Chapter 6 - The Voice Behind the Glass

Adam appeared on the prison video screen with a bruised cheek and a look Owen hadn't seen since they were boys. He was afraid, not for himself but for Ivy.

"Tell me where she is," he said.

"She's with Ben. Safe. She stopped the wedding."

"What wedding?"

Owen closed his eyes. Adam's sentence had allowed only short, monitored calls. Owen had used those calls to talk about Ivy's schoolwork, never Natalie's plans. He'd told himself it was kindness. Now it felt like the kind of silence that let bad things grow.

"Mine," he answered. "To Natalie Cross."

Adam sat back. "Cross? As in Martin Cross?"

"You knew that name?"

"It was on the vans the night of the fire. I told my lawyer. The state said there was no proof a Cross company was on the property." He rubbed his face. "Owen, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't know who she was connected to when we met. By the time I understood, I believed her when she said she'd cut ties."

Adam stared at him. "You believed the one person who had everything to gain from my conviction."

The words landed hard because they were true. Owen took the hit without answering.

"The music house," Adam said. "Ivy still have it?"

"Somebody stole it."

Adam closed his eyes. "The fourth note opens a compartment under the piano. There's a brass strip with four numbers. It was the serial number of the new lock they put on the service door. I copied it because the work order looked wrong. The night of the fire, I took pictures."

"Where are the pictures?"

"A memory card. I slipped it into the base. I couldn't risk carrying it into police questioning. Then they arrested me before I could go back."

Owen looked toward Priya. She was already writing.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I sent you a letter," Adam said. "Three letters. After Natalie's first visit. You never answered."

Owen remembered Natalie collecting their mail during his late shifts. The shame was almost physical.

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A corrections officer appeared behind Adam. "Time."

Before the screen went dark, Adam leaned close. "Brother, listen. Whoever took the house knows exactly what they're looking for."