Third Person
Contrary to what he said, Domenico didn't go straight to bed. First he went into the guest room, locked the windows, removed all objects that could be used in a suicide attempt and activated the security system. The little girl seemed genuinely horrified by her attempt but it was always better to be safe than sorry. He was still surprised that she was able to pretend being a boy for so long and therefore foul him and Vito and how quickly she reached for his gun. 'Truly a suprising child,' he thought, interrupted by his phone.
[00:03] J
Have the names. Finish the job?
[00:04] Domenico
Yes.
[00:05] J
Done. Anything else?
[00:06] Domenico
No.
Wait. A hobo lived in one of the hallways.
Pack everything up and bring it to me. Not a word to anyone.
[00:07] J
Understood.
Domenico retired to his room and was very inclined to light a cigarette, although he never smoked in the house. However, this evening had been exciting enough to make an exception; even by his standards. He checked the video surveillance and it showed the whole room with theire guest inside it. Hopefully Vito remembered to bring the gun up with him. Domenico really didn't feel like walking back downstairs.
"Fuck it," he said to no one in particular and lit a cigarette. He took a deep draught, let himself fall backwards onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. Then he laughed.
"I can't quite understand what you find so funny about the whole situation," came his brother's voice. "Besides, there is no smoking in the house!" Undeterred, Domenico took another draugth and saw the smoke rising up in the air.
"Did she say anything more?" He didn't even bother to sit up; Vito would sit in the armchair next to his bed anyway, cross his legs while looking incredibly serious. Vito had the gift of knowing exactly what people needed to see in order to do what he wanted. Domenico didn't have this gift, but that didn't bother him either. Most people who dealt with him knew what to expect from him and with the few exceptions there were, he could be friendly. Could.
Vito sighed. "No. She just ate and I took her upstairs. Did you prepare everything?" Without a word, Domenico handed him his cell phone where the Video was playing from the guest room. Vito took it and watched the video for a while. Josephine stood in the middle of the room and looked around herself carefully.
"Ten bucks that she'll check the windows," Domenico said without looking at the phone. He puffed on the cigarette again and let it make a circle. Vito made a disapproving face, but said nothing. The girl just went to the adjoining bathroom and looked in without going inside. Then she went to the windows. Wordless, Vito reached for his wallet and threw the money at his brother. He laughed while turning to Vito to watch along. "Always a pleasure doing business with you, brother. I told J to collect her things and bring them to us. The other thing is taken care of too."
"At least something that's going according to plan today," Vito sighed. "What is she doing?", he asked crurius. The two brothers leaned closer to the cell phone. Josephine was pulling the blanket off the bed and walked across the room to the wall behind which was the bathroom. Then she lay down, pulled the blanket over herself and didn't move anymore. Her small body almost completely disappeared under the covers. Vito didn't know what it was that made him feel sorry for her, but something eventually did. It annoyed him even more that he couldn't think of a satisfying solution to the problem. "I want to know what happened. It's not normal for 12 or 13 or whatever age she was to just run away and then live on the streets. There has to be more to it than an argument about pocket money but I don't think she will tell us the truth.", he continued while taking his brothers cigarette and inhaled.
"Well, I could ask her nicely," suggested Domenico, not in the least disturbed by his brother's action. He just pulled out another one. "I'm good at making people talk."
Vito looked at him. "Fantastic. Take this-", he took the gun out of his waistband, "here with you. That worked so damn well last time." It was clear who he blamed for the scene back down and it wasn't Josephine.
Without reacting, Domenico took the gun and put it in his bedside cabinet. "Didn't it? But back to our problem here: She doesn't want to go to a shelter, she doesn't want to go back into the system, and we won't be able to take her in. Regardless of the fact that she wouldn't want that anyway. So why don't we just give her what she wants and let her back on the street? Who are we to tell her how to live when she has managed to do it on her own in recent years?", he stated.
"If we let her go, she might freeze to death," Vito argued, although he had to admit that his brother had a point. Valentino wouldn't be back for another week, Matteo and Riccardo in five, but keeping them here for that long wouldn't change the situation. Except that neither he nor Domenico could free up that much time to look after her.
"Then we'll let her sleep here tonight, give her some more food tomorrow, some warm clothes, a nice warm blanket and a hat. Maybe some gloves. That's more than she had before and you won't save anyone who doesn't want to be save Vito." Sometimes Domenico wondered why his brother had to be so complicated. The little girl had neither asked for help nor expressed a desire to change her life. So why do it against her own will? As far as he could judge her enough people in her past had done something contrary to her consent.
