Read From Mangia to Murder (A Sophia Mancini ~ Little Italy Mystery) for Free Online Page A

to rid the world of a mean, miserable human being.
    She pushed open the swinging kitchen door and stopped short. A wave of horror swept over her, so strong her knees went weak. She grabbed onto the nearest counter for support, as the room spun around her.
    Vincenzo lay sprawled on the floor, a kitchen knife sticking out of his back, and a pool of blood staining his otherwise pristine white chef’s jacket.
    She’d come into the kitchen with murder on her mind.
    Someone had beaten her to it.
     
     

Chapter Five
     
    “This is your last warning, Miss Mancini. Step away from the body or I’ll have you escorted outside.”
    Sophia tore her eyes away from Vincenzo’s body and focused her attention instead on the young police sergeant who stood by the kitchen door. Could he even be twenty years old? She doubted it. There was no mistaking the look of unease on his face when he glanced at Vincenzo. Vincenzo’s body, she corrected herself. Dead body. She took several steps back.
    God, this couldn’t be happening. Except that it was.
    “I’m sorry. I was just, that is, I wondered....” she let her voice trail off. She didn’t want to say or do anything that would get her thrown out of the kitchen.
    She glanced back at the body. The knife was plunged so deeply in Vincenzo’s back it couldn’t have been an accident.
    “I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name?” She smiled at the young officer. Perhaps engaging him in conversation would yield some answers. Or at least better questions than she could come up with herself.
    “Sergeant O’Brian, Miss.”
    “I take it you know my brother?” She’d witnessed the way the lad had smiled when he’d first entered the kitchen, and apparently recognized Angelo.
    “Yes, Miss. Officer Mancini was one of the reasons I joined the police force.” His face flushed. “Your brother was the officer who found my friend and I trying to break... well, um ... he found us up to no good. He let us off with a stern warning.”
    “It must have been quite a lecture if you ended up becoming a policeman yourself.”
    “There’s a bit more to it than that, actually, Miss. The next morning he turned up at my Mum’s house and had a bit of a word with her, and another word with me.”
    “Tried to scare you, did he?” Sophia couldn’t help but smile.
    “Tried and succeeded, you might say. I was sorry when I heard he wouldn’t be rejoining us at the station now that he’s home.”
    Several quiet moments passed. Angelo certainly was taking his sweet time explaining to everyone why the party was over. She hoped he remembered to send Luciano and Grandpa home. The idea of having their sweet boy in the same building where a murder had just been committed caused her to shiver.
    “There’s no reason for you to remain here with the body, Miss Mancini.” Sergeant O’Brian carefully avoided looking down as he gestured at Vincenzo’s body.
    “I’ll wait for my brother to come back, if you don’t mind.” Sophia wasn’t even sure what she was still doing in the kitchen, but she was afraid if she left, she’d miss something important. That and she wasn’t up to having to shout the news about Vincenzo’s death to Zio Nunzio. It’s was Angelo’s turn for relative control anyway.
    “It’s all the same to me, Miss, if you stay or go, as long as you stay back from the body.” His tone indicated quite clearly that he couldn’t fathom why she’d want to be anywhere near a dead body. “Of course, the captain may well want you to leave when he arrives.”
    “When do you think that will be?”
    He shrugged. “Today was Captain McIntyre’s day off, so I can’t say, but I know they’ve sent word for him.”
    McIntyre? A fuzzy memory of a silver-haired older policeman came to mind. Yes, she did remember meeting Captain McIntyre before Angelo had gone off to war. He’d seemed a good-natured, grandfatherly sort, if she remembered correctly.
    “Sergeant O’Brian, I hope you don’t mind my