Grandma sat down without seeming to notice the folding chair behind her.<\/p>\n
The storage unit lights buzzed overhead.<\/p>\n
Rain rattled against the metal roof.<\/p>\n
Andrew, Rachel, two police officers, and I all waited.<\/p>\n
Grandma kept looking at Lucy\u2019s recovered cello as though another instrument might somehow be visible beside it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat other cello?\u201d I asked again.<\/p>\n
She pressed one hand to her mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hoped never to hear that phrase again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew lowered the folders he was holding.<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret, whoever called Denise knew enough to connect Richard to something in your past. We need to understand what.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma nodded, but several seconds passed before she spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was nineteen, my mother owned two cellos.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cEleanor?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lucy\u2019s recovered instrument had come from Eleanor. I had always assumed it was the only important one in the family.<\/p>\n
Grandma looked at the amber wood inside the open case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was the instrument she played publicly. Concerts. Chamber performances. Weddings when money was tight. Church recitals when she felt charitable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the second?\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma\u2019s eyes lifted to mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second was older.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much older?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never knew exactly. Late eighteenth century, perhaps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd where is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked toward the open storage door.<\/p>\n
Rainwater shimmered beneath the lights outside.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody knows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel folded her arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re saying there was another antique cello in this family and nobody ever mentioned it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI mentioned it plenty when I was young.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo who?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband. My parents. Later, Richard.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Dad\u2019s name, she paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rest of you were never supposed to need the story.\u201d<\/p>\n
I pulled another folding chair closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we need it now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma nodded.<\/p>\n
Her mother, Eleanor, had inherited both instruments from an uncle who repaired string instruments in Boston. The cello Lucy owned was valuable because of its provenance, condition, and documented history. The second had been more complicated.<\/p>\n
\u201cComplicated how?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were questions about attribution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew understood.<\/p>\n
\u201cPossible maker dispute?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma explained that the second cello had markings associated with a highly respected eighteenth-century workshop, but experts disagreed over whether the instrument itself had been made by the master named on the label, one of his apprentices, or somebody later working in the same style.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it might have been worth less,\u201d Rachel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr substantially more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma\u2019s answer stopped her.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much more?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRoughly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma gave her a tired look.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough that my mother stopped letting people know it existed.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sentence changed the air.<\/p>\n
Andrew pulled out his notepad.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter a dealer came to our house in 1969.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma remembered him vividly despite the years. He examined both cellos but became obsessed with the older one. He returned twice, each time offering more money.<\/p>\n
Eleanor refused.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen he sent someone else,\u201d Grandma said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA different buyer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he claimed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second man offered nearly three times as much.<\/p>\n
Eleanor became suspicious.<\/p>\n
She contacted a conservator in New York.<\/p>\n
Before the conservator could travel to inspect it, somebody broke into the family home.<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey took the cello?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
That surprised me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey took papers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat papers?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPhotographs. correspondence. notes from the repairman who had worked on it. Anything documenting its history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew\u2019s pen stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cProvenance records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the cello remained?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma\u2019s fingers tightened around her cane.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen my father decided the family could not keep it safely in the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked, \u201cWhere did he put it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a bank vault.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel let out a breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s still there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bank merged. The vault arrangement changed. My father removed the cello several years later.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd after that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hid it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said the fewer people who knew, the safer it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew asked, \u201cDid Eleanor know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd after they died?\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma looked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the secret died with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
A cold feeling settled over me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Dad knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband told him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma\u2019s voice sharpened on the admission.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of the few things I was ever truly furious with Harold about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandpa Harold had apparently believed Dad should know because he was the family\u2019s only son and had become involved in estate planning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Harold that was exactly why Richard should not know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel gave a bitter laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma ignored it.<\/p>\n
Dad became fascinated with the story of the lost instrument.<\/p>\n
When he was in his twenties, he repeatedly asked where it had gone.<\/p>\n
Grandma never knew.<\/p>\n
Grandpa claimed he didn\u2019t either.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Richard didn\u2019t believe us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he search?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scale of Dad\u2019s secrecy suddenly widened beyond money and the cello recovered beside us.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you think he found it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew looked toward the recovered instrument.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould he have mistaken this cello for the other one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma answered immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPhotographs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat photographs?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ones your grandfather kept.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse increased.<\/p>\n
