Family Feud in Savannah: A Garlucci Family Saga (Made in Savannah Mystery Series Book 16) Read online

  Family Feud

  Made in Savannah

  Cozy Mystery Series Book Sixteen

  Hope Callaghan

  hopecallaghan.com

  Copyright © 2021

  All rights reserved.

  *****

  This book is a work of fiction. Although places mentioned may be real, the characters, names and incidents, and all other details are products of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual organizations, events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  ______________________________

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  CONTENTS

  Join The Fun!

  Cast of Characters

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

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  Cast of Characters

  Carlita Garlucci. The widow of a mafia “made” man, Carlita promised her husband on his deathbed to get their sons out of the “family” business, so she moves from New York to the historic city of Savannah, Georgia. But escaping the “family” isn’t as easy as she hoped it would be, and trouble follows Carlita to her new home.

  Mercedes Garlucci. Carlita’s daughter and the first to move to Savannah with her mother. An aspiring writer, Mercedes has a knack for finding mysteries and adventure and dragging her mother along for the ride.

  Vincent Garlucci, Jr. Carlita’s oldest son and a younger version of his father, Vinnie is deeply entrenched in the “family” business and not at all interested in leaving New Jersey for the Deep South.

  Tony Garlucci. Carlita’s middle son and the second to follow his mother to Savannah. Tony is protective of both his mother and his sister, which is a good thing since the female Garluccis are always in some sort of predicament.

  Paulie Garlucci. Carlita’s youngest son. Mayor of the small town of Clifton Falls, New York, Paulie never joined the “family” business and is content to live his life with his wife and young children away from a life of crime. His wife, Gina, rules the family household with an iron fist.

  Chapter 1

  The front door flew open, and Mercedes Garlucci burst into the living room. “We have a problem.”

  Carlita pivoted in her chair, giving her daughter her full attention. “What’s wrong?”

  “I just grabbed the mail.” Mercedes handed her mother a piece of paper. “This is why the city didn’t empty our dumpster this morning.”

  Carlita slipped her reading glasses on and scanned the notice from the City of Savannah. “We’re being fined a hundred bucks for not getting a permit to dump construction material. Something fishy is goin’ on.” She sprang to her feet and hurried out of the apartment.

  The women made their way to the end of the alley where the dumpster for not only the apartments, but her other businesses, Swag in Savannah and Ravello’s Italian Eatery, were located.

  “I’ll take a look.” Mercedes hopped onto the ledge and lifted the lid, peering inside.

  Carlita watched as she teetered precariously, balancing her upper body on the edge, her feet dangling in the air. “You’re making me nervous. Be careful. I don’t want to have to dig you out of the dumpster.”

  Mercedes scrambled backward, landing lightly on her feet, and holding a chunk of broken drywall.

  “That’s not ours.”

  “There’s more.” Mercedes reached back inside and pulled out an empty paint can. “Someone’s throwing their construction stuff in our dumpster.”

  Carlita’s eyes shifted to Sandy Sue’s Bar-B-Que joint across the street. Work at the site had stopped until a few weeks ago when the construction crew returned, and the final phase of the project began moving at a fast pace.

  Not far from the trolley stop was a large “Opening Soon” sign with a depiction of the finished product. Although it wasn’t a bad-looking building, it certainly didn’t fit in with the Walton Square architecture and the area’s historic buildings.

  It was more modern with rustic touches of shiplap siding and a long, low front porch. Above the porch was a neon sign touting the “City’s Best BBQ” in bright red letters.

  Mercedes followed her mother’s gaze. “Do you think the workers across the street are dumping their construction trash in our dumpster?”

  “It would take a lot of nerve but who knows?”

  Elvira’s EC Security Services van pulled into the nearby parking lot. Carlita’s neighbor emerged and made her way over. “What’re you doing?”

  “Trying to figure out who’s putting construction trash in my dumpster.” Carlita eyed her neighbor and former tenant with interest. “You have surveillance cameras all over this place. Maybe your cameras caught something.”

  “It’s possible. I’ll have a look and let you know if I see anything.” Elvira turned to go. “Oh, hey, I have a surprise for you.”

  “What kind of surprise?”

  “Something that’s gonna make you wish it was already October.”

  “At least I have a few months to prepare for it,” Carlita joked. “Why can’t you just tell me what it is?”

  “Showing you will be more fun.” Elvira consulted her watch. “Give me an hour or so to go over the surveillance before stopping by.”

  Mercedes waited until Elvira disappeared around the side of her building. “Elvira and surprises are never a good thing.”

  “I was thinking the same,” Carlita muttered. “We need to check with the restaurant staff to see if they noticed anyone messing around back here, not to mention check our own cameras.”

  “Hang on.” Mercedes stopped her. “Before we do, let’s empty the construction trash so we can call the city to come back and pick the rest of it up.”

