Page 30 of The Girl from Sicily

30

LUCIA, MAY 1969

Lucia was waiting in arrivals at John F. Kennedy International airport, worry churning her stomach. Carula had phoned from Palermo yesterday, her voice trembling, to say she and Iain were cutting short their honeymoon and returning to New York. When Lucia had asked the reason, her daughter said she’d tell her everything once she’d arrived, and had promptly hung up.

After what seemed like hours, Carula and Iain finally came through the gate. Lucia ran towards them, but she stopped dead when she saw her daughter. Carula’s face was pale and Iain had his arm around her.

‘Oh, my God, what’s happened?’ Lucia asked, every nerve in her body quaking.

‘Your brother, that’s what happened,’ Iain said. ‘But now is not the place. Carula is in shock. Let’s get her home. Then I’ll tell you everything.’

They went to the parking lot and, before too long, Lucia was driving them in stony silence to Lower Manhattan.

Occupying the entire top floor of a building overlooking the MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens near Washington Square Park, her apartment was her refuge and she couldn’t wait to get back there. Ma and Pa would be waiting impatiently to find out about their granddaughter and her husband’s time in Sicily. Something had gone badly wrong and now Lucia knew it had to do with Dinu, apprehension was eating at her insides.

After she’d parked in the basement, Lucia took Carula and Iain up to her three-bedroom apartment, where the newlyweds went straight to Carula’s room and closed the door.

‘What’s going on?’ Ma asked, rushing up to Lucia as she stepped into the living room.

‘Dinu.’ Lucia only needed to say the word for Ma’s face to fall.

‘Is anything wrong?’ Pa asked from where he was sitting in an armchair.

‘Iain said he’d tell us everything once he’s got Carula settled. She’s in shock, apparently.’

* * *

‘How could you have suggested Carula contact her uncle? The man is an outlaw, wanted by the police.’ Iain came right out with the statement a short time later after he’d come into the room where Lucia was waiting with her parents.

‘I had no idea. We all thought he’d gone legitimate, didn’t we?’ Lucia glanced at Ma and Pa.

Her parents looked at each other and nodded.

‘We haven’t seen much of him since he left Villaurora to seek his fortune in the capital,’ Pa said. ‘Whenever he phoned, he’d say he was too busy. We haven’t heard anything bad, which is why we thought it would be fine for you to get in touch?—’

‘The police told me they’d been looking for Dinu and Francu for years, but they’d been keeping a low profile while spending their time wreaking devastation by setting the big Palermo crime families against each other, probably with a view to taking over one day. It’s suspected that the Mafia war between rival clans, sparked by a quarrel over a lost heroin shipment, had been instigated by your brother and Francu, Lucia.’

Her head spun with shock, and her stomach rolled.

Iain went on to recount that the carabinieri’s informers had revealed that Dinu and Francu’s underground existence had become one of their most feared traits: none of the Cosa Nostra clans knew who they were or what they looked like. Nobody ever saw them, they only saw the bodies in the aftermath of their passing. Their mystique had grown – no one knew for sure whether they were just hit men or held more important roles. The fact that they’d evaded the authorities successfully while notching up several murders had fuelled the mythology surrounding them.

‘It was only Carula’s innocent remark to Cardona that led to a breakthrough,’ Iain added.

‘Can you tell us what happened?’ Lucia met his eye.

‘We were at the bar in Villaurora, having a coffee, when a guy, who introduced himself as Giulianu Cardona, approached. He said he was an old friend of yours, Lucia. The guy appeared genuine, he told us he used to visit you, so we got chatting and Carula let slip we were meeting Dinu the next day in a restaurant in Castronovo.’

Lucia’s blood turned to ice, and she shivered.

Damn you, Giulianu Cardona.

‘He and Dinu go back a long way. My brother had a run-in with him at the end of the war,’ she said. ‘They were hard times, and Dinu had got involved in smuggling and other illegal activities.’

‘Bloody hell,’ Iain said. ‘You could have told me.’

‘It was a long time ago.’ Lucia sighed. ‘Dinu left Villaurora fifteen years ago. We truly believed he’d turned over a new leaf.’

‘Obviously not. Cardona turned up in Castronovo with a team of carabinieri. As soon as he saw him, Dinu accused Carula of betrayal.’ Iain grimaced. ‘Then, cool as a cucumber, Dinu shot Cardona dead.’

Lucia’s heart sank.

‘No wonder Carula’s in shock. You too, Iain. I’m so sorry this has happened.’

