Lucy set off, coming to the end of the alley and turning right onto Salem Street, towards downtown and City Hall, the same route she had taken yesterday. As she made her way through the city, she let her mind wander, thinking over Lucas’s threats. I’m glad to have solved at least part of the puzzle, and cleared Nonno’s name. Now I just have to work on the rest of it, Lucy thought to herself.

  Distracted by her own thoughts as she walked, her mind wandered to Ally’s recent nomination. It’s such an honor for her. It would be nice if there was some sort of award for running restaurants too, not just cooking in them, she thought, with just a tinge of her earlier jealousy. After college, Ally had the option to go elsewhere, and to see the world—Lucy’s only opportunity had been back to Boston, and Alba.

  “Oh! Excuse me!” Lucy said she abruptly walked into the back of the person in front of her. “I’m so sorry!” she apologized as the person turned towards her.

  “Not at all,” replied a familiar voice. “It was my fault.”

  “Charlie!” Lucy cried. “What are you doing here?” she asked in shock.

  “Running errands,” replied the tall police officer who had saved her life a few weeks ago when she nearly drowned in the harbor. “I’m off duty until later tonight,” Charlie explained, using his free hand to push his light brown hair back. His other hand was loaded down with full shopping bags.

  “Of course, of course,” Lucy replied nervously. “Same here. I’m actually going to a pet store—I have a cat now. Well, he’s not mine, but I have him for now…” She trailed off. “Well, you don’t care about that. It was nice to see you again,” she said, pulling her jacket closer and preparing to set off.

  “Hey, Lucy, wait a second,” Charlie said, reaching out and touching her arm, his green eyes flashing apologetically. “I’m sorry I never called. It just didn’t seem like you had a great time at dinner.”

  “Oh no, I did! I thought you were the one who wasn’t having fun,” Lucy replied, smiling. “I was just nervous. It’s been a long time since I was on a date.”

  “I was nervous too. I haven’t had a first date in a long time,” Charlie said. “In fact, I had just gotten out of a really serious relationship,” he admitted. “I just wasn’t sure how to act.”

  “I understand. I’m sure it’s hard,” Lucy replied, trying to move away again.

  “No, no, I’m doing this all wrong,” Charlie said. “I had a great time. I’d like to take you out again,” he continued, his hand still resting on her arm.

  “Oh,” Lucy replied, taken aback. “Sure. I think that would be fun,” she agreed hesitantly. “One thing, though,” she said, smiling as an idea popped into her head.

  “Of course—do you want to pick the restaurant this time?” Charlie asked, returning her smile. “You are the expert.”

  “Nope—let’s make dinner. Together, at my place,” she replied. “Trust me, I have any ingredient you could dream of.”

  “Let’s do it! On Monday?” Charlie asked, his smile growing even wider.

  “Yes. Say seven o’clock?” Lucy said. “I’ll have everything ready—don’t worry about bringing anything.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Charlie said. “I’ll see you then,” he added, squeezing her arm before letting go and disappearing into the crowd.

  Well, well, well, Lucy thought to herself. Who would have thought?

  She continued down the sidewalk, smiling to herself as she moved past the Greenway and towards the heart of the city, where the buildings grew taller and more modern. She passed City Hall, where she had been the day before, and finally arrived at her destination—a small pet shop, surrounded by chain stores and restaurants. It was owned by an old friend of her father’s, Theo Hardy. Theo and her father had attended high school together, long ago.

  Lucy entered the store and smiled at the older man behind the counter, wearing a brown sweater and thick eyeglasses. “Hi, Theo!” she called out brightly.

  “What on earth? That’s not Lucy Moretti, is it?” he exclaimed, peering over his glasses at her. “It is!” he cried out, getting up from his stool and coming around the counter. “Lucy, what are you doing here?” he asked as he hugged her.

  “Coming to see you, of course!” she answered, returning his hug. “I’ll admit, I also need your expertise—I found a kitten behind the restaurant a few days ago,” she told him. “I’ve been feeding it on salmon filets, but I think it’s time I get some real cat food.”

