What will Ricky decide? And how will they keep him safe?

Chapter 119.

We didn't go to sleep right away. First, Jess had to prove to me that I would never lose my favorite pillow. But after a very satisfying round of lovemaking, she went all serious on me.

"You know that if Giancarlo or anyone else from Molino's organization learns that Ricky is here, we'll be in danger, too." She propped her head up with her arm, resting her cheek on her palm.

I shrugged. "I locked up, turned on the alarm. I don't think anyone will attack tonight, in any event. They're probably waiting at Ricky's place for him to come home."

She didn't look completely mollified by my answer, but she relaxed a little. "I think we should take some more precautions in the morning."

"We will. Get some sleep." I pecked at her cheek, closed my eyes, and tried to sleep. But Jess' unease must have rubbed off on me. My mind ticked through what we knew about Molino and Giancarlo, about Ricky and Julio. We never found out why Molino focused on the Locarnos when there were so many other families in New Jersey that he could have picked instead. The fact that he won't let up on them also confirmed that he had something specific against them. I resolved to find out what that was. I didn't need to face him to do that, either.

Ricky might not know. Perhaps Marcello didn't either. But the old man, Ricky's grandfather, the head of the Locarno family, he might be the key to the whole thing, or at least know what it was.

In the morning, we found our house guest in the kitchen, already dressed in the clothes he'd worn the day before, and trying to figure out how our coffeemaker worked. Jess shooed him away with a smile and a wave of her hand and set to work preparing the brew we all needed. Soon the grinder was whirring and the scent of the Guatemalan beans we favored wafted through the kitchen. With the coffee dripping into the carafe, Jess opened the refrigerator. She turned to Ricky. "Bacon or sausage?"

He dropped into a chair. "I didn't expect such service."

"She wants to keep you happy so you'll agree to our plan." I reached up into the cupboards for three mugs, my contribution to making breakfast.

Ricky nodded. "I've been thinking about that. You seem to think a lot of Julio."

I tilted my head and shrugged. "He's a good kid. Deserves any breaks he can get."

"Tina's usually a good judge of people." He drummed his fingers on the table. I handed him a cup of Joe, and he sipped it. "Hmm. This is good stuff."

The sizzle of the eggs and bacon and the aroma of frying grease seemed to distract him for a minute. He waited until she placed a heaping plate in front of him before he went on. "Okay, I'll go along with your plan. As long as it doesn't put me, Marcello, or my sister in any more danger."

"It won't." I thought about the idea I'd had the night before. "You never heard of Carlo Molino, but could you check with your uncle and make sure he hasn't? Might as well ask the other members of your family." I figured that if I didn't specifically mention Grandpa Locarno he wouldn't realize that was who I was most interested in.

"By the other family members, who do you mean exactly?" Ricky was sharper than I'd given him credit for.

I shrugged. "I don't have a roster. In fact, the only ones I've ever met were you, your sister and your uncle. Is the family large?"

He smirked. "Large enough. Okay, I'll ask around, but I'll tell you, I never heard the name Locarno until you mentioned it."

"You can flash the sketch of Giancarlo around, too, see if anyone recognizes him."

"I thought he was from Italy, that he just arrived in the states." He smacked his head. "Of course, you think that if Carlo arranged his wife's accident, who better to have been here to do it than Giancarlo." He nodded.

"And meanwhile you can also see if there's an appropriate property to use for a car shop." Jess topped off our coffee mugs.

"Yeah, I'll do that too. So when do I get to meet this paragon my sister's fallen for?" He forked up the last of his eggs.

"We can visit him at the restaurant. He should be there within the next hour. When and where will you be meeting the bodyguards your uncle is arranging?"

"He said they'd be at the office when I arrive today. I only hope he doesn't have to get Nonna's Okay."

"Your grandfather? Why should he have to?" Jess sat down again.

"Because he might not interfere too much in the day-to-day operation of the real estate business, but he likes to be kept informed." He sighed. "We all try to keep him happy and unaware of any problems."

"Does he do the same?"

"What?"

"Keep you in the dark about any problems he's having?" I emptied my mug and took it to the sink. There'd be time for more java later.

Ricky's brow furrowed. "I never really thought about it. Grandfather doesn't have any problems, as far as I know."

"Guess that answers my question." I rubbed my hands together. "So, everybody ready? Tempus fugit."

"I'll just be a minute." Jess ran off, probably to powder her nose, although it didn't need it.

