Chapter 5 - The Friend at the Door
Victor Hale looked exactly like the kind of man nobody suspected.
That was Meline’s first thought.
He was in his late thirties, handsome in a polished way, with expensive clothes, perfect posture, and the easy smile of someone who had never needed to raise his voice to control a room.
He entered Adrian’s study at 10:20 p.m.
Meline watched from the adjoining library through a narrow opening in the doors.
She hated spying.
She hated being involved.
She especially hated that leaving now felt impossible.
Adrian stood behind his desk.
Victor approached with open arms.
“You look terrible.”
“Good to see you too.”
Victor laughed.
“I heard about the storm.”
“Mess.”
“Security system?”
“Fixed.”
Victor poured himself a drink without asking.
Meline noticed Adrian notice.
Three years of friendship—or perhaps twenty-three—had created habits nobody questioned.
Until tonight.
Victor lifted the glass.
“Why did you bring me back?”
“I didn’t.”
Victor paused.
“Bennett said you wanted me.”
Adrian’s face gave away nothing.
Interesting.
Victor recovered quickly.
“Maybe I misunderstood.”
Adrian sat.
“How was Michigan?”
“Boring.”
“You finish the land deal?”
“Mostly.”
“Mostly?”
“Lawyers.”
Victor shrugged.
Then his eyes moved.
Toward the adjoining doors.
Meline stopped breathing.
“Someone there?”
Adrian didn’t look.
“Bennett.”
Victor smiled.
“You’re getting paranoid.”
“I’ve always been paranoid.”
“No. You used to be careful. There’s a difference.”
For one second, Meline saw something beneath Victor’s charm.
Contempt.
Then it disappeared.
“How are the nights?” Victor asked.
Adrian’s fingers tightened.
“Same.”
“Keene still coming?”
“No.”
“Therapist number twenty finally quit?”
“Something like that.”
Victor chuckled.
“You terrified another one.”
Then he said casually:
“Heard someone opened Elena’s room.”
Adrian did not move.
Meline’s stomach dropped.
Only a handful of people knew.
“Storm unlocked it.”
“So I heard.”
Victor drank.
“Anything damaged?”
“The door.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
Victor stared at Adrian.
“Piano?”
“No.”
Too fast?
Meline couldn’t tell.
Victor smiled.
“Good.”
A strange word.
Good.
Why would the piano matter?
Then Victor set down his glass.
“I’m tired. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
He moved toward the door.
Stopped.
Turned.
“Oh, Adrian?”
“Yes?”
“You should fire the new maid.”
Meline felt ice spread through her.
Adrian’s expression remained neutral.
“Why?”
“She wandered into the east wing.”
“How do you know?”
Victor smiled.
“People talk.”
Then he left.
Meline waited until the front door downstairs closed.
She entered the study.
“He knows.”
Adrian nodded.
“Obviously.”
“He knows about me.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve worked here twelve days.”
“I’m aware.”
“How would he even know which maid entered the room?”
Adrian picked up his phone.
“Bennett.”
The butler appeared.
“Find out which staff member told Victor.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And move Eli to the secure floor.”
Meline stared.
“You think he’s in danger?”
“I think I spent three years refusing to believe the wrong man could hurt my family.”
Adrian looked at her.
“I won’t make that mistake twice.”
Meline thought of Riverbend.
“My mother.”
Adrian immediately understood.
“We’ll put security there.”
“No armed men in a nursing home.”
“Plain clothes.”
“I don’t want—”
“This isn’t charity, Meline.”
His voice sharpened.
“If Victor thinks Norah knows where Elena’s evidence is, she’s exposed.”
Meline stopped arguing.
“Fine.”
Adrian made another call.
Within fifteen minutes, two discreet security professionals were on their way to Riverbend.
Meline hated how relieved that made her feel.
Later she sat with Eli at the piano.
The boy practiced scales while Adrian worked in the study.
“You’re pressing too hard,” Meline said.
Eli tried again.
“Better.”
“Mrs. Rhodes used to say that.”
“What?”
“That I attacked the piano.”
Meline smiled.
