Chapter 3 - SEVENTEEN DAYS
Matteo did not hit Anthony.
That surprised Luca.
Anthony too.
Matteo could see it.
Instead, he sat across from him in the private office at Pier Seventeen.
Daniel’s watch lay on the desk between them.
Gold.
Cracked face.
Eleven years of lies reflected in it.
“Start at the beginning.”
Anthony looked older.
Not forty-eight.
Seventy.
“Roberto had been stealing for years.”
“How?”
“Union pension money.”
“Vendor contracts.”
“Port fees.”
“Cash shipments.”
“Who else knew?”
“Thomas Vale.”
“Our accountant?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel discovered it.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“About two months before he disappeared.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“He was gathering proof.”
Matteo closed his eyes.
Of course.
Daniel always wanted proof before accusation.
Matteo preferred accusation followed by proof.
Maybe Daniel had known that.
Anthony continued:
“Daniel came to me first.”
“Why you?”
“Because I controlled security.”
“You were his friend.”
“Yes.”
“Were.”
Anthony flinched.
Good.
“What did you tell him?”
“That I’d help.”
“Did you?”
“At first.”
Matteo stared.
“What changed?”
“Roberto found out Daniel knew.”
“How?”
“I told him.”
There it was.
No excuse.
Matteo’s fingers tightened.
“Why?”
Anthony looked down.
“My father owed Roberto.”
“What?”
“Gambling.”
“Loans.”
“Years before.”
Matteo almost laughed.
Everyone’s betrayal seemed to begin with debt.
“Roberto threatened him?”
“My father was already sick.”
“He threatened my sister.”
Matteo remembered.
Anthony’s younger sister Maria.
Two children.
Moved to Florida soon after Daniel died.
“You chose your family over mine.”
“Yes.”
The honesty burned.
Then:
“I told myself I could control what happened.”
“You told Roberto Daniel was investigating him.”
“Yes.”
“What did Roberto do?”
“He grabbed Daniel after he left Pier Seventeen.”
“Did you help?”
“I gave them the route he’d take.”
Matteo stood so quickly the chair fell.
Luca moved instinctively.
Matteo raised one hand.
Stop.
He walked to the window.
Harbor lights.
Black water.
Eleven years.
He turned back.
“Then what?”
“They took Daniel to a farmhouse outside Newark.”
“Was he tortured?”
Anthony closed his eyes.
“Some.”
Matteo’s voice went low.
“Be precise.”
“He was beaten.”
“Questioned.”
“They wanted the evidence.”
“Did he give it?”
“No.”
“Of course not.”
“What were you doing?”
“I went there.”
“Why?”
“To get him out.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“What happened for seventeen days?”
Anthony told him.
Daniel refused to reveal where copies were hidden.
Roberto panicked because federal auditors were already reviewing union accounts.
Thomas Vale wanted Daniel killed immediately.
Anthony argued against it.
Not morality.
Damage control.
If Daniel died visibly, Matteo would never stop looking.
So Roberto created another solution.
Warehouse Nine.
A burned body.
Daniel’s ring?
No.
That was where the deception nearly failed.
Daniel had already given the watch to Elena.
So Anthony arranged a duplicate personal effect.
A signet chain.
Burned wallet.
Dental identification manipulated through a friendly examiner.
Matteo stared.
“And I believed you.”
“Yes.”
“My mother believed you.”
“Yes.”
“She died believing Daniel burned alive.”
Anthony’s voice broke.
“I know.”
Matteo leaned forward.
“You do not get to say that phrase.”
Anthony nodded.
Then:
“Daniel tried to escape on day seventeen.”
Matteo went still.
“What happened?”
“He got out of the farmhouse.”
“Made it to a gas station.”
“Called someone.”
“Who?”
Anthony looked at him.
“Elena.”
Matteo’s stomach dropped.
Across the hall, Elena was waiting.
Eleven years of silence suddenly looked different.
“She spoke to him again?”
“Yes.”
“Tonight she said he gave her the watch the night before the fire.”
“She didn’t tell you about the call.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel told her not to.”
Matteo stood.
He walked into the adjacent office.
Elena looked up.
Grace sat asleep against her side beneath a borrowed coat.
Matteo kept his voice low.
“Daniel called you.”
Elena’s face changed.
“Yes.”
“Seventeen days later.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her eyes filled.
“Because he told me if I contacted you, Anthony would know.”
