Note: Chapter 21 is finished. Sorry for the long delay. Apparently the depression stage of my unemployment is in full swing.

Big mistake

Anna's next big step came a few weeks after she started working in the bar, even though at the time I was convinced that Murphy was going to have a heart attack. We were sitting at the bar rather than in the booth as we had started to do while Anna was working. She had become popular with the regulars very quickly. Some recognised her from her times at the bar with us and her brother, and some made the connection between her and the scandalous stories in the newspaper, but none of them said anything about it. They liked her too much. And those that made the connection had seen her bruises heal over the weeks, had seen her walking stiffly, and gave her the space she needed.

Lorenzo had covered his tracks well. During the first phone call that Rocco had been forced to make to the penthouse he had put his cover story into action. Anna, he said, had decided on a trip to Europe, and he had encouraged her. Things were getting more complicated with the Russians and he thought it best that she not be around all of that stress. He had neglected to call Rocco, he claimed, as he had assumed that his sister had called him herself. As the weeks passed he made a decent show of appearing more and more worried by his wife's lack of contact. A couple of times he called Roc asking if he had heard from her, or if they had any friends or relatives still living in Italy.

That was when the newspaper stories started. They started out small, speculations about what could have happened to the missing Mrs Yakavetta, and rumours that she had been seen with a mystery man not long before she left. Lorenzo called Rocco again begging to know where she had gone, that he just wanted to know that she was alright, but of course he didn't know anything about it. Soon the questions started about who this mystery man had been and together Anna and her brother came up with a plan.

Anna paced nervously back and forward as she waited for David to finish talking to her husband. They had a plan, a way to get Lorenzo to stop questioning her brother, she just hoped it worked. At first she had been surprised when her husband started questioning David about her supposed affair. She had assumed that his pride would prevent him from voicing his suspicions, but she was wrong. Apparently his desire for vengence outweighed that. He had gotten rid of her and now he was trying to use her 'disappearance' to get answers out of her brother. Luckily from what she could tell he was sticking to the script.

"Look man. I'm gonna be honest. I don't have a fucking clue where she is and I'm freaking out. I know I said I didn't know anything about her affair, and I didn't, but I fucking knew she was up to something. I mean she's my fucking sister man. What am I supposed to do? She says she wants to meet up with some friends so I drop her off at some bar and I leave her to it. I don't think about it cos I've got fucking work to do you know. And I pick her up again and drop her home. Then she says if anyone one asks she was with me all night. And I think sure, she's my baby sister. So I don't ask, and when she wants me to drop her off again a couple of weeks later again, I do. But this goes on for months and I ask her what the fuck is going on. And she hust says it's better that I don't know. So I leave it and now I don't know what to do. Do you think... I mean, fuck man, do you think she's been seeing some asshole. What if he did something to her? Yeah I know man. You'll find this fucking cunt right? Yeah sure. I'll call you if I hear anything."

Anna breathed a sigh of relief as her brother hung up the phone. The idea was to play on Lorenzo's belief that David Della Rocco didn't have a fucking clue what he was doing and would believe anything his baby sister told him. It would also give the impression that David suspected whoever Anna had been seeing and not Lorenzo himself. That way, if Lorenzo thought of David as still just a harmless package boy, he was much safer.

That had been the day before, and as we sat at the bar we congratulated Rocco on his performance. In fact we were so concerned with the victory from the previous day that we nearly missed what happened. As I said most of the regulars had guessed who she really was and gave her the space she needed. But it was a bar, and although it was rare for strangers to stumble in, it did occasionally happen. That night had been one of those nights and a small group of newcomers sat in one of the booths drinking heavily.

Anna was moving around the room collecting empty glasses so that they could be washed, while Murphy ordered the next round from Doc. I happened to glance over at the newcomers in their booth as Anna approached their table leaning over to collect their empties.

"Shit!"

I exclaimed as I saw it happening. It was almost in slow motion that I saw one of the men at the table move towards her and his hand slid up her leg. There was a crash as Anna dropped the glasses she was holding. At the same time as Murphy moved from beside me.

"Fucking piece of shit!"

He yelled striding towards the booth with murder in his eyes, but the man had already been taken care of. Anna was standing with the man pushed down against the table. Despite her size she had managed to not only grab the mans arm and twist it behind his back, but to hold it there as she slammed his head onto the table top. Rocco and I both stood at the same time and rushed towards them. I grabbed my brother pulling him back as Rocco convinced his sister to let go of her death grip.

As she let go Anna turned towards Murphy where I was holding him back and we could see that she was terrified. Almost instantly Murph managed to calm himself and I let him go. He pulled her into his arms muttering in Gaelic and led her through the back and away from the bar. Meanwhile Rocco was manhandling the man out the front door cursing all the way.

"You fucking assholes gotta learn some fucking respect!"

I turned to the man's friends who were all sitting looking a little shell-shocked.

"I suggest you all clear out before my brother or his girl get back."

I said, but I didn't wait to watch them leave. Instead I followed after Roc to make sure that he didn't beat the fucker. We didn't want any trouble, especially anything that could throw the spotlight on either Anna or her brother. That would be a big mistake.