Grandpa\u2019s papers again.<\/p>\n
Everything seemed to return to those estate files.<\/p>\n
Grandma described a black-and-white photograph of Eleanor holding both instruments. Lucy\u2019s cello had a distinctive repaired edge. The missing one had a darker varnish, a narrower body, and an unusual scroll carved with a slight asymmetry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was also a mark inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat mark?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA small star.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarved?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBurned into the wood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew wrote that down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho knew that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents. Harold. Me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Richard?\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The anonymous caller knew enough to mention the second cello.<\/p>\n
That narrowed the possibilities.<\/p>\n
Someone connected to Dad.<\/p>\n
Someone connected to Grandpa\u2019s records.<\/p>\n
Or someone who had known the family for decades.<\/p>\n
I called Denise back.<\/p>\n
She answered immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you figure it out?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho called?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told you. I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMan or woman?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOld? Young?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot young.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAccent?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid the number show?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBlocked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat exactly did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
Denise repeated it.<\/p>\n
If you want to know where Richard really went, ask Margaret what happened to the other cello.<\/p>\n
Nothing more.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he sound threatening?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
That mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cAngry?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n
Denise thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cTired.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma heard that.<\/p>\n
She looked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk her if the man said my first name naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did.<\/p>\n
Denise thought again.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. He said Margaret like he knew you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarvey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma gripped her cane.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarvey Dunn.\u201d<\/p>\n
The name meant nothing to us.<\/p>\n
Andrew asked, \u201cWho is Harvey Dunn?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour grandfather\u2019s accountant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStill alive?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he is, he would be ninety-four.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew began searching.<\/p>\n
Grandma shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe retired to Vermont.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe not anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Within minutes, Andrew found a current listing.<\/p>\n
Harvey Dunn.<\/p>\n
Age ninety-four.<\/p>\n
Living in a senior community less than forty miles away.<\/p>\n
Grandma stared at the screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew about the second cello?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe handled Harold\u2019s business records after the first loan against my cello.\u201d<\/p>\n
The private financing from twenty-eight years earlier.<\/p>\n
The transaction involving Victor Hale.<\/p>\n
Grandma suddenly looked ill.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarvey helped Harold reorganize the estate after Daniel died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everything stopped.<\/p>\n
Andrew\u2019s expression sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he may know what records existed before Richard had access.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd whether anything disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward the rain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why call Denise instead of us?\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma said, \u201cBecause Harvey never trusted Richard.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
She hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was not quite true.<\/p>\n
I could hear it.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandma.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there was a confrontation shortly before Harold died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween Harvey and Dad?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold refused to tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel laughed without humor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis family really loved secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
No defense.<\/p>\n
Just yes.<\/p>\n
That honesty softened something in Rachel\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
Andrew contacted Harvey\u2019s senior community.<\/p>\n
He did not explain details. He simply asked whether Mr. Dunn was safe and whether staff could tell him he had an urgent call from Margaret Bell.<\/p>\n
Ten minutes later, Andrew\u2019s phone rang.<\/p>\n
He answered and put it on speaker.<\/p>\n
A man\u2019s voice came through, thin but clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret?\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarvey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell.\u201d<\/p>\n
He breathed out.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou finally found the boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma looked at us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat boxes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ones Richard spent twenty-seven years trying to find.\u201d<\/p>\n
A chill moved through me.<\/p>\n
Andrew stepped closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Dunn, this is Andrew Collins, Mrs. Bell\u2019s attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I recommended your old firm to Harold forty years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma almost smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course you did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey coughed.<\/p>\n
Then his voice became serious.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Richard take the cello?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEleanor\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma looked at Lucy\u2019s recovered instrument.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe took Lucy\u2019s. We recovered it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey sounded impatient.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot that one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every person in the storage unit went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean the missing one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt isn\u2019t missing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma\u2019s face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was never missing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarvey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father hid it. Harold moved it later. I handled the storage records.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma gripped the chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew where it was?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor fifty years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her face hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou let me think it was lost.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause your father told me to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father has been dead for thirty-six years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Harold told me not to tell Richard.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stared at the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could have told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n
A long silence.<\/p>\n
