Chapter 8 - The Final Piece of the Puzzle
Inside the subterranean panic room, the air was cool and filtered. Monitors on the wall displayed live security feeds from around the estate, though several cameras were flickering with static due to the intruders' jamming equipment.
I held Sophia on my lap, humming a soft lullaby to keep her calm while Margaret sat beside Eli, offering him warm milk from the mini-kitchen stocked inside the bunker.
My mind raced. Why would Evelyn leave a physical ledger? Where could it possibly be?
I stared at the security screens. One monitor showed the grand ballroom, dark and empty, bathed in the amber emergency lights. In the center of the room stood the old vintage media console where Sophia had played the dance recording months ago.
Suddenly, a memory flashed through my mind.
The day I found the thumb drive in the sub-basement archives, it hadn't been sitting loosely in a box. It had been stored inside a hollowed-out wooden antique music box with a miniature dancing ballerina on top. When Sophia had played with it, she had dropped the music box, and a tiny brass key had fallen out from the velvet lining. I had put that tiny key into my pocket and forgotten about it, thinking it was just a broken toy part.
I reached into my pocket. Over the months, I had transferred my personal belongings from my maid’s uniform to my new coat, and then to my handbag. I rushed to my bag sitting on the bunker table and dumped its contents.
There it was. A small, intricately carved brass key no larger than a postage stamp.
"Sophia," I said, kneeling down in front of my daughter, holding up the small key. "Do you remember where we put the wooden music box with the little dancing lady?"
Sophia tapped her chin thoughtfully, her dark curls bouncing. "The dancing lady lives in the big clock in the ballroom! She likes the loud tick-tock!"
My heart hammered against my ribs. The grandfather clock in the ballroom!
It wasn't just an antique timepiece. It was an 18th-century Austrian musical clock that Evelyn had personally spent months restoring during her first year of marriage to Nathaniel.
On the security monitor, I saw the ballroom camera flicker. Two men in tactical black gear entered the frame, holding suppressed submachine guns. They were searching the room, tearing down paintings and smashing display cabinets. They were searching for hidden safes!
If they smashed the grandfather clock, they would find the ledger—or destroy it. Worse, if Nathaniel confronted them in the ballroom without knowing their exact positions, he would walk straight into an ambush!
I looked at the emergency communication terminal on the bunker wall. The internal intercom system was still operational. I smashed the plastic cover and grabbed the receiver.
"Nathaniel! Do you hear me?" I called out, my voice trembling with urgency.
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A moment of static, then Nathaniel’s harsh, breathing voice came through the speaker. "Elena! Are you safe? Why are you on the comms?"
"Nathaniel, listen to me!" I said quickly. "The ledger isn't in a safe! It's inside the music mechanism of the grandfather clock in the ballroom! Evelyn hid it there! The mercenaries are in the ballroom right now—they're about to destroy it!"
