Chapter 11 - Anna's Voice on the PhoneThe location arrived at 11:31 p.m.
An abandoned recording studio in Hollywood.
Julian had once owned it.
Charlotte laughed when she saw the address.
“Of course.”
Lena asked,
“What?”
“The Blue Room.”
Mia remembered Anna mentioning blue rooms in stories.
She thought it was imaginary.
Charlotte explained.
Julian recorded demos there.
Anna practically lived inside the studio during their early twenties.
The building closed after Julian died.
Victor still owned it through a shell company.
Perfect place to hide Anna.
Police built a plan.
Charlotte would go inside.
Not Mia.
Graham would believe Mia waited in the car.
The guitar would contain a decoy card.
Mia would play the false three-note ending through a live audio call if necessary.
Lena hated even that.
But Anna was inside.
Mia sat in an unmarked van three buildings away with June.
Nora had been sent somewhere secure.
12:04 a.m.
Charlotte entered the studio.
Body wire.
Camera hidden in her dress.
Mia watched the feed.
Dust.
Old acoustic panels.
Broken equipment.
Then blue walls.
A chair.
Anna.
Mia pressed a hand over her mouth.
Graham stood beside her.
“Where's the girl?”
Charlotte smiled.
“Safe.”
“That's not what I asked.”
“You don't get Mia.”
Graham lifted a pistol.
Charlotte stopped smiling.
“You always were dramatic.”
“You always were disobedient.”
Mia looked at Lena.
“Does he talk like that to everybody?”
Lena almost smiled.
Graham held out his hand.
“Card.”
Charlotte gave him the decoy.
“Password.”
“The girl knows it.”
“Bring her.”
“No.”
Graham turned toward Anna.
Mia tensed.
Anna looked at Charlotte.
“You found her.”
“Yes.”
“Did you touch her?”
Charlotte's face changed.
“What?”
Anna's voice was ice.
“Did you hurt my daughter?”
“No.”
“Did you lie to her?”
Charlotte hesitated.
Anna laughed.
“Of course.”
Graham slammed a hand against the table.
“Enough.”
He called a number.
The van phone rang.
Lena answered but held the device toward Mia.
Graham's voice came through speaker.
“Play the song.”
Mia's hands shook.
She lifted the guitar.
First note.
Second.
Eleven.
Then she played the false ending.
Three notes.
Charlotte had taught police the code entry interface from old company systems.
Graham entered the note sequence.
ACCESS DENIED.
His face changed.
“Again.”
Mia played the same.
Denied.
Graham grabbed Anna by the shoulder.
Mia stood.
June pulled her back.
“Sit.”
Graham shouted into the phone,
“Stop lying!”
Mia froze.
Then Anna laughed.
Everyone stared.
Even Graham.
“You still don't understand.”
“What?”
Anna looked directly toward Charlotte's hidden camera without knowing it was there.
“The melody was never the password.”
Charlotte went still.
Mia stopped breathing.
Graham stared.
“What?”
Anna smiled.
“Julian knew you'd eventually learn the notes.”
Graham's face drained.
“The song tells you where the password is.”
Mia's mind raced.
The melody wasn't a password.
A clue.
Graham screamed,
“Where?”
Anna answered,
“You've had eight years.”
Charlotte whispered,
“No.”
She suddenly understood.
Mia saw it in her face.
Charlotte turned toward an old grand piano inside the Blue Room.
Above it hung a framed photograph.
Three young people.
Anna.
Julian.
Charlotte.
The bird.
Mia remembered the brass key.
Charlotte pulled it from her purse.
Graham pointed the gun.
“Don't.”
Charlotte froze.
Anna's eyes widened.
“You kept that?”
Charlotte looked at her.
“Julian gave it to me.”
“No.”
Anna shook her head.
“He gave it to me.”
Silence.
Charlotte stared.
Mia's heart pounded.
Two keys?
Graham looked between them.
“What is happening?”
Anna's voice softened.
“Charlotte, yours is fake.”
Charlotte went pale.
For the first time since Mia met her, Charlotte looked completely lost.
Then Anna looked toward the hidden camera.
Not because she knew it existed.
Because she was staring at Charlotte.
“The real key is with Mia.”
Mia froze.
She didn't have a key.
June turned toward her.
“Mia?”
Then Mia remembered the guitar.
The old tuning peg Anna had replaced three years ago.
A tiny silver bird engraved on its underside.
May you like
Her mother had hidden one more thing inside the instrument.
And Charlotte had just learned exactly where to look.
Related Stories
