Chapter 3 - TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES THAT DISAPPEARED
Rocco covered the watch with his hand.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then he looked at Theo.
“Your father gave me that watch.”
“When?”
“Before he died.”
Theo shook his head.
“You told me everything Dad owned was destroyed in the fire.”
“I was protecting a fourteen-year-old boy.”
“From a wristwatch?”
Rocco's expression tightened.
“From the truth about a man you worshipped.”
That hurt Theo more than anything else Rocco had said.
I could see it.
Theo had kept a photograph of his father above the desk in his restaurant for twelve years.
Every anniversary of Anthony Caruso's death, he closed early and cooked his father's favorite meal.
His father was the reason he had wanted to become a better man than the people around him.
Now Rocco was using that love against him.
“Take it off,” Theo said.
Rocco frowned.
“Excuse me?”
“Let me see the watch.”
One of the men behind Rocco shifted.
Theo ignored him.
Finally, Rocco unfastened the silver band.
He placed the watch on a nearby table.
Theo picked it up carefully.
The scratched glass caught the chandelier light.
Then he turned it over.
On the back were three tiny letters.
A.C.
His father's initials.
“Dad engraved these himself,” Theo whispered.
Grandma leaned closer.
“Look at the hands.”
The watch had stopped.
9:17.
Nina made a small, frightened sound.
I looked at her.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“Nothing.”
“Nina,” Grandma said gently. “You don't have to protect anyone anymore.”
Nina stared at the watch.
“The fire was reported at 9:42 that night.”
Theo looked up.
“How do you know?”
“Because I was the one who called for help. I remember the dispatcher telling me officers were already on their way.”
She swallowed.
“But that wasn't when the fire started.”
Rocco moved forward.
“Don't.”
Nina looked straight at him.
“I saw smoke before nine-twenty.”
My stomach tightened.
Twenty-five minutes.
Twenty-five minutes during which six warehouse employees, including Nina's mother, had been trapped inside a burning building.
Theo turned toward his uncle.
“Why did the official report say nine-forty-two?”
Rocco didn't answer.
Grandma took the photograph from my hand.
“The officer in this picture,” she said. “His name was Daniel Keene.”
I remembered hearing that name.
Keene had been a respected Pittsburgh police official for years before retiring as deputy chief.
He appeared at charity dinners.
He gave speeches about public service.
He had even attended a fundraiser at Theo's restaurant.
“Keene investigated the fire?” I asked.
Grandma nodded.
“He supervised the original police inquiry.”
Nina's expression changed.
“Not just the inquiry.”
She sat down suddenly.
“I testified in 2005. Under oath. I told them about the chained loading entrance and the man who wouldn't let anyone remove it.”
“Who was that man?” Theo asked.
Nina looked toward Rocco.
He stared back at her.
“You remember what happened after that testimony,” he said quietly.
“Yes,” she answered. “I disappeared.”
Grandma gripped the back of a chair.
“You were eighteen. They told me you'd been transferred somewhere safe.”
“I was.”
Nina's voice shook.
“For a while.”
She explained that she had been relocated after giving evidence to a state investigative panel.
She received a new name.
Bianca Voss.
She moved away from Pittsburgh and tried to build an ordinary life.
Years later, she contacted Rocco through an intermediary after receiving threatening letters.
He offered financial protection.
But protection had become control.
“He kept telling me there was no reason to bring up the fire again,” Nina said.
Rocco's face had grown pale.
“I paid for your apartment. I helped you find work.”
“You also made sure every job depended on you.”
“I kept Keene away from you.”
Grandma looked sharply at him.
“Why would a retired police officer threaten a witness?”
Rocco glanced toward the guests.
“Because some men don't stop being dangerous when they retire.”
For the first time, I heard genuine fear beneath his anger.
Theo returned the watch to the table.
“I'm keeping this.”
Rocco didn't argue.
Instead, he looked exhausted.
“You don't know what your father did before he went inside that building.”
“Then tell me.”
Rocco opened his mouth.
But Nina spoke first.
“I know what happened before he went in.”
Everyone turned.
She pressed her trembling fingers together.
“Your father came to the loading entrance. He was arguing with Officer Keene.”
“About what?”
“The workers.”
A tear rolled down her cheek.
“Anthony kept saying the doors had to be opened.”
Theo stared at her.
“But he signed the order.”
“Yes.”
Nina wiped her face.
“And then he tried to cancel it.”
Rocco closed his eyes.
Grandma looked toward the watch.
May you like
Then Nina said something that made my blood run cold.
“The last thing I heard your father say was, ‘If you don't open those doors, I'll tell everyone what we brought into this warehouse tonight.’”
