Limoncello Yellow (Franki Amato Mysteries) (25 page)

"
Well, because my family was in ruins, for one thing. We weren't the same big happy family that Angie had known before," she said wistfully. "You see, Imma was the beautiful, extroverted one. And she had so much energy and enthusiasm for life. Without her we all just…fell apart." She paused for a moment. "But I also think that Angie cut off contact with us because she felt bad that she didn't help us at the trial."

Veronica furrowed her brow.
"Your mother told us she testified."

"
Well, she took the stand, but she said she didn't know anything about Stewart or his relationship with Imma."

"
And you didn't believe her," I prompted.

"
I wanted to," Concetta said earnestly. "It's just that Imma died so
violently
. I felt like Angie must have noticed something, you know, like some sort of abusive behavior. And…" her voice trailed off.

"
What?" I leaned closer.

"
Well," she began, "I'm sure Imma told me that Angie had been the one to introduce her to Stewart when they met at London Fashion Week."

Veronica visibly straightened in her chair.
"So Angie knew Stewart before Imma did?"

"
Yes, I'm positive that Imma said Angie had met Stewart at Mardi Gras before she and Imma ever went to the London College of Fashion. I remember because she said that Stewart had pulled Angie from the crowd onto his float in the Krewe de Eros parade."

"
He had his own parade float?" I asked, surprised.

Concetta nodded.
"Yes, he's very active in Mardi Gras."

Veronica quickly typed a note on her laptop.
"Why do you think Angie would have lied in court about knowing him?"

"
I don't know," she said. "Maybe because she was scared?"

"
Of what?" I pressed. "Stewart?"

"
No, Angie wasn't the type to be intimidated by anyone," Concetta scoffed. "If anything, she was worried about her reputation. She was very driven to succeed. In fact, Imma said that as soon as Angie got to London, she would only associate with people who could help her career in some way."

That certainly jives with the way Ryan and Annabella described her
, I thought.

Veronica began typing again.
"Did you see Angie again after the trial?"

"
No, never," Concetta said sadly. "The last we knew she was in London. We had no idea that she'd come back to New Orleans, and we certainly didn't know that she'd changed her name."

Veronica looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Do you have any idea why she would have been going by the name Jessica Evans?"

Concetta looked at her hands.
"The name specifically? No. But my guess is that she wanted to change her name to disassociate herself from Imma's murder."

"
Why would she want to do that?" I asked. "Do you think she had something to do with your sister's murder?"

"
No, not all." Concetta's eyes filled with tears. "Angie could never have killed Imma. I'm sure of that."

Not wanting to upset her further, I changed the subject.
"You joined the convent after the trial, right?"
              "No, I entered aspirancy about six months after Imma died. Before the trial. God called me to service after I lost her," she said softly. "It's funny, when Imma was thousands of miles away in London, I still felt like she was with me. But then when she was really gone…well…let's just say that I could never have gone back to the life I led before."

I felt terrible for this woman, and I fervently hoped that her decision to become a nun was truly the right one for her, and not a choice made solely based on her loss.

Veronica briefly placed a hand on Concetta's back to comfort her. "I've always heard that the bond between twins is so powerful."

"
It is," she said in a whisper. Then she cleared her throat and added, "And I'm sure my mother told you about my father."

"
Yes, we were so sorry to learn of his passing, especially under the circumstances," I said.

Concetta nodded, tight
-lipped. She was touching the crucifix at her neck again. "Imma's death killed my father. And it killed my mother too, even though she's physically still with us. The person she used to be died a long time ago."

"
What about Domenica?" I asked. "How has all of this affected her?"

She inhaled deeply.
"Domenica was only thirteen when Imma died. Then she lost her father—and her mother, for all intents and purposes. She's had an awful time coping."

"
That's certainly understandable," Veronica said.

"
Yes," Concetta said. "And even though I haven't always agreed with the way she's handled her grief, I know she still has faith in God, so she'll be all right."

"
What haven't you agreed with?" I asked.

"
Well, her dropping out of school, mainly. But I also disapprove of her goth makeup and clothes."

"
So, she became a goth after Imma's death?" I asked.

"
Yes, I think she felt isolated, but she also wanted to be left alone. The goth persona was like a mask for her to hide behind."

"
I'm sure it's just a phase," Veronica said.

"
I think so, yes," Concetta replied.

I wasn
't so sure I agreed with them, but I knew I shouldn't press the issue. "What about Stewart Preston? Did you or anyone in your family ever have any interaction with him before Imma died?"

"
No. My family doesn't have much money, so we weren't able to visit Imma in London while she was seeing Stewart."

"
And she never came back to New Orleans with him after they began seeing each other?" I continued.

Concetta looked down at her rosary.
"Like I said, we didn't have the money. The annual tuition at the London College of Fashion was around sixteen thousand dollars at the time, not including the cost of living. So Imma took out student and private loans, got scholarships, and worked to pay her way through school. My parents helped as much as they could, but I can tell you for sure that she had
nothing
left over for an international plane flight."

