Chapter 4 Dead Girls Don't Sing

When Lily held the torn photograph and the note against the dim lamp light, her fingers trembled so badly that the envelope slipped from her hand and fluttered to the floor. Gabriel caught it before it landed, eyes dark as slate.

"Someone's been here," he said, voice tight. He leaned forward, kneeling to retrieve the torn half of Mara's face. "This wasn't here a moment ago."

Lily swallowed hard, heart hammering like a drumbeat. The couch between them felt suddenly thin, as though it offered no barrier against whatever shadow lurked beyond these walls.

"And you didn't set this up?" she asked, voice small.

"No." Gabriel's jaw clenched. He studied the note-elegant, looping script on yellowing paper. "'Do you hear her too?'" He read it aloud, eyes flicking to Lily's face. "They're taunting us."

Lily swallowed. "Who would do that? Sebastian?"

Gabriel's lips pressed into a thin line. "It could be him, or someone working for him. Someone who-" He stopped. "Someone who knows Mara."

A chill washed over Lily. She rose slowly, pacing the apartment's small living area. Every reflection in the darkened window felt like a pair of eyes watching. "Maybe Mara's trying to reach you from-"

"From beyond?" Gabriel scoffed, but the tremor in his voice betrayed him. "Don't. I can't do ghosts tonight."

Lily kept walking. Her mind spun with questions. Who would send this to them, and why? Was it a warning-or a promise? And why would Mara, even if she were alive, send a message now, six years later?

"Lily." Gabriel's tone softened. He rose and took her hand. "We need to move. They'll keep sending things, leave clues, create distractions. We have to find out who's behind this before it costs us everything."

Lily nodded, exhaling a shaky breath. "Okay. But where do we start?"

Gabriel's jaw worked as he considered. "Mara's apartment. Sebastian's old office. Somewhere he kept records. Somewhere he kept her secrets." He paused, eyes scanning the spines of dusty records lining the wall. "I left clues in the old place-I buried them, hoping I might never have to dig them up again. But if someone's playing games with me, it means they found those clues. We need to know what they know."

"Then let's find out." Lily squared her shoulders. "I'm not leaving your side."

He nodded, appreciating her resolve but clearly worried. "Good. Because if I go alone, I'll do something stupid."

Lily managed a small smile. "You already do stupid things with me around."

Gabriel grinned, dark and sudden. "Point taken."

They exited the apartment in near-silence. Gabriel retrieved his motorcycle from the alley; Lily accepted the second helmet he offered. The engine roared to life, warming their bodies against the spring chill. As they wove through wet streets, Lily's wet hair plastered to her face, she thought about the note's meaning. "Do you hear her too?" The question sounded insane-like something a haunted soul would ask. But she had heard something: a whisper of song, the faintest hum of melody, in that crumbling hall. Her imagination? Or something real?

"Gabriel?" she asked over the engine's rumble. "Do you ever question-"

"Don't," he snapped, braking for a red light. "Every second I question, I lose my mind all over again. I can't-"

He stopped midsentence, sensing something: the leather of her jacket pressed against his side, her warmth beside him, steady and real. He exhaled and looked back. "Sorry. Just... focus on today."

She nodded, rapping her knuckles softly against his back. "Today. Right."

Their destination was a rundown apartment block in the East End-Mara's old flat. Gabriel parked and they climbed three flights of stairs in near-darkness. Each step landed with a hollow echo. On the second-floor landing, Lily almost missed the faded mailboxes. One of them hung ajar, its nameplate scratched: M. Moreau.

"Here," Gabriel said, voice barely above a whisper. He slipped a key from his pocket-one he'd taken years ago-and fitted it into the lock. The door cracked open with a groan.

Inside, the apartment smelled of stale smoke and rotting wood. Mara's piano stood in the corner-dust caked over the ivory keys. Sheet music lay strewn across the floor, half-burned in one corner. A single lamp remained plugged in but cold; its bulb long dead.

Lily flicked on her phone's flashlight. The beam sliced through darkness, illuminating a near-empty living space. A mattress leaned against the wall, stained and abandoned. Against another wall, a desk cluttered with journals, photographs, and a battered cassette player-just like the one in Gabriel's secret room.

Gabriel moved forward, breathing ragged. He knelt beside the flush of a broken string on the piano, brushing dust off the lid. "I haven't been here since-" His voice caught. He lifted a cassette tape from the floor, one labeled "January 3, 2019-Mara & Me." He held it as though it weighed more than metal and plastic.

Lily knelt beside him. "What was on this tape?"

He slipped the tape into the player. Static hissed through the dusty speakers. Then Mara's voice-soft, trembling, urgent-filled the room. Lily's heart clenched. She leaned closer to hear.

Mara (Voice–Tearful): Gabriel, if you find this... if I'm gone, if they-

Unknown Male (hushed): Listen to me, Mar. You promised.

Mara: I know. But if I do this, everything changes. He'll come for ... Gabriel, if I don't.

Gabriel's Voice (faint): Mara? Baby, can you hear me?

Unknown Male: Shh. Just play it. Play our song, into that old hall... Make him listen. He'll know.

Gabriel froze, as if the ghost of his younger self had appeared before him.

Lily clutched the edge of the piano. "Our song? What does that mean?"

He swallowed hard. "It's a piece Mara wrote. A duet-our duet. It's in my head, but nobody else knows it. When we played it together, Sebastian lost his temper. He never understood why Mara refused to sign away the rights. She said today he'd see why."

The tape hissed again, and then Rosewood keys rang out-Lily recognized the chord progression from the concert hall. A haunting phrase that rose and fell like a heartbeat, but split between two voices, weaving into each other. Lily closed her eyes, transported.

When the music ended, the tape clicked off. Silence fell, so complete it felt like drowning.

"Did you record this?" she asked Gabriel.

He shook his head. "I wasn't there. I was on tour. This is the last recording of us together."

Lily's stomach dropped. "So Mara recorded it alone?"

"That guy-Sebastian-had someone place the camera in our apartment. He recorded us that night. He used it to blackmail her. Told her if she didn't play our song publicly, he'd... The night she died, she left me a note, said she would play it. That was her plan."

Lily's voice dropped. "And she never did."

"No." Gabriel stood. "He intercepted her. Took her away before she could finish it. He forced her to sign, and then... after she did it, he wrecked the tapes. Decimated her."

Lily could feel her pulse in her throat. "He's sending us clues now because he wants you to finish it?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "He wants me to beg. To humiliate myself in public. He thinks if I don't, he'll expose everything-our names, our mistakes, my disgrace. He'll expose me."

Lily reached for his hand. "Then we finish it first. We play that duet on our terms."

Gabriel looked at her, dark eyes shadowed by guilt. "You think it's that easy? That I can walk back into that hall and play? After everything..."

"I don't think. I know." Lily's voice was strong. "You have the gift, and you have me. We'll find the sheet music."

He inhaled slowly. "The sheet was hidden in Sebastian's safe. In his old office."

"Then let's go."