Kate Concealed Read online

  “Ah. Well, what you’re talking about doing is something different than I thought. The search could find them if there were any records of their birth, christening, or whatever if they are currently alive only if they have been indexed and put into family search, but they won’t be able to be seen on a pedigree chart. Which means you won’t find them connected to you.”

  She swiveled in her chair to face them. “Do you at least know where they are from?”

  “Here. Venice.”

  “Ok. You can try to find something here, with the Records button.” She clicked the button that said RECORDS.

  “You can search the civil records, birth records, death records, and christening records here. If that is, the records have been indexed. Anything past 1809 should show up in here.”

  “Indexed?”

  She smiled. “Well, there’s a process for records ending up in this or any other database. First, someone has to find the record. Then they have to record the record, taking a picture or scanning it or something like that. Then, that copy is scanned into a computer database. At that point, indexers take that information and enter it into a program that makes the information searchable—like first name, last name, etc.”

  “Oh. I hadn’t thought about someone having to get the information that’s in here.”

  The librarian stood up and offered the seat to Kate, who took it. “Yes. Librarians. We know all sorts of fascinating things.” She grinned.

  “Where does this information come from?” Ellie sat in the chair in front of the computer adjacent to Kate’s.

  “Lots of places. Church records, state records, headstones, histories.”

  “You mean like births, baptisms, and stuff.”

  “Si. Marriages, too. Do you know when your parents were married? The approximate year? You can put that information in and see what you get.” The watch on the librarian’s wrist vibrated.

  “I need to go. Explore the site. Get comfortable with it. If you need to print, you may. Donations are appreciated.” She pointed to a printer in the corner of the room. A large canister sat beside it with an Italian word written on it. They assumed it said donations. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She hurried out of the room.

  Kate cleared her throat, her mouth dry, and had a sudden desire to leave the room and get the heck out of the library.

  “Go ahead, Kate. Put in Carmela’s information.”

  “But.”

  “No buts. This is it.”

  Not knowing exactly why at first, Kate put in her adoptive mom’s name instead. Abrie Hamilton. The pictures must have been more important to her at the moment than her birth mother.

  “Not her. Your birth mother,” Ellie said.

  No matches.

  Then she put in Tom Hamilton, ignoring Ellie.

  No matches.

  “What was that about?”

  “I don’t know. I just thought that maybe…” She still hadn’t told Ellie about the pictures. She had to be careful about what she said.

  “Your adoptive parents were Italian?”

  “My mom, at least. I overheard her reading from an Italian cookbook. In Italian! Fluent Italian. She claimed she was using a translation app to translate everything, but she didn’t have her phone near her.” The name Donati filled Kate’s brain. Why hadn’t she tried her grandparent’s names? Could Donati be Alessa and Piero’s last name? Her mom’s maiden name?

  “Great. Hiding something again.”

  Kate bit her lip, the photographs of the dead people shuffled through her mind.

  “How could your mom be Italian? She doesn’t have the skin of an Italian. She’s white as a ghost and has blue eyes.” Ellie tapped her fingers on the desk.

  “Yes. You know how she stays out of the sun, but despite that, people think we look alike. They think she is my birth mother. There is something Italian in her look. Something that connects us.”

  “Well, I hate to break this to you, but your birth mother and father are alive and therefore would not be on a pedigree chart. You don’t know your birth grandparents’ names do you?”

  “No. I know. I don’t know what I’m doing.” Kate put her hands on the sides of her head, leaned her elbows on the desk, and huffed. She should have looked for Donatis.

  “I’ll tell you what you are doing, you are stalling. You’re afraid to find the very information you crave.” Ellie put her arm around Kate. “You can do this. It’ll be okay.”

  Kate nodded, pressing her lips together into a frown. Ellie’s hug felt nice. She forced her fingers to type Carmela’s name. Tons of records popped up. “There are thousands of records. We don’t have time to go through them all.”

  “Put in Venice. You think she’s from here, right?”

  “Maybe, but we don’t know for sure.”

  Kate put in “Venice.” She stared at the screen. “Ten.” She scrolled through the documents and could see her birth mother’s name on each one, but nothing that looked like it could belong to her.

  She put in Vincenzo Bellini—nothing, just like she expected. Both girls stared at the screen. “We can’t find her if we don’t know her maiden name.”

  “Or, if she’s alive or simply not in there.”

  “You could find her christening or baptism or marriage.”

  “If it’s in there.”

  The librarian came back. “Find anything? Need me to translate?” She looked excited, happy to help. Her bright red lipstick flashed as she talked.

  “Sure. What are these?” Kate pulled up the screen with ten Carmela Bellinis listed and then clicked on one of the records.

  “This one is a state record of a death for Carmela Bellini.” She went down the information on the side. “Death date: 1850, death place: Napoli, Italy, gender: female, Age: 27, Birth place: Napoli, and year: 1823. Is this who you were looking for?”

  “No. Too old.”

  “Let me see if we can narrow the search. If we consider your age and the possible ages of your parents, we can get a range of dates. I’d say about 80 years from today probably.”

  “My parents aren’t 80.” Kate laughed despite herself.

