Armand Lombardo held a simple funeral for his parents and in-laws seven days after their demise. It was a private ceremony attended by their closest relatives and friends. They were buried at a private cemetery in their hometown, Lancaster, not far from their mansion in the elite neighborhood of Redburrough Hills.
The press was all over the area and covered the event from outside the church where the mass took place, they even followed the convoy to the cemetery.
It was a hard day for Ariana. She watched the coverage from the motel’s 32 inch television with bad reception. She was wiping tears from her face throughout the program.
Diego stood leaning against the wall and watched from behind, observing every detail that was shown on the television and her reaction to it.
Armand was in frame many times. The world’s eyes were on him. He looked like he hadn’t had a lot of sleep since the shooting. He had lost some weight. There’s an aura of gloom gushing out of his whole being. People were sympathizing with the tragedy he had to go through.
He made a brief statement in front of the church just before the convoy left to the burial site.
“I would like to extend my gratitude for all the prayers, the condolences and the sincere attention that many have given me … I truly am humbled by the amount of care and thoughtfulness that people have expressed over this tragedy,” he paused.
He seemed to be holding something back, he swallowed hard and cleared his throat. “I … I wish my wife is here with me … she is the only one that can give me the comfort I need in this time of grief … I know that the police are doing everything they can to find her, and I can’t even imagine my life …” he stopped and looked down.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “It has been seven days since my wife was taken away from me … and I will not stop to look for her … if anyone out there has any information relating to her, please contact the police immediately … I will do everything I can to get her back.”
There was the sound of people sniffing around him. They all felt his agony.
“Today … I will lay all four of our parents to rest without Ari by my side … this is the worst moment I have ever had in my whole entire life, I still couldn’t believe this is really happening,” he creased his brows, tears started to fall on his cheeks.
“Ari … if you are watching this … I want you to know … I will never give up on you, like you have never given up on me … I will find you, I will take you home, and we will get through this terrible loss together … as a family … as we should …” he wiped the tears from his eyes. “I love you … I just want you back, baby.”
Ari curled up on the bed and sobbed. Armand’s heartfelt speech had melted her heart. He seemed like he was grieving and in a lot of pain. She was almost convinced that he had nothing to do with the killing.
Diego scratched the back of his neck. That cocksucker really knew what he was doing, he thought. He knew that Ari was probably watching because she wasn’t really kidnapped. He knew if he had said all those things convincingly, it would have the effect he wanted on her psych.
Armand knew her like the back of his hand, that’s how he had been manipulating her all those years and kept her in his clutch. With the looks of it, he was succeeding. Ari was a mess.
“He’s lying, Ari … he’s trying to fish you out of hiding … but that means he has no clue where you are right now.”
She was crying in anguish, she couldn’t hear anything around her.
“I would like to ask my fellow members of the press to respect my privacy at the moment, I will not be able to answer any questions and I kindly ask you to respect the privacy of my guests and relatives … to give us space for mourning and to resolve this matter in peace, thank you.” Armand ended his speech and escorted to his limo.
Diego walked out of the room. He left Ari sulking on the bed and let her mourn her parents death. He took out a cigarette, lit it, took a long drag from it. He knew she wasn’t just crying for her parents. It was what Armand had said to the camera, what he said to her, it weakened her like so many times before.
He felt a sting inside his chest. All that effort of kidnapping herself out of that house, away from that man, it was very probable that she would end up dead or going back to him. All his work for the past three months will be for nothing.
When he came back, the TV was still on. She was sitting up and watching intently.
“Following the case of the missing bride … a local Gastonburry jogger had found a body of a woman this morning at a pond about 4 miles from the Lombardo summer home where the infamous raid took place.”
“The police are still investigating the identity of the mysterious woman who was said to have been shot multiple times on the face. Police stated that her face was disfigured and the condition of the body was severely decomposed after days in the water. The body was found without any clothes and was suspected to have been sexually assaulted. Autopsy report will determine whether the body belongs to Ariana Montenero Lombardo.”
She turned to look at Diego, “Why was that woman dumped on a pond and not found with the rest of the victims at the house?”