Chapter 5 - THE RECORDING
The cassette player was found in a storage cupboard at the care facility. Emmett had kept it because he liked listening to old jazz recordings, though the staff said he had not used it in months.
Nell sat beside her father in the small activity room. Carmine remained near the door with Detective LeBlanc. Benny had arranged for the tape to be copied before they played it, preserving the original as evidence.
The machine clicked.
Static filled the room.
Then a woman's voice emerged.
Nell's mother.
“October seventeenth. If anyone finds this, I want the date recorded. Rafe Bellandi came to the bakery again. He said the block was going to be redeveloped and that we should accept his offer before the city made things difficult.”
Nell closed her eyes.
Her mother continued.
“Emmett told him no. Rafe said the decision would become more expensive if we waited. He asked whether the fire insurance was current. I told him that was none of his business.”
There was a pause, followed by a chair scraping.
“Today, Louis Gallo came to inspect the rear exit. He said there had been complaints about theft. I showed him the new panic bar. He told me it needed an external chain at night. I refused. The fire code says the door must open from inside.”
Another pause.
“I called t
After the meeting, Carmine asked his accountant to prepare a complete schedule of the property transaction, including the original purchase price, the loan guarantee, the later sale, and any distributions made to Orsini companies. He wanted the numbers reviewed by an outside firm with no prior connection to his family.
His accountant warned that the review might reveal more than the Fontaine property. Carmine told him to include every related payment anyway.
At the care facility, Nell played the recording for herself one more time. She wrote down the exact words about the rear door and compared them with the date on the inspection notice. The sequence matched. Her mother had complained before the fire, and the city office had confirmed that no chain had been authorized.
Nell placed the transcript beside her mother's recipe notebook. For years, the notebook had represented the part of her family she could still carry. Now it also held the evidence that might restore their name.
Emmett watched her from his chair.
“Your mama,” he said again.
“Yes,” Nell replied. “She kept everything.”
He pointed toward the notebook. “Good.”
Nell smiled. “She was always organized.”
A nurse brought in his evening medication. Nell helped him take it, then read him a short passage from the newspaper. He drifted off before she reached the end.
When she stepped into the corridor, Carmine was waiting with two cups of tea.
“I didn't know whether you wanted company,” he said.
“I don't always know either.”
“Then I'll leave one here. You can decide.”
He placed the cup on the table and moved away. Nell watched him go, surprised by how much it mattered that he had not insisted she talk.
he city office. They told me no such instruction had been issued. I believe someone is using the inspector's name.”
Nell pressed her fingers against her lips.
The recording continued.
“If anything happens to this bakery, it will not be an accident.”
The tape ended with a soft click.
No one spoke.
Emmett had begun to cry. Nell took his hand.
“You knew,” she whispered. “You remembered.”
He nodded.
Detective LeBlanc asked for the tape to be submitted to the forensic lab. The recording could be authenticated through the original cassette, the date references, and comparison with other recordings of Nell's mother.
Carmine stood beside the window.
“Rafe knew the bakery would not sell. Gallo changed the door. My father paid the investigator afterward.”
Nell looked at him.
“Your father helped bury the truth.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know why?”
“No. But I will find out.”
Detective LeBlanc closed her notebook.
“Mr. Orsini, I need to be clear. If your father's company paid an investigator to interfere with a fire inquiry, we may be looking at obstruction and financial crimes. I will need access to the original records, not copies selected by your security chief.”
“You'll have it.”
“And I want your staff to stop contacting witnesses privately.”
Carmine nodded.
“Agreed.”
After the detective left, Nell stayed with her father. Carmine waited in the corridor.
A few minutes later, she joined him.
“I want to hear the rest of the tape alone,” she said.
“Of course.”
“And I want the recipe notebook returned when the police finish with it.”
“I'll make sure they know.”
She looked at him.
“You keep saying you'll make sure. Why?”
“Because I can.”
“That isn't the same as having the right.”
Carmine considered her words.
“No. It isn't.”
He took a folded document from his coat.
“This is a copy of the property transfer. After the fire, the building was sold to a company called Rivergate Holdings. My father's office guaranteed the loan. Two years later, the property was transferred to Bellandi Development.”
