The skipper

Chapter 2

"But where did your father go?" Adriana asked, while draining her umpteenth glass. Adriana had quite a passion for alcohol and an even greater one for gossip. "He said he had business in America to take care of," Yvette replied, vaguely. "I'm not exactly sure what, because, of course, I don't know." The two cousins exchanged raised eyebrows, as if wondering if there was something they were both missing and should know. Their looks were soon noticed by Aunt Valerie, who coughed politely, as if to stop them. "Real estate in America can be quite lucrative," she added, while gazing out the window.

"Anyway, do you know what the neighbors have done?" Adriana added. "They've built on the cliff right by the beach... highly illegal... in fact, I wouldn't know what to say... except that it's clearly an abuse." For the first time, Nicola entered the conversation because, up until that moment, he had been silent, not saying a word. "He does whatever he wants because he's clearly a mobster, and if anyone were to ask him anything, he'd shoot them. We certainly won't be the ones to do it."

"After all, we're not concerned about a minor infraction," Aunt Valerie added.

Yvette highly doubted that it was a minor infraction, as Aunt Valerie had labeled it. But then again, abuses always seem small when committed by people we'd rather ignore.

After the apple oysters, gratin mussels, coffee, and desserts, it was finally time to retire to their private rooms, at least for Aunt Yvette. Before heading down to the beach, the three cousins gathered in the billiard room, which was often unused, or at least not for playing billiards. Nicola cut the tip off one of his cigars, preparing to smoke it. Yvette reclined on one of the armchairs, gazing at the view of the cove below the house. Adriana played with the stones on her bracelet, thoughtfully eyeing the coffee service that Enza had brought. The cups were colorful, with celestial fish-shaped patterns that closely resembled the ceramics of the town.

"Mom seems very stressed," Adriana commented, looking at Yvette. "Do you think it might have something to do with why your father left?"

"I don't know," Yvette replied, looking at both of them. 

"How could it be connected?" Nicola huffed, "Remember we had a cousin we didn't know about for at least ten years. If there's something they don't want us to know, we won't know it."

"You can't talk, either," Adriana said with a hint of acid in her tone, "You and your Albanian excursions."

Adriana was referring to the business that Nicola had started in Albania without anyone knowing. As for the cousin they were talking about, they were discussing Omar, and Yvette knew very little about him. Uncle Mario and Aunt Valerie had managed to hide him for years, almost ten, without anyone suspecting a thing.

Yvette nodded without saying anything. She had never had many secrets, at least not as many as the rest of the family; she somehow felt like her life was less interesting, or at least the time for having them hadn't come yet. 

"Let's keep our eyes open and our ears sharp, we'll figure out what's going on," Adriana added as she began to drink her coffee.

"But where is Omar now?" Nicola added.

"In a reform school, I think," Adriana replied, looking a bit too interested in the bottom of her cup. Nicola shrugged, and there was a moment of silence. Adriana was a lawyer, and she was exceptionally good at either telling half-truths or modifying them. In fact, it was true that Omar was in a reform school, but Adriana had deliberately omitted the reason why he was there.

"Reform school or prison?" Yvette asked, as persnickety as ever. 

"I'm not sure," Adriana added, "but I think it means we won't see him for another ten years, at least." 

"Today Claudio fixed the motorboat though," Nicola added, "Tomorrow we could go out on the boat." 

"Sounds good to me," Yvette said. "We all know the cove, it'll be fun to have some time to ourselves." 

Adriana adjusted her necklace, looking around, "By the way, I'm handling this case of a businessman who falsified company accounts for years, it's a nightmare."

"We all know who it is, you can say it," Nicola added, "At least Lili Lazarova's father will pay well." Adriana gave him a glare and then laughed because it was true; the Lazarovas were cheats, but they were the ones who paid the best.