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  We left all that behind, why has it followed us here?

  Chapter Three

  “Well?” Matt repeated trying to read the change in her demeanor. She knows something, I’m sure of it.

  Sativa took several deep breaths to calm her racing thoughts. Why is this guy here? I thought we left that all behind in Vegas. Does he know about Connie? Uh-oh!

  Knowing Matt wouldn’t wait forever for her reply she thought fast…

  “Yes, I know who he is, but I don’t know him.” Sativa replied in a huff of sarcasm, her only defense, as she stared defiantly at Matt. Her blush was slowly receding for which she was thankful.

  “Care to tell me?” Matt pushed for an answer.

  “On or off the record?” she replied flippantly trying to answer the question and not give out any private information.

  “Come on, Sativa, no games.” A steely glint of anger shadowed his reply.

  She took a deep breath, lengthening the silence between them, carefully gathering her thoughts,

  “His name is or was Basilio “Bugsy” Cappelli. He is/was part owner of one of the casinos in Vegas.”

  Both Matt and Archie let out long slow whistles…

  Shit! Matt thought. This is going to be interesting.

  “What’s he doing here on the Cape?” Archie asked from behind the Sargent.

  “That becomes part of the mystery, doesn’t it, Archie?” Matt replied thoughtfully.

  “Listen, Matt, I have to leave,” Casey the crime photographer said urgently as he packed up his equipment, zipped the case closed and jumped over the car door into the driver’s seat. He waved over his shoulder as he reversed the Buick jammed it into first and roared off down the street heading towards Sandy Neck Beach leaving a cloud of tire dust and exhaust behind.

  “Needs a new muffler!” Archie muttered to no one in particular.

  Matt turned to Sativa and watched her under lowered eyelids. She knows a lot more, he thought, she isn’t about to tell me right now. Wish the coroner would hurry so we can move the body to the morgue.

  “Sarge, the traffic is slowing down to ogle. Okay if I get a blanket out of the squad car to cover the body and let the other officers go back to the station?”

  “Yah, Archie, good idea, they can’t do anything here. Do that, would you?”

  Archie jogged over to one of the squad cars and motioned to the four officers. They finished chatting with the onlookers, dismissed them to return to their businesses and walked over to Archie. He filled them in on Matt’s orders. Then he walked around to the back of one of the cars, opened the trunk and grabbed a dark blue blanket. He slammed the lid and waved to the four officers as they got into their respective vehicles and headed back to the station.

  With the blanket tucked under his arm, Archie went over to the body, shook it out and let it float down over the corpse. As the blanket fluttered in the slight breeze, he noticed a slip of paper about the size of a business card almost hidden under one of the packages.

  “Chief, look at this. It must have moved when you turned the body over.” Archie motioned to Matt.

  Matt walked over to where Archie was pointing and squatted down, fished in another of his raincoat pockets for a clean and neatly folded handkerchief. Shaking it out, he used a corner of it to reach down and gingerly pick up the card. Turning it carefully, he sucked in a sharp breath.

  Matt carefully tucked the hankie and card into one of the voluminous pockets of his raincoat.

  “What did it say?” questioned Archie looking at his boss, “another clue?”

  “Perhaps, Archie, I’ll fill you in later.”

  Their attention was diverted as the front door to the store opened and Indica walked out, looking around, curious as to why the detectives were there. She sauntered up to the little group, looking at them searchingly, then at the mound under the blanket trying to figure out what was happening.

  “Sativa, you all right? You didn’t come in to help me. Figured I’d better check to see if you were finished. You look a little pale, like you’d seen a ghost or something,” she teased, “I have three more batches of cookies baked and on the cooling racks. As soon as they are cool I’ll wrap them and store them in the freezer. Did you finish the windows?” She turned her attention to the detectives, “Hi Matt, Archie, nice to see you again after all this time. How come you’re here? What’s under the blanket?”

  “Hi Indica. Still as unflappable as ever. Nice to see you again, too, and to answer your last question, according to your sister, Basilio “Bugsy” Cappelli.”

