Chapter 12 - The Fourth Note Again

It was Friday evening. Three days remained before the wrecking crews came.

Priya filed an emergency request to preserve the fire site, but the judge had not ruled. Collins needed an independent physical reason to stop the demolition immediately. Much of the building was unsafe, and the company owned the land. Owen felt as though every clock in Philadelphia was ticking at his family's expense.

That night Ivy asked him to fix the small keyboard Adam had left at their old workshop. "It doesn't sound like Daddy's house," she said. "But he used to make that song here too."

Owen took her to the shop with Ben beside them. The building smelled of varnish and clean wood. Adam's old workbench was still in the corner, tools hung in outlines on the pegboard. Ivy climbed onto a stool and pressed four notes on the practice keyboard. The last was higher than Owen expected.

"That's not the last note of Mom's song," he said.

"Daddy changed it," Ivy answered. "For a secret."

It was the second time she had told him. This time he listened.

He opened the keyboard's battery compartment. A folded slip of paper was taped inside, protected by yellowing plastic. The handwriting was Adam's. It held a sequence of four notes and the numbers 04-17 beside a sketch of the workbench.

Beneath the bench was a locked drawer. Owen had never bothered with it; Adam had kept personal repair projects there. The combination lock opened at 0417.

Inside lay a green spiral service ledger and a cheap disposable camera. Every page in the ledger bore dated notes about the music hall's fire doors, broken sprinkler pressure gauge, and an electrical cabinet in the basement that had been sealed in fresh mortar a week before the fire. There were also photographs of a man bolting new chains across an emergency exit.

One photograph showed Natalie watching from the alley.

Ivy peered at the stack. "Will this get Daddy home?"

"It will help us ask the right questions," Owen replied. He wished he could promise more.

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Ben called Priya while Owen photographed the drawer exactly as he found it. They arranged for police to take custody of the evidence. As an officer sealed the ledger into a bag, Owen saw the last line Adam had written before his arrest:

IF THE EAST DOOR IS SEALED, THE BASEMENT PANEL IS STILL THERE. DON'T LET THEM TEAR IT DOWN.