Posting early today before we go off to a St. Patrick's Day party, and then later to meet our book club at the art theater downtown. They're showing a movie based on the book we read this month, Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep.

Chapter 150.

When I came out of the bathroom, Jess was sitting up in bed. "Is there something wrong?"

"No. I just had too many ideas wandering through my mind. Had to jot them down to keep 'em from floating away before I could act on them." I'd rearranged them a few times, but they were all still there.

Her eyes narrowed with interest. "What kind of ideas?"

I ticked them off on my fingers without referring to the pad in my hand. "One, Bev might have some info about Molino that she doesn't think is important enough to share, but could cast some light on his actions. Two, the interrelationships of the players here can't all be coincidence."

"But most of those have been explained away."

"I notice you said most." Smirking at her, I tapped the pad with my pen. "Three, you need a fruit supplier."

"I do?"

"You do now."

"But we plan to get our fruit from Uncle Johnny's company. What's he gonna think if we get it from Bernini?"

"That we're looking into his rival, and for good reasons, most of which he already knows."

She shook her head. "Can't do it. Besides, we were the ones Molino's thugs kidnapped. No, but I have another idea." She smiled. It was that devious look she sometimes got when she had a plan she knew I'd love. "You're going to flip for this one."

"I don't flip, not for anything."

"Okay, at least you'll like it. My father will need fruit for his new restaurant, right? And HE wouldn't go to Johnny for it, even if they've smoothed over their differences somewhat."

"So we send him to Bernini." The idea had merit.

"Right. What do you think?"

"You'd put your father in that precarious position?"

She got a little huffy. "You'd put me in it."

I held up my hands, but she was right. "Okay. Yeah. It does sound like a workable plan."

"Admit it. It's brilliant. Just because you didn't think of it..." She slid out of bed and reached for the pad. "Anyway, so what's four?"

"Four?"

"You were enumerating your ideas when I interrupted with mine. What was your fourth?"

"Oh, yeah, well technically, since you objected to my third, and replaced it with your own, this becomes my new third. Johnny makes a play to buy Bernini."

"You're kidding!" She glared at me. "Why does my family have to be such a big part of your plans? What did Molino ever do to us?"

"Other than have your mother killed? And you and Nina kidnapped?"

"Since we're being technical here, Molino didn't have my mother killed. That was all on Mike Morgan. Why, I bet they didn't meet until after Morgan came out of prison."

"So, what about the kidnapping?"

"My sister and I were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Honestly, there's no real connection between Carlo Molino and the Giordano family and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Then why did you suggest that your father should buy fruit from Bernini?" We weren't really arguing, but it sure felt as if we were, and I didn't like it one bit. "Okay. We'll drop any Giordano-Molino involvement. Which leaves us with only Bev and the existing relationships among everyone else."

She nodded slowly, calming down. "So we find out what else Bev knows that she doesn't realize she knows?"

"And we find out which of the relationships are important, and which are only incidental."

"I'm sure you've already diagrammed them."

"Yes. And it still comes down to the question of why Molino is out to get the Locarnos, and why they were unaware of it until the attacks began."

"Could it have something to do with Lucy?" Her eyebrows scrunched together.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, to me the connection between the two families began after her death, but if Morgan killed her under Molino's orders, that might tell us something."

"And how do we find out?"

"If only we could get Morgan to talk, but we don't know where he is, and if we did, he'd never tell us anything."

"Especially not me, not after I confronted him at The Black Keys. But that would have been my number five, or is it four?"

"I wonder..." She got the misty-eyed look she sometimes got when she was thinking through something before telling me. "No, that will never work."

"What won't?" I was curious now.

She winced. "Having Bev try to find him and talk to him. I'd suggest her sister, because he'd know her from the piano bar, but she's still in the hospital. But how could Bev find him?"

"Through Giancarlo." I wasn't sure I liked the idea, but it might be the best yet. "Giancarlo knows her as Molino's girlfriend."

"Right. Except, if he's in contact with his boss, he might know they had a fight."

That was possible, but not probable. "Would Carlo tell his thug that his personal life had taken a turn for the worse?"

"Only if he sent Giancarlo after Bev in retaliation."

We sat on the edge of the bed, both frowning. I'd worried about that before, and so had Marcello. "Let's hold that thought while we try something else."

"What else can we do?"

"I want to dig into Lucy's death a little more, confirm that Morgan was the one who rammed her car. Marcello or Ricky might know something we don't about that."

