Lena rested her chin in the palm of her hand and looked at him. “Alphonse…”
He poured the wine into the water glasses and slid one toward me. “A race of principessas, not like us peasants.” Lena slouched against the wooden back of the booth and looked at me; I was sure this was a repeat performance. “You know the island of Capri?” He extended a chubby finger toward Lena and spilled a little wine on the table. “This one, she will tell you she is from Positano, but this is not true.”
She picked up her glass and retreated from the candlelight. “Al, you don’t have any wine glasses?”
He gestured toward her again. “You see- principessa.”
“Al…”
“ Un pezzo di cielo caduto in terra they call it; a piece of heaven fallen to earth. They say Lucifer stole the place and brought it to Italy, and if you want to know about beautiful women, you ask the devil.” Lena blew air from her lips in dismissal. He continued. “You know Tiberius, the emperor that threw people off cliffs?” I nodded. “He had palaces built across the entire island, even moving the imperial capital to Capri.”
Her voice was soft. “Jesus, Al…”
He crossed himself. “She is a bad woman, but so delicious.” I felt Lena kick at him under the table. “Tiberius has all these palaces scattered across Capri, now he needs women with whom to debauch. The word goes out across the empire that all the most voluptuous and desirable women should be brought from all Italy. Villa Jovis is the palace of palaces, so it must have the woman of all women. Tiberius has all the principessas brought to the palace and disrobed, one by one.” He gestured toward Lena. “This one’s ancestor, Dona Allora, is last, and when she drops her robe, the court is silent. They have never seen a woman until they have seen this woman. The emperor must have her at once, so he takes her on the floor of the palace with the entire court in attendance.”
In the silence, I thought I should say something. “Romantic devil.”
Lena shook her head. “Bullshit.”
“Allora had her revenge.” Alphonse took a drink of his wine. “They say Tiberius was suffocated by a rival, but…” He pointed the sausage-like finger at Lena. “You cannot love a women as beautiful as this; she will twist your heart.”
“I wish I could twist hearts the way you twist the truth.”
He was looking at me. “I chased after this woman for three months before she took my ugly brother who is not as smart as me.” He touched my arm to make sure he had my full attention. “This one’s daughter, the Terror, works for you?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“When she was a teenager, she used to lifeguard at the pool on Christian Street…”
“Alphonse…” Lena’s voice carried more than a little warning.
He ignored her and continued. “The Terror, she used to wear this black, one-piece bathing suit, a white blouse tied at the waist and little sandals with flowers between the toes…”
“Al…”
“In the summer, the men of Christian Street always found a reason to be out on the stoop at ten in the morning to watch her go by.”
“Al…”
“Fourteen years old, and she is cussing them like a sailor.”
I took a sip of my own wine as Lena spoke. “If you’re through with your stories, we’re starving.”
He looked at me. “You see…Principessa.”
She leaned forward. “What are we having?”
He raised his hands with a flourish. “Pizza Rustica Alphonse.”
Lena clapped her hands. “My favorite!”
He downed the rest of his wine, set the glass back on the table with more flourish, and stood. “I stole the recipe from Termini, but he is not here…” He disappeared through the kitchen doors, singing “One for My Baby” just under Frank.
I raised my glass, and she touched the rim with hers. “Here’s to the lady’s revenge and sandals with little flowers between the toes.” She smiled and drank. I motioned toward the kitchen where Alphonse was overpowering Sinatra. “He’s quite a character.”
“My ally.”
“He seems to enjoy life.”
Her head tilted slightly. “And he makes excuses for people who also make that mistake.” The glass lingered there at her lower lip, a movement that echoed Vic’s. “When I had the affair, Alphonse let me stay above the restaurant.”
“You make it sound like an historic event.”
She took a sip. “In our family, it was.” She studied me. “I’d imagine you were true.”
“True?”
“You know what I mean.”
I thought about it, trying to come up with some way of not sounding like a self-righteous prig. “We were always saving for something. I mean I don’t think it was that we got along all that great. There were plenty of times we would have called it quits, but it seemed we were always needing something, a new television, a washer and dryer, a car, or for Cady…It’s amazing what civil service wages can do for fidelity.” She laughed, and I studied the pattern of the tablecloth. “I’m not sure how to go about this, but I think we’re close enough friends that I have to tell you something.” She looked back up at me. “I think I’ve stumbled onto who it might’ve been that you had the relationship with.”
Her expression changed very slightly, and then she looked at the tablecloth. It was a very long pause, and I was about to say something when she started talking. “I understand Michael threw you out of the hospital?”
“Yep.”
“He is healing fast.” She held the glass at her lip. “He got a three-day suspension, and it seems to me I should be mad at you about that.”
I waited and then spoke very carefully, “As long as that’s all you’re mad at me about.” She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow as I continued. “It was my plan, but it wasn’t my idea.” I didn’t care for this line of conversation either, so I changed the subject again. “I went to Delaware today. First to sign the Constitution; they have a plaque.”
“How was the opera?”
“I think your husband would just as soon I go back to Wyoming.”
“I’m sure he would.”
I smiled and took another sip of the wine. “Opening night tomorrow?”
“Yes, why?”
I shrugged. “I was looking for a date to take to Henry’s opening, but I guess you’re otherwise engaged.”
She took a long moment to respond, looking at her glass. “Yes.”
It was quiet, and I watched her clench her jaw muscles; again she looked like Vic. We listened as Alphonse finished up on a note. “Victor really can sing, but I think I prefer Alphonse; more heartfelt.”
“And flat.” She laughed a slow laugh that pulled at the top of my chest. “So, if we can’t seem to talk about anything else, what’s happening with the case?”
“I’m having a beer tonight at O’Neil’s with an assistant district attorney. He was a friend of Devon’s and was a player in the Roosevelt Boulevard thing.”
“Vince Osgood?”
“Yep, I guess it was in all the papers…”
“No, just recently there was something.”
I let her think while I continued. “Suspended…”
She held her hand out to stop me from speaking. “No, this was something that connected with something you said. I’ve heard those two names mentioned together. Osgood and Conliffe.”
“Roosevelt Boulevard…”
“No, no, no. It was something else.” She continued to think. “I knew I’d heard that young man’s name before, but now I can’t think where.” Alphonse returned with two plates and wrapped flatware, carefully placing them on the table, and poured himself another glass of Chianti. “Alphonse, what do you know about Vince Osgood?”
“The assistant DA on suspension?” He tightened his lips under his mustache. “He would burn his mother to stay warm.”
“What about him and Devon Conliffe, the judge’s son?”
“What about him?” He took a sip of his wine. “He fell off the bridge; end of story.”
“Al…”