  After changing into old clothes, mother and daughter returned to the dumpster and climbed inside. It was a stinky job, separating the trash from the construction materials. Not only did they find more broken pieces of drywall and paint cans, but they also found strips of electrical wire and chunks of concrete.

  “No wonder the city fined us. This is wrong, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it,” Carlita vowed.

  The women finished picking through the dumpster and then headed inside the restaurant. Employees buzzed back and forth, and a few stopped to greet mother and daughter as they made their way to the small office are
a.

  Carlita rarely used the restaurant’s computer, preferring to handle the bookkeeping and desk work at home where she could concentrate. She logged on and pulled up the surveillance camera app.

  Since the surveillance looped every 24 hours, she started at the beginning, fast forwarding through several segments until she caught something. The first was a restaurant worker placing flattened cardboard boxes in the recycle bin. The worker returned with other items and tossed them into the dumpster.

  It was tedious work, fast forwarding and then hitting the “play” button as they watched other employees use the bins.

  Toward evening, the dawn to dusk lights flooded the alley, illuminating the dumpster and bins. Carlita could feel her mind wander as she continued watching.

  “There.” Mercedes tapped her mother’s arm. “I think I saw something.”

  Carlita rewound and then hit the slow motion mode. They watched as a man steered a wheelbarrow alongside the dumpster. With a furtive glance over his shoulder, he hurriedly began tossing the contents inside. As soon as the wheelbarrow was empty, he flipped the lid and scurried into the shadows.

  She replayed it a second time. “Did you catch the direction he came from?”

  “Yep. Sandy Sue’s Bar-B-Que.” Mercedes straightened her back. “Let’s see if the pawn shop’s cameras caught anything.”

  The pawn shop was bustling for a Friday morning. Instead of bothering Carlita’s son, they made a beeline for the desk and computer.

  Similar to what Ravello’s cameras had captured, a man wheeled a load of construction materials to their dumpster and dumped the contents inside before hurrying off.

  Tony joined them. “What’re you doing?”

  “Trying to figure out who dumped construction waste in our dumpster.” Carlita briefly explained what had happened and then told him about the notice from the city. “Mercedes and I took the stuff out. Now I’m gonna have to figure out what to do with it.”

  “I’ll take care of it.” Tony curled his lip. “You smell that?”

  “Smell what?” Carlita asked.

  “Something rotten.”

  Mercedes shoved her shirtsleeve in her brother’s face. “Is this it?”

  “Gross.” Tony made a gagging sound. “You smell like you’ve been rolling around in a pigpen.”

  “More like rotting vegetable scraps.”

  “It’s disgusting.” Tony changed the subject. “Have you talked to Elvira lately?”

  “We just ran into her. She’s taking a look at her video surveillance. Since her cameras are set at a different angle, they may have picked up something else,” Carlita explained. “Why?”

  “Has she told you about her surprise yet?” Tony grinned.

  “No.” Carlita’s eyes narrowed. “What is it?”

  “I can’t say.”

  “Is it good or bad?”

  Tony shifted his feet. “It depends on who you’re asking. Luigi stopped by here earlier and accidentally let the cat out of the bag.”

  “Great. Now I really am worried.”

  Before leaving the pawn shop, Tony promised to call the city to try to get them to drop the fine and also schedule a pickup.

  It was a quick trip across the alley to Elvira’s back door. She didn’t answer, so the women walked around to the front. The building was not only her home, but it also housed her businesses…EC Security Services and EC Investigative Services.

  Dernice greeted them as they stepped inside. “Hey, Carlita, Mercedes.”

  “Good morning, Dernice.” Carlita gave her a brief rundown of their situation. “Is Elvira around? She promised to take a look at her surveillance camera recordings.”

  “She’s in the back. I’ll go get her.” Dernice hurried out of the room, returning moments later with Elvira following close behind. “I almost gave up on you.”

  “We decided to check out our cameras first,” Carlita said. “Someone with a wheelbarrow showed up after dark and dumped a bunch of construction trash.”

  Elvira pinched the end of her nose. “One of you smells.”

  “It’s me,” Mercedes said. “I got into some stinky stuff when me and Ma were dumpster diving.”

  “You reek. Do you mind standing near the door?”

  “Fine.” Mercedes rolled her eyes and made her way to the door.

  “Thanks.” Elvira fanned her face. “I found something very interesting on my cameras, but first I want to show you my surprise. You’re gonna love it.”

  “I’m not sure Carlita is going to be as thrilled as you…as we are,” Dernice warned.

  Elvira shot her sister an annoyed look. “Why not?”

  “Because we didn’t run it by her first.”

  “This is a free country. Besides, we’re all tight. Like family,” Elvira said. “It’s gonna be awesome.”

