Chapter 4
HER PHONE WAS RINGING. No, not her phone. Some ancient monstrosity on the night table next to the bed. In Nestor's room. The bed which did not have him in it. Which was okay. She had never spent the night with a man. Rocco slept with the cats. Or with that bitch Anna. Nestor had given her a nice back rub like he had probably done for his wife. It had freaked her out. He was probably in the bathroom, which was a place she was realizing she desperately needed to be, but the damn phone was still ringing. She picked up the headset. Which end did you talk into?
"
Ciao
?"
"Bea?" It was Rocco. "
Siamo sulla terrazza. Vieni fatto subito. Tutto nudo. Senza telefoni
."
Meet him at the terrace? Right away? Naked? No phones? Before she could ask what or why, he had hung up.
"What was that all about?" Nestor had emerged from the bathroom, thankfully, dripping wet, holding a towel.
"Need to pee." More than pee, her bowels emptying to fill the toilet bowel in a sudden smelly rush she flushed down immediately. She wiped herself, flushed again, and rinsed off in the shower. Back out in less than a minute. "It was Rocco. He wants us to meet him at the terrace. Right away. Naked. No phones. I guess that means no watch too."
"Why?"
"He didn't say. He sounded upset though. Frantic even."
"You can leave your purse and phone in the safe."
"Okay. God my hair is a mess. You wouldn't have a comb? No, of course not." She ran her hands through the mass of tangles. The phone rang again. "
Sรฌ, partiamo
!"
They took the fire stairs down instead of waiting for the elevator. The steps were metal, pebbled to be non skid. Not good for bare feet. To say she was in a foul mood by the time they reached the terrace would be an understatement. Which was unfortunate. Last night had been quite delightful. There were things that Nestor knew that were not on the list he had provided, things devoted to pleasing his partner. Most of them things she could do to please Marissa, or the other way around. And they had tried out her toys. She had never known a man could find pleasure like that, so much like a woman, lasting, it seemed, for a very long time. No wonder he liked to bottom.
Rocco and Marissa were sitting at a table for four, both naked, of course. They both looked unhappy. Fearful, even. Beatrice gave them each a little kiss.
"Sit down." Rocco gestured them to the two empty chairs. "We have a problem."
"What problem? What's all the cloak and dagger?"
"This morning I got a text message on my burner phone. I have no idea how someone even knew the number. It included this image." Instead of the phone, he handed her a piece of paper. She looked at it and started sobbing.
"What is it?" Nestor asked.
"A foot! It's Anna's foot!"
"Let me see." He took the piece of paper. "How do you know it's Anna?"
"The tattoo. On her ankle. They cut it off high enough to show the tattoo. And the nail polish. Those are her toes. Look how it's pointed, she always used to do that, like she was stretching her feet to dance."
"What's the message?" Beatrice asked. It was in some strange alphabet, Russian or perhaps Ukrainian. ะฝะต ััะน ะบะปัะฒ, ะบัะดะฐ ะฝะต ัะปะตะดัะตั.
"I know some Russian," Rocco said. "I took a few years of Russian in high school. The teacher was a cute little blonde, and she used to take us out on the lawn with her guitar to teach us folk songs. It's a Russian proverb,
ne suy nos, kuda ne sleduyet
. Literally, don't stick your nose in the wrong place. Don't get nosy. Except it's beak, not nose."
"Your nickname. Birdy."
At that moment, the waitress came over to their table. The same one as the night before. Coincidence? Beatrice was beginning to look for patterns everywhere. Disturbing patterns.
"Good morning." The waitress glanced at her watch. A smart one? Communicating with whom or what? "Actually, good afternoon. But you can still order from the breakfast menu if you would prefer. Let me make sure you have the right one." She reached into one of the pockets of her little lap apron, somehow lifting it up in the process to show little fluffy curls to match her hair, and put down the tourist breakfast card, the one in English, with a little smirk. It had the sticker on the bottom with the server rental fees.
"She's on the menu?" Rocco was looking at the sticker.
"Very tasty. I'll have the French breakfast." Beatrice managed a smile to the little tart.
"Coffee? Tea? Or me?"
"I haven't heard that one in years," Nestor said.
"I like vintage porn. And vintage gentlemen." That was enough to make him wince.
"I'll have the American breakfast."
"How would you like the eggs?"
"Over easy. Do you know what that means?"
"Of course. And for you two?"
"Just coffee," Marissa said.
"And you, sir?"
Rocco winced a little at that
sir
. "I'll have you. Over easy. Just kidding. Coffee would be fine."
After the waitress flounced off, swaying her bare butt, Rocco started to speak, but Marissa held a finger to her lips, gesturing at the waitress who still perhaps in earshot. She took the finger away as the girl went back into the building, replaced it with the neighboring digit as she gestured to where the little trollop had vanished.