Then Harvey said, \u201cBecause eventually I stopped trusting you to keep it from your son.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words struck her.<\/p>\n
I stepped toward her, but she lifted a hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She wanted to hear this.<\/p>\n
Harvey continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cRichard had already used one instrument to secure debt. Harold repaid it. Then Richard started asking about the other one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma whispered, \u201cI told him nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou gave him access to the estate files.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI trusted him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked away.<\/p>\n
Harvey\u2019s voice softened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry, Margaret.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is the cello?\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat depends.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Richard find the blue ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew\u2019s eyes narrowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat blue ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey inhaled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen he didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarvey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cello is not merely valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma\u2019s jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
His voice became steadier.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained that Eleanor\u2019s second cello contained something hidden inside the lower rib.<\/p>\n
Not money.<\/p>\n
Not jewels.<\/p>\n
A document.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind of document?\u201d Andrew asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginal bearer certificates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey said the name of a company I didn\u2019t recognize.<\/p>\n
Grandma did.<\/p>\n
Her eyes widened.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew repeated it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeridian River Holdings?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey said, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Grandma.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is that?\u201d<\/p>\n
She sat down again.<\/p>\n
\u201cLand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much land?\u201d<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n
Harvey did.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch of the old riverfront industrial district.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought of the abandoned warehouses.<\/p>\n
Redevelopment.<\/p>\n
New towers.<\/p>\n
New restaurants.<\/p>\n
Property prices that had multiplied over the last decade.<\/p>\n
Andrew\u2019s voice sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much are the certificates potentially worth?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey was silent.<\/p>\n
Then:<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the last valuation I saw, the underlying ownership interest was worth approximately eleven million dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody spoke.<\/p>\n
Eleven million.<\/p>\n
The number was too large to feel real.<\/p>\n
Rachel whispered, \u201cDad knows?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows there was something hidden with the cello,\u201d Harvey said. \u201cHe never knew exactly what.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew asked, \u201cWhy are certificates inside an instrument?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey explained.<\/p>\n
During a bitter business dispute in the 1970s, Eleanor\u2019s brother had temporarily hidden them there rather than keep them in a bank or office where adversaries expected to find them.<\/p>\n
He died before removing them.<\/p>\n
Eleanor discovered them years later during repair work.<\/p>\n
The cello became a strange kind of family safe.<\/p>\n
Grandma pressed her fingers against her forehead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did nobody tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey\u2019s answer was gentle.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour parents did.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey left instructions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI never saw them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma\u2019s face emptied.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That hurt her more than the money.<\/p>\n
I could see it.<\/p>\n
Harvey continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold planned to resolve the ownership before his death. Then he became ill.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was afraid Richard would pressure you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma laughed once, painfully.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo everybody protected me by lying to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody contradicted her.<\/p>\n
Harvey said there was more.<\/p>\n
The certificates were not automatically worth eleven million to whoever possessed them.<\/p>\n
Legal ownership depended on a chain of inheritance, old corporate agreements, and documents stored separately.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blue ledger?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
It contained the references needed to establish the claim.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Richard cannot use the certificates alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why he may be looking for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cHas he contacted you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey hesitated.<\/p>\n
Then said, \u201cThree times today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked whether I still had anything belonging to Harold.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI lied.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you tell him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat everything had been destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he believe you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew spoke quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Dunn, stay inside your facility. Do not meet anyone. I\u2019m contacting local police.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey chuckled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m ninety-four, not suicidal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he coughed again.<\/p>\n
Grandma said, \u201cWhere is the cello?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey stopped laughing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is in a place Richard knows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said he never found it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t know it was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Lake Mercer cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the address Dad had left.<\/p>\n
The cabin.<\/p>\n
The place we thought might contain Dad.<\/p>\n
Grandma whispered, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold rebuilt the stone fireplace in 1981.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, Harold.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cello is sealed behind the north wall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew said, \u201cAnd Richard left us the cabin address.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants us to go there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma looked at me.<\/p>\n
Not invitation.<\/p>\n
Trap.<\/p>\n
Andrew was already calling the officers who had planned to accompany us.<\/p>\n
Then Harvey said something that changed everything again.<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Richard has finally understood what Harold hid there, he will not be at the cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere will he be?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the one person who can unlock the value.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma looked at the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen who?\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey\u2019s voice became very quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma sat down without seeming to notice the folding chair behind her. The storage unit lights buzzed overhead. Rain rattled against the metal roof. Andrew, Rachel, two police officers, and … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20292,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20205\/revisions\/20292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}