Silenced by the Yams - By Karen Cantwell Page 0,11

at the request of web movie reviewer, Barbara Marr. Witnesses on the scene tell DC Daily that Romano and Marr fought violently with Baugh prior to his suspicious death. A hearing will be held this week to seek Romano’s indictment. Meanwhile, he’s being held without bond. The Baugh family did not wish to comment on the circumstances of Kurt’s death at this time.”

I banged my head on the table three times. It didn’t help. The article was still there. Could this nightmare get any worse?

And of course, the author got the facts all wrong. Frankie was never a Mafia boss. He was just a soldier. And we didn’t fight violently. Frankie was a gentleman defending my honor. I looked at the byline—Gina King. I felt like picking up the phone and giving Gina a piece of my frazzled mind. Right. I could only imagine the subsequent headline: Suburban Soccer Mom with Friends in Mafia and Personal, Inside Understanding of Crime Syndicate Structure, Threatens Local Washington DC Reporter.

I was beginning to wonder when Howard would return when the phone rang. Howard’s cell number showed on the caller ID.

I took a deep breath and put on a happy voice. “Hello, Handsome. Do we have a Mama Marr yet?”

“She wasn’t on the plane!” Howard yelled into the phone. Howard never yells. He’s an FBI agent and they’re trained to be cool under pressure.

“What do you mean?”

“Her name wasn’t even on the passenger list.”

“You mean she didn’t have a ticket?”

“Not for that flight she didn’t. I’m heading to National Airport right now. There’s another American flight from Philly coming in at 2:35. Maybe she gave me the wrong information.”

And just because my life can’t ever be easy, a crash from upstairs was followed by Bethany’s shrill scream. “Mommy! Come quick! Amber’s hurt! There’s blood everywhere!”

*****

After picking my heart up from of the floor and flying up the stairs, I quickly determined that Amber was injured, but not dying of blood loss. She was, however, losing a good amount of it from a cut on her lip. Through sobs, she explained that she had been pulling a box of Barbies from a high shelf in her closet when a plastic Barney toy on top of the box slipped off and cracked her in the mouth. A closer inspection with my finger told me Barney had not only cut her lip, but had also broken two teeth.

“Thtupid Barney,” she said, her tears drying.

We cleaned up the blood, put an ice pack on her lip, and I called Dr. Horner’s office. They told us to come right away and they’d slip her in between patients. I thanked my lucky stars I’d worked so hard to be extra nice to her all these years.

I had Amber by the hand and Bethany trailing behind me when I pulled the front door open to head out.

Usually, when I open my front door, there isn’t a four foot nine, white-haired lady with two suitcases standing on my stoop. But then again, today was proving to be unlike my more usual days.

“Mama Marr!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“What?” she asked with an innocent look on her plump face. “You weren’t expecting me?”

“Howard went to the airport to pick you up, but you weren’t on the plane.”

She shook her head so hard I thought the glasses on her nose would fly off. “No plane. They wouldn’t take Pavarotti.”

That was when I noticed the bird cage. Canary.

I took a few deep cleansing breaths. There was no time to ask Mama Marr why she brought her feathered companion, Pavarotti, or more importantly, why she didn’t tell us that she’d changed her travel plans. After a round of hugs, we moved the suitcases and Pavarotti up to the guest room, being sure to close the door behind us. I wondered how long it would take Indiana Jones and Mildred Pierce to smell him and start making dinner plans.

We loaded ourselves into my mini-van, Amber still holding the ice pack to her lip, and tore to Dr. Horner’s dental office. Mama Marr gripped the armrest with white knuckles while she explained how she’d had her next door neighbor cancel her plane reservations and drive her to the bus station instead. I asked why she didn’t tell us that she’d changed her plans. She shrugged and said, “Barbara, I’m an old lady now. Who can remember all these little details?”

Along the way, I dialed Howard to let him know that he and Callie could turn around