A Face to Die For (Forensic Instincts 6)

“Call Patrick. He’s obviously still on the road. Tell him where you are and in what direction you’re headed. He’ll be armed. And he’ll catch up with you. Call me when he does.”

* * *

Casey disconnected the call, took a second to clear her head, and then rejoined the group. Time to fill Lina in on everything and to see what Lina might know without realizing that she did. And to that end, time for Casey to reverse her earlier decision not to tell the girls who FI believed their natural parents were, as well as how they’d died. Everything tied to Jimmy Colone, and he was now FI’s number one suspect.

“I’ll start from the beginning,” Casey told Lina. “First come the facts that led Gia and Dani to hire us, and then the events that followed.”

Lina listened intently to every word Casey said, until she was up to speed on everything Gia and Dani already knew. She was clearly distraught but equally puzzled by some of the nuances of the story.

“Why hasn’t anyone come after me?” she asked. “I’ve had no threats on my life, not even a menacing letter or phone call. Is it because I didn’t find Gia and Dani the way they found each other?” A pained pause. “Or is it because you think my father is somehow involved in this and I’m being protected?”

“Probably both.” Casey leaned forward, her gaze fixed on Lina. “Tell us everything you can about Angelo Colone.”

Rather than looking surprised, Lina sighed. “Once you said you believed my dad knew more than he was saying, I assumed this would somehow involve Uncle Angelo. I’m not sure what to tell you. I was his goddaughter, I’m named after him, and I loved him very much. But I was also aware of his mob connections. They just never affected me in any way. My only exposure to him was family dinners, birthday parties, lots of presents, hugs, and laughter. The rest…” She shrugged. “I was never privy to it. Nor did I want to be.” Her eyes widened. “Do you think his death incited whoever’s doing this to try to hurt Gia and Dani?”

“It’s increasing his anxiety,” Claire responded in that quiet, faraway voice that said she was speaking from sensory perception. “But it’s not why he’s going after Gia and Dani. Their finding each other triggered that. And whatever act caused you three to be separated is what’s driving him.”

“You sound as if you know what that act was.” Perceptive as always, Lina made her assessment while studying Casey’s body language.

“I believe we do,” Casey said, sparing Claire from having to hedge. “We think this all ties into a double homicide that happened a month after you were born.”

At this point, all three girls were sitting up straight, staring at Casey as they waited for answers.

“We don’t have hard-core evidence, but the coincidence of those murders is too great to ignore.” Casey took out a copy of the tiny article Ryan had produced and leaned forward to hand it to the girls. “The couple that was killed were Anthony and Carla Ponti. All signs point to the fact that they were your biological parents.”

Three audible gasps as, with a trembling hand, Lina took the article, and the three girls huddled together, poring over every word.

“The Pontis were shot to death in their home in Bay Ridge, Queens, and their infant triplets were kidnapped from the crime scene,” Lina read aloud. “No suspects have been identified, no murder weapon has been found, and there were no witnesses on the scene.” Her voice cracked. “Our parents,” she whispered.

“There’s no other explanation.” Dani pressed her hands to her face, the realization as crushing as Casey had known it would be.

Gia was practically vibrating with shock. “What else do you know?” she demanded.

“We know that Anthony Ponti worked for Angelo Colone’s construction company,” Casey replied. “He made collections for him.”

The implication sank in.

“You think it was a mob hit,” Lina said. “You think that Unc… that Angelo Colone had the Pontis killed and had us kidnapped.”

“But why take us?” Gia spoke up before Casey could respond. “I get the mob hit. Anthony Ponti probably helped himself to some extra cash that he wasn’t entitled to. So he and his wife were killed. But why take three infants? Why not just leave us in our cribs? We weren’t exactly what you’d call witnesses. Plus, three babies would be a huge burden for an escaping killer to juggle. It doesn’t make sense.”

“My guess?” Casey replied. “We know that Angelo and Lina’s father were best friends. If the Brandos were desperate for a child, Joseph might very well have shared that fact with Angelo.”

“After which Angelo provided them with one?” Lina looked ill. “I was a commodity that was exchanged out of goodwill and friendship?” Bitterness laced her tone. “Given how tight the two of them were, why wouldn’t Angelo just have turned over all three of us? My parents could have struck gold three times over.”

Casey hurt deeply for Lina’s pain. But she pushed on, because it had to be done. “That’s not the way Angelo wanted it. He wanted to split the three of you up. So he made careful plans for three separate adoptions—adoptions that would keep you three from ever finding each other.”

“Why go to all that trouble?”

“My opinion? Angelo was protecting his hitman.”

Again, all three girls startled.

“You know who killed the Pontis?” Dani asked, turning up her palms. “Why are Gia and I first hearing about this?”

“Because we only figured it out three minutes ago,” Casey replied. “That phone call I just took from Ryan fit the pieces together.” She sidestepped the oncoming questions to ask Lina one of her own. “What do you know about Angelo’s brother, Jimmy?”

Lina stared. “Not much. Is that who killed our… parents?”