Chapter One: The Ring That Crushed an Elevator

The elevator floor was buckling. Lin searched the piano for a load point. When his palm crossed its lacquered lid, a foreign scene struck his mind. A woman in a wedding dress sat at the keyboard. A camera watched from a gap beside the wardrobe. Black-gloved hands hid a silver ring inside the piano bench. The woman looked down at a message: IF YOU DON’T SIGN— The vision snapped. Lin recoiled with blood running from his nose. His forearms ached as if someone had poured lead into the bones. “What did you see?” a woman asked above him. Someone had pried open the maintenance hatch. A dusty face appeared: short hair, a reporter’s badge, and a flashlight between her teeth.