“She told me the same thing.”
Eli looked pleased.
“Did she teach you?”
“Every day.”
“Was she strict?”
“Terrifying.”
Eli laughed.
Meline realized it was the first time she had heard him sound completely like a child.
“Your mother played too?”
“Yes.”
“Was she good?”
Eli considered.
“No.”
Meline laughed.
“Your dad said the same thing.”
“She played when she was worried.”
“What worried her?”
Eli’s smile faded.
“She argued with Uncle Victor.”
Meline became still.
“You remember that?”
Eli nodded.
“The day she died.”
“Where?”
“Here.”
“In this room?”
“No. Hallway.”
Meline kept her voice gentle.
“What did they say?”
Eli’s forehead wrinkled.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s okay.”
“He told her Dad would never believe her.”
Meline’s chest tightened.
“Anything else?”
“He grabbed her arm.”
“Victor?”
Eli nodded.
“She slapped him.”
Meline stared.
“Did your dad know?”
“No.”
“Why didn’t you tell him?”
Eli looked toward the doorway.
“Dad stopped being Dad.”
The words hurt.
“He was always angry. Or asleep standing up. Or breaking things. Bennett said not to talk about Mom because it made him sick.”
Meline swallowed.
“So you kept it.”
Eli nodded.
“Kids notice everything adults think they hide.”
Meline nearly whispered it to herself.
Eli played the opening notes of Norah’s composition.
Then stopped.
“Mom told me something that night too.”
Meline’s heart quickened.
“What?”
“She said if anything happened, I should remember the blue notes.”
“What are blue notes?”
“I thought she meant the envelope.”
“Maybe.”
Eli shook his head.
“No. She said, ‘The blue notes are the key.’”
Meline looked at the handwritten score.
Some markings were black.
Others—
She leaned closer.
Tiny corrections.
Pencil.
Ink.
And several musical symbols written in faded blue.
She had assumed Norah had used whatever pen was nearby.
Maybe not.
Meline removed the pages.
There were seventeen blue markings.
Each above a specific note.
“What are you doing?” Eli asked.
“I don’t know yet.”
She wrote down the note names.
E.
B.
A.
D.
The first four letters made no sense.
Then she remembered Norah’s words.
A pattern.
Meline rearranged them according to measure numbers.
The sequence changed.
B-4.
E-2.
D-7.
Numbers.
Addresses?
Account codes?
She needed more.
Behind her, Adrian entered.
“What did you find?”
Meline showed him.
He stared at the page.
“That’s not musical notation.”
“What?”
“These numbers.”
He pointed.
“Those are shipment identifiers.”
Meline looked at him.
“Shipment of what?”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Money.”
Eli stopped playing.
Adrian gathered the pages.
“Elena hid Victor’s theft inside the score.”
Meline felt suddenly sick.
“How much?”
“I won’t know until I compare records.”
“Millions?”
“Probably.”
Meline thought of Victor smiling downstairs.
“He killed her over money.”
Adrian’s face became stone.
“We don’t know that yet.”
“You believe it.”
“Yes.”
Bennett entered abruptly.
“Sir.”
“What now?”
“We found the leak.”
“Who?”
“Security supervisor. Paid by Victor.”
Adrian’s expression did not change.
“Remove him.”
Bennett hesitated.
“There’s more.”
Adrian waited.
“The supervisor made a call thirty minutes ago.”
“To Victor?”
“No.”
Bennett looked at Meline.
“To Riverbend Care Center.”
Meline stood so quickly the piano bench crashed backward.
“My mother.”
Her phone rang.
Riverbend.
She answered.
“Hello?”
A nurse was crying.
“Ms. Rhodes? Your mother is safe, but someone came asking to see her.”
Meline’s knees weakened.
“Who?”
“He said he was family.”
“Where is he now?”
“Security stopped him.”
Meline closed her eyes.
Then the nurse said:
“He left something at the front desk.”
“What?”
“A message.”
Meline’s blood ran cold.
“What message?”
The nurse swallowed audibly.
May you like
“He said to tell you that some songs should never be finished.”
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