Page 353 of Marcello

Lars looked at me in disbelief.

I shrugged at him. What do you want me to do? Try to threaten them when we’re outnumbered 50 to 1?

There was a pause – then a middle-aged man spoke from far out in the courtyard. His deep voice had a Neapolitan accent, but he spoke Italian.

“Are you Dario Rosolini?”

“No, I am his brother Niccolo, the consigliere of our family. You can deal with me. With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”

The deep-voiced man didn’t play along. “I will only speak with Dario Rosolini.”

“He’ll be along any moment. In the meantime – ”

“I will only speak with Dario Rosolini.”

Annoyed, I said, “He’s busy killing Cesare Caproni at the moment. Once he’s through with that, you’re welcome to talk to him. Until then, you can either deal with me, or we can sit here in silence.”

There were muttered exclamations in the courtyard.

“Bullshit!” yelled another middle-aged voice, this one higher and raspier.

“Which part?” I called out. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Your brother is the dead one!” the raspy-voiced man yelled. “Cesare is a mad dog!”

“And my brother puts down mad dogs. Which you should be thanking us for, by the way. I understand Cesare wasn’t exactly popular with the rest of you.”

“We may have hated Cesare, but we DESPISE the Cosa Nostra.”

“Maybe we can change that here tonight,” I said jovially. “Fresh start and all.”

“You said the Amatos are dead.”

“I did.”

“Who killed them?”

“Lucrezia and Cesare, or so I’ve been told.”

“Where’s Lucrezia? I want to speak to her.”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible, seeing as she’s dead, too.”

“Who killed her?”

“I did!” Lucia yelled.

I turned around and glared at my sister-in-law –

But she just ignored me.

“And who are you?” the deep-voiced gangster asked.

“Lucia Fioretti, granddaughter of Donna Fioretti, the Widow of Venice.”

More muttering in the courtyard –

But this time, it was more misogynistic in nature.