Chapter 4 - The Broken Music Box
By the time Rachel reached her apartment building, three NYPD vehicles blocked the curb.
Victor was gone.
The music box was destroyed.
Rachel stood in Emily’s bedroom staring at pieces of painted wood scattered across the rug.
The box had once been white with tiny silver stars along its lid.
Daniel had chosen it himself.
Now one hinge hung crookedly from the base.
The tiny ballerina had been ripped from its spindle.
The velvet lining had been torn out.
Emily remained at the hotel with Sarah Lawson and two security officers.
Rachel had refused to bring her home until the apartment was cleared.
Thomas stood behind her.
“He didn’t find it.”
Rachel turned.
“How do you know?”
“Because if he had found whatever Daniel hid, he wouldn’t have destroyed the entire box.”
One detective, Maria Alvarez, entered the room.
“We found no sign of forced entry.”
Rachel laughed bitterly.
“Victor had a key.”
“You never changed the locks?”
“He owns six apartments in this building through the family company. I changed the locks after Daniel died. Apparently that didn’t matter.”
Alvarez crouched beside the broken box.
“Do you know what he was looking for?”
Rachel glanced at Thomas.
They had decided on the drive over that hiding the truth was no longer useful.
“A financial ledger Daniel may have created before he died.”
The detective looked up.
“And why would Victor Bennett want it?”
“Because Daniel suspected someone was stealing from the foundation.”
“Someone?”
Rachel held her gaze.
“His brother.”
Alvarez stood.
“That is a serious accusation.”
“So is breaking into my home.”
The detective did not argue.
Thomas picked up the metal winding mechanism.
The broken melody suddenly played one distorted note.
Emily’s charm.
Rachel remembered the small silver piece around her daughter’s neck.
It had once been attached beneath the winding key.
Daniel had repaired the music box himself after Emily dropped it.
Listen beneath music.
Rachel knelt.
“What if the message wasn’t about the box?”
Thomas frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“Daniel wrote ‘listen beneath music.’ Not ‘look inside the music box.’”
Rachel touched the metal mechanism.
“Where did Daniel listen to music?”
Thomas understood immediately.
“His study.”
Rachel shook her head.
“At the Hamptons house.”
Daniel had installed an old-fashioned stereo system in the library.
He collected vinyl records.
Miles Davis.
Springsteen.
Otis Redding.
He used to sit beside the window after everyone went to sleep.
Rachel remembered making fun of him because he owned thousands of dollars in audio equipment but refused to replace the ancient wooden cabinet beneath the record player.
Listen beneath music.
“The stereo cabinet,” she whispered.
Thomas was already calling someone.
Then Alvarez said, “No one goes anywhere.”
Rachel turned.
“That house may contain evidence related to my husband’s death.”
“Which is precisely why you do not go there and start searching on your own.”
“Victor has access.”
“So do we.”
Rachel looked at Thomas.
He nodded reluctantly.
They gave Alvarez the address.
Two detectives left immediately.
Thirty minutes later, Rachel returned to the hotel.
Emily was asleep in the suite, curled beneath a white comforter.
Sarah Lawson sat near the window with a laptop open.
“You look terrible,” Sarah said.
“Thank you.”
“Victor filed a supplemental statement.”
Rachel stopped.
“When?”
“Twenty-two minutes ago.”
“He broke into my home twenty-two minutes ago.”
“According to his attorney, he was at a private club downtown.”
Rachel stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“Apparently twelve people saw him.”
Thomas entered behind Rachel.
“Then someone else entered the apartment.”
Rachel shook her head.
“I saw the ring.”
“Victor could have given it to someone.”
Sarah looked between them.
“What ring?”
Rachel explained.
Sarah became very still.
“Daniel’s missing signet ring appeared on Victor tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have photographs?”
“The gala does.”
Sarah typed quickly.
“Get them.”
Thomas opened his phone and began contacting photographers.
Sarah continued.
