Gaia sighed as she came down the stairs from the tiny apartment above Gianna's restaurant. This wasn't the place for her, but the problem of the Mafia was ever present. Harry had three new friends in the Pucci cousins. Twins Antonio and Vincenzo accompanied her whenever Harry couldn't.

Salvatore was a deep mystery. He was the oldest of the three. A quiet steady worker, his job was to care for the liquor stock. His common Monday duty, to unload the beer and ale barrels as they arrived on large trucks in a steady parade. Tuesday was meat delivery. Placido butchered many of his own cuts from carcasses properly aged in cold storage before delivery.

Maria's forte were the pastries and cakes. Her tiramisu was famous across the Bronx. Gelato was Wednesday's special project, and Salvatore always took the first gallon pail of strawberry home with him.

"Maria, why does he always disappear home with the ice cream?" Gaia asked.

"Gelato, Gaia, gelato. Sì, sì, for his daughters. Twins run in our family, but he lost his darling Rosina when they were born. His girls look exactly like their mother. Sal is half a man without her, and we cannot convince him to consider the possibility of a new love. A mother for them." Maria tightened the bow of her apron at her waist and flipped her long white braid over her shoulder before wrapping it up and putting it under a hair net.

"For some, it is one for ever and always. I haven't felt anything from   at all. They are at peace with each other and what happened." She tucked her own bright braid up under the over sized beret she used at work. It kept the beacon of her red hair disguised when Russo's thugs came through to make threats. So far, it worked.

"You have a precious gift, Gaia. Can we solve the mystery of Eduardo Russo? Melinda's Graham thinks so. I like him and his serious face. His eyes follow her like she is his life. My darling granddaughter glows because of our death Doctor." Maria tipped the mixing paddles out of her giant mixer. "Now, let us see if we can make your soda bread properly. A little Irish in our Italian restaurant is a grand thought."

"Mama taught me, and we measured everything I put in the mixing bowl by eye yesterday. Now I have added up everything to make ten loaves instead of two," Gaia said. "I know it might not work out exactly right on the first try though. Not unless we are very lucky."

"Same problem with the gelato," Maria agreed. "Getting the same taste as the test batch in the five gallon batches is tricky. Usually it is good, but not best on the first try."

Gaia gathered the flour, milk, salt, sugar and backing soda before looking for the vinegar.

"We will use basalmic vinegar to give it the little twist of Italy to go with it, we will use a little whole wheat flour, and some flax and poppy seeds."

"Where is the basalmic?" Gaia asked.

"Over beside the salad prep area. Melinda bring us the bottle, please."

"It's almost empty Nona. How much will you need for that?" She brought the bottle with around two inches of dark liquid in it, over to them.

"That's enough. We are only going to curdle the milk over there. 2/3 of a cup, Melinda. Pour it into the bowl we have ready," Gaia requested.

"I'll sift the rest of the dry ingredients into the mixer bowl while the milk and vinegar react," Maria said as she poured almost a full bag of flour into the big industrial bowl.

"If you are using this vinegar, how about a few Italian herbs as well?" Gaia suggested.

"Good idea. Maybe half a cup of dried onion flakes and three tablespoons of powdered dried oregano. We can serve it with garlic butter, or honey butter." Maria decided.

"I think we will need a bit more milk then," Gaia suggested.

"Let's see how it comes together first. I'm going to bake it in the pizza oven, not the wall ovens." Maria said. "A true mix of Irish and Italian."

"What are you doing?" Placido walked in the delivery door at the back of the kitchen.

"Trying a new bread recipe," Maria raised her head, turning toward her husband as he dropped a kiss on her cheek.

"Then it is good that I made the pizza dough last night." He opened the cooler and disappeared inside.

"He almost never forgets to do it last thing at night," Maria said. "Last time he did, was the night Rosina passed."

Placido came out of the cooler with a massive bowl balanced against his hip. At the pizza station, he placed it on the counter and pushed it all the way on with two arms.

"Aye, that was a sad night, birth and death at the same time. A good reason to forget. But more important, where is Eduardo's hiding place?"

"What?" Maria's disgusted question hung in the air.

"Detective Kang said they missed him again last night." Placido's terse statement hung in the air. Finding Eduardo Russo's lair was proving to be difficult.

"I need to get closer to him, or the thugs," Gaia demanded. "It's the only way. The dead walk with them, and they will show me the truth of where he lays his head to sleep."

"You can't, Red," Salvatore strode through from the bar with an empty beer barrel on his shoulder. "I won't lose another mother. Especially not to that monster."

She wiped her hands on her apron and moved to open the door for him. "I won't do harm to my self or my child." She patted her bulging abdomen as she waited for him to come inside again. "I have ways of protecting myself from danger. But there is no other way. Eduardo punishes loose lips with death. There is no second chance. We have seen it ourselves, how men disappear suddenly, only to turn up on Graham's examination table."

"The reporter who died last week is the last straw," Antonio's angry declaration brought a nodded from his grandfather.

Harry came in through the delivery entrance, and said, "I think I have a plan. The truck drivers see things, and one of them told me where Eduardo might be hiding when the police raid. There is a spy. I must take the news to Kang, but Gaia, love, you are correct. We need the dead to confirm."

"As we planned?" she asked.

Harry nodded.

Salvatore grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, almost lifting him off his feet. "Are you crazy man! You cannot risk the mother of your child."

"We won't. We have the perfect place to conceal her. There is no way Eduardo or those who do his filthy work for him will see you, will they." Harry ran his hand over Gaia's stomach.

"Not likely." Her smile was smug.

"So, tell us how?" Vincenzo asked.

Harry raised his hands, and muttered a few words under his breath as he waved the wand he pulled out of his vest pocket.

Gaia vanished.