Finding Angelo (The Wine Lover's Daughter, Book 2) (4 page)

“How would you like to go on a short vacation to New York
City?” Nicholas murmured. Sofia glanced at his face in the diffuse sunlight
that shone through the blinds in the early morning. “You know, we never had a
real honeymoon. Too busy working,” he continued.

“New York for a honeymoon? Doesn’t
sound very romantic. Why New York?” Sofia moved closer to Nicholas’s side of
the bed.

“Well, okay, I have an ulterior
motive as well.” Nicholas kissed her. “I thought we could also visit the
Segantino family in New York. The last time I saw them was … well a long time
ago. I was there once with my parents as a child.”

“Ah, now I get it. You want to
snoop around and ask them about Angelo.” Sofia touched his smooth chest. “Good
idea, actually. Grandpa hasn’t been the same since we found the bones. He’s
worried. He must miss his younger brother. I mean even if he wasn’t a model
citizen, he’s still his brother.”

“I know. That’s why I thought we could
do a little investigating. Besides, I really want to go back to the city once
again. I mean it is an interesting place. All the museums, art galleries,
skyscrapers, the Village, Rockefeller Center. It would be fun.”

“Why don’t we coordinate the visit
with my trip to Italy?” Sofia suggested. “I can book the flight so I have a
stopover in New York.”

“Oh, yeah, that should work. I’m
going to miss you when you go to Italy.” Nicholas sighed. “I wish I could come
with you, but work, you know.”

“Yes, I know. I won’t be gone for
too long. But I’ll miss you, too.” Sofia snuggled up to him. “I’m so looking
forward to having Julietta with us in the fall.”

“I agree, that will be great. I
hope she’ll like it at Cal Poly,” Nicholas said.

“I’m sure she will. She was all
excited when she saw the pictures of the campus. It will be very different from
the more or less purely functional university in Italy she’s attending right
now.” Sofia stretched and yawned. “We probably should get up.”

“Not yet, weren’t you saying something
about a romantic honeymoon. I mean we can create romance right here.” Nicholas
put his hand on her breast and gently squeezed her nipple. A zing of desire
shot through Sofia’s body. She wrapped her arms around him.

“Oh, no, it’s getting late,” Sofia said as she woke from
dozing off again. The sun had fully risen and was bathing the bedroom in a
golden light. Sofia stretched and yawned, got up, and gave the still sleeping
Nicholas a playful slap on the behind. “Come on, sleepyhead. I bet you Grandpa
is already at the winery.”

Nicholas groaned, then pushed
himself up with his arms and gazed at the window. “Darn it, you’re right. He
must think we’re a bunch of lazy bums.” He brushed through his tousled blond hair.
“Well, I guess since the vineyards belong to us now, we can decide how early we
start with the work.” He grinned. “But around Grandpa I still feel like the
apprentice who has to prove himself. Although I really have no reason; he never
put a lot of pressure on me … not like my father.”

“Was your father strict?”

“Not really, but he was a doer. He
was … well, still is … all action. Grandpa is more relaxed, but he’s also a
hard worker. He just doesn’t push you all the time.”

In the kitchen, Sofia filled the
espresso pot with water, pushed the button on the coffee grinder, and inhaled
the smell of freshly ground coffee. After a while, the kitchen filled with the
aroma of dark espresso.

After a quick shower and a cup of
coffee, Sofia poured the rest into a thermos and grabbed a couple of granola
bars for breakfast. They walked the short path down the hill past the vineyards
to the winery.

“Sure enough, there he is.” Sofia
waved at Martin who was making his way slowly through one of the rows of the
vineyard with the Sangiovese grapes, checking the vines.

Since there was no grass planted
along the rows of the vineyards, walking on the soft dirt and sand was somewhat
of a challenge, but it helped to conserve the precious water. Martin had
decided not to plant grass long before the drought became a problem. He had
always felt that it was an unnecessary waste since grass and lawns needed to be
watered regularly.

After a while, Martin joined Sofia and Nicholas at the
winery. Sofia and Nicholas were in the process of racking the wine from the
Nebbiolo grapes. They had attached the hoses from the barrels with the aging
wine to the fermentation tank. The juice without the sediments was siphoned
into the tank and stayed there overnight. In the meantime, the empty barrels
needed to be cleaned and sanitized thoroughly so no unwanted yeast or bacteria
collected, which could spoil the wine.

