Chapter 13 - Blood on the Ivory Piano
Alexander tore the blue train car apart with a flathead screwdriver on the library rug.
Ethan had been sent to stay with Elena at her apartment downtown under private security. The library felt cavernous, stripped of its illusion of safety. Evelyn stood over the desk, her arms crossed tightly, watching the wood splinter beneath Alexander's hands.
"Careful," she whispered. "If you break it—"
"It’s already broken," Alexander snarled, his composure completely shattered. He jammed the edge of the tool into the underside of the wheel chassis.
With a sharp *crack*, the false bottom yielded.
A velvet-wrapped parcel, no larger than a cigarette lighter, fell onto the green felt of the desk. Alexander picked it up, his fingers stained with wood dust. He peeled back the oilcloth.
Inside lay three rings.
They were not heirlooms. They were heavy, raw-cut sapphires set into jagged, unpolished platinum bands, each one bearing a scorched, uneven surface—as though they had survived an intense fire. But what caught Alexander’s eye was not the stones; it was the inscription etched roughly inside the widest band:
*B.W. — 10.14.1992 — WE NEVER FORGAVE YOU.*
"B.W.," Evelyn whispered, leaning over his shoulder. "Benjamin Whitmore. Your older brother."
"Benjamin died in a single-car accident when I was twelve," Alexander said, his voice hollow. "They told me he drove off the bridge at Blackwater Gorge because he was drunk."
"Does that look like an accident?" Evelyn pointed at the scorch marks on the platinum.
Before Alexander could answer, a loud crash echoed from the conservatory.
They rushed through the double doors, flashlight beams slicing through the glass-walled room. The rain was pouring through a shattered skylight. In the center of the room, sitting on the bench of the grand Steinway piano Margaret had forbidden anyone from touching, was a heavy iron tire iron.
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Splattered across the pristine ivory keys was fresh, dark blood. And tied to the music stand by a piece of baling wire was a cassette tape labeled: *TAPE 4: THE PASSENGER.*
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