  “I hope not, I just like to go wide when it comes to this program.” Kate put in that date range along with her birth mother’s name and there were no results. “It looks like you are out of luck with this database. Were they Catholic by chance?”

  “I believe so.” Really, Kate knew so.

  “If your parents were born here, you can go directly to the church to look at the records. There are a lot of Catholic churches in Venice that haven’t had their records indexed or allowed into Family Search I just discovered.” She shook her phone as if that told them everything. “But, since you know she’s a Bellini, we can narrow down which churches you should go to, to check the records.”

  Kate’s stomach churned. “They let you look at the records?”

  “Of course. And, you wouldn’t need to look back very far, so it shouldn’t take very long. Since she is a Bellini, I suggest Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. It’s kind of out of the way, but definitely the hot spot for the Bellinis.”

  “What do you mean, the hot spot for the Bellinis?”

  “Oh, sorry, I forget that you aren’t from here. There are thousands of Bellinis here and they all like to go to the same couple of churches. If the records aren’t at Santa Maria you should check out Saint Mark’s Basilica.

  “Feel free to explore as much as you like with this program. Oh, and if you’re looking for your grandmother, it’s best to have a maiden name.” She smiled with those red lips and left again.

  “Venice is a hotbed for Bellinis?” Kate said.

  Ellie visibly shuddered and then scanned the room.

  Kate stared at the screen and noticed she had keyed in Carmela without the L. Her heart pounded and she set her hands above the keys to type the name correctly when she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. She twisted, catching sight of Ellie’s eyes as she did. They were focused
on someone standing behind her. It made Kate turn even faster, her heart a racing train.

  Duran’s soft brown eyes met hers as he stepped back three steps, his hand brushing through his shaggy mane.

  15

  “Duran?” Kate almost stood up to hug him, but his posture and the serious look on his face made her stay seated. She drew in a deep breath. A quiver of anticipation rushed through her. Duran was only feet from her. She wanted to run her hands through his longish dark hair.

  “What are you doing here, Kate?” A big dip appeared between his eyes. There was something off about him, not right. It made her feel defensive.

  “I could ask you the same thing.” She fought to conquer her nerves. This wasn’t how seeing Duran again should have gone.

  “I needed some space from the family and this is one of the only places they don’t follow me. But you?” He shook his head and ran a hand over his mouth and chin.

  “No. I meant, what are you doing in Italy.” She gripped the chair to help her stay seated.

  “It’s a long story and I don’t have a lot of time.” He shifted from foot to foot, obviously impatient.

  “I think you’d better tell me that story.”

  He sighed. “No. All you need to know is that you have to get the heck out of here.” His eyes scanned the room and beyond, past the windows.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Venice. It’s full of Bellinis and not just any Bellinis, but Bellinis from New Jersey. Bellinis who know who you are.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He sighed again. “I guess I’m not going to get out of telling you.” He pointed at Ellie. “Help me shut the blinds, Ellie.”

  “Just spit it out.” Kate was having a hard time wrapping her brain around the fact that Duran was here and she wasn’t in his arms and there didn’t appear to be any chance of that changing.

  Neither Ellie nor Kate moved. Duran maneuvered the cords on the blinds until the windows were covered, muttering to himself the whole time. No one from outside the room would be able to see what was happening inside. Then he glanced quickly over at Kate who was staring intently at him, before saying, “Look. After the raid at the Marconi club, they sent everyone who was brought to FBI headquarters to Italy. Well, almost everyone.”

  He was standing too far from her. She wanted to move to him. “But you weren’t there, at the raid.” Kate’s mind shifted to the night of the raid and who was at the club and who was at the airport.

  “No, but they sent me anyway. Most of the people being sent away were Marconis, and they wanted to ship out some Bellinis and others so it didn’t look as obvious. They sent us all at different times, too. The last ones got here only a week ago I understand.”

  In the back of her mind the fact that Duran had saved her gave her hope. He had been her salvation.

  “But seriously. You’ve got to get out of here. You should catch the next plane out. A good 75% of the people in that raid at Marconi’s club are in Italy right now.”

  “Is Vinny here then?” She wanted to reach out and touch him. She wished she could tell him Vinny was her dad.

  “No. They wanted to send him, but Salvatorio got sick and since Vinny is number two, he had to stay.” Duran shoved his hands into his pockets.

  “What do you mean, number two?”

  “He’s the oldest son. If anything happens to his dad, he’s supposed to take over.”

  “But?”

  “But the other brothers are more motivated. Who knows what will happen there.” He kept glancing around the small room.

  “You think they might try to kill him?”

  “I don’t know, but it seems like a good possibility.” He moved to a window and looked out behind the blinds.

  “It must be hard here, not speaking Italian.” She wasn’t sure why she said it. There were so many other things she wanted to say. He was so close and all she wanted to do was grab him up in her arms, but his stance, his words, all told her to stay back.

  “I already speak Italian.”

  “You hid that from me?” Her head jerked back slightly in shock.

  “It just never came up. They’d have their meetings and I couldn’t understand a thing. I learned it out of self-defense, so I’d know what they were saying.”