Fifteen minutes later we were on the way to The Melting Pot so Ricky could meet Julio. I drove into the parking lot and we approached the front door.

"We're not open for another couple of hours." The young woman loading menus in the reception station tried to turn us away.

"We're here to see Julio." Jess smiled at her. "We know the way." She breezed past the woman, heading for the back with Ricky and me trailing behind.

Julio and Bertoli sat side-by-side at the desk, going over some official-looking forms. They both looked up when Jess knocked on the half-open door. Identical smiles appeared on their faces.

"A little early for lunch, isn't it?" Bertoli asked.

"We brought someone to meet Julio." Jess stood aside and ushered Ricky into the small office. "This is Ricky Locarno."

"Tina's Ricky?" Julio asked. His smile grew. "I've been looking forward to meeting you." He stood and held out his hand.

Ricky hesitated, looking the younger man over. "And I've been curious about you."

Bertoli gathered the papers from the desk, and locked them in a four-drawer file cabinet. "Then I'll leave you to get acquainted. Just remember, I have plans for this young man. I expect he'll continue to work here."

Once he was gone, I asked the younger man, "How much did you tell him?"

Julio shrugged. "Only that I might be helping you with a project to find out why Jess, Nina and I were kidnapped." He looked at Ricky. "Are we going through with this?"

"You heard about what happened to Ricky last night?" I assumed Tina told him.

He nodded.

"Ricky identified the thug who attacked him as Giancarlo," Jess said.

"You showed him the sketch?"

"Yes, they did." Ricky scowled. "My uncle is arranging bodyguards for me and himself, but Dr. House thought you would be additional protection for me. Somehow I'm beginning to think that you might need protection yourself."

"Me? Who would want to harm me?" Julio's brow furrowed.

Ricky smirked. "Your cousins husband, I would think. You flubbed the job he sent you to do, didn't you? And now you're sticking around here after he ordered you back to Palermo. I doubt he'd be the sort to forgive that."

Julio seemed taken aback by that. He looked at me. "Do you agree with Ricky?"

"He has a point. You said yourself Carlo wasn't pleased with you."

He accepted that reluctantly.

"I'll start looking for a property suitable for the car shop. In the meantime, perhaps we can catch Giancarlo in the act and we won't have to go through with setting up a bogus business."

Julio nodded. "Well, it was nice to finally meet you, but I have to get back to work. Mr. Bertoli has been good to me, so I have to do what I can to make his business better than ever."

As Ricky, Jess and I walked back through the restaurant, Ricky looked around. "I've never eaten here. Is the food good?"

"Excellent." Jess smiled. "They're one of the places provided food for our business. Speaking of which..." She trailed off as she looked at her watch. "I told Nina I'd give her a call by eleven. She was supposed to meet with the printers again today."

We went outside into the late morning heat and she moved to a corner close to the building to make her call.

"Are you heading to your office?" I wasn't going to ask Ricky if he felt safe to drive alone in broad daylight. It might offend him.

"Maybe I'll call Marcello and have him send someone to drive with me. Every time I think about what happened last night, I get chills up my spine."

I nodded. "It could have ended badly. It was good you were in a busy part of town, with people around you."

"Makes you wonder what he was thinking. Giancarlo, I mean. Attacking me in the open like that."

"It might indicate that Molino is getting desperate, but I still don't know why. So much about this still doesn't make any sense."

Jess rushed toward us. "Nina wants me to meet her at the printers. There's some problem about getting the logo on brochures."

Ricky laughed. "The problems of running your own business."

"You can say that again. I've got a few minutes, but then I'll have to leave."

We stayed with Ricky while he waited for his bodyguard. In about half an hour a black Lincoln pulled up. It looked like Marcello was driving. One of the two men in the back seat got out. He was built like a wall, tall, solid, with a shaved head. I wouldn't have liked to meet him in an alley.

Ricky called him by name. "Thanks for coming, Bruno."

"Mr. Marcello said you needed someone to watch your back. I'm here to do that."

Ricky turned to us. "Thanks for waiting for me. Bruno will take it from here."

"Call if you learn anything."

"You do the same." Ricky waved to his uncle, who drove away, and then he and Bruno got into his car and they left, too.

I didn't know what might happen next, but at least things seemed to be under control for a while. "C'mon, I'll drop you off at the printers." I ushered Jess into my car, knowing things were coming to a head, but not what would happen next.