Chapter 5: A Voice from the Past
Adrian’s expression did not move.
“Then you should speak to the bank, Margaret.”
“I did.” She opened the folder.
“The authorization came from your office computer.”
“Anyone on staff could have used it.”
Mrs.
Bell pointed toward the ceiling.
“The corridor camera faces his office door.”
Adrian glanced at the camera, then smiled.
“That camera has been out of service all week.”
Margaret’s hand stopped on the folder.
“You knew that quickly,” Claire said.
“I receive maintenance reports.”
“Housekeeping receives them first,” Mrs.
Bell replied.
“No report came to me.”
Adrian stepped toward the elevator.
“Call your lawyers if you like.
I’m finished discussing family gossip in a public lobby.”
Vasko placed the brass key on the photograph.
“Where is locker 214?”
Margaret looked at it.
“The old musicians’ archive in the basement.”
“That area was cleared years ago,” Adrian said.
“No,” Mrs.
Bell replied.
“You ordered it locked.”
Claire took Zeke’s hand.
“We’re going downstairs.”
“You’re not taking a child into a restricted area.”
“You dismissed me, remember?
You’re not my manager now.”
Margaret gestured to the security officers.
“Walk with us.”
They entered the service elevator.
Adrian remained in the lobby until Vasko held the door.
“Coming, son?”
Adrian stepped inside.
“I wouldn’t miss your next mistake.”
Locker 214 stood behind a row of broken music stands.
Vasko pushed the brass key into its lock, and the metal door opened.
A portable cassette recorder sat inside with two account books and a green notebook.
Claire pressed the recorder’s button.
Elias’s voice filled the basement.
“Father, if you’re hearing this, Adrian found the letters before you did.”
Adrian lunged for the recorder.
One security officer caught his shoulder.
“Let go of me.”
“Stand back, sir.”
The tape continued.
“I discovered payments made under the name Cole.
Adrian said he would blame me if I told you.
The signatures look like mine, but the dates prove I was in Montreal—”
The lights went out.
Zeke cried out.
Claire pulled him against her as metal struck the floor.
“Don’t move!” Margaret shouted.
Footsteps pounded toward the stairwell.
Mrs.
Bell switched on her phone light.
“The recorder is gone,” Vasko said.
“So is Adrian,” Claire replied.
They hurried upstairs, but the security door had been locked from the other side.
One officer called the front desk while Margaret struck the door with her fist.
“Open this immediately.”
Adrian’s voice came through the speaker beside the lock.
“You have no complete recording, no original documents, and no authority to search my office.
Claire, the hotel will pursue payment for the piano.
Mrs.
Bell, your employment record will show serious misconduct.”
Zeke looked up at his mother.
“Can he take our home?”
Claire crouched and held his face.
“No one is taking you away from your home.”
Adrian heard her through the speaker.
“That depends on how expensive this becomes.”
Vasko slammed his palm against the door.
“Threaten me, not them.”
“You have something I want,” Adrian replied.
“Sign a statement saying Elias acted alone.
I’ll forget the piano, restore both jobs, and make sure Claire receives fifty thousand dollars.”
Claire stood.
“You let Elias carry your shame for years, and now you think I’ll sell his name?”
“You have a child to feed.”
“And he has a father to remember.”
The speaker went silent.
Mrs.
Bell lifted one of the account books.
“He forgot these.”
Margaret turned the pages.
Several had been torn out.
“Without the missing pages, his lawyers will say these numbers mean nothing.”
A faint click came from the back of the locker.
Zeke reached behind the green notebook and pulled out a second cassette.
“Dad always made copies,” Claire whispered.
They returned to the lobby after maintenance released the door.
Adrian was gone, and his office safe stood open.
Margaret connected the second cassette to the hotel sound system.
Elias’s voice returned, clearer this time.
“There is one more thing my father must know.
The concerto that made the Vasko name famous was not written by Adrian.”
Vasko’s face went still.
On the recording, Elias took a long breath.
May you like
“I wrote it.
And Adrian knows where the original score is hidden.”
