"Don't," I said softly, cutting him off. "Not yet—you can’t possibly mean it anyway. Let's just . . . let's focus on keeping you healthy, and this issue with Jake Marconi, then we can go from there. What do you want to do?"
"I need to confront him," Tomasso said, conviction in his voice after pausing and considering what I'd just said. I could see he wanted to say more, but he understood my point of view and was willing to respect it. "But I need to do it in such a way that minimizes risk. And I can't confront him by myself. I'm not in the best shape for a confrontation, and before you ask, no, you can't be the one to take a shot either. This is Bertoli business."
"It is Mendosa business as well," I reminded him, "he may have been involved with trying to kill me, after all. That is just as important as your own family loyalty issues. I won’t sit back and be a wallflower in this."
Tomasso looked like he was going to argue the point, then he saw the expression on my face and relented. "You have a point. But Luisa, there's another reason I don't want you involved."
"I know," I said, taking his hand and giving his knuckles a kiss. "But that's not going to stop me, regardless of whether we give voice to those reasons or not. I told you before that I know how to handle myself."
Tomasso kissed my knuckles and turned his eyes back toward the sea. "I know you can. All right, well, someone once said respect was the most important thing. I guess I'll bow to the experts."
We sat back and watched the gulls circle and dive into the water out on the ocean. The sun was warm, and I was content. I had Tomasso sitting next to me and a feeling of well-being and peace in my heart. "Do we have to go back yet?"
He shook his head. "No. Nothing needs to be done until tonight,” I said, smiling.
We stayed there until after noon, when we got up and made our way back toward the parking lot. Finding a little stand that was selling soft-serve ice cream, I was able to let myself feel the fantasy again, even as we sat down with our drippy cones and discussed the details of what we had to do. The whole ordeal was cute, if that word could relate to two people casually discussing the setup and possible shooting of another man.
Our plan called for more than ice cream, though, so a little before three o'clock, Tomasso took out his phone and made his first call. "Pietro? Yeah, it's Tomasso. I have something I need your help with. Well, I'd take it to Dad, but with him out of town, this is something I should have you involved with. It has to do with a possible betrayal to the family. Can you meet me at the diner tonight, say at midnight? Thanks. No, it'll wait until then."
Tomasso hung up the phone and handed it to me. "He'll be there. Are you sure that you want to be involved with this?"
I nodded, my smile fading as I opened the phone, intent on doing my part. "Of course. I appreciate your worry, but this concerns me just as much as you. Besides, I won't be doing this blind or unarmed."
He nodded and sat back while I hit the dial button. The phone buzzed in my ear while I waited for Jake to pick up. "Hello, Bertoli's Pizza, accounting. Marconi speaking."
"Hi, Jake? It's Luisa Mendosa." I made sure to use my happiest, most innocent-sounding voice. Tomasso and I didn't want him suspecting a thing. If that meant it sounded like I was flirting with him a bit at the same time, all the better.
"Luisa? Hey, it's nice to hear your voice. What's up?"
"Well, I was talking with my brother today on a video chat. Anyway, when I told him that someone in the Bertolis had been in the military, he just went gaga about it. It seems he’s a bit of a military geek, and while the Brazilian Army is cool to him, the Americans are much more so. Would you mind if I picked your brain?"
"Well, you know, I didn't exactly see any big action or anything," Jake said, still sounding flattered. "The closest I got to combat was yelling some insults at the North Koreans over a loudspeaker."
"That's all right. He's mostly a nut about the equipment and uniforms, things like that. I figure if I can get some authentic details from you about it all, I can fill in the gaps to make it . . . sexy?"
I could hear the gulp on Jake's side, and I had to admit I put an extra little bit of purr on my voice when I said it. Use the tools that the good Lord gave you, after all. "Uh, sure," he replied, his voice getting cocky. "I can think of some cool stuff that will get his attention.”
"Very good. Can we meet outside the mansion? I wasn't supposed to be talking to my brother, and don't want to get in trouble." I winked at Tomasso, who just rolled his eyes at the hokiness of my performance. Still, it was effective. I could hear it in the way Jake's breathing sped up, and he was practically nodding so hard that I could hear his head rattling over the phone line.
"Sure. Where we going?” Jake asked eagerly, like a puppy dog who had just found out he had a new toy to play with. I wondered how he'd react when he found out he was actually the toy, and I was the bitch who was going to chew him up.