Bertelli Investigations Volume 1: Noteworthy Mysteries

Chapter 13

The Bertelli brothers arrived home,trying to relax while working in their office. Tony plopped down in one of their chairs,leaning back and studying the evidence they had on the whiteboard as Tino was updating it.
Tino took a red marker and wrote down everyone that had been checked out and taken off the suspect list. "Hannah Smith and Malcolm Hayes are clear. What we know is that Jade was killed at her house and dumped off at our business. The missing bullet was found behind the staircase. We sent it off to labs."

"So that means we are able to match a gun to it.",Tony said.

"Yep. And we know that Jade was sleeping with Romeo and most likely one of his friends."

"Dang cuz.",said Tony as he shuddered at the thought of any woman hooking up with his cousin Romeo. He never liked Romeo,knowing he was a part of the Mafia and treated women disrespectfully, which were both things that neither Tony nor Tinob would ever approve of.

" hate to say this",Tino said shooting Tony a look.

He could tell what his brother was thinking."Don't say it!"

"We need to talk to Romeo."

"No!",Tony said shuddering."I told you not to say it. I hate that guy for more reasons than one."

"We have to.We can't tell him, 'Hey this dead girl was probably murdered by one of your friends that you didn't know she was cheating on you with', but we can beat around the bush. We need names of the people he's hung around a lot."

"But we don't even know if he's the right guy. There could be another Italian guy here in New York City by the name of Romeo.",Tony pointed out,hoping that would excuse them from talking to Romeo.

"Well we have to check it out.",Tino told him sternly.

"You think he would even talk to us? I mean that part of our family isn't very close.",Tony pointed out to his brother.

"I'm not sure. But the one good thing about the mafia is that they believe that family is family . You don't turn on blood."

"Yeah but they said that before we become detectives."

Tino tried to change subjects for the moment,knowing he wasn't getting anywhere with his brother ,besides getting a headache. "What did you think of Mitch Thompson?",he asked.

"He sure wasn't what I thought he'd be.",he replied to Tino,looking up at him still in shock."He's mature and more settled down. He's not the partying type like Jade supposedly was."

"Maybe that's why they were divorcing. They didn't share the same values or anything."

"That could be it",Tony agreed,nodding his head."I'm glad Vanessa is loyal to me. I'd hate to have a who're."

"I think any normal man would."

"Hey speaking of Mitch, how did the handwriting sample turn out?"

"Oh I forgot all about it. Let me check it out.",Tino replied,excitedly gathering the notes.

"We still need to call his work and check out his alibi. I'm gonna do that while you study the handwriting."Tony googled the number for Lancord Makins. Dialing the number ,he hoped he could get a hold of someone pretty easily.

"Lancord Makings, this is Dave speaking."

"Yes I'm calling in regards to an employee there by the name of Mitch Thompson. Could I speak to his manager?"

"Yes I'm the manager. My name is David Crouch.",the voice on the other end of the phone said with hesitation in his voice.

"Mr Crouch my name is Antonio Bertelli. I'm a detective with NYPD. I'm calling to check out what time Mitch clocked in on this Sunday night?"

"Let me check. You said that you're a detective?",he asked curiously.

"Yes. Don't worry Mitch isn't in any trouble. I'm just trying to check some things out."

"The time clock says he clocked in at 11:29pm Sunday night."

"And when did he go on break?"

"He went on break at exactly 6 am Monday morning and came back at 6:45am. Then he clocked out at 12:20pm."

Tony happened to think that Mitch could've possibly snuck out for a bit."Do you happen to know if he went out for any extra breaks or snuck out at all?"

Mr Crouch laughed." Are you kidding? The only extra breaks that are given are 5 minute smoke breaks. And trust me, nobody sits out there for more than 5 minutes. This is a factory and we have to keep things going."

"I understand. That's all I needed to know. Thank you".

"Does this have to do with his soon to be ex wife being murdered?", Mr Crouch asked.

"Yes it does. It's just routine for us to check him out. No need to be concerned though."

Mr Crouch was relieved to hear that one of his employees wasn't a murderer."That's good to know. Thank you detective."

Tony hung up the phone,tossing it on the table. He didn't want to think Mitch would kill his ex wife, but he was also hoping to get a lead."Okay so his alibi checked out.",he said with a sigh."There was no way he could've even snuck out in enough time to kill Jade,clean her place,drag her into the buisness,change clothes,and get back to work."

"His handwriting has also been cleared. "Tino said,laying the paper that Mitch had written on onto the desk in front of him. "It's nothing like the writing in the notes. The one it that's similar is how the s is formed. Mitch wrote the a on 'Makings' in a really swirly way. It's the same way on the notes. But besides that,the handwriting couldn't be more different." Tino took his red marker, writing Mitch Thompson's name down on the whiteboard."Mitch has been cleared."

Tony leaned back in his chair again,feeling instant regret of what he was about to ask."That means we have to talk to Romeo doesn't it?"

"It won't be bad. We will just ask him a few questions and leave."

Tony rolled his eyes." You know how that part of the family is. It won't be that simple. We will probably have to bribe Romeo for any information,no matter how big or small the information is."

Tino stuck a sucker in his mouth that he got from a nearby candy dish. He walked up to Tony,pinching his checks and speaking in a strong Italian accent."So Antonio, are you ready to go visit your good cousin?"