Addie sat inside a little cafe drinking a cup of coffee as she waited for Oriana to arrive.   She had given a note to Tara and asked if she would deliver it to the young woman.  Her niece was probably curious about the request, but she had done it for Addie.  It had been important for Addie to send the request along from a member of her family versus a request via normal business means.  Oriana was the Right Hand of Don Catalina_Rey who ran Manhattan for Billy.  Addie was a mere Capo in Billy's crew.  That meant that Oriana out ranked her in this thing of theirs.  The Sicilian needed to establish very clearly that this was a family matter and not business.  As a family matter she would hold the higher ground and that could become important depending on how this conversation went.

She sat the cup down and leaned back in the chair with a sigh.  It was possible that Oriana knew information that could once and for all bring her a small amount of peace and some closure to a part of her life she had been unable to find.  She looked down at her cup and closed her eyes.  Behind her lids she found her mind was once again imagining Giovanni -- beaten, tortured for days and then killed before being strung up by his thumbs to an olive tree in their family's farm.  It had probably been a tree that they both had climbed and played in as a child.  The thought nearly brought tears to her eyes and she quickly blinked them away.

She had to find out one way or another who had done that to him and make sure that they were made to pay for their sins.

Oriana was running late, still adjusting to being back in the Stats. Dark jeans. Tank-top. Blouse. One gun at her side in a holster, mostly covered by a longer jacket. Addie Moretti was a name that Oriana knew well; Addie was close to both Billy and Aurora, although the two of them hadn't yet crossed paths.

Oriana removed her sunglasses and slipped into the seat across from Addie.

"Addie? Oriana Montini. I apologize for not introducing myself sooner. I've been very busy in the last couple months, mostly overseas. I'm pleased to finally make your acquaintance."

Addie smiled, "It is nice to finally meet you as well.  You have managed to cultivate quite a reputation for yourself.  I know your name gets mentioned often around the family dinner table on Sundays.  I know Tara is very fond of you."  Addie observed the woman for a reaction before continuing.

"Can I get you anything?  A coffee perhaps?"

Addie flagged down the owner of the cafe and asked for a re-fill for herself and what ever, Oriana might have wanted.  Smoothing out the light blue dress that she wore, she turned her attention back to the very young woman who sat across from her.

"I am glad that Tara and you safely returned to the States. It is actually the nature of that trip that has brought me to this point of asking to meet you in person.  I believe you may have some knowledge about a situation that I am looking to obtain and I hope that you might be willing to share it with me."

She nodded a thank you to the cafe owner as she brought their orders and then quickly left them to their business.

A reputation, huh? Well, makes sense within the family. Oriana did her best to keep up a poker face.

"Well, I'm very fond of Tara, and the rest of the family as well. And a coffee would be wonderful. Black, please."

Lacing her hands and resting them in her lip, she glanced down at the coffee that was placed in front of her.

"I'll be glad to help you, if I can. What would you like to know?"

Addie drew a deep breath and slowly exhaled it.  Looking directly into Oriana's eyes she began the heart wrenching story.

"Thirteen years ago when I was pregnant with my oldest child, Mirella, I was living and working in Philly while Don Billy_Mastrosimone and AuroraMastrosimone were in hiding.  One day I received a package by special delivery.  In the package was a broken wooden spoon and a twig from an olive tree.  I immediately called home and was told that my twin brother had been found strung up to an olive tree in our family's grove after having disappeared several days earlier.  He had been beaten and tortured and killed for no other reason than to send a message to me.

Don Mattaranzi had ordered it in hopes that I would reach out to Billy and reveal their location to him.  It failed of course, but I had been unsuccessful in uncovering any leads into my brother's death until recently.  I know the don ordered the hit, but I also know that he hired it out.  I want to uncover who actually killed my brother and at the moment my best lead suggests that it might have been the original Francesco Bianchi team.  Do you know if there is a way to confirm or deny if this is the case?  Maybe someplace where records might have been kept?  An officer that handled debriefings... anything?"

Addie's tone had been even as she spoke and betrayed no emotion, but the last word had almost come out as a plead.  A hint of her desperation for information that this woman might hold the keys too.

Oriana listened closely to the story, but it didn't faze her. She'd done worse. Still, Addie was someone that she wanted as an ally, so she nodded understandingly.

"I'm sorry to hear about your brother. "

There wasn't much else left to say.

"At least Don Mattaranzi is dead, and you have your revenge. But I can see why you'd want to know the instruments were dead, as well as the mind that ordered your brother's death. As for records... well, I have them. I was planning on burning them, eventually, or reading them. For now, they're just in a box under my bed. We can check them, if you'd like?"

Addie nodded with relief, "I would very much like that.  Thank you."  She picked up her coffee and sipped it before continuing, "I know there is nothing that will bring my brother back to me, but with any luck I will find something that will bring me closure at least."  She smiled at the woman.

After finishing her coffee, Oriana stood and hailed a cab. She rode back to her place with Addie.

"I've got to warn you... my place is a bit rough. Not too bad in the morning, at least. Usually."

The cab stopped outside of a dilapidated dive bar. It looked like a rough place, but it was deserted due to the early morning hour. Oriana led Addie through the bar and up a winding staircase. Her room was dusty and dirty; it looked barely lived-in. Oriana knelt down pulling a cardboard box out from under the bed. She picked the two oldest journals and started flipping through them. 

They'd spent about forty five minutes looking through old records when Addie found it. 

Client: M (Venice)

Mission: Lure out relatives. Make it graphic.

Location: Sicily

Assigned: Annetta Abette, Bianca Bassiano, Camilla Refetto, Filomena Fanucci 

Completed

Paid

 

She immediately called Oriana over, who read it.

"Annetta, Bianca, and Filomena are all dead. We killed them during the raid. But Camilla... don't recognize that name. She could be dead already. Or just hiding out somewhere else."

Addie held the journal in her hands and stared at it for a long time.  It had been one thing to suspicion, but another to see it written down in print.  Her fingers trailed down the page until they came to rest under the words "Make it graphic."

Poor Giovanni.  Addie had felt so secure in her belief that he would be safe on their little olive farm.  Safe from all the madness that came with the life she had chosen.  She had accepted what might happen to Charlie and herself, but they had made the decision to live on these shores.  Her brother made no such choice.  His choice had been an honest one of working the land, marrying and raising a family.

If she had chosen to stay at the farm could she had stopped all this?  Would they have even found out about either of them.  Billy had spent only a small amount of time living with them before his father had taken him away to live in America.  It was possible they would never have known about the little olive farm if she had not left to follow Billy to the States.

Her thoughts turned to the other woman in the room.

She knew that Oriana had once been one of these women assassins.  She had not been the one to do this to her Gio, but she had no doubt that she had done similar things other peoples brothers.  Logically she knew that Oriana was a victim in all of this as well.  She had not had a say in what had been done to her.  The heart, however, rarely listened to logic.

Her fingers slide on down to the list of names and came to stop under Camilla's name.  After a moment she said softly.  "Perhaps it is time that I went back home."