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“Celia, stop. I’m not calling about me. I can take care of myself.”
“Carmine!” she gasped. “Oh God, what did he do? Is he okay?”
“He’s . . .” Corrado shook his head. “Carmine will be fine. This isn’t about him. It’s about his father.”
There was nothing but silence on the line for a moment. Had he not detected her steady breathing, he might have suspected she hung up.
“Celia, Vincent is—”
“No.” She cut him off. “Don’t say what I think you’re going to say. Don’t . . . just don’t say it, Corrado.”
“I’m sorry, Bellissima.”
Before she could react, before he could say another word, the federal agent reached over and pressed the button on the phone, effectively ending the call.
“You have a lot of nerve,” Corrado seethed, his voice a low hiss escaping from between his angrily clenched teeth.
“You wanted to tell her and you did,” the agent said. “I didn’t have to give you that much.”
* * *
Disoriented, Carmine’s surroundings twisted and distorted as the interrogation room spun, the dark gray walls slowly closing in around him. Even though frigid air blew out of the vent above him, chilling his taut skin, his body felt like it was engulfed in fire. Teeth chattering, his flushed skin poured sweat, making his torn and bloody shirt stick to him uncomfortably.
Carmine tried to sort through everything that had happened, but he couldn’t think straight. It was all just too much. Agent Cerone and another man, whose name Carmine couldn’t remember hearing, sat across from him, while Mr. Borza sat to his right. The lawyer urged Carmine to cooperate, but the flickering fluorescent lights made it impossible for him to concentrate.
“Who fired the first shot?”
“I don’t remember. It happened too fast.”
“How many people were shooting?”
“I didn’t know. A few.”
“Did you fire a gun?”
“No.”
“Did Corrado Moretti?”
“Uh, I can’t say. I told you, it all happened too fast.”
“Well, what did you do when the shooting started?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“That’s right. Nothing.”
“And you didn’t see what happened?”
“No.”
“Did you hear anything?”
“Gunshots.”
“How many?”
