“Good day?” he asks, looking up at the grand house with a thoughtful look.
“Yeah, just draining.” I yawn, dropping my head to the seat and closing my eyes. “I’ll be glad to get in my bed tonight.”
We leave the estate behind and head towards the city, which gives me plenty of time to think. And the only thing on my mind is Mason’s mother’s piano.
Why is it in the studio?
Did Mason know?
I pause at that thought. It’s like everything clicks into place. My head calls a ceasefire. The confusion settles as I get the image of Mason in the studio. It was the day Joey took the photos. It was the first time he had been upstairs.
I thought he was mad. I thought it was Joey.
The way his eyes cut through me as if he wasn’t looking at me.
He wasn’t. It was the piano.
He knows it’s there—but how,why?
My body flushes ice cold then hot, goosebumps making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
He knows it’s there.
If the piano is Mason’s and he knew where my studio was, why didn’t he ever tell me about it? God, that doesn’t even make sense. Not with the way he behaved that day. Did he not know? He didn’t seem like he knew. He seemed…
“Vinny, do you know anything about Ellis’ piano?”
He flinches. It’s quick and only slight, but I catch it, and it sets my pulse racing.
“It’s just, I think it’s in my studio.” I shake my head, correcting myself. “My old studio.”
He hesitates, and it’s obvious he’s choosing his words carefully. “Yes, Nina. I’ve heard about the piano, but you should probably ask Mason about it.”
“I’m asking you.”
“And I am asking you to speak to Mason about it,” he says sternly, and I frown at his tone.
He’s been quiet since he got back from his holiday. I put it down to Anthony’s passing because I know they were close, but this isn’t like Vinny.
Resigning myself to the fact that Vinny isn’t going to help me, I try to piece it together myself, starting with the day Mason came to the studio.
Joey and the photos. Mason came to me and saw the piano—that much I am sure of.
What was it he said?
Why can’t I remember anything, dammit?!
I went for lunch with the girls straight after Mason left. Erin called and told me she had to go home.
Erin!
Why the hell was Ellis’s piano in her building?
Nothing makes sense.
I catch Vinny watching me in the rearview mirror, and I know he has the answers to my questions. He disappeared the day after my studio sold. Mase was in a foul mood, and Erin went back to Australia.
Something doesn’t add up.
