Pie Man glitch
That seems very strange. Not like you can store anything to end the task - guess you might need to contact EA support.
Forum Discussion
I've encountered this problem as well. As for the OPs problem of starting the task 7 hours prior only to discover that only 20 minutes has passed. I think that this occurs when you send a character on a duel task and close the game before they have time to engage. It noticed this with Homer and Matt G's joint task. Just make sure Homer has engaged with the felon before closing your game. This should solve that problem