  “Of course, of course, that’s what I’m here for,” Theo replied, gesturing grandly towards the rest of the store. The aisles, packed full with colorful bags and toys, stretched to the back of the store, to the area where Theo kept his fish—tropical fish were his true passion. The rest of the store was really just a way to support his hobby.

  Theo led Lucy to a spot in the middle of the store. “Now, tell me, how is John?” he asked as they walked.

  “My dad is doing well,” Lucy replied. “He and my mom are enjoying their retirement—they’re still living out in Washington. Apparently he’s on a fishing trip up in the mountains right now,” she continued, feeling overwhelmed by all the cat-themed products she was suddenly surrounded by.

  “Good for him!” Theo exclaimed, grinning as he pulled a bag down off of the shelf. “Now, this is what you want. It’s kitten food. This’ll last the little guy for a few weeks,” he explained, showing the bag to Lucy. “Come back once you run out and I’ll give you some adult food,” he said, handing the bag to Lucy. “I’ll let you carry that. My old bones can’t handle it!” He laughed. “Now, do you need a litter box? And some toys, of course,” he mused, mostly to himself.

  He continued collecting items off the shelf, piling them in a small litter box he grabbed from the lower shelf. “Oh, and a nice water bowl too,” he muttered, adding it to the increasingly precarious pile.

  “Theo, I think that’s probably enough,” Lucy interrupted, trying to save her arms. The pile was growing taller by the second.

  “Nonsense,” Theo replied. “You’re young and strong!” Finally satisfied with his selection, he topped the pile with one final toy and moved back to the front of the store. He started scanning the items, carefully packing them into a larger cardboard box. “There,” he said, pushing the box towards her. “You’ll be able to carry that. Now just let me add the discount—”

  “Theo, no!” Lucy interrupted again. “I’m happy to pay full price. Don’t give me any discount,” she insisted.

  The old man waved a hand. “Nonsense,” he scoffed. “You don’t pay full price here!” he cried, waving one hand as the other continued pecking at his register.

  “Well, promise me that you’ll come by the restaurant sometime and have dinner, my treat,” Lucy conceded, handing over her credit card.

  “Well, if it’ll make you happy,” he said with a shrug and smile. “Alright, you’re all set.” He handed the card back. “Have some fun with that kitten of yours! What’s its name?” he asked as Lucy carefully returned the card to her wallet.

  “Uh, I haven’t really thought about that. I’m not planning on keeping it, I just need to find someone who wants a cat. How about you?” Lucy asked hopefully.

  “Oh no, dear,” Theo said, shaking his head. “I can’t have a cat—they’re absolutely terrible around my aquariums. But I’ll certainly ask around and see if anyone is looking,” Theo offered. “If you want to make a flyer, I’d be happy to put it up in the store,” he offered, gesturing to the bulletin board near the door filled with similar notices.

  “Well, thank you, Theo,” Lucy said. “If I can’t find anyone else I’ll definitely do that. And thanks for all your help—I would have been lost without you!” She lifted the box, holding back a groan as she did so.

  Lucy exited the store and headed home, lugging the heavy box. Nearly half an hour later, she finally arrived back on Salem Street, exhausted. “Damn, Theo,” she muttered as she climbed the stairs. “Young and strong, my ass.” She pushed open the front door and was immediately greeted by the small meow of the little tabby kitten.

  “How did you get out?” she cried, struggling to cross the threshold without dropping the box on the kitten now weaving around her legs. She glanced across the room; the bathroom door sat half-open. “What, you know how to open doors now, too?” she asked the kitten, sighing.

  She made it across the room and set the large box down on the coffee table, sighing in relief as she straightened up. The kitten jumped up on the table, eagerly sniffing the outside of the box. “You smell something interesting, don’t you?” Lucy asked as she stroked his tiny back.

  She unpacked the box, finding just about anything a kitten could ask for. Theo had sent her home with food, litter, treats and more toys than any cat could play with. There was even a little bed tucked in the bottom of the box. “Salmon treats,” Lucy commented with a wry smile as she laid everything out on the table.

