Bertelli Investigations Volume 1: Noteworthy Mysteries

Chapter 16

Tino arrived back home,hearing music pounding from another room in their house. It sounded like some kind of electric mix of Bruno Mars and Nicki Minaj. "Tony!",he called several times,with no answer. He followed the sound of the music until he came across Tony in their office that they had hoped soon turned into a gym,with his shirt off and a pair of grey sweatpants on. He was lifting some weights that were left in the corner of the room, before Jade's murder ever happened. Tony and Tino liked to workout and keep fit,and to get their buisness opened up so they could make their office into a workout room is something they were highly looking forward to.

"Oh hey you're back!",Tino tried to shout over the pounding workout music blaring from his Bluetooth speakers. It was useless. The music was so loud it drowned out his voice completely.

Tino walked over to the speakers and shut them off,holding his ears." Do you ever do anything else when I'm gone besides kiss your girlfriend and work out?",he said with an attitude.

Tony grabbed the white towel he had and wiped off the dripping sweat from his face."Boy you seem to be in a bad mood. What happened during your meet-up with Sammy?"

"Nothing",Tino replied,loosening the buttons on his shirt.

"Nothing?",Tony asked,still panting slightly.

"Nothing,"Tino repeatedly,still slightly mad."We had a wonderful conversation,ate a delicious breakfast,and caught up on old times."

"Well that sounds terrible ", Tony said sarcastically.

Tino huffed,looking directly at Tony,and  waving his hand at him in an angry way."Tony,it went horrible because I couldn't get a lead off of him. He couldn't tell me one darned thing that was new or important. "

"Breathe Valentino,breathe.",Tony said,placing his hands on Tino's shoulders." Don't worry,we'll get something. We just have to re-examine the case. There's something we're missing. And we still have Romeo to talk to."

"Okay,we'll just have to see what Romeo says."

Tony walked over to the boards where they had pictures of the crime scene pinned along with any additional information about the case. He wrote on their : Interviewed Sammy. No additional information given.

"Well it's not a lot to go off of,but atleast we do have something: we have the bullet from the gun that was left behind. And we know she was killed in her house."

Tino sat down,racking his brain trying to put the whole picture together."But why was she killed and then drug to our office? Why didn't they just keep her at her house? They could've dropped off the note there at her house."

"I'm guessing they wanted things to go just so? Maybe that was to show us their strength,so to speak."

Tino crossed his legs and sighed."Maybe. I'll just be happy when we get dna results back."

Tony turned to Tino and rubbed his hands together joyfully."Oh I almost forgot. I heard from the coroner today. We should get the results in on Monday. It's just one step closer to us getting payed for this case."

"We have been payed.",Tino pointed out."We just have to make sure to get it solved so we don't have to pay the money back."

"Yeah and I really hope we don't have to do that,because I've done spent a good amount of it on Vanessa some new diamond earrings.",Tony said shuddering as he thought about the amount he would have to pay back.

"Diamonds? What did you do?",Tino smiled,knowing that his brother would have had to do something really wrong to buy Vanessa a present like that. He knew his brother to well.

"What are you talking about? Can't I just buy her something?" ,Tony said while trying to be convincing.

Tino knew there was something up."Yeah. But diamonds?",he asked curiously. Youve been with her for 3 years."You've bought her chocolates,you've bought her flowers,and even the occasional teddy bear. But diamonds?"

"Okay so,I've been too busy lately and she's getting the brunt end of it.",Tony admitted."I feel bad because I know she feels abandoned. I'm just not sure what else to do. I'm too busy to give her any more of my time."

"Ah. Well diamonds should make it up.",Tino said as he closed his eyes briefly.He felt stuck,trying to figure out what next to do for Jade and Tia's case. It kept bothering him,like a bad cold that doesn't go away.  "So what do we do now?",he asked with a sigh.

"The only thing we can do: study this evidence more until our eyes bleed."

Tino got up,stretching,and then walked over to the boards to study them. "You know ,something I read today in some of the extra classes I took was that sometimes detectives can make a case too complicated;The clues can be so simple."

"What are you saying? We're trying too hard?"

Tino scontinued to study the boards for a few minutes."Maybe? I'm not sure. It's just that something doesn't seem right."

"Yeah",Tony agreed."It's like the tears in her shirt where the bullets went through her. Something seems off about that. I've never heard of a bullet ripping a shirt that bad. I mean Its not really bad,but it's definitely larger than average bullet holes.It's like someone tore the shirt themselves."

"Maybe someone did."

Tony looked at him strangely.,trying to figure out the reason behind such a silly idea."But why?"

As Tino stared at the evidence,he started to look at things differently. A perturbed look came across his face. "I don't know",he answered."But Antinio,I believe someone is trying to trip us up . When is Jade's funeral again?"

"Sometime Tuesday.",Tony replied.Why?"

" We're gonna go ahead and talk to Romeo. But I also think it would be good to go to the funeral and check things out."

"Wait",Tony said crossing his arms and trying to get where Tino's mind was. "Are you telling me that the scenario of someone associating with the Mafia and killing Jade to scare us away from finding Tia might not be what's going on?"

"I'm saying there are different possibilities. It's like my e-book said: sometimes you just look at a case too hard.  And I have a feeling that if we mak start keeping this case simple,then  we are going to get to the bottom of this really soon."