Page 113 of Be Still My Unbeating Heart

Aunt Agata nodded. “They were all over each other the past few weeks. Totally in love. Matteo didn’t like that.”

Bastian stared at Aunt Agata in disbelief. “Why didn’t you tell us any of this before?”

She shrugged. “I thought you knew.”

A hysterical laugh bubbled up Bastian’s throat. “Yes, I suppose that makes sense.”

“Matteo was jealous of Luna and Emilio,” Whitby mused. “And they both turned up dead. That’s one heck of a coincidence.”

“Which means it probably wasn’t,” De Luca said.

“Matteo has an alibi, though,” Bastian reminded them. “The bartender at Pinocchio’s told De Luca he was there all evening.”

Aunt Agata frowned. “But that’s not possible. I saw Matteo that night; he went into Micio Micio after Emilio had closed up. I thought it was odd, but I assumed he just had work to do.”

“You saw Matteo go into Micio Micio the night Luna was killed?” Bastian asked.

Aunt Agata nodded. “It was early evening. I was knitting outside and I had just finished my latest cowl when I saw him unlock the shop and go inside. The sun hadn’t set yet, and he stayed in there for hours.”

Bastian shared a look with De Luca, knowing he must be thinking the same thing.

“Did you see which direction he came from?” De Luca asked. “When he arrived at Micio Micio?”

“It seemed he came from the piazzetta.”

And the piazzetta was right next to the beach, where Luna was found.

Bastian’s ears rang as he absorbed the information. Aunt Agata’s revelation turned everything on its head.

“The bartender covered for Matteo,” he said. “Why?”

“I sense the commissario’s involvement there,” Whitby said. “Maybe he was paid off.”

“Damn!” Bastian cried, suddenly fired up. “Matteo could have come from the beach. He could have killed Luna and then hidden at Micio Micio. It’s been staring us in the face this whole time!Matteois the one pinning the murders on me, not the commissario.” He frowned. “But how do the mayor and Salvador figure into this?”

“The mayor was Emilio’s buddy,” De Luca said.

“Maybe Matteo worried that Emilio suspected he killed Luna, and that he’d shared his suspicions with the mayor,” Whitby said.

Bastian tapped his chin. “Or Matteo was just looking for an excuse to get rid of the mayor, adorable little vampire hater that he is.”

“And Salvador told you himself that he knew who the killer was, right before he died,” Whitby added.

“Wait,” Bastian said, a new thought occurring to him. “What if Matteo took Enzo?”

De Luca frowned. Whitby’s eyes flashed as she said, “Why would he do that?”

“They were friends, weren’t they?” Bastian said, recalling the picture of them in Enzo’s bedroom as he looked at De Luca. “Matteo and Enzo?”

The muscle in De Luca’s jaw twitched. “They were best friends. Growing up, they shared everything with each other. I remember Enzo being there for Matteo when Matteo’s mother died. Matteo really leaned on Enzo.”

“What if he felt like he needed Enzo again?” Bastian said. “Guilt tends to weigh on a person. Perhaps he’s feeling lonely, the way killers often do.”

De Luca’s jaw firmed. “We have to find them,” he said.

As one, they turned a questioning look at Aunt Agata.

“Matteo? Oh, he took a boat out an hour ago,” the shopkeeper said, brushing crumbs from her dress.