  Something about that sent heat to her chest. “Oh, Duran. I could so use your translating skills. I can’t read these documents.”

  “Oh, no. I can’t. I need to leave. I’ve been here too long.” He glanced again at the covered windows.

  She couldn’t stand it one more second. “I can’t believe it’s you.” She stood up and moved toward him, leaving Ellie sitting, gawking at the two of them.

  “Stop.” He held his hands out.

  Kate flinched.

  “We got sidetracked,” Duran said. “The only thing that matters is that we get you out of Venice. Now.” He shook his head and actually looked mad or possibly disappointed. “After everything, you show up here? How?”

  She didn’t want to talk about that. She had things she wanted and needed to say. “I know what you did.” Kate took another step toward him. “It took everything I had not to send you a letter, a text, an email to thank you for saving me. Thank you and I’m sorry for not treating you how I should have while I was there.” She reached up for his cheek, but he jerked away.

  “No. Don’t do this. Please.” His words gradually got quieter and almost sounded like a prayer.

  She didn’t let him stop her. With her hand still outstretched, she reached him, placing her palm on his cheek. Yet again he jerked away. “I can’t believe it’s you.”

  A strangled cry came out of his mouth from somewhere deep down. “I never thought I’d see you again. What are you doing here?”

  “I’m here to find my parents.”

  “What? I thought that was why you were in Jersey.”

  “It was. My birth mother is here, though.” She knew she couldn’t tell him the whole truth and most definitely couldn’t tell him about Vinny, and it was killing her. He looked so pained already.

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No. She’s from Venice and I have to find her.”

  “You already know she’s here?” His hands dropped to his sides.

  “Yes.”

  “Then go home. Leave here. Come back in a few years after everything’s been settled and no one remembers you.”

  Kate shook her head. “I can’t do that.”

  “Please, Kate. Please. It’s too hot for you to be here right now. If someone spotted you, it would not be good.”

  “I’m sorry. I have to find her. I have to.”

  “Why? Why do you insist on putting yourself in danger? It was bad enough when you showed back up at the bagel shop in Jersey to somehow save me. I could have gotten out of it on my own. I only needed to wait it out.”

  “Not if they beat you to death.” Saying it out loud caused her heart to ache a little, and she realized she would do anything for this guy. She touched his face again but he jerked away, again.

  “I can’t. I said goodbye to you already.” The sadness in his eyes caused hers to burn and her chin to tremble.

  “But a hello is much better.” Her chest ached.

  He grimaced.

  “I promise as soon as I find her, I’ll leave. I’m sure it will be today.” Her lips parted slightly and she stared hard at him.

  “No.” The word came out like a muted cry. “Go now. They will kill you and it won’t be an easy death. They will torture you and hurt you until you wish you were dead and just when you are barely hanging on to life, that’s when they will kill you.” His voice rose in pitch and almost turned to a whine.

  “It’s only for one day. I’m not going to let them catch me.” It had to be true.

  He put his hands on her arms and she closed her eyes. His touch was all she needed. “You’ve got to go. Please. If you ever cared for me, you will go.”

  She stomped on
e foot and he let go of her. “You know I care about you. That’s the hard part. I wish I could go. This is something I have to do and it doesn’t reflect on how I feel about you. I promise to leave right after I find her.”

  “You are so stubborn.” He spoke through gritted teeth. His breathing was hard and his eyes turned cold.

  “It’s not like they are going to know. Like you said, everything is in upheaval, and they won’t notice me.”

  Like a lightning bolt of realization hit him, his face changed. Resolute and serious. “Don’t draw attention to yourself. Use a different name. Blend in.” He was backing away toward the door. He was leaving?

  “You know who I’m with, right? Two people who don’t blend in.” They both looked at Ellie, who didn’t look at all ashamed at her eavesdropping. Had Colby been there, he would have received the look too.

  “Get glasses. Big glasses. The eyes are what give most people away. Get a scarf. Put something over your hair. Try to walk differently. Talk quietly. That means you too, Ellie.” His voice was shaking by the time he got to the end. “This is not good.”

  Kate needed to change the subject. She needed to make him stay somehow. “So, Bellini Bagels is here?” She inched forward.

  “No. I’m at Francessco’s Restaurant. The families don’t want a clear and definite connection to them in the States. They like to keep things separate. I even have to use a nickname while I’m here.”

  “A nickname, huh? What is it?”

  “Ran.”

  “Interesting. The last half of your name?”

  He nodded. “I’m sorry your trip had to be interrupted, but you truly are in danger here. You have to go as quickly as possible.”

  “Don’t worry. Tonight we head back to Bologna,” she said in a quiet voice. Now that she’d seen him, she didn’t want to leave him.

  “Bologna? Let me guess, you flew into the Marconi airport.”

  Kate nodded and heat rushed up her neck. She was dimly aware that Ellie cleared her throat, but Kate didn’t look her way. “Yeah. Ellie’s brother is at the University of Bologna.”

  Duran’s eyebrows scrunched together and his eyes narrowed. “No. Oh, no. That is Marconi headquarters. All the Marconis who were sent back were sent there.”