“And yet there was no mention of it,” Cain noted.
“No, but she’s the one with a job, and the aunt and uncle obviously need the money. I think definitely some frustration and anxiety are there, maybe resentment over it all,” Eton replied.
“Yeah, that was my take too,” Cain said. “Don’t know what happened to the father, but it’s sad either way.”
“Maybe nothing happened. We know he had a car accident, and clearly his brain is injured.” He thought he knew what part of the brain was probably damaged. “Western medicine might have something to offer, but I highly doubt it. And Italy is well-known for their medicine and their advanced medical procedures as well,” Eton said. “It’s possible an ulcer or something is involved, but it’s also possible that part of the brain just died.”
“I don’t think that’s something anybody here wants to think about,” Cain said.
“No, but, in the meantime, it looks like the daughter is keeping them all afloat. That’s sad. Gotta be added stress for her.”
“Yes, I wondered if Petra’s funds are the only thing keeping the bed-and-breakfast running,” said Cain.
“And yet I got the feeling it’s been going on for a while.”
“So maybe it’s not terribly successful.”
Eton looked around the bedrooms. “It’s clean and neat, almost painfully so,” he said. “But definitely older by twenty or thirty years. And I didn’t see much commerce thriving as we came into town.”
“No, and that’s probably what the problem is,” Cain said. “When you think about it, I’m not sure the uncle even works a job, and neither does the aunt. Looks like the bed-and-breakfast is their sole source of income. Petra is the only one who works, and as a scientist. I find that interesting.”
“Interesting. Maybe it doesn’t mean much.”
“No, it doesn’t seem to here. Still, let’s see what we can find out about the family and about the town itself.”
As they headed back down for dinner, things were a little lighter, as if the family had intentionally decided not to fight in front of strangers. Cain agreed with that, in theory, and hoped it loosened up their tongues because, right now, they could use some information.
As they sat down, Petra asked him, “So why this town?”
“Because it’s obviously economically distressed,” he said bluntly. That was just what he’d gleaned from the family’s own turbulence.
Petra nodded. “Yes. We’ve been hit hard for the last few years.”
“Do you know why?”
“We assumed it was just politics and annual seasonal spikes,” she said. “But honestly the bed-and-breakfast hasn’t been doing very well this year.”
Migi immediately jumped up and said, “It’s been doing just fine. It’s been very busy.”
As Cain looked back at Petra, she rolled her eyes. He hid his smile but understood the aunt and uncle were trying to maintain face, so they didn’t lose more customers. But Petra was on the inside and knew things were definitely not the same as they had been.
“I think that’s probably the course for the whole town, isn’t it?” Eton asked.
“Several of the factories have closed down,” the uncle spoke up. “That caused many of us to lose our jobs. I’m too old to get another one now, so we just live off the bed-and-breakfast.”
“Good then,” Eton said, “that we picked this place to stay.”
The uncle smiled a great big beaming smile. “Maybe you’ll come back too,” he said. “Lots of the older families are here. I’ve had to make adjustments.”
“Yeah? Like what kind of old families?”
“In this town there were four original families,” he said. “They came in and started farming, gardening the orchards and the olive groves, and it just grew from there. The Marconis, the Rossellinis, the Roscos, and the Marshawns.”
Marshawn was one of the names they were interested in. Cain glanced at his partner.
Eton nodded. “Are they all still running the land even now?”
“Yes,” Pedro said, “but there hasn’t been enough work for all the younger generations of the families to take over. That’s been tough because some have gone off to do their own thing. But doing their own thing hasn’t necessarily been easy or smart.”
“And I guess it also depends,” Cain said, “on whether those not-so-easy or smart choices have been good business decisions or not.”
“Many of the young people have had to take on other jobs,” the uncle said. “Some have gone into various businesses, like security and contract work. They travel all over the world.”
“Slimeballs, if you ask me, the lot of them,” Petra said.
“Chico, for one,” her uncle said, nodding.
She grimaced at that. “Ugh. Chico’s definitely a slimeball. I understand nobody’s even heard from him for a few weeks now.”
“If he’s such a slimeball, why does that worry you?” her aunt snapped.
“It doesn’t worry me at all,” she said. “I, for one, am not at all upset that he’s not hanging around here.”
Her uncle looked at her, surprised.
She shrugged. “You know how something about him gives me the creeps and always has.”
“That’s not fair,” her aunt said. “Really, it’s not. He wanted to go out with you. To take you to the school dances and such, but you would never give him even five minutes of your time.”
“He’s creepy,” she said. “And he isn’t someone I’ve ever wanted to spend time with.”
“You didn’t try,” the aunt said. “You should have at least tried.”
“No,” Petra said, “I really shouldn’t have.”
Migi looked at the two men and apologized. “I’m sorry. This tends to be an ongoing issue.”
“What, that she didn’t date your choice in men?” Cain asked in a low voice.
“The man in question isn’t somebody I would spend time with at all,” Petra said. “In fact, I wouldn’t be at all disappointed if he relocated permanently.”
Cain looked at her with interest. She shrugged, but he wanted to know more. A lot more because that was one of the dead guys. He didn’t want to tell her the man was dead though, because that would blow their cover. At the same time, he wanted to know about the rest of them. “Did he have brothers you liked better maybe?” Cain asked.
“He had two brothers,” she said, “but one died quite a few years ago now.”
“Under suspicious circumstances,” the uncle said.
Cain looked at him. “What kind of circumstances?”
Immediately the aunt jumped up. “That’s not fair,” she said. “He was a good boy.”
A story was here, and Cain was bound to get to the bottom of it, but it was Eton who asked, “So, was there a problem between the brothers?”
“And how,” Petra said. “You have no idea. Those three used to fight all the time. But Barlow actually was a good man. I really liked him.”