Chapter 8 - THE BLUE ROOM
The blue room turned out to be a name.
A codename.
A secret project.
Miriam Vale had created a financial archive known as Blue Room.
It contained records of illegal shipping payments, political bribes, and money laundering across multiple companies.
Luca Vital had helped her gather evidence.
Victor Bellamy had discovered their work.
And both had died soon afterward.
But the archive itself had never been found.
Sophia's pendant contained an engraved clue.
Remember the blue room.
Mateo studied it.
“Why give it to you?”
Sophia shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Dominic looked at the photograph.
“Maybe Victor didn't know what it meant.”
Mateo frowned.
“Then why search for the key?”
Sophia looked up.
“Because someone told him it was important.”
They searched old property records.
Bank archives.
Storage facilities.
Nothing.
Then Sophia remembered something.
“When I was little, my father had a music room.”
Mateo looked at her.
“What color?”
“Blue.”
He stared.
Sophia shook her head.
“No. That's too obvious.”
Mateo smiled faintly.
“Sometimes obvious is useful.”
The room was inside Bellamy's old estate in Connecticut.
The property had been sold years earlier.
Now it belonged to a private historical foundation.
Mateo arranged a lawful visit through the current owners.
They entered the house on a gray afternoon.
Sophia stopped at the doorway.
Her breath caught.
“This is it.”
The walls were pale blue.
A grand piano stood near the windows.
The room smelled of polished wood and old books.
Sophia approached the piano.
She touched the keys.
Then whispered:
“My mother used to play here.”
Mateo stood beside her.
“Your mother?”
Sophia nodded.
“She died when I was twelve.”
She pressed a key.
A soft note filled the room.
Then she noticed something.
A small brass plate beneath the music stand.
Engraved with a name.
MIRIAM VALE
Sophia stared.
Then whispered:
“She wasn't just an accountant.”
Mateo looked at her.
“What?”
May you like
Sophia turned.
“She was my piano teacher.”
