The Hand Beneath the Pedal
Chapter 11 - The Hand Beneath the Pedal
Forensic analysis of the rubber block revealed three things.
Blue wax from Vivian’s office seal.
Owen Pike’s blood.
And a partial fingerprint belonging to Sophie Lane.
Vivian’s attorneys released the result publicly.
They claimed Sophie sabotaged her own performance to help Ruth create a dramatic authorship scandal.
Sophie was suspended pending investigation.
Her scholarship was frozen.
Students who praised her online began receiving anonymous messages accusing her of cheating in previous competitions.
Ruth recognized the method.
Destroy the person before examining the evidence.
Sophie insisted she never touched the block.
Lena studied the fingerprint pattern.
It was reversed.
Someone had lifted Sophie’s print from another object and transferred it onto the rubber.
The technique matched a kit found in Owen’s workshop.
But why choose Sophie?
Her grandmother Jane carried the only living eyewitness account of the fire. Discrediting Sophie weakened Jane.
Lena searched rehearsal footage.
At 4:12 p.m., Sophie handed her water bottle to an usher before going onstage. The usher delivered it to Vivian’s private box.
The usher was Vivian’s grandniece.
She confessed after police showed her the fingerprint kit. Vivian told her it was part of a surprise scholarship presentation.
Sophie’s suspension was lifted.
The board still refused to remove Vivian.
Ruth examined the piano pedal again.
The black block had not only stopped the sustain mechanism. Its position forced the trapwork upward, opening a narrow gap behind the lyre.
Inside the gap, Lena found a strip of microfilm.
Owen had unknowingly exposed it when he installed the block.
The microfilm contained Blackwood board minutes from 1993. The official archive claimed those minutes were lost.
They showed that the board voted privately to credit the Mercer Concerto to Thomas Sterling two weeks before Ruth’s disciplinary hearing.
The hearing had never been intended to determine truth.
It existed to manufacture consent for a decision already made.
One signature surprised everyone.
Margaret Blackwood, granddaughter of the conservatory’s founder, voted against the resolution. Her written objection stated that Ruth Mercer legally owned the work and that Andrew’s instrument designs belonged to Lantern Music Works.
Margaret died a month later in a reported fall from the conservatory balcony.
The police had called it an accident.
The board minutes included a handwritten note:
M.B. has the founder’s key. Recover before probate.
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The silver key found inside the piano belonged to Margaret.
It opened a vault no current Blackwood administrator knew existed.