Three of the now empty barrels
were sitting on a contraption with a large container to catch the water
underneath. Nicholas and Sofia were each cleaning one of the barrels with a high-pressure
cleaning device. Martin took hold of a third one and proceeded to clean it.

“Thanks, Grandpa,” Nicholas said.
“We kind of overslept.”

Martin smiled but didn’t say
anything, and Sofia felt herself blush.

“New York?” Martin asked after Nicholas told him of their
plans. “What do you want in New York?”

“Sightseeing, mainly,” Nicholas
said. “A short vacation before Sofia goes to Italy. Besides, we could visit our
relatives once again. I was only there once with my parents, and I remember
they seemed to be a bunch of funny, slightly nutty people.”

Sofia watched the old man’s
serious expression.

“This wouldn’t happen to have
anything to do with finding out about Angelo?” Martin asked.

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to ask if
they have any news,” Nicholas said.

Martin shook his head. “I don’t
think they do. I called them right after we found the bones and asked them.”

“Oh, really?” Nicholas said. “So
you thought that the bones might have something to do with Angelo?”

Martin sighed. “I just had a bad
feeling about it. As it turns out, I was right. Not about the bones possibly
belonging to my brother, which I feared at first. But he is somehow involved,
as we found out from Elvira’s diary.

“Anyway, if you’re going to New
York because you think you can find out something about Angelo, you’d probably
be wasting your time. When I tried to find Angelo years ago, my relatives
weren’t of any help. Either they didn’t know anything, or they had no intention
of telling me. They knew Angelo and I didn’t get along.” Martin paused.
“Problem is, at least one of my cousins was less than clean when it came to the
law. I blamed him in part for leading Angelo astray.”

“Which of the cousins is that?”
Nicholas asked.

“Giuseppe,” Martin said. “You
probably don’t know him.”

“I think I met him. Isn’t he the
fat one—at least he was fat then—with the dark curly hair and the mustache. He
had this heavy Italian accent and he was always joking around. He was funny.”

“Yes, that’s probably him. He can
be funny all right, but I wouldn’t trust the guy if my life depended on it,”
Martin said.

Sofia grinned. “Little did I know
when I met Nicholas that I was marrying into a family of criminals.” She patted
Martin’s arm, hoping she hadn’t offended him. “Just kidding, Grandpa.”

Martin gave a quick smile. “Yes,
you should have made some inquiries first. We Segantinos sure have a few
skeletons in the closet. Well, at least in the vineyards.”

Then he turned serious again. “I
hate for you to get into trouble, snooping around. I don’t trust my relatives.
This isn’t your business, Nicholas. Let’s leave it to the police.”

“Don’t worry, Grandpa. We’re not
going to do anything dangerous. And this really isn’t the main reason for our
trip to New York. It would just be nice to spend a few days with Sofia doing
something fun, before she goes to Italy … and before the heavy work at the
vineyards starts again.”

Martin nodded. “That’s fine. I can
take care of things here for a few days.”

“Thanks, Grandpa.” Nicholas said.

Martin turned to Sofia. “Perhaps
one of these days, Maria and I can take a trip to Italy. I wouldn’t mind seeing
your vineyard in Tuscany. Sounds like a wonderful place.”

“That would be great,” Sofia said.
“My family there would really enjoy having you.”

JFK Airport in New York was a mess. A winter storm created
chaos. Flights were canceled or delayed. The plane from San Luis Obispo
Nicholas and Sofia were on was delayed but, fortunately, able to land. Now,
they were in the arrival hall, waiting for one of their relatives who was
supposed to pick them up. They had been waiting for half an hour.

“Not knowing what the guy looks
like doesn’t make it any easier,” Nicholas mumbled as he scanned the people
walking in and out of the arrival hall. “He said he’d hold up a sign.”

“Perhaps he was delayed because of
the weather,” Sofia suggested.

“But it isn’t snowing here,”
Nicholas remarked.

“No, but it’s windy.” Sofia
motioned at the fluttering flags on top of one of the airport buildings. “I’m
getting hungry.” She pointed at a snack bar. “Perhaps they have a sandwich or
something. We can watch the people from there.”

Nicholas nodded. “Okay, and if he
doesn’t show up by the time we’re finished, we’ll just take a shuttle or a cab
and go to our hotel. We can call them from there.”

