Free Bosom Bodies (Mina's Adventures) by Maria Grazia Swan Page B

wh ich box it is in. I didn’t mark it.”
    “Look, you have to unpack at some point. Besides, if it is perfume that spilled, it may damage whatever else is in the box. I’m offering to help. Come on, it’ll be fun. Let’s take the bottle and glasses and make it an unpacking adventure.”
    After all the evenings of pure boredom, his suggestion sounded like an invitation from heaven. They each grabbed their glass of Prosecco. Diego picked up the bottle and they headed to her bedroom.
    All the boxes had been sealed with packing tape. Mina suggested a metal nail file to replace a box cutter, but Diego pulled out a pocketknife . The blade caught the reflection of the light fixture.
    “Let ’s start with the smaller boxes, ” Mina suggested. She didn’t want Diego to know she felt intimidated by his knife.
    They ended up sitting cross-legged on the bathroom mat. Mina grabbed the closest box from the counter. All the contents spilled around her. The tape holding the bottom together had been slashed open.
    “Are you okay?” Diego asked.
    Covered with bath salts and cotton balls she nodded. She was shocked . S he examined the now empty box. It had no markings except for the word ‘top’ clearly marked in black. That same marking was on all the boxes. Why cut open the bottom? She looked at Diego. He frowned , then stood and slid his hands along the bottom of the next box before turning it over. It , too , had been slit open.
    “Mina, do you have a larger container we can use to empty the boxes that are already opened?”
    Again, she nodded and went to get one of the larger boxes where her clothes used to be. She brought it into the bathroom and they checked box by box. All had been opened, obviously searched, and then set back to look untouched. Angelina had a busy night.
    “Why?” Mina asked herself out loud.
    “She was looking for something.”
    “Looking for what? Inexpensive toiletries, trinkets? Look , a broken purse mirror. Well , I hope that gives Angelina however many years of bad luck you Americans say . ”
    Trying to joke didn’t help. Next came the box where Mina had packed her mother’s Boucheron bottle. The spilled perfume had dr ied in a dark ring on the cardboard. Inside, the delicate cap was broken, but the glass bottle remained intact. Mina was devastated. She didn’t want to look anymore. This was senseless. Why?
    Diego g rew quiet. “Mina, Angelina wants something you have. It must be something small, something that would fit in one o f these boxes. Think about it. D id she mention anything? Maybe as a joke, asked to see something personal?”
    Mina kept shaking her head. She felt violated. In a way, she was glad to have Diego t here. It gave her a sense of security she didn’t quite know how to define.
    Her phone rang again . She hesitated, then stood and walked over to the bed where she had left the phone after DeFiore ’s call.
    She felt like a defeated soul. “Hello?”
    “Mina, what’s wrong?” Brian sounded concerned .
    “Oh, hi, Brian. You know, it’s Christmastime . Y ou are a million miles away.” She wasn’t going to talk about Angelina and spilled perfume bottles.
    Mina felt Diego’s stare on her back . She turned. He mimicked walking with his fingers. She understood, watched him stride to the end of the hall, past the living room and leave through the terrace door. His scent of mo untain pine lingered long after he left.

Chapter 10
     
    A drab December sun preened on Mina’s terrace. She watched from inside the glass door, her hands entwined around her hot coffee mug. By morning’s light, last night seemed surreal. She had shared a glass of Prosecco with Diego, the former cook at Bosom Bodies. And she liked the time spent together. That was the sticky point , s o sticky , she had trouble dealing with it.
    At first she convinced herself her sense of bliss came from Brian’s phone call, but after they hung up , she went to lock the terrace door through which Diego left