Chapter 5 - The Room Behind the Piano
By noon, Nora returned to the Blackstone Hotel.
Marcus met her in the lobby.
"Where's Claire?"
"Police protection."
"Good."
Nora showed him the document.
His expression changed.
"This could clear Damien."
"Claire said the originals are somewhere here."
"Where?"
"She doesn't know."
Marcus exhaled.
"This hotel has six hundred rooms."
Nora looked toward the ballroom.
Then remembered Luca's words.
People trust ghosts.
Damien's wife.
Rachmaninoff.
The piano.
"Not a room."
Marcus frowned.
"What?"
Nora walked into the empty ballroom.
The grand piano sat beneath the chandeliers.
She pressed several keys.
Then examined the instrument.
"Damien hadn't played publicly in twenty years."
"Correct."
"But there's another piano upstairs."
"The one in his lounge."
"Why?"
Marcus shrugged.
"It belonged to his wife."
Nora stopped.
"Elena's piano?"
"Yes."
They hurried upstairs.
Nora opened the bench.
Sheet music.
Nothing else.
She removed the music and tapped the wooden bottom.
Solid.
Then she noticed scratches near one corner.
"Help me."
Marcus lifted the bench.
Nora pushed the panel.
It moved.
Beneath it was a small steel compartment.
Marcus stared.
"How did you know?"
"I didn't."
She opened it.
Inside were ledgers.
Bank records.
Corporate documents.
And a handwritten notebook.
Marcus flipped through it.
"This is Victor's handwriting."
Nora looked at him.
"Victor kept records?"
"Insurance. Men like Victor always keep insurance."
They found transfers connecting Luca, Voss, Victor, and six shell corporations.
More importantly, they found records showing Damien had never authorized them.
Marcus called the federal investigators.
By evening, Damien was released pending further investigation.
He returned to the Blackstone shortly before midnight.
Nora waited beside the piano.
He entered alone.
"No bodyguards?" she asked.
"Marcus is downstairs."
"Only one?"
"I'm reconsidering my hiring standards."
Nora handed him Victor's notebook.
Damien read several pages.
Then closed it.
"You found this?"
"In Elena's piano bench."
He stared at the instrument.
"I haven't opened that compartment in twenty years."
"You knew it existed?"
"I put her letters there after she died."
Nora's expression changed.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
Damien touched the bench.
"The letters disappeared years ago. Victor must have discovered the compartment."
Nora sat at the piano.
"So what happens now?"
"Voss is talking. Luca isn't."
"And your organization?"
Damien looked through the windows at Chicago.
"It changes."
"Meaning?"
"For twenty years, I told myself power kept people safe."
Nora waited.
"I was wrong."
"You saved Claire."
"No. You did."
"I walked into your hotel with no plan beyond embarrassing myself at a piano."
"An effective strategy."
She smiled.
Then Damien became serious.
"Luca worked beside me for eighteen years. Victor for twelve. I never saw what they were becoming."
"You saw what you expected to see."
"And you?"
"I listened."
Damien looked at her.
"That's what musicians do?"
"The good ones."
A silence settled between them.
Not uncomfortable.
Different.
Then Damien sat beside her.
Nora raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"You told me not to stop playing."
"I did."
"That applies to you too."
"I haven't agreed."
She played the first chord.
Damien stared at her.
Nora played it again.
"You're very persistent."
"I've been told."
His hands finally reached the keyboard.
Before they could begin, Marcus rushed upstairs.
"Boss."
Damien immediately stood.
"What happened?"
"Claire's protection detail was attacked."
Nora's blood went cold.
"Where is she?"
"Safe. Agents moved her."
"Who attacked them?"
Marcus hesitated.
"Luca wasn't working alone."
Damien's eyes narrowed.
"We know that."
"No."
Marcus placed a photograph on the piano.
It showed a distinguished older man leaving a federal building.
"Senator Richard Calloway."
Nora recognized him.
He had been in the ballroom the previous night.
Standing less than thirty feet from the piano.
Marcus continued.
"Voss finally gave us the name."
Damien stared at the photograph.
Calloway wasn't merely another conspirator.
He chaired a federal committee overseeing port security.
Which meant he had access to every major shipping investigation in the region.
Nora whispered, "Why would a senator want Claire dead?"
Damien answered.
"Because Luca wasn't building an empire."
May you like
He looked at Marcus.
"He was building one for Calloway."