“We need to focus on tomorrow. Victor’s strategy is simple. He will say Rachel is emotionally unstable, Emily is acting out and tonight proves the child needs more structured supervision.”
Rachel laughed in disbelief.
“He planted stolen jewelry on her.”
“We know that. The committee doesn’t.”
“We have Emily’s testimony.”
“She is eight.”
“She knows what happened.”
“I believe her. But Victor’s attorney will frame it as a traumatized child repeating her mother’s suspicions.”
Rachel’s hands tightened.
“So what do we do?”
“We don’t defend.”
Rachel frowned.
“We attack.”
Sarah turned the laptop toward her.
“I pulled foundation records after Thomas called me.”
Columns of numbers filled the screen.
“There are irregular payments.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“How much?”
“Over six years? At least fourteen million.”
Rachel sat.
“What?”
“Consulting fees. Development services. International program expenses. Most route through four entities.”
“Shell companies?”
“Possibly.”
Thomas studied the names.
“Harbor Ridge Advisory.”
He looked sick.
“What?”
“That company came up two weeks before Daniel died.”
Rachel remembered the words Emily had heard.
You moved it again.
“Daniel knew.”
“Yes.”
Sarah looked at Thomas.
“Can you prove Victor controlled Harbor Ridge?”
“Not directly.”
“Then find a connection.”
A hotel phone rang.
Rachel answered.
It was Detective Alvarez.
“We’re at the Hamptons property.”
Rachel stood.
“Did you find the cabinet?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“There is a false bottom.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
Daniel.
“What’s inside?”
“Nothing.”
The hope disappeared.
“What?”
“It’s empty.”
Thomas cursed.
Alvarez continued.
“But we found fresh damage around the compartment.”
“How fresh?”
“Recent.”
Rachel stared through the hotel window at Manhattan.
Victor had known.
Somehow, he had known where Daniel hid the evidence.
“Anything else?” she asked.
“Yes.”
The detective’s voice changed.
“We found blood.”
Rachel could not speak.
“Where?”
“Underneath the cabinet.”
“Daniel’s?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Alvarez paused.
“And there is something else.”
Rachel gripped the phone.
“What?”
“An audio recorder.”
Thomas moved closer.
Rachel put the call on speaker.
Alvarez said, “It was taped beneath one of the floorboards.”
Rachel almost stopped breathing.
“Does it work?”
“We haven’t processed it.”
“Please.”
“I cannot play evidence over the phone before it’s logged.”
Rachel understood.
She hated it.
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
The call ended.
Thomas stared at her.
“Daniel recorded them.”
“Maybe.”
Sarah closed her laptop.
“If that recording contains what we think it does, Victor’s trust petition becomes the least of his problems.”
Rachel looked toward the bedroom where Emily slept.
For two years she had thought Daniel died because of rain, whiskey and one terrible step beside dark water.
Now every memory felt contaminated.
Every condolence Victor gave her.
Every time he told Emily her memories were dreams.
Every board meeting he encouraged Rachel to skip because she “needed healing.”
A knock sounded at the suite door.
One of the officers checked the hallway and let in a hotel employee carrying an envelope.
“This was left for Mrs. Bennett.”
Rachel did not touch it.
Sarah put on a pair of gloves from the security kit.
“No return name.”
She opened it carefully.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
One sentence had been printed in black letters.
DANIEL SHOULD HAVE KEPT HIS MOUTH SHUT.
Beneath the sentence was a photograph.
Rachel picked it up.
The image showed Emily leaving school two days earlier.
Someone had taken the picture from across the street.
On the back, another sentence appeared.
YOU STILL HAVE ONE DAUGHTER TO LOSE.
Rachel felt the room become silent around her.
Then Emily’s voice came from the bedroom doorway.
“Mom?”
Rachel turned too late.
Emily saw the photograph.
Her eyes widened.
May you like
And behind Rachel, Thomas whispered the words none of them wanted to hear.
“This isn’t only about money anymore.”