Vito remained silent as he considered the argument. He was impressed by Josephine in a certain way and perhaps that was the reason why he felt responsible for her. On the other hand Nico was right. But than again, she was just a child, almost the same age as his youngest brother.
He couldn't let her go so easily!
__________________
"And you just let her go?" Valentino collapsed onto the sofa after listening to the whole story. Three weeks had now passed since Josephine left in the morning and in the last few days it had started to snow for the first time. Domenico looked at Vito meaningfully.
He knew exactly what the look meant but preferred to turn to his other brother. Even though Valentino was in Spain for his studies, to Vito's eyes he looked like he had spent more time on the beach than in university: his brown hair was lighter than before and his skin was tanned. This boy was lucky that his midterm grades were so good. Otherwise they would now be having a completely different kind of conversation! "What would you have done if you were us?"
"Keeping her here? It's only mid-November and it's already fucking 23°F."
"How do you imagine that? Should we have locked her up here and held her? That would have been kidnapping."
Valentino looked between his two older brothers. "Oh right and you've never done anything worse than that. My mistake," he replied, rolling his eyes.
"Valentino." It was the first time that Domenico spoke that evening and his voice sounded subtly menacing as only he could. Valentino winced a little by the sound. Making Domenico angry as never a good idea.
"That was unnecessary. I also gave her my number and told her to contact me if she needed any help," Vito said before Valentino could apologize. He didn't mention that he had men searching for her for a week without success and he cursed himself for not having planted a tracker on her belongings. But as long as she wasn't found, she still seemed to be alive. Of course there was a slight chance her body simply wouldn't be found but it was unlikely that something like that would get past the Marinis. Domenico looked at him again as if he knew exactly about the secret mission. Vito wasn't sure; his brother didn't use any attantion on things he didn't care about.
"And you think she'll really come forward?" This time Valentino used a much more appropriate voice, while trying to not look directly to Domenico.
Vito inhaled and exhaled deeply. "I hope, but I don't think so. The circumstances of our meeting weren't necessarily the best as I have to admit. And from her perspectice I wouldn't see any reason to trust us enough."
"And you just know that her name is Josephine, she's 15 years old and she escaped from a foster family?" Once again, Domenico wondered why, after two wonderful sons, his parents had decided to have three more children. Since they were no longer there, he couldn't ask them anymore. He loved his brothers, deep, deep down in his heart but sometimes they were so annoying with their constant nonsense speeking. It was so pleasant when it was just him and Vito at home! Eventhough Vito also has started talking too much lately. Maybe it was a good thing that the little birds slowly flew back to their nest. Then they could take Vitos attantion solely on themself and he would regain his peace. "She must have told you something else.", Valentino continued.
"She seems to eat at St. Benedict Church every now and then," Domenico boredly interjected.
"How do you know that?", Vito asked him in surprise, wondering how he could have missed such information.
"The patron saint around her neck. They hand it out at the food distribution. And no, she hasn't been there for weeks, I've already asked." The two eldest looked at each other. ''Have you been looking for her?' asked Vito in surprise. His little brother just shrugged. 'As if I were the only one here.'
"God, I hate it when you do that. That so scary.", Valentino intervened in the conversation. "Back again: does that mean you're looking for her?"
Vito started to answer his brother, when his cell phone started to ring. "Yes?"
"Mr. Marini? This is Dr. Yang from St. Charles Hospital. I'm sorry to disturb your evening, but we admitted a young girl with hypothermia and malnutrition who was found in the park by passers-by. Don't worry, she's fine, but while going through her things, we found your card with this number on it. Do you happen to know the girl and can you tell us more about her identity? We wanted to inform CPS but-"
"I'm on my way," Vito interrupted and walked towards the garage. Valentino wanted to follow him but was stopped by Domenico's arm. The later continued going himself while pulling out his car keys of his pants. Vito didn't have to look back to see that his brother was right behind him as he always were.
Hello there,
Who would've thought that writing an a phone takes so much longer than writing on a laptop? I certainly didn't. Nevertheless, thanks to itsbaddiebitch, I added the main characters to the prologue. I'm not that happy with Josephine's photo yet but it's hard to find a picture where she looks the way I imagine her at this point. So if you have any suggestion feel free to send them to me :-)
How do you think will Josephine react when she sees them?
I hope you liked this chapter and see you soon! X