Chapter 3 - What the Piano Remembered.
Celeste stared at the sentence as though it had been written in fire.
Ethan bent and picked up the page.
His mother's handwriting was unmistakable.
Margaret Harrington's letters leaned slightly to the right, elegant but firm, the same way they appeared on birthday cards and board resolutions.
Beneath the first line were three short instructions.
Find the blue ledger.
Ask Bell about October ninth.
Do not sign anything Celeste brings you.
Ethan read the last sentence twice.
Celeste recovered first.
"This is ridiculous."
"Is it?"
"Mother was paranoid near the end."
"You said she was medicated."
"She was both."
Ethan looked at the black notebook still inside the hidden drawer.
Celeste reached for it.
He closed the drawer before she could touch it.
"Enough."
"That notebook may contain private medical information."
"Then we will read it privately."
"Ethan, you are turning a childish accident into a conspiracy."
He folded the page and placed it inside his suit jacket.
"No, Celeste."
"Mother did that three years ago."
The morning room door opened behind them.
Mara stepped out, still holding Lily.
The child's crying had stopped, but her face remained pressed into Mara's shoulder.
Ethan walked over and took Lily carefully into his arms.
"Does your wrist hurt?"
Lily shook her head.
"Did Aunt Celeste scare you?"
The child looked toward the piano.
"She said Grandma's music makes bad things happen."
Celeste's expression froze.
Ethan turned slowly.
"When did she tell you that?"
Lily twisted the button on Ethan's jacket.
"Yesterday."
Mara looked startled.
"She never told me that."
Celeste raised both hands.
"She is three years old."
"Children repeat nonsense all the time."
Ethan did not answer.
He carried Lily upstairs and asked Mara to stay with her in the nursery.
Then he found Mrs. Bell in the service pantry.
She was standing beside the sink with both hands pressed against the counter.
"October ninth," Ethan said.
Mrs. Bell closed her eyes.
"I hoped your mother would never make you ask."
"She did."
Mrs. Bell looked older than she had ten minutes earlier.
"October ninth was the day Mrs. Harrington changed her estate plan."
Ethan frowned.
"Her final will was signed in September."
"That is what Mr. Walsh told everyone."
"You're saying there was another document?"
"I am saying your mother signed something in this house on October ninth."
"I witnessed it."
Ethan's pulse quickened.
"Who else was here?"
"Your mother, me, a notary from Hartford, and a woman from the bank."
"Celeste arrived after they left."
Mrs. Bell's voice dropped.
"She and your mother argued for nearly an hour."
"About what?"
Mrs. Bell looked toward the hallway before answering.
"About Lily."
Ethan felt the room shift beneath him.
At the time, Lily had been only a few months old.
His wife, Hannah, was still alive then, though already battling the illness that would take her the following year.
"What did Mother want changed?"
Mrs. Bell shook her head.
"She would not tell me."
"She only said the future of the house had to be protected from resentment."
Ethan thought of the sentence hidden beneath the piano.
If Celeste controls this house, open everything.
"Where is the document now?"
Mrs. Bell's face filled with shame.
"It disappeared the night your mother died."
Ethan stared at her.
"And you never told me?"
"I tried."
Mrs. Bell opened a drawer and removed a yellowed envelope.
Across the front was Ethan's name.
The seal had been broken years ago.
Inside was a letter returned by the family attorney with one sentence typed across it.
Mr. Harrington has already been informed.
Ethan had never seen it before.
Then Mrs. Bell whispered the name of the attorney who had sent it.
"Daniel Walsh."
Ethan's face went still.
May you like
Daniel Walsh was not merely the family attorney.
He was scheduled to meet Ethan at nine the next morning with papers Celeste had been urging him to sign for weeks.
