According to Madame, Enzo couldn’t be happier that his daughter at last had chosen a man over a boy. (Of course, I didn’t see that she had much choice, given the third point of that particular fire triangle — Glenn Duffy — was now facing twenty-five years to life.)
“What happened to your man Otto?” I asked Madame, after the restaurant’s young chef-owner proposed a toast to Enzo. “I lost track of him...”
Madame pointed across the large, crowded space to a tall, dapper fellow, leanly built with thinning but still-golden hair. “He’s over there, dear, explaining to that New York Times reporter how it took Dante and six of his friends an entire month to recreate what my old friend envisioned and painted by himself.”
Madame drained her champagne flute and shot me a sly smile. “Of course, what Otto is really doing is laying the foundation for Enzo’s public show this summer at his Chelsea gallery.”
“Whatever works,” I said (my new go-to catch phrase).
The paintings to be shown at the Otto Visser Gallery weren’t new. Enzo was still weak and recovering from his stroke; it would take lots of time and therapy before he could paint again. What the world was going to see, for the first time, were the canvases Enzo had painted of his wife — a subject to which he’d lovingly devoted himself for decades. And though the artist himself remained reluctant to part with any of his creations, Enzo at least agreed to a public show, which wasn’t bad publicity for Otto, either.
After a few rounds of Prosecco and trays of delightfully seasoned morsels, Madame found me again.
“So where is your noble knight this evening?”
“Another undercover operation,” I said. “He phoned to tell me he’s running late.”
“The wheels of justice perpetually grind, don’t they, dear? Well, if he doesn’t make it, Otto and I will be happy to give you a lift home.”
“Thanks. Matt made the same offer a little while ago — in front of Breanne, unfortunately. I told them I’d take the subway.”
“Well, he knows you don’t have that little Honda anymore — ”
“Yes and that’s fine. I’ve decided to live without a car for a while. After crashing two of them in one day, I probably couldn’t get affordable auto insurance, anyway.”
As I sipped my sparkling wine, I noticed Tucker and Esther bantering (or bickering — who could tell?). They shared a booth with Kiki and Bahni, Dante’s fawning apartment mates. The girls looked thrilled that their boy was finally getting some critical attention from the press. I was happy for Dante, too, but worried I was about to lose one of my best baristas to the fickle arms of the art world.
“Did you notice that sign across the street when we came in?” Madame asked. “It says the Pink Mirage is coming to Long Island City.”
I nodded. “Dean Tassos isn’t stupid. He closed the Red Mirage to relocate in this hotter area. Did I tell you that Valerie Noonan is working for him now?”
“That lovely girl from the bake sale?”
“Yes, she’s overseeing the activities at all of Dean’s catering halls...” My eye wandered back to another section of the astounding mural, one of Enzo’s later editions to the sprawling piece. Madame noticed my interest.
“That particular image intrigues you, I see.”
“Self-portraits always intrigue me.” Enzo had painted himself into his mural, a stylized figure peering into a mirror. “But I suppose it’s really two self-portraits, if you consider the mirror...”
“That’s right...”
“And the face in the mirror has a different expression than the one looking in — impish, slightly mischievous. More like a dark doppelganger than a reflection.”
“Yes, I see that... now that you mention it,” Madame said, slipping on a delicate pair of glasses. She glanced at me. “So how is that fire captain?”
“The former captain, you mean. I hear he’s very happy as a civilian now, up in Boston...”
At the urging of his little brother, Michael Quinn resigned from the FDNY and took a job consulting for the company where Kevin Quinn worked. (Now I knew what Michael meant when he’d told me James Noonan was his last. James was the last man he intended to lose under his command.)
Madame nodded. “Best for everyone, I think, that the man’s not going to be tempted to drop by the Blend for your espressos...”
“I agree,” I said. “And I’m sure Mike would, too.”
A short time later, the party wound down and the dining room emptied. I was still alone. No call from Mike, no sign of him, either.
As the lights dimmed, Madame and Otto moved to the back of the restaurant to give their final farewells — and I spotted a familiar trench coat coming through the front.
“Hi, Clare.”
“Hi, Mike.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I wanted to get here sooner, but...”
“That’s all right,” I said. “You’re here now.”
Mike sniffed the air, still aromatic with butter and lemon, rosemary and thyme, sizzling seafood and caramelized garlic.
“The party’s over, right?” he said.
“Why?” I asked. “You hungry?”
“Starving.” He held my eyes. “Feels like I haven’t eaten all day.”
“I can fix that.”
He smiled. “I know you can.”
Then Mike reached out his hand, fingers open. I placed mine in his and we found our way home.
Afterword
Although the firefighters of New York City use plenty of specialized equipment in the course of their hazardous and heroic work, including personal escape ropes, the spike device in this novel is not one of them. As mentioned in the acknowledgments, however, a very real incident did inspire the creation of this plotline.
On January 23, 2005 (a day known in the FDNY as “Black Sunday”), two members of the department lost their lives in the line of duty — and four more were very badly injured — because they did not have escape ropes. After that terrible day, the FDNY changed its policies and now provides high-heat resistant ropes to their firefighters.
This true, tragic incident left a lasting impression on me and my husband as we began to consider how the life and death of any firefighter may hinge on something as simple as possessing a single piece of reliable equipment.
Like the spike device we invented, the charity in this book is a fictional creation, but there is a very real firefighters’ charity that I’m pleased to tell you about right now.
The Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing firefighters and their families with financial assistance for their educational, medical, and equipment needs. This charity was formed in honor of Terry Farrell, a decorated firefighter with FDNY Rescue 4 who perished on September 11, 2001, while fighting fires and rescuing victims at the World Trade Center.
Originally based in New York, this charity is currently expanding with chapters in other areas of the country. To find out more about the Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund, including how you can help simply by buying a specially labeled bottle of Jim Beam bourbon or purchasing a California Firehouse Cookbook, visit the fund’s Web site at www.terryfarrellfund.org
Recipes & Tips from The Village Blend
Visit Cleo Coyle’s virtual Village Blend at www.CoffeehouseMystery.com for coffee tips, coffee talk, and the following bonus recipes:
* Crunchy-Sweet Italian Bow Tie Cookies
* St. Joseph’s Day Zeppoles
* Brutti Ma Buoni (“Ugly but Good”) Italian Cookies
* “Malfatti” (ravioli filling without the dough)
* Dutch Baby Pancake (Bismark)
* Honey-Glazed Peach Crostata with Ginger-Infused Whipped Cream
* Mini Italian-Style Coffeehouse Cakes (with Coffeehouse-Inspired Glazes)