Matteo looked back through the glass.
Anthony lowered his head.
Elena continued:
“He said somebody in your family was watching your phones.”
“Did he say where he was?”
“No.”
“He sounded sick.”
“Hurt.”
“He asked if I still had the watch.”
“I said yes.”
“Then?”
“He told me to keep it hidden.”
“And the key?”
“He said if he didn’t call again by New Year’s, I should give both to you.”
Matteo stared.
“Why didn’t you?”
Her face crumpled.
“Because Anthony came to my apartment first.”
There.
“What did he say?”
“That Daniel was dead.”
“That if I ever gave you the watch, you’d think I had been involved.”
“And?”
“He said you would kill me before I could explain.”
Matteo looked toward Grace.
Eight years old.
Elena would have been twenty-six when she had her.
Three years after Daniel’s death.
No secret-child contradiction.
Good.
This was about fear.
Not bloodline tricks.
“Why keep it for eleven years?”
Elena whispered:
“Because Daniel asked me to.”
“And because I was afraid.”
“Why bring it now?”
She looked at Grace.
“My daughter found it.”
Matteo frowned.
“Where?”
“In my sewing box.”
Grace had apparently asked why her mother kept “a broken man’s watch” wrapped in cloth.
Elena finally told her pieces.
Then three weeks ago, Anthony came into Harbor Grill after closing.
Not for food.
For Elena.
“He asked whether I still had anything Daniel gave me.”
Matteo’s chest tightened.
“Why now?”
“I don’t know.”
Anthony answered from the doorway.
“Because Roberto’s old ledger surfaced.”
Everyone turned.
Luca had brought him.
Matteo stared.
“What ledger?”
Anthony swallowed.
“A private account book.”
“Where?”
“Federal evidence storage.”
“How did you know?”
“Paul Greene called me.”
The retired police lieutenant.
Still involved.
Anthony continued:
“Someone requested the old evidence under a civil-record review.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“And you panicked.”
“Yes.”
“You thought Elena might still have Daniel’s evidence.”
“Yes.”
“So you threatened her.”
“I warned her.”
Elena stood.
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“You came to my apartment.”
“You told me if I talked to Matteo, Grace would grow up without a mother.”
Anthony looked ashamed.
Matteo became still.
Very still.
“You threatened her daughter.”
“I never intended—”
“Stop.”
One word.
Anthony stopped.
Matteo turned away because rage had become physical.
Luca watched him.
Waiting.
Matteo heard Daniel’s voice from the tape:
Don’t turn this into revenge.
Find out who profited.
He breathed.
Once.
Twice.
Then:
“Anthony.”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to tell federal investigators everything.”
Anthony stared.
“You’d hand family business to the government?”
Matteo looked at him.
“You stopped being family business when you threatened an eight-year-old.”
Silence.
Then Anthony said:
“If I cooperate, people will come for me.”
Matteo almost laughed.
“Now you understand Elena.”
Anthony looked away.
Matteo turned to Elena.
“You and Grace need somewhere safe.”
She stiffened.
“I’m not going into one of your houses.”
“Good.”
She blinked.
Matteo continued:
“You choose.”
“Hotel.”
“Relative.”
“Secure apartment.”
“Whatever you want.”
“I’ll cover it.”
“That doesn’t mean I own the decision.”
She studied him.
Then:
“My sister lives in Staten Island.”
“Would you feel safe there?”
“No.”
“Then not there.”
Grace woke slightly.
“Mom?”
Elena stroked her hair.
“I’m here.”
The child looked toward Matteo.
“Did you find the secret place?”
“Yes.”
“Was your brother there?”
The question hit him.
“No.”
Grace looked sad for him.
Then:
“Did he leave you something?”
Matteo looked at the watch.
“Yes.”
“What?”
He swallowed.
“The truth.”
Grace nodded as if that made sense.
Children often understood what adults complicated.
Then Anthony’s confiscated phone buzzed on the desk.
Luca picked it up.
Unknown number.
Message:
YOU SHOULD HAVE BURNED THE WATCH WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE.
Matteo stared.
Anthony went pale.
“That isn’t Roberto.”
“He’s dead.”
“No.”
Anthony looked at him.
“It’s Paul Greene.”
The retired detective.
The man who had shut Elena down eleven years earlier.
The man Anthony claimed was only covering old evidence.
May you like
And according to Anthony’s face—
the man who had never stopped working for whoever survived Roberto.
