Last to Die: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

woman.”
    “My dad left her.”
    “So that’s an excuse to run wild?”
    “Wild? My mom?”
    The front door opened. “Thank God you’re here!” said Korsak. “It’s two against one!” He grabbed Jane’s hand. “Come help me.”
    “You see?” said Mrs. Kaminsky, pointing at Korsak. “
He’s
what I’m talking about!”
    Jane followed Korsak into the house, relieved to close the front door against the neighbor’s disapproving stare. “What do you mean, two against one?”
    “I’m all on my own here. Your dad and Frankie keep hammering away, trying to get your mom to dump me.”
    “What does Mom say?”
    “Who knows what she’ll do? Any minute now, she’s gonna snap.”
    Kicking all these guys out of her house would be a good first step, thought Jane as she followed the sound of voices toward the kitchen. Of course this battle
would
have to be in the kitchen, where a sharp knife was always handy.
    “It’s like you’ve been taken over by pod people, and now you can’t think for yourself,” Jane’s father said.
    “Ma, we don’t know you anymore,” Frankie chimed in.
    “I just want my old Angela back. My wife and me together, the way we used to be.”
    Angela was sitting at the table, clutching her head as though to shut out the voices assaulting her.
    “Dad, Frankie,” said Jane. “Leave her alone.”
    Angela looked up at her daughter with desperate eyes. “What do I do, Janie? They’re making me so confused!”
    “There’s no confusion here,” said Frank. “We’re married, and that’s that.”
    “Last week, you were getting divorced,” said Korsak.
    “That was a misunderstanding.”
    “And her name was Sandie,” muttered Angela.
    “She meant nothing!”
    “Not what I heard,” said Korsak.
    “This has nothing to do with you,” said Jane’s brother. “Why are you still here, asshole?”
    “ ’Cause I love this woman, okay? After your dad walked out, I was the one who stood by her. I was the one who made her laugh again.” Korsak placed a possessive hand on Angela’s shoulder. “Now your dad needs to move on.”
    “Don’t touch my wife.” Frank slapped Korsak’s hand away from Angela.
    Korsak bristled. “Did you just hit me?”
    “What, you mean that little tap?” Frank gave Korsak’s arm a hard shove. “Or did you mean
that
?”
    “Dad, don’t,” said Jane.
    Korsak’s face flushed a dangerous red. With both hands he shoved Frank Rizzoli backward against the kitchen counter. “
That
was assaulting a police officer.”
    Jane’s brother shoved himself between the two older men. “Hey.
Hey
.”
    “You ain’t a police officer now!” Frank Senior yelled. “And no wonder! Fat ass with a bad ticker!”
    “Dad,”
Jane pleaded as she swept the nearby wood block of kitchen knives out of his reach. “Stop it.
Both
of you!”
    Korsak gave his shirt collar a tug. “I’ll overlook what just happened here, for Angela’s sake. But don’t think I’ll ever forget it.”
    “Get outta my house, asshole,” said Frank Senior.
    “Your house? You walked out on her,” pointed out Korsak. “That makes this
her
house.”
    “Which I’ve been paying the mortgage on for the past twenty years. Now you think you can just horn in on my property?”
    “Property?” Angela suddenly snapped straight, as if that word had driven a spear down her spine. “
Property?
Is that what I am to you, Frank?”
    “Ma,” said Frankie. “Dad didn’t mean it that way.”
    “He most certainly did.”
    “No I didn’t,” said Frank. “I’m just saying …”
    Angela shot him a thousand-volt look. “I am nobody’s property. I am my own woman.”
    “You tell him, babe,” said Korsak.
    Frank and Frankie snapped simultaneously: “
You
shut up.”
    “I want you out of here,” Angela said, rising from her seat at the table, a Valkyrie ready for battle. “Go,” she ordered.
    Frank and Korsak looked at each other uncertainly.
    “Well, you heard her,” said Korsak.
    “I mean both of you.
All
of you,” said Angela.
    Korsak shook his head in bewilderment. “But Angie—”
    “You’re giving me a headache with all this tugging and yelling. It’s my kitchen, my house, and I want it back.
Now
.”
    “Ma, that sounds like a good idea,” said Frankie. “A great idea.” He gave his father a pat on the back. “Come on, Dad. Give her time and she’ll come back to her senses.”
    “That,”
said Angela, “will not help your father’s case.” She glared at the