My mind instantly wandered to Angelica
's flight home for her mother's funeral.
If Imma couldn't afford a plane ticket with her parents' assistance, then how had Angelica managed to pay for one?
"Do you know anything about Angie's finances during school?"

"
In the beginning, she had a harder time paying for school than Imma did because she didn't have any help from her parents," Concetta replied. "But then, she came into some money at the end of her senior year."

"
You mean, when her mother died," Veronica clarified.

Concetta turned to Veronica.
"Yes, but she didn't inherit any money from her mother, if that's what you mean. Angie always said that she and her mom lived paycheck-to-paycheck. She also told me that her father had stopped sending child support when she was only two or three."

"
Then, where do you think the money came from?" I asked, intrigued.
              "We never knew, but my mother thought it must have been an advance from a company. You know, like a signing bonus."

"
Do you know whether it was a large sum of money?" I pressed.
              "I have no idea. I just know that around the time of the investigation, money no longer seemed to be an issue for her. Plus, she started wearing the occasional piece of pricey jewelry or an expensive blouse. She would tell people that these things had belonged to her mother, but I knew better."

Veronica and I exchanged a look.

"Let's go back to Stewart," Veronica said. "Did you talk to him during the investigation or at the trial?"

"
Definitely not. The police warned us that if we had any contact with him, we could jeopardize the case. And of course, our attorneys wouldn't let us speak to him during the trial, either," she said with a hint of frustration. "But he wouldn't have talked to us anyway, even if we'd tried. In fact, he never so much as looked at any of us at the trial. Not even after he was acquitted."

"
Are you convinced that he's guilty of Imma's murder?" Veronica asked.

Concetta looked her in the eyes.
"I am, yes."

"
And what about Angie's murder?" I asked.

"
What about it?" she asked, surprised.

"
Well," I began in a careful tone, "you know that Imma and Angie were murdered the same way, right?"

Concetta winced.
"Yes, they were both strangled."

"
With scarves," I specified.

She nodded, seemingly unable to speak.

"So, do you think it's possible that Stewart had anything to do with Angie's murder?" I asked, meeting and holding her teary gaze.

"
I couldn't possibly speculate on something like that. It wouldn't be right," she said quickly.

"
Of course not," Veronica soothed.

"
I pray for Stewart every day, and I've forgiven him for what he did to Imma," she said. "I hope that one day he confesses his sin and asks the Lord for forgiveness, but I don't think he ever will."

"
Why do you say that?" I would have expected a nun to hold out hope that a sinner would repent.
              "Well, if what I've seen in the society pages is true, then it seems unlikely. He was known around New Orleans to be a partying playboy when he met Imma, and it appears that he still is."

Veronica looked briefly at Concetta and then resumed typing.

"Plus," Concetta continued, "I doubt he would seek counsel from the Church since I've heard he practices voodoo."

"
Voodoo?" I repeated.

I barely heard Concetta when she replied,
"Of course, that could just be a rumor." I was too preoccupied with thoughts of the skull bead I'd found at the murder scene.

"
Can you believe that?" I asked after I'd watched Concetta exit the building from the conference room window. "She said Stewart was involved in voodoo!"

"
She also said that might not be true." Veronica picked up her laptop and headed out the door toward her office.

Following close on her heels, I said,
"But even
you
have to admit that the skull bead I found takes on a whole new meaning in light of what she said."

"
It
is
intriguing," she admitted with her back to me as we walked down the hall to her office. "But we need proof of Stewart's association with voodoo. And then we have to connect that bead to him, which could be next to impossible considering that this town is full of people who buy that stuff."

"
That's where Odette Malveaux comes in! If Stewart
does
practice voodoo, then she might know him. That would explain how she knew about this case."

"
Talk to Odette, Franki," Veronica said as she entered her office and took a seat behind the desk. "But take whatever she says with a grain of salt."

I leaned against the doorjamb and replied,
"Okay," although I was cheering inside. "Apparently, she only goes to Marie Laveau's on weekends, but I'd certainly be willing to go there on my day off if it meant getting a lead on this case."
And asking her about Bradley
, I thought. "But first I'll do some Internet research on Stewart to see if I can find anything connecting him to voodoo."

Veronica gave a dismissive wave of her hand.
"Okay, enough of this voodoo nonsense. What did you think about the revelation that Jessica came into money right around the time of Imma's murder?"

"
Honestly, it made me wonder if someone was paying her off." I took a seat in front of her desk.

"
I thought the same thing." She tapped a pen on her right temple.

"
I mean, even Ryan Hunter said Jessica had a suspiciously large amount of money, which is odd for a woman who, by all accounts, didn't inherit anything from her mother and should have been strapped with student loan debt."

"
Good point." Veronica leaned back in her chair and propped a resplendent pair of beige and gold Louis Vuitton pumps on her desk.

"
So, I have this theory," I continued. "Suppose Concetta was right, and Jessica
did
know something about Imma and Stewart's relationship, or maybe even about—"