  A feeling of dread filled Carlita. Whenever Elvira mentioned being close and like family, it typically involved her butting into Carlita’s family affairs…events like weddings, holidays, any sort of celebration. “What is it?”

  “This.” Elvira snatched a colorful folder off the desk and handed it to Carlita. The feeling of dread intensified when she glanced at the front.

  Mercedes must’ve noticed it too. She forgot her promise to stand near the door and joined her mother, her eyes growing wide. “No way.”

  Carlita flipped the folder open. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  Chapter 2

  “Aren’t you geeked?” Elvira beamed.

  “I’m something, all right. Geeked isn’t even close to describing it.”

  Mercedes stared at the Majestic Cruise Lines’ letterhead. “Siren of the Seas. You booked a cruise.”

  “Check out the date,” Elvira’s smile widened.

  Carlita’s heart plummeted as she studied the date. “October sixteenth. You’re going on my family’s cruise.”

  “Not just me, but me and Dernice, thanks to my friend, June, who also happens to be a travel agent.”

  “She assured us we got a sweet deal,” Dernice said.

  “Luigi’s doing a good job. He can handle running the businesses for a few days. I haven’t been on a vacation in years. I figured, hey, if Carlita and her family are going, why not join them?”

  Mercedes peered over her mother’s shoulder. “Cabin 3510.”

  “October can’t come fast enough.” Elvira snapped her fingers. “We’re going to be cruisin’ and schmoozin’.”

  Carlita slid the paper back inside the folder and handed it to Elvira. “What if you get motion sickness? October is hurricane season. I heard the seas can get pretty rough.”

  “Hurricane shmurricane. Already got it covered. My doc is going to hook me up with one of those arm patches. Besides, I’m almost positive I won’t get motion sickness. I never felt a thing while I was on Pete’s pirate ship during the Christmas boat parade.”

  “It’s a long drive from here to Miami,” Carlita said.

  “Dernice likes long road trips.” Elvira elbowed her sister. “Don’t you?”

  “They’re not my favorite.”

  Carlita turned to Dernice. “What are your thoughts about this cruise?”

  Dernice shifted uncomfortably. “I’m on the fence. The Christmas parade boat ride made me a little queasy.”

  “Don’t be such a baby,” Elvira snorted.

  “I practically begged Elvira to consult with you before she booked our cabin, but she wanted to surprise you.”

  Carlita rubbed her brow. “She certainly managed to do that. You’re free to book any trip you want, but this was a family trip.”

  “And we’re like family,” Elvira insisted. “Besides, like Dernice mentioned, we got a great deal. I mean, I know it’s an inside cabin on a lower deck, but we don’t plan on spending much time in there. It’s all about fun in the sun. Have you checked out the itinerary?”

  “Not in depth,” Carlita admitted.

  Elvira rambled on about the islands…Aruba, Bonaire and Curaca
o. “They’re called the ABC islands. Our cruise will be the ship’s first sailing out of Miami.”

  “It’s their first voyage?” Carlita wasn’t sure she wanted to cruise on a maiden voyage, a ship where perhaps the kinks and bugs hadn’t been worked out.

  “Let me rephrase that…it will be the ship’s first voyage after returning from the British Isles.” Elvira altered her voice and began speaking in a fake British accent. “Now that will be a bloody fun voyage. What cabin are you in?”

  “I don’t know,” Carlita said. “But I plan to find out as soon as I return home.”

  “If you’re on the third deck, we might be neighbors.” Elvira’s brows knitted. “I thought you would be more excited.”

  “More like shocked.” Carlita started to say something else, but the look on Elvira’s face stopped her. “I’m sorry, Elvira.” She attempted to muster up some enthusiasm. “I’m sure we’ll have an…a great trip…err…cruise.”

  “While you’re here, I’ll show you what I found on my surveillance cameras.” Elvira settled into her office chair while Carlita and Mercedes stood behind her.

  Similar to what Carlita had discovered, Elvira’s cameras captured a man pushing a wheelbarrow down the alley and to their dumpster, where he tossed a load of trash inside. After emptying it, he hurriedly wheeled it back down the alley, slipping away into the dark night.

  “Our cameras caught the same guy,” Mercedes said. “We can speculate it was Sandy Sue’s construction crew, but there’s no proof.”

  Elvira wagged a finger. “Now, there’s where you’re wrong and why having high-tech, high-end equipment pays off.” She reached for the mouse, rewinding the recording until the mystery man reappeared.

  She paused the recording and then enlarged the picture. He was wearing a lightweight jacket with some sort of marking in the upper left-hand corner. With a couple more clicks, the logo was clearly visible.

  “City Square Construction,” Carlita whispered.

  “Which also happens to be the name of the construction company working across the street,” Elvira said. “I stopped by there the other day to offer my services and find out if they were in the market for surveillance equipment.”