Nell read the page.
“Your family profited from the fire.”
“My father did.”
“And you inherited the profit.”
Carmine did not argue.
“I've asked my accountant to identify every asset that came from that transaction. If the property can be returned or its value restored, I'll put it into a trust for you and your father.”
Nell handed the paper back.
“I don't want hush money.”
“Neither do I.”
“Then don't offer me money before the truth is known.”
Carmine nodded.
“Fair.”
That evening, he called a meeting with the Orsini business managers. He ordered them to preserve all records connected to Bellandi Development, the Fontaine property, and Harold Voss. Anyone who destroyed or altered a document would be dismissed and referred to investigators.
One manager, Salvatore Greco, objected.
“Boss, some of those records involve your father's private accounts. They have nothing to do with the current business.”
“Then they should be easy to preserve.”
“Your father made decisions for this family. Digging them up could damage everything he built.”
Carmine looked at him.
“Maybe some of it deserves to be damaged.”
Salvatore's expression hardened.
“You're letting a housemaid tell you how to run the family.”
The room went still.
Carmine rose.
“Her name is Nell Fontaine. She is the daughter of a man who lost his business because people in this room decided his life was cheaper than a development contract. You will use her name when you speak about her.”
Salvatore lowered his eyes.
The meeting ended without another objection.
Later that night, Benny brought Carmine a report. Louis Gallo had been seen meeting Salvatore Greco at a private restaurant two days earlier.
Carmine read the date.
“
The police arrived within minutes. Detective LeBlanc took statements from Nell, Carmine, Benny, and the officers who had intervened. Gallo and the second man were transported separately. The weapon was secured, and the parking-lot cameras were copied before the facility could overwrite the footage.
Nell gave her statement without leaving anything out. She described the badge, the tattoo, the first grab, and the words Gallo used about her father. When the detective asked whether she could identify him formally, Nell said yes.
Carmine remained outside the interview room. He wanted to be beside her, but she had asked him not to answer for her. He respected that request.
Benny joined him in the corridor.
“You could have let us handle the whole thing,” Benny said.
“She needed to give her own account.”
Benny nodded. “You sound different lately.”
“Maybe I am.”
“Your father would have called that a weakness.”
“My father called a lot of things strength that were only fear with better clothes.”
Benny considered the remark. He had served the Orsini family for years and had never questioned the rules. But he had also watched Carmine change the way the household treated its staff, preserve records, and invite the police into matters the family once would have handled privately.
“Whatever happens,” Benny said, “I'll follow your instructions.”
“Follow the law,” Carmine replied. “Not me.”
Benny looked at him for a long moment, then nodded.
Later, Palmira brought Nell a clean blouse and a small plate of toast. She sat beside her without asking questions.
“You don't have to be brave every minute,” Palmira said.
Nell looked down at the bandage. “I don't know how to stop.”
“Then borrow some calm from the people around you. That's what family is for.”
Nell did not answer, but she ate the toast. It was the first thing she had eaten since the attack.
Why didn't you tell me?”
“I didn't know until this evening.”
“Find out what they discussed.”
Benny hesitated.
“There's another problem. Someone accessed the security camera system at the care facility. The footage of the man who tried to enter Mr. Fontaine's room has been deleted.”
Carmine's jaw tightened.
“Can it be recovered?”
“Possibly. The facility's server was backed up, but the backup is missing too.”
“Who had access?”
“Only the administrator, the night supervisor, and one external maintenance contractor.”
“Name?”
“Louis Gallo's company.”
Carmine stared at the report.
Gallo was no longer just a witness from an old fire.
He was still working to keep the truth buried.
At the care facility, Nell sat beside her father and listened to the cassette again through headphones. She wrote down every name, every date, every phrase.
When she removed the headphones, Emmett was watching her.
“Your mother,” he whispered.
“I know, Daddy.”
He touched the recipe card she had placed beside him.
“Pie.”
Nell smiled through her tears.
“I'm going to make one for you.”
“Like… before.”
“Exactly like before.”
Emmett's eyes softened.
“Seven minutes.”
Nell laughed quietly.
May you like
“Seven minutes.”
For the first time in years, the memory did not feel like something she had to hide.
