Chapter 13 - SEVEN DAYS
Emily’s twelfth birthday was seven days away.
At midnight on that day, the Mercer Trust would become hers.
Eleanor’s attorneys filed an emergency claim.
Not in Eleanor’s name.
In Lydia’s.
The documents alleged Daniel Blackwood was unstable.
That he had endangered Emily by exposing her to criminal investigations.
That his security company was under federal scrutiny.
That temporary guardianship should transfer to Lydia.
Lydia was furious.
“I didn’t file this.”
Torres examined the digital signature.
“It’s yours.”
“Forged.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Welcome to the club.”
If the petition succeeded, Lydia could control the trust until Emily turned eighteen.
Someone wanted legal access to Grace’s money.
And potentially anything tied to it.
The hearing was scheduled in forty-eight hours.
Daniel’s lawyers prepared.
Federal agents searched for Raymond.
Thomas remained missing.
The rare violin remained missing.
Then Raymond called Emily directly.
Her phone should never have accepted the connection.
Meridian bypassed every security block.
“Emily.”
She recognized his voice.
“Where are you?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Did you kill Grandpa Thomas?”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“With me.”
“Why?”
“Because he knows where Grace hid the violin.”
Emily stood.
“Tell Dad.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because your father is being watched.”
“So am I.”
A pause.
“I know.”
Emily’s anger surfaced.
“You helped them watch me.”
“I did.”
“You helped Mom crash.”
Raymond breathed painfully.
“Yes.”
“Why should I believe anything you say?”
“You shouldn’t.”
He sounded exhausted.
“But believe Grace.”
“What does that mean?”
“Ask Samuel about the red thread.”
The line went dead.
Samuel Price stared at Emily when she repeated the phrase.
“The red thread?”
He walked to an old cabinet.
From it he removed photographs of Grace’s rare violin.
Near the inner seam, Grace had asked Samuel to insert one strand of red silk during a repair.
“Why?”
“She said if anyone ever asked, I should tell them where the wood came from.”
The instrument’s repaired back panel had been cut from maple salvaged from the old Commonwealth Conservatory.
Specifically the stage.
Daniel understood.
Grace had hidden the master list inside the place where she first became a musician.
They searched the stage.
Nothing.
Emily stood alone beneath the concert shell.
She remembered her mother talking about acoustics.
Sound travels.
Wood remembers.
She tapped the floor with her shoe.
Different tones.
Near center stage, one board sounded hollow.
Torres removed it.
Beneath was a steel cylinder.
Inside lay a handwritten music manuscript.
No data drive.
No names.
Just music.
Daniel looked disappointed.
Emily didn’t.
“Mom didn’t hide a list.”
“What?”
“She hid a score.”
Victor examined it.
“It’s music.”
“No.”
Emily pointed to unusual accidentals.
“They’re letters.”
Grace had created a musical cipher.
Every pitch represented a number.
Every rest represented spacing.
The master index was encoded inside a composition only Emily had been taught how to interpret.
Grace had turned evidence into music.
And given her daughter the key without ever telling her.
They took the manuscript to federal custody.
That night, someone leaked Daniel’s surveillance authorization to the press.
Headlines exploded.
BLACKWOOD CEO SECRETLY TRACKED WIFE BEFORE FATAL CRASH.
DID BILLIONAIRE HUSBAND KNOW MORE?
By morning, Daniel’s company board suspended him.
At noon, prosecutors announced they were reviewing possible obstruction.
At three, Child Protective Services requested an emergency interview with Emily.
At five, Lydia’s guardianship petition gained credibility.
Somebody was systematically removing every person who could protect Emily.
Then a package arrived at the house.
Inside was Raymond Hale’s Blackwood security badge.
Covered in blood.
Under it lay a photograph of Thomas Mercer tied to a chair.
And a message.
BRING THE SCORE TO THE GRAND HALCYON BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
COME ALONE.
OR THE OLD MAN DIES.
Emily stared at the same hotel where everything began.
Seven days earlier she had gone there alone because she wanted the truth.
Now someone wanted her to make the same mistake again.
May you like
This time she had no intention of obeying.
At least not in the way they expected.
