Chapter 5 - THE PHOTOGRAPH IN THE MUSIC ROOM
The next morning, Lily wandered into the old music room.
The piano had not been played since Isabella's death. Its polished surface was covered with a thin layer of dust, and the curtains were usually kept closed.
Lily stood in front of it.
“Can I touch it?”
Elena, who had followed her, hesitated. “Maybe we should ask first.”
Lucas appeared in the doorway.
“You can.”
Lily pressed one key.
A clear note floated through the room.
Lucas stopped breathing for a different reason.
It was the same note Isabella used to play before beginning Daniel's favorite song.
Lily pressed another key, then another.
“It's pretty.”
Lucas approached the piano.
“My wife used to play.”
“Where is she?”
The question was simple.
The answer was not.
“She died.”
Lily looked at him. “I'm sorry.”
Lucas nodded.
He had heard those words from hundreds of people. Most said them because they were expected to.
Lily said them as if she meant them.
She touched the edge of the piano.
“Did she like music?”
“More than anything.”
“Did she have a favorite song?”
Lucas opened the bench and removed a worn sheet of music.
“This one.”
Lily looked at the notes. “I don't know how to read those.”
“Neither did my son at your age.”
“Can you teach me?”
Lucas stared at her.
For three years, he had avoided the music room because every object inside it reminded him of what he had lost.
Now a little girl was asking him to open the piano.
“Yes,” he said quietly. “I can.”
***
While Lily pressed keys, Elena noticed a photograph on the piano.
It showed Isabella holding Daniel in the garden.
Elena stared at it for a long moment.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Lucas turned. “Yes?”
“Was this taken at the north residence?”
He looked at the picture. “Yes. Why?”
“I think I've seen this woman.”
Lucas's expression sharpened. “Where?”
“On a photograph. A few years ago. At a clinic where I worked before becoming a housekeeper.”
“What clinic?”
“St. Agnes Family Center. I was a receptionist there for a short time.”
Lucas took the photograph.
“Are you certain?”
“I can't be. It was only a glimpse. There was a woman with the same hair and face. She was using a different name.”
Lucas's hand tightened around the frame.
“Do you remember the name?”
Elena shook her head. “No. But I remember she was with a little boy.”
Lucas looked at the photograph.
Daniel.
He felt the room tilt.
“Why didn't you tell me before?”
“I didn't recognize her until now. I didn't know who she was.”
Lucas called Daniel.
“Get me every record from St. Agnes Family Center for the last three years. Patient admissions, staff records, everything.”
Elena looked worried.
“Do you think your wife was there?”
“I don't know.”
He looked at the photograph.
“But I intend to find out.”
***
That evening, Daniel returned with a partial record.
A woman had been admitted to St. Agnes under the name Anna Bell six days after the north residence fire. She had severe burns on one arm and a head injury. A young boy had been registered with her.
The boy's name was listed as David.
The woman had left the clinic after eleven days.
The discharge address was a rural property in upstate New York.
Lucas read the record.
“Anna Bell.”
Daniel nodded. “The photograph in the file resembles Isabella, but the clinic's records are incomplete.”
“Who paid?”
“A private company linked to Peter Sloane.”
Lucas looked up.
“Victor's associate.”
“Yes.”
He stood so quickly that the chair scraped backward.
“Find the property.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Boss, if Isabella survived, we need to be careful. We don't know who has been keeping her there.”
Lucas stared at the photograph.
For three years, he had visited a grave with no body inside it.
May you like
He had spoken to a stone and asked forgiveness from a woman who might have been alive.
“Find her,” he said.
