Chapter 22 #2
When they went back inside, they found that Hugh had vacated the living room and disappeared into the bedroom upstairs. Beth had taken his place, her hands on her hips as she asked them how it was going, if they’d found Ralph yet.
“We’re going to meet him tomorrow,” Addison said.
“Good,” Beth snarled.
Addison marveled that her mother had carried these secrets alone all year long. Addison marveled that her husband had betrayed her, and she’d lost everything. And still, she seemed formidable and ready for anything.
“I’ve packed my bags,” she explained to them darkly. “I’m leaving Hawaii. It’s time.”
Addison hugged her mother, imagining herself, Beth, Francesca, and the rest of the Whitmore women sitting in the sunlight, drinking wine and watching sunset after sunset.
She imagined watching Kennedy, Penelope, and Gavin, celebrating their childhood, scampering across a very different beach.
She imagined a love that stretched beyond state lines, beyond oceans.
“But we have to make sure your father’s okay,” Beth said, offering a moment of hesitation.
Addison understood. Caring for someone was a difficult habit to break, even or especially when they hadn’t cared for you well in return.
The following morning, Addison and Jack woke up at the crack of dawn, showered, ate breakfast, and headed to the coffee shop for their so-called interview with the German delivery driver.
Ever prompt like all Germans, Ralph arrived precisely at the agreed-upon time, strolling into the coffee shop with his chin raised, his bright blue eyes almost poisonous.
Addison and Jack shook his hand and pretended to fill him in on the details of their fake hotel.
Ralph asked dutiful questions, demonstrating his qualifications in the business.
It was only twenty minutes into the interview that Addison got up the nerve to fold her hands under her chin, lean over the table, and whisper, “Angelo Accetta sends his regards.”
At this, Ralph’s face transformed, becoming beet red.
He shot to his feet and said something in German that Addison didn’t understand.
And then, he said, “You tell that man I want nothing to do with him. Whatever you represent? Whatever you think you’re doing?
You don’t know who you’re messing with. You don’t know the lives he’s destroyed, including mine. ”
Addison and Jack let their jaws drop. Addison got to her feet, extending her arm.
“It was a test,” she assured him gently, trying to reel him back in. “We’re trying to find him.”
“Why should I trust you?” Ralph cried. “You know his name! You know his entire name! Do you know how far up you have to be to know his entire name?”
It was Jack’s turn to speak. Quietly, he said, “He’s my uncle. He’s my mother’s brother.”
Ralph froze with surprise. He gripped the back of the chair he’d vacated and regarded Jack. Suddenly, he spoke Italian, presumably to test Jack. Jack responded in Italian, raising his eyebrows.
“You know him,” Ralph said, shaking his head. “You know him better than anyone.”
“I do,” Jack affirmed. “He ruined my family first, because it was his own.”
Ralph closed his eyes for a long time.
“We need to know who you were working with,” Jack said. “We’re trying to figure out where he is now and how to track him. I lost track of him in Mexico City. The trail went cold.”
“He’s not there anymore,” Ralph said.
Addison’s adrenaline skyrocketed. “Where is he?”
Ralph again turned his head from side to side to see if anyone was eavesdropping. But the only person in the coffee shop was the barista, and she was watching videos loudly on her phone.
“He owes me mountains of money,” Ralph said.
“We can make it up to you,” Addison told him. “We’ll pay you back everything he owes you. And more.” She cursed herself for saying “more,” but reminded herself she wasn’t experienced in these sorts of things. She felt she was in a movie.
“Okay,” Ralph said, flaring his nostrils.
“I know he’s in Manhattan. I know it for a fact because a friend of mine is out there and has worked with him.
Angelo stopped paying him as well. It seems that Angelo is trying yet again to break into the Manhattan market.
It’s been his vision for years, but he had to hide out in Mexico for a while.
Something happened, something he couldn’t recover from till now.
My opinion? He’s making mistakes left and right because he’s desperate.
He’s getting older, and he knows he doesn’t have as much time to be as successful and infamous as he once did.
Another opinion I have? You shouldn’t mess around with him.
He’s slippery. He cares about nothing. I don’t know that he cares much about money, either.
He just wants power. Everyone’s sick of it. Everyone’s sick of his manipulations.”
Jack and Addison listened, their thoughts reeling.
Addison touched Jack’s hand under the table.
She guessed he was thinking the same as she was—that they’d come all the way to Hawaii, only to learn that Angelo was back on the East Coast, closer to their children than they were.
But they could be on a flight in no time.
They had a direction now. But they had to be smart.
They couldn’t let Angelo slip away. Not this time.