Andrea stealthily made her way towards the sound and stopped at the end of the alley leading into another corner of the alley and she came to a halt when she saw some men stepping out of a black car and as a weeping woman was roughly dragged out of the car and thrown on the ground.
A little dog with a bloody muzzle was yapping up at the men and she heard it whimper when an older man kicked it in the side, sending it rolling away. Andrea pulled a side of her skirt up to reveal the little camera she always attached to her left thigh and pressing a button, she started taking photographs of the scene.
"My little baby." Giovanna cried, trying to reach for her dog which had fallen on its side and had gone quiet. "My little baby."
"Shut your hole!" Gambetta yelled at her and struck her with the gun on the side of her face. Giovanna cried out in pain and fell to her side. "I would have loved to teach you some manners if I wasn't late for an appointment, you stupid bitch, but I don't have the time for such luxury!" He suddenly grabbed her chin, squeezing her cheeks as he roughly kissed her and that way, he pulled away from her and pressed the muzzle of the silencer of his gun under her chin and squeezed the trigger.
Andrea gasped aloud as she covered her mouth with her hands to prevent her from crying out in shock. She saw the force of the bullet tear off the top of Giovanna's head as she fell to her side, dead and bleeding. "Clean up this place!" Gambetta said gruffly to his men as he handed the gun to Armando, grabbed a handkerchief and began to wipe the blood off his hands. "Burn her body along with her dog's and bury the ashes somewhere..."
"Yes sir." They chorused.
"Armando, you come with me." Gambetta said.
Andrea looked down and noticed a rat climbing over her shoe. She tried to subtly shake it off but the disgusting vermin held on. Growing irritated and impatient with the rat and trying to shake it off with more force, she swung her foot and accidentally kicked the trash can in front of her. She gasped when she realized what she had done as the heads of the men turned towards her direction at the loud sound of the can and saw her.
"What the hell!" Gambetta hissed.
"Hey, you! Come here!" One of the men started towards her but she turned and fled and three men in all chased after her.
"Make sure she doesn't escape!" Gambetta roared after them then turned to Armando. "I don't care what you do, find her and bring me her head! I want no witnesses!" When Armando nodded, Gambetta turned to one of the Capos. "John, you come with me." He got into the limo and so did John. The driver pulled away immediately and headed for the club.
Armando turned to the two men left with him and said as he glanced down at Giovanna's body. "Put her body in the car and the dog too." He turned his gaze towards the direction, Andrea and his men had taken as he heard the other men hefting Giovanna's corpse into the car. Soon the three men came jogging back, panting. "Did you find her?" He asked.
"No." One of the men answered. "But we found this." He held up a lipstick in a handkerchief."
"Good." He said, "We'll send that to the forensics, and perhaps, she left behind a finger print, if so, we'll eventually find her." He smiled wickedly. "Pack up boys; let's get the hell out of here!"
* * *
The bedroom window slowly opened quietly and Camille Roberts grabbed a bat stick beside her bed as she crept towards the window in the darkness and watched a pair of hands hold on to the window pane before someone heaved himself in and tumbled on the floor of the room and immediately, Camille switched on the lights and poised to hit the burglar with the bat stick when she stopped short as Andrea stared up at her, her arm held out to block the impending blow.
"For Christ sakes, Andrea!" Camille said in surprise tossing the bat on the armchair by the wall. "What the hell are you doing sneaking into my house like that?!"
"Hey girl..." Andrea said still trying to catch her breath as she finally slumped on the floor on her back. Camille noticed that her purse was slightly open and she was holding onto the thong of her shoes.
"Did you by anyway walk to my house barefooted?" Camille asked, appalled.
"Something like that." Andrea said breathlessly. "The damn heels were slowing me down."
"Do you have any idea how worried sick I have been?! Your parents have been trying to reach you and when they couldn't, they called me and I tried to reach you but you never picked up your calls!"
"Have you forgotten that I don't take my cell phone with me when I'm working."
"You mean stealing!" Camille stated. "Your mother is on my neck about your whereabouts!"
Andrea managed to sit up now, still leaning back on her arms. "Remind me again why at twenty-four I'm still living with my parents?" She asked rhetorically.
"Because they can't afford to let you live in a house of your own or even let you out of their sight for once!" Camille answered flatly. "The last time you were given a mansion of your own, you auctioned almost everything in it!"
Andrea rolled her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be sleeping or something?"
"Am I supposed to be sleeping when I heard someone was planning to burgle into my house? It's 1 a.m. in the morning, Andrea! What the hell were you still doing out there?!"
"Well..." She heaved herself up to her feet. "A good opportunity I couldn't pass up came around."
Camille folded her arms and gave her a disgruntled look. "And let me guess, the weasel was your informant."
"It was quite a night...and here I'm." Andrea said and hurried to close the window. She pulled the curtains together and peeked out into the street through the small gap.
Camille suspiciously scrutinized her now. "Did you get in trouble again?"
Andrea turned to look at her then shrugged a shoulder. "Not really...I just happen to witness what I wasn't supposed to see." She unstrapped the camera from her thigh and put it in her purse.
"What are you talking about?"
Andrea began to undress. "Not now Camille, I'll tell you later in the morning but right now, I need to crash here." She walked to the bed and slumped on it in her undies.
"Camille approached the bed. "What about your parents?"
"I'll see them in the morning." She answered in a muffled voice and waved her hand to Camille to leave her alone.
Camille sighed, bent down and collected Andrea's clothes off the floor, folded them and placed them on the chair then picked up her heel shoes and put them in a corner before she switched the lights off and joined Andrea in the bed.