  The kitten was meowing frantically, rubbing its face all over the bag of food. “What, you’re hungry?” Lucy asked as she pulled out the matching ceramic food and water bowls Theo had included. They were painted light blue, one with a large, smiling water droplet on the inside and the other with an equally sized fish on the inside. Setting them down, she ripped a small hole in the bag and poured out some food into the bowl with the fish, laughing as the kitten eagerly tried to eat from the waterfall of kibble. “Be patient!” Lucy scolded gently. The bowl filled, she watched the kitten eat for a moment before filling the water bowl and putting it down next to the food next to the coffee table.

  Lucy moved around the apartment, setting up the bed on the floor in her bedroom and scattering the toys around. She even found a little mat at the bottom of the box, for the food and water bowls to sit on.

  Wow, Theo sure knows how to spoil a cat, she thought to herself, watching as the tabby kitten zigzagged around the room, playing with one toy and then another.

  “Oh shoot,” Lucy said out loud to the little kitten. “Dad is back today. I should try calling.” She checked the clock on the wall—it was nearly one in the afternoon. “Perfect timing,” she commented out loud. “Plenty of time before the restaurant opens.”

  Chapter 8

  Lucy sat down on the couch and slipped her cell phone out of her pocket. The kitten bounded over and climbed up on her lap, rubbing against her chin. “Kitty cat, calm down,” Lucy scolded gently. “I have to make a call.”

  She dialed the number to her parents’ house, holding her breath. The phone rang, seemingly forever, before her father’s deep voice filled her ear.

  “Lucy! My dear, how are you?” he asked. Lucy could practically hear the smile in his voice.

  “Hi, Dad. I’m doing well. How was your fishing trip?” she asked.

  “Didn’t catch a damn thing, except a cold,” John replied, sniffling. “It was worth it, though. One of these days I’m gonna have to get you out here so you can see what real mountains are like.”

  “One of these days, Dad.” Lucy said absentmindedly. “Listen, I have to talk to you about something,” Lucy said, feeling her nervousness rise up inside her. “I need to tell you something.”

  “I know, Lucy,” he responded quickly, his tone soothing. “Your mom told me. Why don’t you fill in the details for me, though? Why, exactly, does Lucas think he still owns our restaurant? And why the heck is he accusing my father of killing someone?” her father asked.

  “Okay,” Lucy started, taking a deep breath. “First things first, I don’t think Nonno murdered anyone. I found a news article from 1941 about a guy, Jacob Eldridge, who was committing hate crimes against Italians in the North End,” she told her father. “He actually killed a woman, just a few blocks from here, by shooting her in the back outside her home, and was under suspicion for doing the same thing to another person, who wasn’t named in the articles I found. I think it was Marco Ricci,” Lucy said, pausing for a breath.

  “But there wasn’t any evidence, and so Eldridge only went to jail for killing that poor woman. But didn’t Nonno always say that Elena refused to talk about it, ever again?” she asked. Not waiting for an answer, she rushed on with her theory. “But if Eldridge was never actually arrested for the crime, and Elena refused to ever speak of it again, then Lucas would have come up with his own conclusion, which is apparently that Nonno did it,” she added.

  “That certainly makes more sense than my dad doing it,” her father said, finally getting a chance to speak. “What a horrible, horrible thing to do to a family,” he said sadly.

  “I know,” Lucy said sadly. “As for the building, that’s still a question mark. Here’s what I know so far,” she said, launching into her next monologue.

  “I was able to find out that Marco Ricci purchased and divided the building in 1938. And then in 1939, Nonno opened Alba, but was paying rent to Marco Ricci. In 1941, right after Marco died, the rent payments stopped. Or at least, the only records of rent payments that Lucas has, end in 1941,” Lucy replied, trying to speak as clearly as she could. “And now, Lucas thinks that he owns our half of the restaurant, and he wants us to either pay him back rent for the last sixty-odd years, or buy the building. He says he’ll evict us if we can’t pay. He thinks that Nonno somehow scammed his grandmother,” she finished, out of breath.

