her.”
He clenched his jaw and shook his head. “I’ve seen her; I don’t think she was part of the threat either. I don’t know what’s going on, but there’s something we’re not seeing.”
“Who else could there be? My family is filled with snobs, but it isn’t that big. Half the people don’t even live in Black Meadows. The only ones left here are the older folks.”
Riel glanced her way. “We’re still searching further into Luisa and Cecilia.”
A shocked gasp left her. “Luisa? But she’s not like the rest of them. She’s sweet and kind, and Cecilia is not the nicest, but—”
“She’s living with a young stud who she gives every cent to in order to keep him with her. She’s completely broke and needs the money in order to entertain her young lover.”
Her family definitely had drama. Still, Cecilia being with a younger man wasn’t a crime. “So what’s the big deal that she’s giving her money to her younger lover?”
He glanced at her and grimaced. She knew she wasn’t going to like what he said.
“That younger lover is sleeping with three other rich women, and he’s an ex-con that was in prison for attempted murder and assault.”
Oh damn. That didn’t sound too promising for Cecilia. “Well what’s going on with Luisa? She’s not like them; she’s different. As for Cecilia as far as I know she’s always been like Maggie, cold and living by society’s rule book. Those women have been super strict as far as I can remember in trying to set the pace that everyone in society should follow. From their homes to how a woman needs to behave. Thank god neither of them ever had kids.”
He nodded. “What can you tell me about their husbands?”
“Maggie went through four divorces before she met Danitelli. She’s been with him for fifteen years I think. I’m not sure what happened, but from what Ginny used to say, her previous husbands felt she was much to bossy for their tastes. Cecilia was married, and her husband was a general in the army. I think I was fifteen when he left her for a young woman he met in Vietnam. Cecilia was hit hard. She’d always acted as if she had the perfect family. Ginny said if she’d paid more attention to what was going on inside the family instead of how the world perceived them, she might have seen that one coming.”
“What can you tell me about Danitelli?”
“Ugh. Not much, unfortunately. He’s always in some business or other, but he’s never really bothered with our side of the family. He’s from some big Italian family. I think they come from money, so I’m not sure what he would want with Ginny’s money.”
“It’s five billion dollars. Anybody—even someone with money—would want to get their hands on that.”
She sighed.
“What about Luisa?”
Sam sighed again. “She was married to a doctor for a long time. He was much older than her and died when I left for college. I think that she must’ve loved him, because she stayed alone after that. I never heard of her being with anyone else. It was sad to see her so lonely. She’s the only one of the three women that had kids. Two boys. I remember wishing she’d talk to me more, but she was always surrounded with the other two, and so I never tried to get close to her. Cecilia and Maggie were pretty mean, so I stayed away.”
“Mean how?”
She leaned her head back in the seat. “They tended to mention what a shame my mother was to the family. Now I realize it wasn’t the shifter friends they were against, it was my father. Mom’s relationship with him had drawn bad blood from the others.”
They turned onto his street, and she caught sight of Nat in front of his house. He parked the car at the curb and turned to her. He cupped her cheek and stared at her intently.
“We are still investigating Luisa. I can’t say for sure that she’s out of the picture until I hear back from Kane. And I’m not sure what Kane has on Danitelli, so we’re still on the lookout. So far, I know there was a woman involved in the attempts on your life, and I’m not going to let this go until I know who it was. All I ask is that you’re careful. I’m not happy with this, and I have a feeling we’re missing something.”