Chapter 7 - THE PIANO REMEMBERS
Ethan stared at the photograph for nearly a minute.
Rosa remembered the day immediately.
She had been six months pregnant.
She had stood outside Caldwell Holdings for almost two hours.
She had asked reception to tell Ethan she was there.
Eventually a man in a gray suit came downstairs.
He said Ethan refused to see her.
Rosa had believed him.
“What was his name?” Ethan asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Would you recognize him?”
“Yes.”
Ethan handed the photograph to Daniel.
“Find everyone working building security that year.”
Daniel left.
Rosa sat down.
Lily wandered into the parlor with Button.
“Mama?”
Rosa forced a smile.
“Yes?”
“Can I play?”
Her finger pointed toward the piano.
Rosa almost said no.
Then Ethan spoke.
“Yes.”
Rosa looked at him.
Ethan crouched beside Lily.
“You never need permission to play this piano again.”
Victoria’s words had made the child afraid of it.
Ethan wanted that fear gone.
Lily climbed onto the bench.
Her feet did not reach the floor.
She pressed one key.
Then another.
A simple melody filled the room.
Ethan stopped moving.
Rosa noticed.
“What?”
“That song.”
Lily continued.
Three notes.
Pause.
Four notes.
Ethan’s face drained of color.
“My mother played that.”
Rosa stared at him.
“How could Lily know it?”
Lily pointed beneath the keyboard.
“The lady taught me.”
Rosa’s heart jumped.
“What lady?”
“The picture lady.”
Lily climbed down and walked toward a framed photograph of Eleanor Caldwell.
“That lady.”
Ethan exchanged a look with Rosa.
“Lily, sweetheart, she died before you were born.”
Lily frowned.
“She sings.”
Then she tapped the side of the piano.
Ethan crouched.
“What do you mean?”
Lily pushed a decorative wooden panel beneath the keyboard.
It moved.
Only slightly.
Ethan pressed harder.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was an old brass key.
A folded sheet of music.
And a small cassette recorder.
Rosa stared.
Ethan picked up the recorder.
His mother had been gone six years.
He pressed PLAY.
Static crackled.
Then a woman’s voice filled the room.
Eleanor Caldwell.
“If you are hearing this, Ethan, then someone finally found the compartment.”
Ethan sat down slowly.
“I hope it was you.”
A pause followed.
“But if Edward is standing beside you, stop the tape.”
Ethan’s eyes lifted.
Rosa covered her mouth.
Eleanor’s voice continued.
“Your uncle has spent years trying to control what your father and I built.”
“And if anything happens to me before I can remove him…”
The tape clicked.
Stopped.
Ethan stared at the machine.
The recording had ended in the middle of a sentence.
But the brass key remained in his hand.
And tied around it was a small paper tag.
May you like
Safe Deposit 417.
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