  “Well, this all happened long before I was born,” John said thoughtfully. “But I know for a fact that my father was a good man. He would never have done something like that, especially not to a grieving widow,” he added.

  “That’s exactly what I said!” Lucy interrupted. “But how do we prove it?” she asked.

  “That’s what I was getting to—my father always used to say something to me. Occasionally, he would talk about getting older, and he would always say that, when the time was right, he had something to show me in the cellar. But, of course, he died much sooner than anyone was anticipating,” Lucy’s father replied.

  “Well, his diet of entirely pasta certainly didn’t help,” Lucy said with a wry laugh. “But what’s this about the cellar? Do you have any idea what he might have been talking about?” she asked.

  “Not a clue,” her father replied, his voice regretful. “I never got to ask him. But you and I both know how unorganized his file keeping could be—and how much he liked to stash things away in unusual places. I think you should take a peek down there, see if there could be anything important,” he continued.

  “I agree. Thank you, Dad. This feels like it could be the answer,” Lucy said, smiling as she absentmindedly petted the kitten that was still sitting on her lap.

  “I think so too. Let me know what you find. If you come up empty, I can always try giving Lucas a call myself. Or I can call his father,” John offered.

  “No, Dad, I don’t need you to fight my battles,” Lucy said firmly. “But thank you. I’ll let you know after I look. Thank you for the help,” she continued.

  “Of course, honey. Your mother says hello. I’ll talk to you soon,” her father responded before hanging up the phone.

  “Alright, little kitty. Looks like we have some hunting to do,” Lucy said. “But you can’t help. Let me call up Ally.” With that, she dialed the phone again, quickly explaining everything to her friend.

  “Can you meet me in the cellar?” Lucy asked.

  “Luce, I’m already here!” Ally replied with a laugh. “I was in the kitchen anyway, working on a new sauce. Come on down.”

  “On my way!” Lucy replied, pushing the kitten off of her lap before hanging up the phone. She stood up and went straight out the door, not bothering to lock the kitten up again. Clearly he could work the doors anyway.

  She rushed down the stairs and through the back door of the restaurant, passing the stainless steel dish machine and the spotless prep tables. The door to the cellar stairs was just past her office door, in the long hallway that ran along the back wall of the kitchen. Lucy reached the door and pushed it open, watching it swing out into the open space over the staircase. She reached for the light switch, but, of course, Ally had already flipped it.

  “Hey, Ally!” she called out as she descended the stairs. The cellar was larger than it seemed at first glance, holding the lockers for the employees, a small bathroom and the wine cellar that served the restaurant upstairs.

  “Hey, Lucy!” Ally’s voice responded. “I’m in the wine cellar. Seemed like the best place to start,” she called out, her voice echoing on the stone and brick walls.

  Lucy finished descending the stairs and crossed the open space in front of the lockers, her gaze pausing momentarily on a large locker in the middle. It had “Donny” scrawled across it in black marker. It had belonged to Donovan Fagan, a longtime employee of the restaurant, who had been tragically murdered a few months before. The locker was still empty—a gesture of respect from the other employees.

  Lucy shook her head to chase away thoughts of Donovan, and entered the wine cellar.

  “There you are!” she exclaimed as she caught sight of her friend’s golden curls on the other side of the room.

  “Here I am!” replied Ally. “I thought it made sense to start in here. Didn’t you tell me once that all these wine racks are original?”

  “They are,” Lucy confirmed, nodding her head. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “My grandfather built them himself when Alba first opened. I agree, this has to be the right spot.” Lucy replied, running a hand down the rack closest to her. “Do you want to take the whites, and I’ll take the reds?” she offered. The wines were arranged with the white wines on the left-hand side and the red wines on the right-hand side. The most popular bottles of wine were closest to the door, with the least popular, and most expensive, at the back.

  “Heard,” Ally replied, using a kitchen term as she moved to the left side. The two women got to work, chatter fading into silence as they focused. They went over every single rack from top to bottom, even crawling on the floor to check the undersides. An hour later, they were forced to admit defeat.

 

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