Chapter 7 - The Courthouse Beneath the CourthouseHer father had hidden a secret under the place where he had spent his life delivering justice.
The blast knocked Sophia to the floor.
Dust poured from the ceiling.
Enzo grabbed her and pulled her behind a stone pillar.
Glass shattered.
Agnes screamed.
Another explosion shook the house.
"The basement!" Enzo shouted.
They moved.
Fast.
Sophia grabbed Agnes's arm.
"Come on!"
The three of them reached the lower corridor.
Smoke filled the stairwell.
Enzo kicked open an emergency door.
Cold air rushed in.
They escaped through the rear garden.
The house burned behind them.
Again.
Sophia watched flames climb the walls.
Three years ago.
Tonight.
The same house.
The same fire.
Different night.
Enzo stood beside her.
"Someone wanted us outside."
She looked at him.
"Why?"
"So we would leave."
"And go where?"
He glanced at the message from Matteo.
"The courthouse."
The old courthouse had been abandoned for years.
Officially.
Unofficially, half the building was still owned by shell companies tied to politicians and lawyers.
Sophia had not stepped inside since she was seventeen.
The building smelled of damp stone and old paper.
They entered through the rear.
Enzo found a basement stairwell.
"Your father said something was buried beneath the courthouse."
Sophia ran her hand along the wall.
"These stones were renovated twice."
"How do you know?"
"My father complained about it constantly."
She looked at the floor.
"He said the renovation plans were falsified."
Enzo moved aside.
"Then we find the false section."
They searched.
Twenty minutes.
Nothing.
Sophia sat on a broken bench.
Her father's words returned.
The music remembers.
She began tapping her fingers.
One.
Two.
Three.
Pause.
One.
Two.
Three.
The rhythm from Judgment at Midnight.
She stood.
"Five steps from the old archive door."
Enzo counted.
Five steps.
Then Sophia counted piano notes under her breath.
"Three feet left."
Enzo looked at the wall.
A metal plate.
He pulled it away.
Behind it was a narrow cavity.
Inside sat a sealed tin box.
Sophia opened it.
Documents.
Letters.
Photographs.
And a key.
On the first page was her father's handwriting.
THE SECOND COURT
She frowned.
"What is that?"
Enzo looked at the architectural plan.
"The courthouse has another foundation."
"Under this?"
"Yes."
"The second court."
A hidden chamber.
They found the entrance behind an old judge's bench.
A stone panel slid aside when the key was inserted.
Stairs disappeared into darkness.
Sophia hesitated.
Enzo turned on his flashlight.
"We go together."
At the bottom was a steel door.
It opened.
Inside was a room filled with shelves.
Files.
Tapes.
Hard drives.
Names everywhere.
Sophia walked slowly.
"This isn't just a ledger."
"No."
"It's an archive."
"Your father was building a case."
"For who?"
"For everyone."
A projector screen descended from the ceiling.
Without warning, it activated.
A recording appeared.
Judge Castellan.
"Edward Vale knows."
Sophia stopped.
"He knows what?"
Her father's recorded voice continued.
"He knows that someone inside the Valente family was being used as a courier."
Enzo looked toward the shelves.
"Who?"
The recording answered.
"Matteo."
Sophia turned.
Matteo had been a courier.
Not a traitor.
A courier.
Her father continued.
"The problem is that Matteo doesn't know who is giving him orders."
Another file opened automatically.
A photograph.
Matteo standing with Edward Vale.
Then another.
Matteo meeting a judge.
Then another.
Matteo handing an envelope to Enzo.
Sophia's eyes widened.
"What does that mean?"
Enzo stared.
"I don't know."
A recording started.
Matteo's voice.
Three years younger.
"If you're hearing this, Edward has found me."
A pause.
"I need you to believe something."
Sophia moved closer.
"Your brother will never betray you."
The recording crackled.
"He thinks I'm working for the enemy."
Another voice interrupted.
Edward Vale.
"Matteo."
The recording ended.
Sophia looked at Enzo.
"We need to find him."
"No."
She frowned.
"Why?"
"Because he's leading us here."
"Maybe he wants us to know the truth."
"Maybe."
Enzo examined the room.
"He also knew we'd find it."
A slow clap came from the doorway.
Sophia turned.
Arthur stood there.
The old pianist.
No hunched back.
No shaking hands.
No tired smile.
His posture was straight.
A pistol rested in his hand.
Enzo raised his weapon.
Arthur smiled.
"That was always the problem with Marcus."
Sophia felt ice in her veins.
"He trusted music."
Arthur's eyes moved to her.
"And he taught his daughter too much."
Enzo stepped forward.
"Who do you work for?"
Arthur laughed.
"You're still asking the wrong question, Lorenzo."
He pointed at Sophia.
"The question is why your father believed the girl should survive."
Sophia stared.
Arthur's face softened.
"Because she is not merely his daughter."
"What are you talking about?"
Arthur smiled.
"Ask your mother."
Sophia's eyes widened.
"What?"
Arthur slowly lowered his gun.
"Because she isn't Judge Castellan's only daughter."
The lights went out.
A gunshot echoed.
When the emergency lights returned, Arthur was gone.
And behind Sophia stood another woman.
May you like
Her mother.
Alive.
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