Isabel agreed to speak with Daniel later that evening at a location chosen by investigators.
He expected to see a terrified woman who wanted nothing further to do with the case.
Instead, she arrived with a bruised elbow, a cup of coffee, and a list of questions.
Her brother Mateo sat beside her.
He was younger than Daniel expected and had the long, precise fingers of someone who worked with small tools.
“Did anybody get into the water?” Isabel asked immediately.
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“Were the chemicals secured?”
“The police checked the equipment area.”
“Did the hook touch the filter line?”
“I don’t think so.”
Isabel took a breath and looked at Mateo.
“I told you they would use a pool.”
Mateo’s face tightened.
“You also told me you weren’t going to confront them alone.
”
“I didn’t,” Isabel replied.
“They found me at the bus stop.”
Daniel had no idea what to say.
He finally settled on the simplest truth.
“I’m sorry this happened at my house.”
Isabel looked at him steadily.
“It happened because Gideon knew I would keep an appointment.”
“And because Carol gave him access,” Daniel said.
“Yes.”
Isabel set down her coffee.
“I want you to understand something about Carol.”
Daniel waited.
“I have repaired her fountain twice for free,” she said.
“She used to bring me iced tea when I worked on your pump.”
“She complained about you parking near her mailbox.”
“She complained about everybody.”
Isabel gave a tired smile that disappeared quickly.
“But I never believed she would agree to hurt me.”
CHAPTER FIVE — THE THIRD KEY
Mateo placed a photograph on the table between them.
It showed the missing viola resting in a dark blue velvet case.
The wood glowed warmly under the workshop lights, and the instrument’s scroll curled inward like a question mark.
“I built the bridge and repaired the neck,” Mateo explained.
“The student who owned it is named Lily Barnes.”
Lily was sixteen and played in a municipal youth ensemble.
Her mother cleaned offices at night, and her father drove a school bus.
A retired conductor had commissioned the instrument for her after hearing her perform on a borrowed viola.
The theft delayed her conservatory audition because her substitute instrument was too small for her hands.
“People keep calling these thefts property crimes,” Mateo said.
“They were stealing months of somebody’s life.”
Daniel thought about the nearly empty pool behind his house.
He asked why Price would take so many risks over instruments whose sale could be traced.
Isabel answered with an explanation that made the scheme uglier.
Price did not sell most instruments immediately.
He stored them in private climate-controlled lockers and had their identifying marks altered by a specialist.
Some buyers were collectors who preferred not to ask questions.
Others were intermediaries who promised to resell instruments overseas.
Instruments from schools could be passed off as estate donations because their inventories were inconsistent.
And the people who owned them were often musicians who could not afford lengthy legal disputes.
“He chose houses where someone was traveling,” Isabel said.
“He knew their schedules because the owners told him when to service the pool.”
“I told him when I would be away,” Daniel admitted.
“I know.”
Isabel looked uncomfortable.
“I checked your garage yesterday without entering it.”
“Why?”
“Because Gideon asked me whether you kept a piano there.”
Daniel frowned.
“I don’t.”
“He asked twice.”
Mateo sat forward.
“Did somebody in your family own a piano?”
“My mother had one years ago.”
“Was it a small upright?”
“Yes.”
Mateo exchanged a look with Isabel.
“What color?” he asked.
“Dark walnut.”
“Did it have two brass pedals?”
“It had three, but the middle one never worked.”
Isabel shook her head.
“Then he probably confused you with another Reed.”
Daniel felt the explanation did not fit.
His mother had sold the piano when she moved into assisted living, five years before his pool company ever knew him.
Price might have been asking about valuables for another burglary.
But why ask specifically about a piano that no longer existed?