‘Us too,’ Ma added, and Pa echoed her.

‘Too late to apologise now.’ Iain sighed. ‘Carula had to witness a scene she’d only ever watched in the movies. Her uncle and his cousin pursued by law enforcement officers shooting at them. We hid under the table until the carabinieri returned.’

‘Did they catch Dinu and Francu?’ Lucia asked.

‘No. They got away.’

Lucia didn’t know whether to be relieved or not. She loved her brother, but hated him right now.

‘It was then that the police told us Dinu and Francu were fugitives from the law and gave us the same information I’ve given to you.’ Iain blew out a long, slow breath. ‘Carula and I caught the next flight back to New York. She didn’t stop crying for hours and can’t keep any food down.’

‘My poor baby.’ Lucia’s voice strangled on a sob.

* * *

For the following two days, Carula barely left her room, barely even spoke. Lucia carried her meals to her on a tray and Iain stayed close.

On the third day, Alberto Bonanno came to visit.

Lucia took one look at him and dread filled her.

‘Carula and Iain need to leave the country,’ Alberto said after Lucia had taken him through to the living room. ‘Charles Rinelli has been in touch. Although he has now retired, he heard through his contacts that people will come for them.’

Lucia couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

‘People? What people?’

‘Friends of friends. You know who I mean?—’

Lucia gasped and her mother burst into tears. This was concrete confirmation Dinu was involved with the Mafia, if anything was. But how could her brother even think of putting out a contract on his own niece? His twin sister’s daughter? She was truly shocked that Dinu had turned so spiteful and vengeful. He’d become evil. No other word would describe him.

‘Where can Carula and Iain go?’ Pa asked.

‘Back to England. They should be safe there,’ Alberto said.

Pa rubbed a hand through his thinning hair.

‘But isn’t Cosa Nostra active in England?’

Alberto shook his head.

‘Rinelli told me that the Mafia wanted to move to London when casinos were legalised, but the local criminal gangs were so established that it would have been difficult to arrive from overseas and hire suitable local enforcers, and since any armed and known foreign gangsters would not get further than being turned away at the airport, they thought it not worth the trouble. Besides, England never had the number of Italian immigrants that we received here in the US.’

‘Oh, God,’ Lucia sobbed. ‘How am I going to tell my daughter and son-in-law that they can’t stay in America?’

‘That’s not the worst of it, my dear,’ Alberto said. ‘Charles Rinelli stressed that Carula and Iain must have no contact with you. Just in case?—’

‘No, that can’t be right.’ Lucia stared at him, saw that he was serious. She hardened her heart. ‘I will never, ever forgive my brother for this.’

* * *

Ma and Pa went back to Sicily two days later, two days during which Lucia spent her time organising Carula and Iain’s departure. When Carula was told she’d need to leave the country, she wept and begged Lucia to go with her. But Lucia couldn’t take the risk. She was well known in immigrant circles; it would be better if she stayed in the US and spread the word that her daughter had gone to Australia instead.

‘I’ll write to you, my darling,’ Lucia said on her daughter’s last evening as they said goodnight at her bedroom door. ‘And, when everything settles down, I’ll come and visit.’

Carula’s eyes welled up.

‘Iain and I have decided it would be best if you didn’t write. Neither do we want you to visit.’ She took in a shuddering breath. ‘We’d like to try for a baby soon and we don’t need the stress. I’m sorry, Mamma. But this is your fault. You knew what your brother is like, yet you still asked me to get in touch with him.’

Carula was right, Lucia realised. It was all her fault. She’d done the unforgivable. Put her daughter in deadly danger. For the rest of her life, she would have to live with that.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Lucia said. ‘I will keep you both in my heart and pray for you every day.’

‘Good night, Mamma.’ Carula’s voice choked with tears. ‘Iain and I will see ourselves out in the morning. Don’t worry about us.’

‘Good night, tisoru .’

Lucia stepped forward to draw her daughter into her arms. But Carula was already closing the door in her face.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, Lucia went to her room. She sobbed into her pillow, thinking about Gero and how he would have handled the situation. One thing was for sure, he would never have sent Carula to Dinu. How could Lucia have been so stupid? Her only excuse, if there was one, was that she was so proud of her daughter she needed her brother to be proud of her as well.

An image of the baglio came into her mind. She’d wanted to pass it down to Carula and any children she might have one day. It was their heritage. But Lucia would only do that when Dinu was no more. She would never put Carula and her future offspring at risk ever again.