Murder at the Opera - Margaret Truman [122]
“Isn’t it wonderful?” Sylvia said.
“Yeah, I like it a lot. Never nodded off once
“I can’t imagine a better endorsement, Willie
They had turned off their cell phones upon entering the theater. Berry had given them permission to be out of touch during the performance, but told them to call in during intermission, and again when the opera was over. Sylvia activated her phone and punched in Berry’s direct-dial number. “Hi,” she said. “It’s between the second and third acts
“Glad you checked in,” Berry said. “Hate to do it to you, but you’d better get back here right away
“And miss the third act?” Sylvia said jokingly.
Berry took her seriously. “We’ll get you tickets for the next performance. Make it quick
He clicked off.
“Let’s go,” Sylvia said.
“I heard him,” Willie said. “You get those other tickets and forget about taking another dude with you. Remember, Willie here needs to see what happens to Tosca and her boyfriend. It was just getting to the best part
“Okay,” she said, and they headed out of the theater.
• • •
“What’s up?” Sylvia asked Berry.
“This.” Her boss handed her a fax.
She read it quickly, then handed it to Willie.
“Damn,” he said when he’d finished. “Can you believe it?”
“I think we’d better
The fax was from the New York Police Department. Officers had discovered a male body dumped beneath the Whitestone Bridge, in Queens. The man’s throat had been slit. Papers recovered from the body identified the victim as Philip Melincamp, the name of the individual for whom an APB had been issued by Washington MPD earlier that day.
“I wanted to wait until you got here before informing Mr. Warren of this development,” Berry said.
“He still here?” Willie asked.
“Yeah. We’re holding him as a person of interest
“Man, I hate that term,” Willie said as they went to the interrogation room where Chris Warren sat with a uniformed female officer. “You’re either a suspect or you’re not
Berry laughed. “His lawyer didn’t put up much of a beef,” he said, referring to Warren’s attorney. “The combination of the kid being there around the time Baltsa was killed and his lying doesn’t look good for him. The lawyer recognized that, too
They stood on the other side of the one-way glass and observed Warren. He looked almost complacent compared to his earlier volatility.
“How do you figure Melincamp getting it jibes with him?” Willie asked. “Me? I’d put my money on the talent agent offing his partner
“You may be right,” Berry said. “Let’s go find out
An hour later, they had their answer.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
“Everyone, listen to this!”
A dozen people were gathered at Mac and Annabel’s apartment the morning after Tosca’s opening. The reviews were in. Genevieve Crier held them in her hands and read them aloud. They were uniformly positive, but everyone waited for the one they feared—and treasured—most, which Genevieve had saved for last. What would John Shulson have to say?
Shulson was acknowledged as one of the opera world’s most knowledgeable, insightful, and demanding reviewers. His reviews and commentary appeared in a wide variety of publications, always stylishly written but often with barbed criticism of some aspect of a production.
Genevieve stood on a chair.
“Come on, Genevieve,” someone urged. “Is it bad?”
The coordinator cleared her throat, looked down at the review through half-glasses, and began reading.
“The headline is, ‘Tosca Triumphs Over Double Murder.’”
“Charise Lee,” someone said.
“Of course,” responded a woman. “Some of the other reviewers mentioned it, too. It can’t be ignored
Genevieve continued in her best British stage-honed voice.
“‘The murder of aspiring opera singer Charise Lee, a promising member of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, added heightened verismo to the Washington National Opera’s opening night production of Puccini’s tragic tale Tosca. The fact that the murder took place during rehearsals, and onstage, added substantial stir in the lobby of the Kennedy Center Opera House prior to the performance,