Italian Knights by Sharon DeVita Page A

deep breath. “Salvatore. It was awful. The store—the deli— Someone broke in tonight.”

Chapter Four
    “What!” Sal and Annie caroled in unison.
    “What do you mean, someone broke into the deli?” Sal’s voice was deadly quiet. Momentarily bewildered, Annie stared blankly at Mrs. Altero. This was ridiculous. It had to be a mistake. Who would want to break into her little deli? For what? She never kept more than fifty dollars in cash.
    “It was awful, Salvatore,” Mrs. Altero wailed, wringing her plump hands together. “They broke the glass windows—and we couldn’t find you, or Annie—and—” Annie had heard enough. She bolted down the stairs, nearly trampling Mrs. Altero in the rush. Sal grabbed her arm and hung on.
    “Wait, Annie,” Sal ordered, reining her in close to him. He didn’t want her going off without him, at least not until he heard the rest of this.
    “But the deli,” she protested, struggling to get free.
    “Let’s hear what happened first.” He dropped his arm around her shoulders, holding her in place, and Annie had no choice but to wait.
    “Mrs. Altero, take a deep breath and tell me exactly what happened,” Sal ordered.
    Doing as she was told, Mrs. Altero attempted to compose herself. “Salvatore, my granddaughter and I were going down to Letza’s for Italian ice. When we passed the deli I noticed something funny. The lights were on.” She turned to Annie. “I know you’re never open on Saturday nights, so we crossed the street, and that’s when I noticed—” Mrs. Altero stopped and clutched her chest. “It was awful. The window was shattered. There was glass everywhere. I was going to go in—”
    “You didn’t, did you?” Sal interrupted, his voice low and commanding. Mrs. Altero shook her head.
    “No, Salvatore, I remember what you always told us. I didn’t go in. No, sir.” She shook her gray head. “I came home and called the police station just like you instructed, and then I called the board-up company. I tried to find you, but…”
    He patted her shoulder and smiled. “You did fine, Mrs. Altero. Just fine. Thank you.”
    “Sal, please, I want to see what happened.” Annie’s voice shook and she turned to Sal with stricken eyes. This had to be a bad dream. Who would want to break into her store? For what?
    “Come on, Annie.” He led her down the stairs and around the corner to the deli. Annie’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
    “Oh, Sal.” Her hand flew to her mouth as tears filled her eyes. The plate-glass window that fronted the store was boarded up; glass still littered the sidewalk. The front door had a large gaping hole in it.
    “God,” Sal whispered, tightening his arm around Annie’s shoulders. He looked down at her. “Hey, are you all right?”
    Annie raised her eyes to his and his heart constricted. “Sal, who would do something like this?” she whispered in fear, trembling uncontrollably.
    He shook his head and drew her closer to him. “I don’t know, honey, but I sure as hell am going to find out. Do you have your keys? I want to go in and take a look around.”
    Blinking away tears, Annie searched through her evening bag and handed Sal the keys. She clutched the back of his suit jacket as he opened the door.
    “Oh, my God!” Annie’s hand flew to her mouth. The store had been ransacked, not a shelf or a counter had been left untouched. While she catered to the neighborhood’s needs, stocking special Italian items such as imported olive oils and tomatoes, she also carried a little bit of everything from soap to soup to laundry detergent.
    Her eyes traveled slowly around the room. Every single display case and rack had been overturned. Boxes had been ripped open and dumped all over the wooden floor, cans and bottles had been smashed against the walls and left to drip sticky messes. The glass deli case had been shattered and emptied. Broken glass was spilled all over everything, spoiling all of her imported cheeses and