  “Sweet Jesus!” she mumbled, blessing herself with several signs of the cross, as she went over to stand beside her sister tucking her arm around Sativa’s waist to steady herself because her knees were a little wobbly. She always relied on Sativa to be the strong one.

  “Did you know him, too, Indica?”

  “Everybody in Vegas knows him. We both knew who he was but we really didn’t know him. He was from a different world, one we kept clear of, we never mixed socially or any other way, if you know what I mean.”

  “And you never had any dealings with him in all the years you were in Vegas?”

  “No, Matt, we didn’t like the company he kept, not our style at all. He was mixed up in the rackets, gambling, drugs, money laundering, you name it. We kept away from him and his thugs. He wanted us to sing in his club, but we refused. Our agent made that clear to him and he didn’t bother us after that,” Indica explained.

  “And yet, here he is on your doorstep, dead. How can you explain that?”

  “No idea!” Indica shrugged her shoulders.

  “Me either,” said Sativa.

  Matt eyed both women suspiciously.

  They are like a pair of Cape Cod Quahogs: freshly dug and clamped shut.

  Chapter Four

  They heard, rather than saw, the Jeep four-wheeler whining its way down the street.

  “Wish Doc would have those tires inflated when he isn’t out on the sand dunes. That noise is so annoying,” Matt remarked.

  “Can we arrest him?” Archie asked gleefully. “Nope, just joking,” as Matt gave him a slanting look.

  Doc waved and yanked the Jeep up over the curb, gunned the engine and killed the ignition.

  “Hope you have something worthwhile. I gave up those last five holes. Truth is, I was having a lousy game. What’s so important? Things have been dead around here for months,” he grinned and laughed at his joke.

  “Dead, huh? take a peek under the blanket,” Archie smirked in a sing-song tone and watched as Doc walked over and bent down to look under the blue cover.

  “WOW!” was his first reaction, “this should liven things up,” he said sarcastically and dropped the blanket. He looked at Matt and Archie, “Any ideas?”

  “Sativa identified him as Basilio “Bugsy” Cappelli from Las Vegas.”

  Doc whistled long and slow, “Does the press know?”

  “Not yet I hope, unless one of the on-lookers spread the word.”

  “Let’s get this body to the morgue,” suggested Doc. “I can do an autopsy there. Obviously, that’s the murder weapon. Did you call for an ambulance?”

  “Yes, it’s on the way,” Archie told them.

  They didn’t have long to wait as the vehicle, red lights flashing, pulled up to the curb and two EMTs jumped out.

  “Hi, Doc. Hi, Sarge, Archie, what’s going on?” they chorused as they slid the stretcher from the back of the vehicle. Archie pointed to the blanket and the EMTs walked over and peeked under the cover.

  “Who is he?” Chuck asked as he rolled the stretcher next to the body.

  “Where do you want him?” Ed asked. He moved the blanket over and saw the knife.

  “Cripes,” they both echoed as they blessed themselves hurriedly and bent to lift the body onto the stretcher.

  “The morgue or Digger’s Funeral Home?” Chuck asked.

  “The morgue, and not a word to anyone. This needs to be kept as quiet as p
ossible. If word gets out, we’ll probably have the mobs from Las Vegas swarming all over the place,” Matt warned in a low voice and frowned.

  “Our own media will have a field day with this one,” Archie added and grinned. “They will blast it out of proportion and spin it out for weeks.”

  “Can’t say I blame them. Newspaper sales must be next to zero,” Doc chimed in as he snapped his bag shut and stood jingling his keys. He sauntered over to the Jeep, pulled the door open and dropped his bag onto the passengers’ seat. He walked around, settled himself up in the driver’s seat and waved as he started the engine with a roar. “If you need me, Matt, I’ll be at the morgue,” he shouted over the roar of the Jeep engine.

  “Thanks, Doc, see you there a little later.”