They ordered juice and sandwiches,
then sat down at a table from where they could keep an eye on the people coming
and going.

“Well, Martin must be right about
his New York relatives,” Nicholas said after he finished his snack. “They don’t
seem to be very dependable. Why don’t we just leave? I’m tired of waiting.”

Sofia agreed. They grabbed their
luggage and headed for the exit. Outside, they boarded a shuttle to the Port
Authority station at Times Square in Manhattan, and from there they took a cab
to their hotel near the Guggenheim Museum. After checking in and depositing
their suitcase and bags in their small but clean room, Nicholas tried again to
call the Segantino family on Staten Island. After a few rings, a woman answered.
Nicholas told her who he was.

“What? You’re here already? Oh, my
God. Wait a minute … Mario,” she shouted.

Nicholas began to lose heart. He
rolled his eyes and looked at Sofia. At this moment, someone at the other end
coughed.

“Hi, this is Mario. Nicholas?” a
male voice said.

“Yes, it’s me. I’m sorry, we
waited for quite a long time at the airport, but nobody came.”

“Oh, no.” Mario sounded upset. “I
thought it was tomorrow. Sorry about that. Where are you now?”

Nicholas gave him the name of the
hotel in Manhattan.

“Sorry again. Why don’t you come
here tomorrow? I can pick you up.”

“Well, Sofia and I can take the
ferry to Staten Island,” Nicholas said. “We’ve never done this before. Sounds
like a fun trip.”

“All right. Check the schedule and
give me the time when you arrive in Staten Island. I’ll pick you up. Call my
cell.” Mario gave Nicholas his mobile phone number.

“Okay, see you tomorrow. Don’t
forget,” Nicholas said.

“No, man, I won’t. Promise. See
ya.” Nicholas heard a titter, then pressed the disconnect button. “Well, at
least one person in that family seems halfway dependable.”

Sofia laughed and patted his
shoulder. “You’re starting to sound like your grandfather.”

“So, what are we going to do with
the rest of the day? Museum?” Nicholas put on his jacket.

Sofia grabbed her purse. “Yes,
let’s go to the Guggenheim.”

It was only a few blocks from the
hotel to the museum. When they arrived, they admired the architecture of the
modern building right next to Central Park, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. They
checked out the exhibitions and decided to just go into the general one.

“Whoa, pricey,” Nicholas said, as
he saw the entrance fee. “A lot more than the museums in Los Angeles and San
Francisco.”

“Well, we’re on vacation and this
is a very special museum,” Sofia said.

They walked on the slowly rising
path along the rotunda, admiring the works of art and enjoying the special
atmosphere the organic form of this building created.

“It
is
amazing,” Nicholas
whispered, squeezing Sofia’s hand.

In the evening, they went to have dinner in a restaurant
near their hotel.

“I really wonder what these
relatives of mine are like,” Nicholas said. “I don’t remember them very well. I
was a boy when we visited them in New York.”

“I’m curious, too,” Sofia said.
“Grandpa doesn’t seem to think very highly of them.”

“That’s true. Well, we’ll see.”
Nicholas took a sip of wine. He grimaced slightly. “The food is good here, but
the wine … a little on the bland side for a Merlot.”

“You can’t expect all the wines to
be as excellent as ours.” Sofia snickered. “Don’t I sound like one of these
wine snobs?”

After dinner, they went for a
walk, then returned to their hotel. Nicholas tried to call Mario again to give
him their arrival time at Staten Island the following day. Instead of Mario, a
woman answered and told him that Mario couldn’t come to the phone right then.
“Can I leave him a message?” she asked.

Nicholas gave her the arrival time
of the ferry. “Make sure he gets the information,” he added.

“Yeah, sure, no problem.” The
phone disconnected, before Nicholas could say anything more.

“Hmm. Not very reassuring,”
Nicholas said. “We can only hope Mario gets the information.”

“Don’t worry. Whatever happens, at
least, we’ll have a nice outing on the boat,” Sofia said.

“I guess I should call Grandpa.
But I better wait until tomorrow. Perhaps we’ll have something more definite to
tell him,” Nicholas said.

“Time to go to bed?” Sofia put her
arms around him.

“Sounds good to me. As long as
it’s not just for sleeping.” Nicholas kissed her and she gave a pleasurable
sigh as his hand moved over her body.