One Midnight (ONC 2024) ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Five The Discovery

2019

I cannot believe what I am seeing. Several shards of broken glass all over the front of the music store. Cop cars lighting up the place. I brush past an NOPD cop who stops me with a gesture of his hand.

"Official police business," he says. "Step aside, please."

"This is my dad's piano shop," I say, my lips trembling.

"Oh," he says, nodding. "I was the one who spoke to Mr. Broussard. He said that he was going to contact you. I need to see identification, though."

I hand him my ID and he says something in his communication device. "You're free to go in."

I tiptoe around the broken glass and am shocked when I see the inside of my dad's music store. Most of the pianos are there still except for one. I see the indent in the carpet where it used to be and my heart drops. My dad's favorite Spirio model Steinway was stolen right from under our noses. It costs at least 400,000 dollars. No, no, no, no, no.

I hear another cop speaking into his communication device. "Suspect is Caucasian male. Black curly hair. Late twenties, early thirties."

No no no no no.

"Do you know who this person is?" A police officer walks up in front of me and flashes a picture of the man right in front of my face.

"Ignace," I rasp, my heart sinking further and further down.

"His name is Ignace?" the cop asks.

I shake my head as I tremble, the room spinning and swirling all around me.

"Hold on," the cop says, leading me to a piano bench. "Is that better?"

I tremble as my head shakes, and I am unable to think properly or say a thing at all.

"So what is his name again?"

"He betrayed me," I say, sobbing. "How could he betray me like this?"

"Hey, Gregory," the cop questioning me says. "Get this girl a shock blanket. She's in shock."

"So, it seems like you've come to," he says. "Can you tell me this individual's name, if you can positively identify him?"

I nod. "This guy is someone I used to know. His name is Inaki Leblanc. He's got—"

"Inaki Leblanc," the cop says, scoffing. "I knew it. He tries to make a living stealing expensive instruments. I know him well. It's hard to tell from the picture I gave you. This is something that the owner of the store next door noticed at around two in the morning. The cameras in your store were disabled and the software that we noticed was tied up to a smart security service were also deactivated. He stole a piano, from what it looks like —with a group of thieves."

"Who would steal a piano out of a store?" Nicolas asks.

"They broke down the windows to do it," the cop says. "I reckon if anything is expensive enough, they'll go for it. So how do you know this man, again, Miss Broussard?"

"He works for my dad," I say. "I admit, I got a notification from the smart app that he came into the store at midnight, but he was doing inventory work for my dad. I didn't think anything of it."

"Wait, he came to do inventory work for your dad?" the cop asks. "At midnight?"

"What my dad said, he wanted him to work at midnight. But I guess he found an excuse at midnight to steal the most expensive piano in the store and he didn't think to disable the next store's cameras."