Chapter 7 - The Night Nell Finally Went Back
Nell had not stood inside Fontaine Bakery since the morning after the fire.
Even then, firefighters had stopped her at the sidewalk.
For years, the building existed in her memory as it had before.
Red brick.
Green awning.
Brass bell above the door.
Her mother laughing behind the counter.
Her father pretending not to give free cookies to children.
She preferred those memories to the photographs of blackened walls.
But when Benny showed her Sloane entering the abandoned building, something changed.
“I want to go.”
Carmine answered immediately.
“No.”
Nell stared at him.
“You've learned nothing.”
“I've learned quite a lot. One thing I've learned is that following a man under investigation into an abandoned building at night is generally a bad idea.”
“I didn't say tonight.”
“You were thinking tonight.”
“I was.”
“No.”
She folded her arms.
Carmine sighed.
“Please don't go tonight.”
“Better.”
“But still no.”
They compromised.
The next morning, with permission from the current property custodian and investigators aware of the visit, Nell returned.
Carmine and Benny went with her.
The front door opened reluctantly.
Nell stepped inside.
Dust covered everything.
Fire damage remained visible beneath later repairs.
The bakery counter was gone.
The ovens had been removed.
A faded patch on one wall showed where the menu board had once hung.
Nell didn't speak.
Carmine stayed several feet behind her.
She walked toward the kitchen.
Her breathing became shallow.
Then she saw the rear door.
A newer lock had replaced the original hardware.
But marks remained in the brick beside the frame.
Where a chain had once rubbed against it.
Nell touched the wall.
“This is where Dad tried to get out.”
Carmine said nothing.
She closed her eyes.
Then opened them again.
“I thought coming back would destroy me.”
“Does it?”
“No.”
She looked around.
“It just looks smaller.”
Benny called from the office.
“You need to see this.”
A section of floorboards had recently been disturbed.
Someone had pried them up.
Sloane had been searching.
Underneath was an empty cavity.
Nell frowned.
“What would have been there?”
She thought back.
Then remembered.
“My father kept cash under the floor.”
“Cash?”
“Not much. Emergency money.”
“Anything else?”
Nell shook her head.
Then froze.
“What?”
“Dad had a recorder.”
Carmine leaned closer.
“What kind?”
“Old digital voice recorder. He hated typing. When suppliers called, he'd record notes and write them down later.”
“Would he keep it here?”
“Sometimes.”
Benny examined the cavity.
“If Sloane came looking for something, maybe he thought the recorder survived.”
Nell walked through the office.
A built-in cabinet remained against one wall.
She opened it.
Empty.
Then she noticed a loose wooden panel behind the lowest shelf.
Her father had always hidden things in ridiculous places.
Birthday presents.
Emergency cash.
Her mother's anniversary necklace.
Nell knelt.
The panel came loose.
Behind it was a plastic bag blackened with soot.
Inside was an old digital recorder.
Nobody spoke.
Benny put on gloves.
“Don't touch anything else.”
Investigators collected it.
The device was damaged.
But its memory card survived.
Hours later, an audio technician recovered several files.
Most were ordinary.
Supplier orders.
Ingredient quantities.
A reminder about a refrigeration repair.
Then they found a recording dated two weeks before the fire.
Emmett's voice.
Then Victor Sloane's.
Nell gripped the edge of the table.
The recording was incomplete, apparently activated accidentally.
But Sloane's voice was clear.
He discussed the property.
Emmett refused.
Then another voice spoke.
Dominic Orsini.
Dominic wasn't threatening Emmett.
He was arguing with Sloane.
“You said negotiation,” Dominic said.
Sloane answered something indistinct.
Then Dominic's voice became clear again.
“If anything happens to this family, I'm done with you.”
The recording ended.
Carmine closed his eyes.
His uncle had made mistakes.
He had worked with Sloane.
But when he understood where Sloane was willing to go, he'd tried to stop him.
Another file existed.
Dated the night of the fire.
Only forty-seven seconds.
Emmett's voice sounded distant.
“Someone's inside.”
Then movement.
A door.
Footsteps.
A man's voice.
Not Sloane.
Investigators later compared it with archived recordings of Wade Mercer.
A likely match.
Then another voice appeared.
Sloane.
Only six words were clear.
“Make sure he can't get out.”
Nell stopped the recording.
She couldn't listen again.
She didn't need to.
The evidence went to investigators.
This time, Sloane wasn't simply questioned.
He was arrested on charges tied to conspiracy, obstruction, bribery and other alleged conduct uncovered during the reopened investigation. His attorneys denied the accusations and challenged the interpretation of the recovered material, leaving the ultimate determination to the courts.
For Nell, the arrest wasn't the important moment.
The important moment came two days later.
A state investigator visited Emmett.
He brought a corrected preliminary finding.
The evidence no longer supported the conclusion that the Fontaines caused the fire through negligence.
Emmett stared at the document.
Then looked at Nell.
“Told you.”
She laughed through tears.
“You did.”
“Always checked twice.”
“Yes, Dad.”
Emmett tapped the paper.
“Frame it.”
“I will.”
“Big frame.”
“The biggest.”
He smiled.
Then his eyes drifted toward the window.
For a moment Nell thought he was slipping away again.
Instead he said:
“Bakery needs paint.”
Nell looked at him.
“What?”
“Front door.”
“Dad, the bakery is closed.”
He frowned as if she had said something foolish.
“Then open it.”
Nell stared.
Carmine stood quietly in the doorway.
Emmett looked at him.
“You.”
Carmine pointed to himself.
“Me?”
“You have money?”
Nell covered her face.
“Dad.”
Carmine's mouth twitched.
“Some.”
“Good.”
Emmett nodded toward his daughter.
“She's expensive.”
For the first time in years, Nell laughed so hard she couldn't stop.
And Carmine realized the old man had just given him an instruction far more difficult than investigating a fire.
May you like
Help Eleanor Fontaine build something again.
---
