I Died to End Their Lie novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Disqualified

The conservatory final was held in a concert hall with red velvet seats and a gold ceiling.

Every seat was full.

Dad and Mom sat in the last row, and the detective sat at the end of their aisle with his hands folded.

I floated over the stage, above the black grand piano.

The program said Cade Rittenhouse would play fourth.

Beside the name, in small print, it said Sponsored by Rittenhouse Homes.

Three people played before him.

Nobody in the crowd looked at the stage.

They were looking at the program, and then at the back row, and then at one another.

"That's the family," a woman whispered behind me.

"The brother in the shed."

"And the kid is still playing?"

The judges sat at a long table in front of the stage, five of them, with score sheets.

The chair of the panel was an old man with white hair and a hard mouth.

At seven-forty, he rose.

"Our fourth competitor," he said. "Cade Rittenhouse."

The hall went still.

Cade walked out from the wings.

He wore a black tuxedo, perfectly pressed.

On his left wrist was a gold watch with a black face.

I knew it, because I had watched my father wind it every Sunday night for ten years.

It was the one Dad called his father's watch.

Cade sat at the piano and set his hands on his knees.

He did not look at the audience.

"Please begin when you're ready," the chair said.

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