Joe opened his arms to her as they shared a long hug.
Freddy and Marco stood over to the side, looking sullen.
Marco caught my attention and motioned for me to join them. The oldest boy of the Castaletta crew, Marco was Joe's Consigliere, the guy that made sure all the business shit was in order. I was Joe's underboss, the guy in charge of everyone else.
There had been a good handful of years that Marco had been second in command, but after figuring out that he hated people, he switched positions to focus more on paperwork and managing Joe's affairs.
Freddy was the youngest Castaletta and the capo for our narcotics ring. Too bad the little punk ass smoked as much as he sold. His greasy appearance and glassy eyes made it easy to tell that he was a doper and had been for a long time.
"I think we should let things go for today. Tomorrow we get started again on trying to figure out who did this shit," Marco spoke slowly, his drawl lackadaisical, as was his way of doing things in life.
"Fuck that. I say we get in the car now and go figure out what the fuck happened to Mama." Freddy sniffled, his eyes red and puffy—from sadness or drugs, perhaps a combination of the two.
"Freddy. I don't think that's a good idea with the family here. We need to be with everyone, and you need time to grieve," Marco spoke softly, reaching out to touch the younger man on the shoulder.
"No, I'm with him. We need to get on this. It's been four days since Vivian was murdered." Everyone flinched as I spoke the words no one wanted to say. The Don's wife hadn't simply died, and she hadn't passed — she’d been raped and murdered in cold blood. Someone had gunned her down and taken her life not because she wore pretty clothes or had a nice purse but simply because of who she was.
"And we've been looking for four damned days and haven't found shit, have we?" Marco retorted, his face flushing a little. He touched his finger to his head and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you."
"It's all good." I looked over to see where Izzy and the rest of the crew were, glad that they weren't around to witness the backbone of the organization falling apart. "You go with the family, and Freddy and I will go look at a few more things that I wanted to check out at the crime scene. Today's Election Day downtown. There ain't no damned way the cops will be on site today. I just want more time to look for anything we can find. I'm sure the boys in blue swept the place half-assed like they do everything."
"I think Freddy should come home with me. His mother was buried today. I don't think he's stable enough to deal with anything that you might uncover." Marco moved his hand from Freddy and crossed his arms over his chest.
"I'm fucking right here. I'm going. You aren't my daddy, so back off me."
Marco started to respond, and I stepped in. "I'll take him for an hour, and then we'll be back at the house. Your father and sister are motioning for you to join them. Tell them that Freddy and I are going to grab a few things at the store and then we'll be back at the mansion, got it?"
I stood a good foot over Marco and Freddy. My height and size was something I was more than happy to use to my advantage.
"Fine, but only an hour." Marco looked between us and then turned on his heel and walked off.
Freddy stood stone still and spoke when Marco was out of earshot. "What's his fucking problem? It's almost like he doesn't want us finding Mama’s killer. What the hell?"
I put my hand on Freddy's shoulder and walked toward the long black Cadillac that awaited us at the back of the funeral procession. "I don't think it's that at all. I just think he wants everyone together, which isn't too much to ask."
"Then why'd you front him?"
I rolled my eyes. "I didn't front him. I simply told him that I wanted to check things out, and taking you with me would be a good time to confront you."
Freddy stopped before reaching the car, a look of confusion sweeping over his face. "Confront me on what exactly?"
I slid my tight grip up from Freddy's shoulder to