  Doc thundered off down the street, Jeep bouncing, tires squealing. Matt and Archie both waved and turned back to Sativa and Indica.

  “Can you add anything else to this, either of you?” Matt asked and waited.

  “We’ve told you as much as we know, what more can we do?” Sativa asked pointedly.

  “Do you know anything about his family? Can you help us there? Someone has to identify and claim the body.”

  “He didn’t have any family in Vegas that we know of, Matt. Vegas is a big place with thousands of people, not like a town here,” Indica said softly.

  “Does he have a wife?”

  “Yes, but she left him years ago, walked out and took their young daughter with her. They simply disappeared.” Sativa told him.

  “Do you know anyone we can call? Anyone we can notify? What about his business partners?”

  “No one we can think of, but we can give you the number of our used-to-be business manager. He might have some ideas or numbers to call,” Indica said.

  “Thanks, Indica, that will help.” He sighed inwardly thinking he was correct in his assumption.

  They were more like unshucked oysters.

  “I’ll be right back. I have his card somewhere.” Indica tugged on her apron ties and walked back into the shop.

  “Can you add anything else? Any ideas where his wife may have gone?”

  “Last I heard, she came back to the East coast, but no one knew where. She was my friend while I was in Vegas, but you know how that goes. She didn’t want any connections to her husband and she didn’t want their daughter to know about her father. That all happened about fifteen years ago. The daughter was young, around five years old. It was a “day scandal”. That’s how things happened in Vegas. A scandal lasts about a day, then another one take its place.”

  They heard the bell over the door of the shop jingle as Indica came hurrying out waving a card.

  “I have the business card for our ex-business agent/manager. Here.” She handed the card over to Matt.

  “Thanks, Indica, that will help.” Matt accepted the card and put it into an inside pocket. His cellphone beeped. He glanced at the screen, “Sorry, I need to take this call.” He moved away from the two ladies who glanced at each other and mutually decided to leave Matt to his business while they carried on with theirs.

  “That batch of brownies is ready to come out of the oven,” Indica said loudly to Matt and Archie, “I’d better get to them before they burn. See you!” Indica waved, turned, and headed back to the shop in. a half-run, motioning for Sativa to follow.

  “Archie, you know where we are if you need anything else. Say bye to Matt for us.”

  Sativa waved and followed Indica into the shop, the bell over the door blinging as if nothing had ever happened.

  Chapter Five

  “Sativa, you know where his wife is, you’re her best friend and I know you talk to her and text her,” Indica accused her sister as soon as they were inside the bakery and well out of earshot. “Why didn’t you tell Matt?”

  “I’m not saying anything until I check with her first. She may not want anyone to know where she is and what’s been going on. Gina’s baby is only a week old now.”

  “Oh, wonderful, I’ve been so wrapped up in the shop, I forgot all about her and the baby. She finally delivered?” Indica said, more statement than question. “Boy or girl?”

  “A little boy, she sent a photo to my phone. He’s adorable. Brown hair, blue eyes. So sweet.” Sativa pulled out her phone and started thumbing through her photos. “Here, see?”

  Indica’s eyes misted over as she gazed at the infant’s photo, “He certainly is small and adorable,” she wiped a tear. “Do you think she would let us be God Mothers or God Aunts?”

  “I’m certain she would, she has no one else here except her daughter and us.”

  “What about the baby’s father?”

  “Deployed overseas for a year. He wasn’t even here when the baby was born.”

  “Oh, that’s sad. Does he know about his son?”

  “I’m certain they sent photos via their phones or the internet,” Sativa assured her twin.

  “When can we go see the baby?” Indica asked as she stirred more flour into the bowl. She was trying a new recipe for cookies with chunks of better-butter chocolate.

  “Let’s go tomorrow, we have to be around for the final inspections later today. I’ll text her and see if that would be convenient for them. It must be difficult to juggle feedings and meals. At least they have each other.”

  “I remember when we had Bubba,” Indica sighed at the memory. “We didn’t know anything about taking care of a baby, but we managed.”

