Murder at the Opera - Margaret Truman [18]
He opened a tall cabinet in which five hundred CD recordings were stored, arranged alphabetically by artist, and retrieved the one he sought, a London recording of Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by George Solti, and featuring the American soprano Helen Donath, whose airy voice struck a particular chord with Pawkins, whether Donath was playing Sophie in the Strauss masterpiece or Eva in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
He used dimmers to lower the lights, started the CD, and settled in his office chair, one of his cats, a Chartreux who’d adopted him years ago, on his lap. As the rich, melodic music swelled to fill the room, he leaned back, hands clasped behind his head, and reviewed what had happened that evening. After a few minutes of this introspection, he gently pushed the cat, Wolfgang, to the floor and started making notes on a yellow legal pad. The phone rang. He winced and stared at the receiver. The recorded opera had reached an especially pleasing section and he was loath to stop it. The phone kept ringing; the answering machine next to it had been turned off earlier that day and he’d forgotten to activate it. A button on the remote brought the stereo volume down to background level, and he picked up the receiver.
“Ray? It’s Mac Smith
Pawkins laughed and lowered the volume even more. “Twice in one night,” he said. “To what do I owe my good fortune?”
“I assume I’m not interrupting something important,” Smith said, “so I won’t apologize
“Good. Actually, I’m relaxing and enjoying my music. Strauss. Der Rosenkavalier. A perfect bittersweet comedy opera, so different from the blood and gore of his earlier works, Salome and Elektra, although they were fine, too. Quite daring. But you didn’t call for my analysis of Strauss and his operas. It was good seeing you again after all this time. Thanks again for the drink and snacks. I didn’t intend to freeload
“It was my pleasure,” Smith said. “I’ll tell you why I’m calling, Ray. Annabel attended her board meeting. As you can imagine, this murder of the young singer has everyone shaken
“And I’m sure there was plenty of histrionics. Opera lovers tend that way
“I wouldn’t know about that. Look, the board has decided to take whatever steps it can to resolve this internally
“Internally? MPD will love that, a bunch of wealthy opera aficionados playing Sherlock Holmes. Will they break into ‘Di quella pira’ when the killer is apprehended?”
“Raymond,” Smith said, “we might get further with this if you’ll stop playing the obscure reference game with me. I—”
“Hardly obscure, Mac. It’s from Il Trovatore, one of the most famous arias ever written
“Be that as it may, they—the board—asked Annabel if I—if you—would be interested in taking this on as a freelance assignment. Ms. Crier evidently told them that her super had been an MPD Homicide detective. Naturally, that piqued their interest
“Interesting,” Pawkins said. “We’ll work together?”
“No. I said I’d call you. That’s the extent of my involvement
“Then the answer is no
“As you wish. I’ve done my duty to Annabel and the cause of opera
“You’ll at least let me bounce things off you. I’d enjoy that, matching wits again with the brilliant Mackensie Smith. Not that I won many of those courtroom battles, but it would keep me honest
Smith chuckled. “All right,” he said. “You can bounce things off me. I don’t know if they’ve come up with a budget to cover your fee and expenses, but I’m sure they will
“Not necessary
“What?”
“I wouldn’t think of charging the folks at WNO. Good Lord, Mac, after all these years of them staging world-class opera at my back door, the least I can do is offer my services as a gift. Besides, there might be a book in it. I’ve always wanted to write a book about opera, but lack the credentials. Still, if I use my investigative skills to solve a suitable murder here, publishers will be beating down my door. Meet for breakfast?”
“I, ah—sure, that would be fine
They nailed down a time and place to meet the next morning and ended the conversation.