The Don's Trust

Chapter 42

Vito and Damian wrapped up their meeting about casino investments. The net revenue of the casinos owned by them showed profitable numbers. Business was going well.

Damian was ready to leave but his brother held him back for a little longer. There were a few things Vito wanted to ask him about the Lucchese homicide. At the time of the murder, Vito was only nine years old and didn't pay much attention to the things happening around him. Damian, on the other hand, was fifteen and watched the local news on a regular basis. Vito hoped Damian remembered the incident so he could give him some clues about the culprit.

''And you are asking because of Valentina?'' Damian looked over to see Vito nodding, ''I'm letting you know that you're not looking for one person. There were two people who had a hand in her parents' death.''

''Two men?''

''One man and one woman,'' Damian corrected his brother, ''Didn't Greg mention anything to you? Wouldn't he have tried to figure out what happened for Valentina?''

''If Greg did know, he kept it to himself.''

It was like Valentina said. It wasn't going to be easy. After all, twenty-three years had passed since the incident occurred. The people Vito was looking for could be anywhere by now. Vito reclined on his chair and massaged his temples.

''If you were them, where would you go?'' He asked Damian.

Damian was in deep thought trying to come up with an answer, ''Go somewhere where I could get rid of the stolen goods.''

Vito raised an eyebrow, ''Stolen goods? It was a robbery?''

''They described it as a robbery gone wrong.''

And only now you mention it? In Vito's mind, this was a huge lead. The doors leading him in the right direction opened and the ones leading him in the wrong one closed.

''What else do you know?''

''I got nothing else. If you don't mind, I'll be going now.''

After his brother left the office, Vito was alone with his thoughts.

A robbery gone wrong? What an understatement. Vito scoffed out loud at the way the news had phrased it. They were never supposed to get caught by the Luccheses. Their death wasn't planned. An unplanned murder and those lousy detectives still couldn't solve the case. The thought made him think of Philip Coleman. He did say he worked on the re-opened case. Fuck. I should've questioned him about this before killing him off.

The next best thing for him to do was going straight to the place where the murder took place. Vito intended to question nearby residents who were present on that fateful day.

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After doing some digging, Vito found out the address where Eleni and Nicolas Lucchese used to live. He killed the engine and stepped out of his car. His eyes roamed the familiar streets. It wasn't far from Vito's old home. The house he grew up in was only two blocks down the street.

He regarded the old Lucchese home before taking in the house right next to it. The neighbour was the one Vito came for. If his sources were reliable, the house was inhabited by the same resident from twenty-three years ago. He walked toward the house and rang the bell. A couple of minutes passed and he pressed on the white button again.

Nobody home?

He took a few steps back and saw an elderly woman through the window. She seemed to be reading the newspaper. Instead of trying to get her attention by using the doorbell, he stepped closer to the window and knocked on it. The woman immediately looked around her, trying to see where the source of the sound came from. When her eyes landed on Vito a surprised look flashed across her face. She signed him to wait a minute so she could open the door.