  “He was such a sweet boy,” Sativa said as she began to wash the bowls and cookie sheets to help Indica with the clean-up.

  “You had a difficult time birthing him, but he was a healthy baby. All he wanted to do was eat.” Indica remembered with a longing look in her eye. “Have you ever heard from his father? No, of course not, you would have told me.”

  “Down somewhere in ‘Blue Grass Country’ I suppose,” Sativa said with no sadness in her voice at all, “stupid one night of bliss, Hah! As if I will ever succumb to that again.”

  “What about Matt?” Indica asked.

  “What about him? That ended a long time ago,” Sativa sputtered, her cheeks turning a bright pink as she rinsed another bowl and set it into the dishwasher. Then she busied herself wiping down the counter-top.

  “For you, perhaps, but I saw the way he looked at you, Sis. He still has feelings for you.” Indica slid a cookie sheet into the oven and set the timer.

  Sativa took a deep breath to steady her traitorous feelings. She wasn’t certain how she really felt about Matt after seeing him again.

  It’s been almost thirty years, any feelings I had for him should have died when we left for Nashville. He understood. He urged me to go. He practically pushed me onto the bus like he couldn’t get rid of me fast enough.

  Indica was saying something, Sativa snapped out of her daydream.

  “Archie has certainly grown more good-looking since I last saw him. He was such a joker then, always making people laugh. Class Clown then, but now? I wonder if he ever married?”

  “He still has that red-headed, freckle-faced Irish grin, doesn’t he? Like he never wants to grow up?” Sativa giggled, something she hadn’t done for some time.

  Indica giggled with her and reminisced “Archie constantly made me laugh in class. The nuns always caught me and sent me down to Father Patrick’s office where I cooled my heels for hours before Father called me into his office. I did more penance. I even learned how to say the Rosary backwards.”

  “Did you really?” Sativa laughed, “No wonder Ma punished you and took away your privileges. She never did say why or for what.”

  “And you smuggled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches up to my room so I wouldn’t starve. Do you think she knew?”

  “Probably, she knew everything. She became so serious after Dad died. I used to think she was another person, not our Mom.”

  Indica hung the towels up on the heated rack and untied her apron dropping it into the laundry basket.

  “Better get this loa
d in the washer. I’ll take those towels, too. Are you almost finished here?”

  Indica nodded and pulled the towels from the drying rack tossed them to her sister just as the bells over the bakery front door started to jingle.

  “Oh, that will be the Health Inspector,” Indica said as she reached into a drawer and pulled out a clean, neatly folded apron, wrapped herself into it, and tied it at her waist. “I’ll go and see what he needs and you join me after you get that laundry started, Okay?”

  Sativa nodded and hurried into the hall towards the laundry room while Indica headed to the bakery front door

  Chapter Six

  The inspector finished his examination of the kitchen and the bakery and gave his complete approval. They would have their licenses and certificates by tomorrow - available at the town hall.

  “How did you get around the Better Butter ingredient? Sativa asked her twin as she tossed the now clean laundry into the dryer.

  “I gave him a dozen cookies to take home to taste for himself,” Indica grinned at her slight deception.

  “Were they the special butter ones or the regular ones?” Sativa asked, a worried frown shadowing her forehead.

  “Really, Sis, you know me better than that, I hope!”

  Sativa laughed, a purely delightful sound, “Then perhaps we need a cup of tea and a few of our ‘special’ cookies,”

  “My thoughts exactly. I’ll start the teakettle. Oolong or green?”

  Later that night in her own bedroom, Sativa lay snuggled down in her comforter reviewing the day in her mind.

  This murder is unsettling.

  I thought we left all that miserable mayhem back in Vegas. Dead bodies were not an everyday incident, although they did happen occasionally in that city. The nightlife was always shadowed with misdeeds and murder, but we only viewed it on the news on T.V. and not in person. This was personal and right on our doorstep. Bugsy has a lot of enemies who would like to see him deceased or otherwise removed.