Chapter 19 - Eight Notes Before Zero
The timer showed forty-seven seconds.
Daniel placed his fingers over the keys.
Clara watched from the ballroom piano.
Julian raised the violin again.
Samuel stood between the underground instrument and the monitor, reading the notes aloud.
“First chord. Minor.”
Daniel played.
Clara answered.
Julian entered with a low violin line that sounded almost like a human voice.
The archive lights flickered.
Rows of computer terminals activated.
Names began appearing across the screens.
Thousands of them.
Samuel pointed to the second note.
“Now the lower sequence.”
Daniel followed.
The drilling resumed above, more violent than before.
Thirty seconds.
Michael Arden shouted through the speakers.
“Stop them!”
The ballroom guard nearest Clara reached for her hands.
She slammed the piano lid down on his fingers and continued playing.
Guests scattered.
Victor watched the monitor in disbelief.
“She knew they would move.”
Julian played faster.
Blood ran from a cut on his hand, but he did not stop.
Twenty seconds.
Samuel reached the final line.
His voice failed.
Daniel looked at him.
“What are the last notes?”
Samuel stared at Lydia.
“The final signature names the person responsible for the fire.”
Arthur began struggling wildly.
“Do not play it!”
Lydia whispered, “Samuel.”
He closed his eyes.
Then he gave Daniel the sequence.
Four notes.
Daniel played the first two.
Clara matched him.
Julian held a single trembling note.
Ten seconds.
The archive screens changed.
One file opened automatically.
STUDIO FIRE AUTHORIZATION — SIGNED:
The name remained hidden.
Samuel called the final two notes.
Daniel pressed the first.
Clara pressed hers.
Julian’s bow moved across the string.
One second.
Daniel struck the last key.
Every light went out.
The explosion above did not happen.
For several moments, only the fading violin note remained.
Then emergency power returned.
The timer displayed:
TRANSFER SUSPENDED. DISCLOSURE PARTIAL.
The archive screens showed one released file.
Daniel stepped closer.
The signature on the fire authorization was not Arthur’s.
Not Samuel’s.
Not Victor’s.
It belonged to Eleanor Price.
Everyone turned toward her.
Eleanor stood completely still.
Victor whispered, “You organized the fire?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I signed a rehearsal cancellation form.”
Samuel held up the document on the screen.
“This is not a cancellation.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“They told me it would close the studio for one night.”
Arthur began laughing.
“You were always the easiest one to use.”
Eleanor moved toward him.
“What did I sign?”
Arthur looked directly at Daniel.
“Permission to remove all living assets before demolition.”
Lydia stepped forward.
“Living assets?”
Arthur nodded toward Daniel, Julian, and the monitor showing Clara.
“The children.”
A new alert appeared across the archive screens.
UNREGISTERED ASSET LOCATION FOUND.
A map opened.
One red marker flashed beneath the old Langford estate.
Then a second.
Then twelve more.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Julian lowered his violin.
“We weren’t the only children.”
From deep beneath the archive floor came a metallic sound.
May you like
A lock opening.
Then several small voices began calling from below.
