Chapter 12 - A VOICE FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE
Daniel stood paralyzed, the dictaphone trembling between his white-knuckled fingers. The cold sweat dripping down his spine felt like ice water. Grace’s voice had sounded so alive, so raw, that for a fleeting second he felt as though he could reach into the machine and pull his murdered wife back from the dark.
"Daddy?"
Lily stood in the doorway of the faculty lounge, her violin case slung over her small shoulder. She tilted her head, her bright green eyes—so painfully identical to Grace’s—locking onto the machine.
"Was that Mommy?" she asked softly.
Daniel slammed the dictaphone shut, thrusting it into his jacket pocket. "Just... an old recording from the archives, sweetheart. How was rehearsal?"
Lily didn't answer immediately. She walked to the window, watching the rain lash against the glass. "Miss Maya said that when people leave us, they leave behind echoes. But sometimes echoes sound angry." She turned around, clutching the strap of her violin. "Daddy, Grandma Evelyn had a brother, didn't she?"
Daniel froze. "Evelyn was an only child, Lily. Her parents died decades ago."
"Then who is the man in the black car?" Lily asked, pointing out the second-story window toward the iron gates of the academy.
Daniel lunged to the glass, shielding Lily behind him. Idling at the curb, its tinted windows completely opaque, sat a sleek black Mercedes with diplomatic plates. Through the rain-slicked windshield, Daniel caught the faint glow of a cigarette and the silhouette of a man wearing a signet ring on his right hand—a golden crest depicting a crowned falcon.
Before Daniel could reach the courtyard, the car revved its engine, tires screeching against wet asphalt as it vanished into the afternoon mist. Daniel drew his cell phone and dialed Detective Miller, his breathing ragged.
"Miller," the detective answered.
"She wasn't working alone," Daniel said without greeting. "Evelyn had an accomplice. And he’s watching my daughter."
There was a long, ominous pause on the line before Miller exhaled sharply. "Daniel, you need to come down to the precinct right now. Evelyn... she collapsed in her solitary cell twenty minutes ago. Before the paramedics took her, she requested one person."
"Who?"
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"You, Daniel. And she said if you don't bring Lily, someone will burn the school to ashes before midnight."
***
