Page 177 of Bitter Poetry

“He said something once that suggested he might. If he’d told Ettore, I’d be in the ground. And yeah, I recognize that the stakes and risks have escalated. But you know I can’t pull out. Not now Carmela has been taken. Not after he already had Jero follow me. We’ve come this far. He’s close to doing something stupid. We’ve no choice now but to let this run its course.”

“I don’t fucking like it,” Leon says. “But I agree with you.”

“What are your current orders from Ettore?” I ask.

“To keep doing what I’m doing, which is fuck all.”

“The Russian presence in her regular coffee shop feels like a power play,” Leon says.

“Yeah, I’m thinking that too,” I agree. “They’re trying to bag her. The important reason is why? To buy points with Ettore? Leverage for something else they want? The Russians are renowned for their surveillance and cyber espionage. We covered our tracks when we brought her here, but if we missed something…”

The door opens before I can finish that thought, and Mateo enters. “I’ve got news you should know about.”

“Likewise,” Leon says. “It’s possible Ettore has again called in favors with the Russians. Given their skills with system infiltration, should we be worried that Carmela’s location could be uncovered? Do we need to move her?”

Mateo’s jaw tightens. “Potentially, yes, although any time you move her, you add a fresh risk… The news I have is relevant to Carmela.”

“Go ahead,” Leon says.

“You’ve asked Cherry to take stuff up to her in Dante’s apartment, right?”

Leon’s face empties. “If you’re going to suggest she’s working with the Russians or Ettore, don’t.”

“Do you trust her?”

I don’t think I blink.

“I fucking trust her,” Leon grits out. “You have something on her? Spit it out.”

“She’s got a history with Ettore. Not the good kind.”

“The fuck she has?” Leon growls, rising from his seat.

“Shut up, Leon, and let him fucking speak,” I interrupt. “Sit down.”

He sits… slowly, glowering between Mateo and me. Not that I could give a fuck that he has a soft spot for Cherry when Carmela’s safety is on the fucking line.

“You told me to investigate all of them,” Mateo says. “You didn’t say not to investigate Cherry… You know she’s a doctor. Used to work in the emergency department and Kennedy Memorial Hospital.”

“She did allude to it once,” Leon says. “I figured she’s had some first aid training and was fucking with me. You’re telling me she’s an actual doctor?”

“No offense,” I say. “But what the fuck is a doctor doing working in a club?”

“Yeah,” Christian deadpans. “That would be about as stupid as someone with a Harvard MBA spending three years partying on a yacht.”

Leon gives him the shut-up look.

“Malpractice,” Mateo says. “She was struck off the register eighteen months ago and only a year after she qualified.”

“That doesn’t sound right,” Leon says. “Not the doctor part, which makes a lot of fucking sense with hindsight, but the being struck off. It doesn’t fit… Where the hell does Ettore fit in this?”

“I didn’t believe the malpractice part either,” Mateo says. “So I did some digging, and deeper digging, and finally uncovered the assault charge she filed against the hospital administrator. The charges were abruptly dropped, and besides one summary report that someone must have missed, all the statements and other evidence the summary alluded to mysteriously disappeared… This was right before the malpractice charges were brought against her.”

“Motherfucker,” Leon says slowly.

“Guess who the hospital administrator is buddies with?”

“Ettore,” Leon says.