Chapter 6 - The Note Hidden Under the StringsMia waited until 3:00 a.m.
Then she took the guitar into the bathroom.
Locked the door.
Turned on the shower so the sound might cover what she was doing.
She didn't know how to take apart a guitar.
She knew how to tune one.
Change strings.
Clean the fretboard.
Anna had taught her.
“Musicians should know what they're holding,” her mother said.
Apparently Anna meant more than music.
Mia loosened the strings.
One at a time.
Her fingers shook.
She removed the small bridge pins and looked through the soundhole.
Dark wood.
Dust.
Nothing.
She used her phone flashlight.
At first she saw only braces.
Then—
white.
A tiny strip of paper wedged beneath the inner bridge plate.
Mia's heart jumped.
She reached inside.
Her arm was small enough.
Barely.
Her fingertips caught paper.
She pulled.
A folded note.
Anna's handwriting.
Mia.
If you're reading this, someone recognized the song.
Mia stopped breathing.
Her mother had known this could happen.
She kept reading.
Listen to me exactly.
The melody has fourteen notes.
The first eleven tell the wrong people who you are.
The final three tell them what they need.
Do not play the ending for a Sterling.
Not Charlotte.
Not Victor.
Not anyone who says Julian sent them.
Mia's hands went cold.
Anna had named Charlotte specifically.
The note continued.
The guitar contains something they have wanted since before you were born.
I never told you because children shouldn't have to carry adult crimes.
But I ran out of safer places.
I'm sorry.
If I'm gone, find Detective Lena Ortiz.
Los Angeles Police Department.
Tell her Anna Mercer sent you.
Trust her only after she answers this question:
What did the bird do?
Correct answer:
It flew home.
Mia read the final lines twice.
If Charlotte already has you, pretend you don't know the ending.
Do not let her hear the last three notes.
I love you.
Mom.
Mia sat on the bathroom floor.
The shower ran.
Steam filled the room.
Anna had planned for this.
That scared Mia more than being unprepared.
Because it meant her mother had believed somebody would eventually find them.
Mia folded the note and tucked it into her sock.
Then returned to the guitar.
The drive.
Anna said it was inside.
Mia searched again.
Nothing.
She ran her fingers beneath braces.
Then felt a small hard rectangle taped high beneath the soundboard.
She pulled.
Black plastic.
Tiny.
A microSD card.
Mia stared.
Something people had hunted Anna for eight years.
Something Charlotte wanted badly enough to spend seven years searching for a child.
It fit beneath Mia's thumbnail.
Mia didn't have a computer.
Charlotte did.
But using one might alert her.
She needed Detective Lena Ortiz.
Morning.
She could escape.
The mansion had guards, cameras, locked gates.
But Nora left for groceries around eight.
Mia had noticed.
People rarely watched children closely when they thought the child trusted them.
Mia rebuilt the guitar.
Tightened strings.
Not perfectly.
Enough.
She slid the microSD into the hem of her sock.
Then returned to bed.
At 7:20, Charlotte knocked.
“Breakfast.”
Mia pretended to wake.
“Okay.”
Charlotte smiled when Mia came downstairs.
“How are you feeling?”
“Better.”
“About me?”
Mia hesitated.
Then nodded.
Charlotte's eyes softened.
Not with affection.
Victory.
“Good.”
At breakfast Charlotte showed her shopping websites.
Dresses.
Shoes.
School supplies.
Mia acted interested.
“What happens if my grandfather comes?”
“I won't let him take you.”
“You promise?”
Charlotte touched her hand.
“Yes.”
Mia almost pulled away.
Instead she smiled.
Her first deliberate performance.
Charlotte believed it.
At 8:07, Nora picked up her keys.
Mia stood.
“Can I come?”
Nora looked at Charlotte.
Charlotte hesitated.
Mia said,
“I need… girl things.”
Nora understood instantly.
Charlotte looked mildly uncomfortable.
“Of course.”
They left.
The moment the gates closed behind them, Mia whispered,
“I need the police.”
Nora nearly hit the brakes.
“What?”
“Detective Lena Ortiz.”
Nora looked at her.
“How do you know that name?”
“My mom.”
Nora went pale.
Mia's stomach dropped.
“You know her too.”
Nora stared at the road.
Then whispered,
“Anna told you to find Lena?”
“Yes.”
Nora gripped the steering wheel.
“Then we're not going to the police station.”
Mia backed against the seat.
“Why?”
“Because Victor has people who watch it.”
“Then where?”
Nora took the next turn.
“To someone who can call Lena without telling the Sterlings.”
Mia stared.
“Who?”
Nora looked at her in the rearview mirror.
“Your mother's sister.”
Mia stopped breathing.
“My mom doesn't have a sister.”
Nora's face tightened.
“Yes, Mia.”
“She does.”
May you like
And apparently Anna had hidden more than crimes.
She had hidden an entire family.
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