Chapter 21: The Reel

Eleven bosses sat in my grandfather's red velvet seats, and Silvio Ruzzo sat in the middle of the front row.

I stood in front of the screen with my father's cane.

Behind the half-wall, the booth light came on.

"This is the test," I said. "My father ran it five times, and each time a man walked out of this house hating me."

Nobody answered.

"Tonight you'll see what the five men saw."

The room went dark.

Remo's voice came from the booth, even and low.

"Rolling."

The fan whirred, and the projector threw a rectangle of white.

Then a basement wall appeared on the screen.

A young man sat in a chair with his hands tied, and his face was wet.

It was Danny.

I had not seen his face in six years.

I made myself stand still.

"Mr. Pesaro," Danny said, hoarse and young. "Please. I didn't know. They said it was a scare."

"Who said?" said my father's voice, off the screen.

"Mr. Ruzzo. Silvio Ruzzo. He met me at the pastry shop on Atwells and gave me an envelope."

Danny swallowed.

"He said only to tell his people which car was her mother's."

A sound came from the front row.

It was Silvio's captain, sitting two seats from him.

"He wore a camel coat," Danny said. "He bought me a cannoli."

The boss from Woonsocket turned his head slowly and looked at Silvio's coat.

"That's a boy lying to save himself," Silvio said, quite calmly.

"Is it?" I said. "Then listen to the other one."

I nodded toward the booth.

The screen went white, and the speakers crackled.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Every Man Who Loved Me Left Hating Me, Only My Father Knows Why from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.