Page 67 of A Week Away

“You think he killed my dad. And maybe… But there’s no way he killed my mom. He’s really upset. He keeps crying. More than me even.”

I didn’t think it was Luca either, but not because he was crying. The Feds were watching him. They wouldn’t just watch him kill a woman and not do anything about it.

“Tell me about the gun you gave me. It belongs to Luca, doesn’t it?”

“Kind of.”

“Kind of? What does that mean?”

“He buried it in our backyard. He didn’t think we knew about it, but my mom figured it out, dug it up, and brought it into the house.”

That wasn’t exactly what he’d told me before. Before he’d said Luca gave it to his mother to keep. I said, “So he did something bad with the gun. Do you know what that is?”

He shrugged. “My grandfather was in some trouble. But then the judge got shot in a robbery and we got a better judge. It was around that time.”

“Is the gun registered to him?”

“No. That would be dumb. He had a girl he knew buy it.”

That was not much smarter. He could still easily be traced to the gun. “Why did your mother dig it up?”

Cass looked embarrassed. “Insurance.”

If she needed insurance then she was afraid of Luca. Or someone who cared about Luca. “Has Luca said anything to you about the gun?”

Cass shook his head.

“If he does, let me know.”

Abruptly, there was a knock on the door. I jumped. “Shit.”

I turned off the water. We were going to look pretty suspicious when we walked out of the bathroom together. I opened the door, just to get it over with.

Aunt Suzie glowered at me. “What are the two of you doing?”

I made a snap decision, pulled her into the bathroom and turned the water pack on. “The Feds are investigating Luca, they’ve got a microphone aimed at the house.”

“How do you know that?”

“Their van is in the next block. You can see it out the window. It’s white.”

She walked over and looked out the window. Then she said, “Okay. What does this have to do with the two of you?”

“He’s Cass’s cousin. I thought he should know.”

“Are you going to tell Luca?” she asked Cass.

“I don’t know. Should I?”

“I want you to think about coming to live with me. You need to stay away from your mother’s family as best you can.”

“She’s right, Cass. You should do that.”

She looked at me suspiciously even though I was agreeing with her. And she had every reason to look at me that way.

“They loved my mom. They love me.”

“That doesn’t mean they’re good for you,” I said. “Love doesn’t always work that way.”