Everyone Tried to Help the Troubled Pianist—Until a Waitress Played One Familiar Song
Chapter 5
Adrian stared at the name.
“Victor Lang.”
Claire nodded.
“He funded your career.”
“He did.”
“He knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“Then what did she find?”
Adrian opened the flash drive.
Financial records appeared.
Transfers between companies.
Payments to anonymous accounts.
Charity funds.
Academy grants.
It was a sophisticated network.
Claire recognized one company name.
“That’s my mother’s employer.”
Adrian frowned.
“It is.”
The company had paid her salary.
It had also been receiving money from Victor’s private investment group.
Claire looked at the dates.
The payments started six months before her mother’s death.
“What was she doing for them?”
“Investigating.”
“Why?”
“She suspected money was being laundered through the academy.”
Claire stared.
“Did Victor know?”
“Probably.”
They kept scrolling.
Then found something worse.
A transfer from Victor’s company to a private security firm.
The payment date was two days before Eleanor’s death.
Claire went cold.
“My mother was being watched.”
Adrian nodded.
“Yes.”
A second file contained surveillance photographs.
Eleanor leaving the academy.
Eleanor entering Adrian’s apartment.
Eleanor carrying documents.
Claire looked at the last photograph.
It showed Eleanor talking to another woman.
Claire recognized her.
Her aunt Margaret.
“My aunt?”
Adrian frowned.
“Who is she?”
“Eleanor’s sister.”
Claire stared.
“She wasn’t supposed to be in Boston.”
They searched.
Margaret had been working for Victor.
Her employment records were hidden.
Claire couldn’t believe it.
“She betrayed my mother.”
Adrian touched the table.
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
They found the answer.
Margaret had been threatened.
Her son had been in debt.
Victor paid the debt.
Then demanded loyalty.
Claire closed her eyes.
“Everyone around my mother was compromised.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Not everyone.”
She stared.
“You?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because if I had been, I wouldn’t have kept the letters.”
She almost smiled.
Then she remembered something.
“You said your career nearly ended when you were twenty.”
“Yes.”
“Because of my mother?”
“Not exactly.”
“What happened?”
“Victor wanted me to sign an exclusive contract.”
“I refused.”
“Then he threatened to destroy me.”
Claire frowned.
“Why did he need you?”
“My music.”
“What about it?”
“He wanted a composition.”
“For what?”
“His private events.”
She looked confused.
“That’s all?”
“No.”
Adrian looked away.
“He wanted me to perform a specific piece.”
“The one with the four notes.”
Claire froze.
“That song.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I never knew.”
They listened to another recording.
Adrian’s old voice.
Talking with Victor.
Victor said:
“The melody is perfect.”
Adrian answered:
“Why?”
Victor laughed.
“Because only three people know what it means.”
The recording ended.
Claire stared.
“Who were the three?”
Adrian knew two.
Eleanor.
Victor.
The third remained unknown.
Then Claire noticed a name on the recording file.
- Sterling.
She recognized it.
“Evelyn Sterling.”
“Who is she?”
“A lawyer.”
“Connected to Victor?”
Claire searched.
“Yes.”
She was Victor’s legal adviser.
But she had also represented Eleanor’s estate.
Claire’s heart raced.
“The third person knew the code.”
Adrian looked at her.
“And she may know where the final evidence is.”
They found Evelyn’s office.
Empty.
But someone had left a note.
The pianist was never the target.
Claire read it.
Then the second line.
The daughter was.
She looked at Adrian.
“What does that mean?”
Before he could answer, every light in the hallway went out.
Someone moved behind them.
Then came a whisper.
“Claire Bennett?”
She turned.
A man stood at the end of the corridor.
“Your mother should have stayed silent.”
He disappeared.
