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“Mrs. De Luca. Can you hear me?”
The voice was faint. Distant.
Kate felt something. A pushing on her shoulder. She winced and opened her eyes to a light so bright it burned. She felt her eyes roll back into her head. Her lips felt cracked. Her mouth dry, like cotton. But the voices grew louder.
“She’s waking up.”
“Mrs. De Luca...”
Kate took a deep breath and opened her eyes, squinting and blinking. A sharp pain crossed her back. Her head felt split in two. She shut her eyes again. The pain seemed to worsen as she moved. Two tall figures in dark clothing, one in front of her, the other beside her, came into view.
“Where am I?”
“You’re in the hospital. We need to talk to you, Mrs. De Luca. About Eddie Bracchio.”
“How long have I been here?”
“Twelve hours.” Another voice. Another man.
Kate vaguely recognized his voice. She blinked to clear her vision and looked over at the man standing next to her.
“Detective Steber?”
He nodded and then read her her rights. Once she agreed to talk without counsel, Detective Steber continued. “Do you remember what happened, Mrs. De Luca? Why did you kill him?”
A rush of memories flooded through her like a cold ocean wave. Tears burned and overflowed, rolling down her cheek and over her nose.
“He murdered my family. My husband. My son.” The sound of her cracked and broken voice seemed strange.
The two detectives looked at each other. “Mrs. De Luca, do you mind if I record this conversation?”
Kate flipped her hand and shook her head. “Go ahead. I don’t care.”
After the recording device was running, Detective Steber continued with his questions.
“Mrs. De Luca, I need you to be more specific. You say you know Eddie Bracchio killed your husband and son. What led you to believe this?”
Kate squeezed her eyes shut and then blinked. Her blurred vision began to clear.
“We talked about it,” Kate said. “I accused Eddie of orchestrating it and he admitted it. Didn’t matter, though. I already knew. I’ve known since the funeral.”
“What made you so sure?”
Kate’s mind drifted to the funeral.
“Mrs. De Luca?”
Kate blinked.
“Mrs. De Luca, how did you know Eddie Bracchio killed your husband and son? You said you’ve known it since their funeral.”
Kate nodded.
“How?”
“Marco,” Kate said. “I got him the job. With Eddie. And ah’−” She sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Her arm felt weak from the gesture. “Marco told me he was getting into things with Eddie that he didn’t like.”
“What kind of things?”
Kate shook her head at the memory. “Heists. Minor ones at first. Shaking people down for money they owed Eddie. Then, it started getting more serious.”
“Like what? How serious?”
“Drug runs. Drug deals. That’s when Marco started getting scared. He didn’t want to do it anymore. We’d made plans to leave. But by then, it was too late.”
“What do you mean?”
“Marco went to see Eddie the day after Micola died. Eddie accused him of stealing. Marco denied it and told Eddie he wanted out, but Eddie said no. And when Marco got home, he told me how furious Eddie had been about him leaving. Marco was terrified. He said we had to leave that night—after he picked up Renzo. But he left to pick up Renzo and they never came home.” Kate turned her head toward the window. “You know the rest.”
Detective Steber pulled up a chair. “Okay, Mrs. De Luca. Tell me about Eddie. Tell me what happened. How did you end up killing him? I need specifics.”
“We should start with Sal.”
Detective Steber looked at his partner and then back at Kate. “Sal? Got a last name?”
Kate shook her head.
“I killed Sal, first,” she said. “He’s that guy you found dead in the car near The Corner Bar.”
Steber looked at the other guy who quickly left the hospital room.
Detective Steber folded his arms and leaned back, waiting.
Kate continued. “He was the one who actually shot and killed Marco and Renzo. He was the shooter.”
“So this guy, Sal, murdered your husband and son, correct? Eddie didn’t shoot them?”
Kate nodded. “That’s right.”
“And how do you know that?”
“I know.” Kate closed her eyes to rest for a moment. “Sal is Eddie’s cousin, and Eddie ordered him to kill Marco and Renzo. Wait. No. Not Renzo. That was an accident. Eddie didn’t order him to kill Renzo.”
“And how do you know that?”
“Sal told me.”
“And when did he tell you that?”
“In the car, just before I shot him in the face.”
The room went silent for a moment. Detective Steber wiped his forehead. “Go on.”
“Sal told me that Eddie ordered him to do it because Marco stole money, and because Marco dared to stand up to Eddie and tell him he was leaving the organization. But Sal told me that he was the one who stole the money, not Marco. I knew all along Marco would never do something that stupid. I knew he didn’t steal from Eddie. But Sal blamed it on Marco, and Eddie believed Sal because he was Eddie’s cousin.”
Kate took a breath. All the talking was exhausting. “So I killed Sal and I killed Eddie. I never got around to killing the other two.” She put her hands over her face. “That will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
“What other two?”
“Eddie’s other flunkies. Dario and Tau. I don’t know their last names, but I swear, they never left Eddie’s side.” She waved her hand across the room. “They were all in on it.”
Her chin quivered, as the tears flowed once again. “Sal killed my boy for no reason.” She shook her head. “Said he didn’t mean it. Said Renzo looked like a man. And, he wouldn’t have done it if he’d known it was Renzo.”
Kate began to sob, so Detective Steber waited until she settled back down.
“Mrs. De Luca. Can we talk about Eddie? What happened. Let’s start at the beginning.”
Kate took a deep breath, and through intense physical and emotional pain, she told Detective Steber the whole story, beginning with that fateful call from Eddie Bracchio a year ago, asking Kate to find him a place to open a restaurant.