"What about Tina?"

"She was just a little kid at the time. She's only about nineteen now."

"Still, it was her mother. And she might have heard something that Ricky or Marcello are hesitant to share. Greg, whatever happened to their father?"

"Ricky and Tina's? Good question. I know he's dead, but how he died and when might be something we should look into."

"That should be easy to find out. Check the obituaries going back five years or so. Did he die before or after Lucy?"

"After. At least I think so." I rubbed my ear, wondering why I hadn't checked this angle before, and why I got the impression that Ricky and Tina's father was still alive when his wife died. Everything boiled down to the Locarnos connection to Molino and his organization. "I'll do a search, and then talk to everyone about the two deaths."

Jess stood and reached for her kimono. "Tina might be able to tell us something about her father's death."

"Funny, she never mentions him."

She shrugged. "She rarely mentions her mother, either."

"That's true enough.

"Don't you have to go into the hospital today?" She glanced at her watch.

"Not until later. We don't have a patient, and my boss doesn't expect me until close to noon."

"Well, Tina won't be at work this early, and I don't know her class schedule, so maybe we can look for her this evening."

"And meanwhile, Mr. Google and I can spend some time together." I flexed my fingers.

"I hope you two don't mind if I watch."

I laughed. "Don't you have things to do for the party on Saturday?"

"Now that the freezer problem is solved, there's little for us to do. I might as well make myself useful. Besides, you know how curious I am now about Lucy's death and that of her husband. I don't even know his name."

"Ricardo, like his son."

She smiled. "Leave it to you to know that."

We ate breakfast and dressed, then took our second cups of coffee into the office we'd set up in one of the spare bedrooms. I sat at the desk and Jess pulled up a chair beside me as I turned on the computer. Ignoring the gazillion email messages waiting for me, I plunged right in, searching for obituaries for Ricardo Locarno.

"Well, that was easy." The search engine spit out three obits, all dated two years before. One gave the barest information that he'd died on May twelfth, two thousand twelve, after fighting the big C for three years. He was survived by his father, brother and two kids, all of whom I knew, and preceded in death by his wife Lucy, who died the year before. That was the same year Francesca Molino was killed, the same year Morgan was released from prison.

"So, Molino wasn't involved in Ricardo's death."

"No." I read the second obituary. "Here's something. Look at this photo of Marcello, Ricky and Tina."

Jess studied it. Her eyes went wide when she saw what I meant. In the background, Bertoli stood talking to another man. "Is that Tony Locarno?"

I nodded. "Marcello never mentioned they knew each other."

"But Bev said, or maybe it was Marcello, that his father tried to get them together. That might have been as a favor to Bertoli."

"Yes, that sounds reasonable. Still, I wonder how friendly their fathers were." It was a shame that there wasn't a recording of their conversation along with the photo.

"We can ask Bertoli," Jess suggested.

"I guess a visit to The Melting Pot is in order for this evening. We have questions for Tina, too."

Jess smiled. "If only we could get Tony there tonight, as well."

I could think of a couple of scenarios to make that happen, one involving Tony's granddaughter and another, his son. And I could also think of several objections. "Bertoli is trying to keep Tina safe. If any of the Locarnos show up at the restaurant, it could draw Molino's attention."

Jess frowned. "Yeah, I hadn't thought of that."

"Okay, getting back to finding Mike Morgan."

"And investigating the fruit company. I still think I should encourage my father to purchase his fruit from them."

"How would that get us any information? He's not ready to start up his place, and he doesn't know what we want to find out about Bernini Fruit."

"We should tell him about Morgan. I think he still has some animosity toward the man who killed Mom, even though he tends to put some of the blame on Petey." She waited for my nod. "If we tell him we're after Morgan, and that Morgan drives for Bernini, that would be enough of an incentive for him to work with us on investigating the company." She tapped her fingers on the desk. "Even if he's not ready to have fruit delivered, he could talk to whoever schedules deliveries and learn a lot."

"Yeah, that could work."

"I'm gonna call him right now." She took out her phone.

I reached for her hand. "Jess, you're sure about this?"

She smiled at me, found her father's number and called. She put the phone on speaker so I could hear both sides of the conversation. "Hi, Dad."

"Jessica. I'm glad you called. There's something I wanted to ask about." Giordano's familiar gruff voice sounded almost pleasant.

Jess and I exchanged puzzled looks. "What is it?" she asked.

"Do you know someone named Beverly Windermaker?"