A Face to Die For (Forensic Instincts 6)

“It looks that way. So please, try to think of anything—anything—Angelo might have said about his brother.”

Frowning, Lina racked her brain. “I know Angelo was all about family, and Jimmy was the only blood tie he had. I know he had a soft spot in his heart for Jimmy—he’d tell us how smart he was, how successful

he’d be. And I know that Jimmy moved away when I was an infant, so I never met him.”

“So Angelo spoke of him in the present tense—like he was alive and thriving somewhere other than New York?”

“I guess so, yes.” Lina gave a definitive shake of her head. “This doesn’t make sense. The way Angelo talked—he was super-protective of Jimmy. Why would he put him in danger by making him a hitman?”

“He didn’t.” It was Claire who answered the question, a spark of awareness in her faraway gaze. She was connecting with Jimmy via his high level of panic—both then and now. “Jimmy did this on his own, a way to impress his big brother. It all went wrong. Only Anthony was supposed to be killed. The shot that killed Carla was meant for him. Jimmy freaked out, just like he’s freaking out now. That recurring emotion—that’s what I’m sensing. His world was falling apart then. It’s falling apart again now.”

“The mob has rules,” Marc murmured. “No women, no children.”

Claire nodded. “Having broken those rules, all Jimmy could think about was Angelo’s reaction. He’d be livid. So he tried to make amends. Rather than abandoning three orphaned infants, he took the three of you and brought you to Angelo. After that…” The veil over Claire’s eyes lifted. “You know the rest.”

At that moment, Casey’s cell phone vibrated again, Ryan’s number flashing on her screen. She gave a quick glance at her watch, surprised to see that almost forty minutes had passed since his last call.

This time she answered right where she was. “What’s happening?”

“Patrick and I are both on the move together. I’m right behind him. The Brandos just left Lina’s apartment. They’re clearly trying to find her. And as a quick heads-up, it looks like they’re headed for Tribeca.”

“Then we’ll be ready,” Casey replied. “Thanks. When you get here, you and Patrick stay put outside the building. I’ll handle this.”

She hung up and turned to Lina. “Your parents are on their way here.”

CHAPTER 35

“No.” Lina jumped up, looking around as if to seek sanctuary. “I can’t face them. I won’t face them. Not yet. Not until it’s on my terms. Please, Casey, don’t do this to me.”

“I have no intentions of it.” Casey exuded calm and control in an effort to tamper Lina’s rising hysteria. “You, Dani, and Gia will stay here with the team. I’ll go out there and speak to your parents.” She paused, then gestured at Lina’s purse. “Check your messages.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to see what we’re dealing with.”

On trembling legs, Lina rose, going over and opening her purse. She pulled out her phone and checked. “I have a half-dozen texts and a ton of voice mails from them,” she reported woodenly. She scanned the texts. “They’re all the same, either begging or demanding that I call them.” She handed the cell to Casey. “You can listen to the voice messages. I’m not.”

Casey nodded, taking the phone and running through the process quickly, listening to each message. “They’re pretty much the same as the texts, just increasingly desperate.” She looked at Lina. “No matter what happens, I do believe they love you.”

Lina dragged a hand through her hair. “I don’t know how you can love someone and keep a secret like this. Maybe I’m too upset to even consider their side of things. But that’s the way it is. I need to regroup. Then I’ll talk to them.”

Another nod. “Obviously, they realize you’ve spoken with us. So I have to tell them we gave you the truth about being a triplet. Otherwise, they’ll know I’m lying and all hell will break loose. And with your permission, I’d like carte blanche about what else I say. Maybe the right provocation will trip them up and make them give something away.”

Without hesitation, Lina agreed. “Go ahead. I don’t care what you tell them. I’ll be having it out with them soon enough. But in the meantime, just keep them away from me, and from Gia and Dani.” Without realizing it, Lina turned to her sisters for comfort. And also without realizing it, each of them offered it—Dani with a hug and Gia with a supportive stroke of her shoulder and soothing words.

The moments that followed were tense.

Finally, the front doorbell sounded—a prolonged ring that meant one of the Brandos was leaning on it.

“My facial recognition database says that Joseph and Donna Brando are here,” Yoda supplied. “They are highly agitated, judging from their vital signs.”

“I’m sure they are,” Casey answered, already rising and heading out. “Thanks, Yoda.”

She went straight to the front door, punched the entry code into the Hirsch pad, and let the Brandos in.

“Where’s our daughter?” Joseph marched past Casey and planted himself in the hallway, gazing rapidly around. His wife followed suit, her eyes swollen and red from crying.

“I have no idea,” Casey replied. “Why don’t you call her and ask—or isn’t she speaking to you?”