Description Where No One Will See by Felicia Watson
Lucia Scafetti, a Philly private eye, has tried to move out of the shadow of her infamous crime family. She has her own business, her beloved dog Rocco, and she’s starting to date the cute lawyer down the hall. Her life is upended when her notorious hitman father disappears while in search of the diamond and gold coins he stole from his last victim. Excerpt Where No One Will See by Felicia Watson
Coolly perching on the edge of the desk, she looked up at the man who, as in her youth, towered over her. “What are you doing here?”“That’s all you got to say after all these years? How ‘bout, ‘It’s good to see you, Dad’?” When she refused to respond, Carlo muttered, “I guess it’s not good. I guess if you’d’ve wanted to see me, you wouldn’t’ve stopped coming to visit after my mom died.”
“You weren’t due to be released until September,” she insisted, as if stating that bald fact could somehow cause the apparition before her to vanish and give her back those weeks she’d been counting on to prepare for this event.
“The DA arranged for it. They call it a quiet release.” With a casual shrug he admitted, “I got a lotta’ enemies.”
“I’ll bet.” She smacked herself in the forehead. “Oh, this is why mom is coming into town. She’s here for you.”
“That’s right – we’re going away together. I gotta’ take care a’ some business and then we’re leaving right after Sunday dinner.”
“What business—” she started to ask before saying, “You know what? I don’t even wanta’ know.” While recoiling at the thought that she’d never again see her mom without having to see her father, too, she reconsidered the implications of her mother’s message. “Does the rest of the family know about you getting out?”
“Most’ll find out on Sunday. Only a few – Zia Pina, Zio Vince, Patsy – already know.” He crossed his arms and glared at her. “The few who visited me this decade.”
“Sorry I didn’t wanta’ keep visiting the man who turned my world upside down and marked me with his name.” Carlo shook his head in disgust, angling his body away from her while her complaints gathered steam. “Growing up, I thought you were a good man – a baker who visited his mom every day and walked me to church every Sunday. The man who bought me the fancy dress for my First Holy Communion when Mom worried it cost too much and Grandma said it would look silly on a girl my size. Then I lost that man – in the worst possible way.”
Turning back, he pleaded, “You didn’t lose him. He’s right here.”
“No, he never existed. I never had that father. I had the man who murdered people for money.”
“You always do this,” Carlo growled. “You make it sound so bad…it wasn’t like that.”
“Yes, it was,” she snapped. “I wish I was smart enough to make what you did sound worse than it was.”
With a curled lip, Carlo shot back, “You think I don’t know you got a notch on your own gun?” She glared while he explained, “Your mom told me all about that.”
“I’ll bet she did. I’ll bet she told you it was in no way comparable to murdering eight people in cold blood!” Saying it out loud, opened the wound that never seemed to heal. “Gesù, Giusep, Marie, eight people.”
“I wasn’t killing no choir boys. Anyone I took care of…they had it coming.”
“Well, now I know where mom learned that particular line of bullshit.”
“How do you know she learned that from me? Maybe I learned if from her.” With an insolent grin, he added, “I learned plenty from her.”
“Okay, we’re done here.”
“No, we’re not. Where’s my stuff?” She stared at him, at a loss for words, until he clarified, “The trunk of stuff Grandma left for you to hold on to for me.”
“Oh yeah. It’s out in the hall bathroom.”
“What!” Carlo bellowed. “You left my stuff out where anybody could’ve stolen it? What the hell’s wrong with you?”
“In the first place,” she stated through clenched teeth, “only I have a key to that bathroom, and in the second, who in the world is interested in stealing twenty-year-old suits?”
“It ain’t just suits! Where’s your grandma’s things? The mink I bought her and—”
“It’s all there. I just…checked on that mink last year.”
They were both startled by a knock at the door. Juli called, “Lucia? You almost ready to go?”
Lucia dashed over to the door and cracked it open, trying to shield Carlo from Juli’s line of sight. “Hi. Um, I’m with a client. You guys go on ahead and I’ll meet you there.”
“Okay.” Juli didn’t immediately leave, studying Lucia’s face instead. “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah…everything’s fine. I just gotta’ settle up with this guy and then I’ll be on my way.”
With that assurance she left, calling out, “Hurry or you’re gonna’ miss the free wings. We’ll warm up a table for you.”
Lucia turned back to her father who immediately asked, “Who’s the—”
“You better think very carefully about your word choice here.”
“Or what?”
“Or maybe you don’t get your stuff tonight.”
He shrugged and snickered, “We all used that word on the inside, you know.”
“You’re not in Graterford, Dad. You’re in my office, on my turf.”
“Fine. Who’s the colored lady?”
She winced at the term he had settled on but let it go, figuring he had chosen it purposely to irk her. “Juli is a good friend of mine. Now, let me get your trunk and you can be on your way. Wait here.”
©Felicia Watson
Review Where No One Will See by Felicia Watson
Just when P.I. Lucia Scafetti thinks that she is
getting her life in order, things start rapidly spinning out of control again.
Growing up in a well-known crime family, Lucia is
content to stay on the right side of the law and try her best to sanitize her
personal image in the eyes of the public. And she's doing pretty well, that is,
until her notorious father shows up at her door, fresh off an 18-year prison
sentence. He is trying to find an item
that he left with his mother all those years ago. She died while he was in
prison.
Lucia is naturally suspicious of her father. After
all, the man is a former hitman who also reportedly stole a diamond and a
collection of gold coins that have never been found. Even worse, Lucia is soon
informed that her father has gone missing and may be dead.
Lucia doesn't believe for a second that her father is
actually dead, but she knows that she needs to find out where he has gone,
especially after another body turns up that has a connection to her family.
Lucia is soon questioned by the police, as she was
seen arguing with the second victim shortly before his death and the man was
killed in the same way that her father used to kill his victims. Obviously,
none of this is looking good for Lucia, who only wishes to focus on her
business and date her new beau, a lawyer named Hank who has just moved into her
building.
Felicia Watson is a dynamite writer. I loved her sense
of pacing. Each new scene really moved the plot along and the final destination
was both surprising and totally in line with the rest of the story.
'Where No One Will See,' is a fascinating crime novel
that asks the famous question about whether blood is thicker than water, but in
a new an exciting way.
Awards for Felicia Watson
EVVY Award for Science Fiction, 2020 -We Have Met the Enemy 
About Felicia Watson
Felicia Watson, author of the ground-breaking romance, Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela, and the award-winning scifi novels, The Lovelace Series, started writing stories as soon as they handed her a pencil in first grade. 
Pre-order Where No One Will See by Felicia Watson
AmazonGiveaway Where No One Will See by Felicia Watson
Follow Where No One Will See by Felicia Watson
Hi Suzie, I am so glad you enjoyed 'Where No One Will See'! Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the wonderful review and the chance to be featured on your blog!
ReplyDelete