Chapter 2 - The Watch That Stopped at 9:40
Adeline had never seen a man become so pale without losing a drop of blood.
Emmett Castellano stared at her father's necklace as though it had opened a door he'd spent thirty years trying to keep closed.
"Samuel Caruso?" he repeated.
Adeline nodded.
"Did you know him?"
Emmett sat opposite her in the small conference room where paramedics had just finished examining her.
They had advised medical follow-up if her breathing difficulties returned or worsened.
Adeline held a paper cup of water with both hands.
"My father died in prison three years ago," she said.
"I know."
Her fingers tightened.
"Then you know what people said about him."
Emmett looked directly at her.
"People can be wrong."
She almost laughed.
"Not according to the newspapers."
He leaned forward.
"Thirty years ago, my mother worked in a garment factory owned by a company connected to Sterling Dunore's father."
Adeline remembered the old family photograph of Emmett's mother in a factory uniform.
She'd seen it during her own investigation.
"One night," Emmett continued, "a supervisor tried to force her to sign a false accident report."
Adeline frowned.
"What happened?"
"She refused."
His jaw tightened.
"The man grabbed her. Nobody intervened."
Adeline remembered Hershel turning away in the lobby.
Marlene retreating into the elevator.
Denny staring at his security monitor.
The pattern was painfully familiar.
Emmett continued.
"Then a young maintenance worker stepped between them."
"Samuel?"
He nodded.
"Your father."
Adeline's eyes filled.
"Dad never told me."
"He was nineteen. He'd only worked there for six weeks."
Emmett lifted his wrist.
"My mother gave him this watch afterward. It stopped during the struggle when it struck a machine."
Adeline stared at the battered watch.
9:40.
Thirty years.
"Why didn't he repair it?" she whispered.
"He tried. But after my mother died, Samuel returned it to me. He said some moments deserve to be remembered exactly as they happened."
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
Her father had spent his entire life helping people.
And he'd died with the world calling him a thief.
Emmett's voice softened.
"He wasn't a criminal, Adeline."
She looked up sharply.
"What?"
"I've spent three years investigating the conviction that destroyed your family."
Her heart began pounding.
"Why?"
"Because I recognized the name when I read the court documents."
She stared at him.
"You bought this company because of my father?"
"Partly."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
Emmett looked away.
"Because I needed to know who inside the company was still involved."
Adeline thought of the black memory card hidden beneath the envelopes.
She swallowed.
"What if I told you I found something?"
Emmett's eyes sharpened.
"What?"
She reached into her purse.
Her hands trembled.
Then she placed the card on the table.
"Three weeks ago, I copied files from the third-floor records room."
Emmett stared.
"What kind of files?"
Adeline lowered her voice.
"The original financial records used to convict my father."
For the first time, Emmett looked genuinely shaken.
Then she revealed the secret she'd discovered the previous night.
"The signature on the document that sent him to prison wasn't his."
May you like
She swallowed.
"It belonged to Sterling Dunore."
