Death and Transfiguration
Page 31
I will persevere, as I always have.
Herza, on his knees, raises his eyes heavenward. The face of Strauss, glowing and smiling, is suddenly replaced by the ghostly countenance of the blind man looking down at him. Herza, his breathing shallow, reaches out in desperation to avoid toppling, and with both hands he clutches Jacobus by his trouser legs. Jacobus staggers backward but doesn’t fall. Herza’s balance abandons him and his torso slumps forward, his head rocking against the inside of Jacobus’s thighs.
Jacobus cranes his neck downward, bringing his own face as close as he can to the maestro’s.
“Malinkovsky,” Jacobus says quietly.
The maestro gazes up at Jacobus’s spectral visage. “You have been, and will always be, a tutti player,” says Vaclav Herza, and harnessing his last ounce of strength, spits in Jacobus’s face.
The saliva seems to nourish the crevices of Jacobus’s careworn cheeks, which bloom into what appears to be a benign smile.
“Checkmate,” Jacobus says.
FORTY-TWO
SUNDAY
The Metro North train from Grand Central arrived at its last stop, Wassaic, nestled in the bucolic agricultural valley of Columbia County, New York, at 11:48 A.M. Jacobus emerged, his face as ashen as the sky that threatened another day of thunderstorms. Yumi was waiting for him on the platform. Because he looked so haggard, she gently wrapped her arm through his, guiding him down the steps to her car. She was going to suggest stopping at K&J’s for lunch on the hour-long drive to his house but decided he needed rest more than food.
“Did you hear what happened?” Yumi asked as soon as they were in the car.
“What happened?” he said flatly.
“It’s hard to believe, but Vaclav Herza’s dead!”
“Oh?”
“It was on Weekend Edition on WAMC. Scott Simon interviewed Martin Lilburn of the Times. Herza was on Freedom Bridge and fell into the Hudson River. The current would have taken him out to sea, but someone spotted his body just before it passed the Statue of Liberty. Isn’t that ironic?”
“Ironic?”
“Well, for him to die on the night of his greatest success.”
Jacobus had planned his next words carefully and had practiced subtle nuances for hours, as if he were preparing a Mozart sonata for performance. “So maybe now you can accept the position.”
The car swerved.
“What’s the matter? Hit a skunk?”
“No,” said Yumi. “You just caught me off guard. The thought hadn’t even occurred to me.”
“Might not be a bad idea. You’d make a good concertmaster. A fine concertmaster. They’d probably welcome some stability at this point in time.” He had said it just right. Leave it up to her. Don’t lay it on too thick.
“Do you think so? Maybe you’re right. I’ll think about it. Yes, I’ll think about it.”
They rode in silence for a while, the car comfortably winding along the embracing curves of Route 23.
“Drowned, did he?” Jacobus asked.
“You’d think. But they’re saying that he might’ve still been alive when he fell in.”
“Heart attack, then? Stroke? He always did have a weak ticker.”
Jacobus cocked his head to better hear the confirmation.
“No. Someone shot him through the heart. Can you believe it?”
“Impossible!”
“It’s true. Shot him from behind. The bullet lodged in his heart. They said he hardly bled externally at all, and then whoever did it somehow managed to push him over the railing.”
Yumi suddenly braked the car, bringing it to a stop.
“Jake, where’s your cane?”
ALSO BY GERALD ELIAS
Devil’s Trill
Danse Macabre
Death and the Maiden
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GERALD ELIAS is author of the acclaimed Daniel Jacobus mystery series. Devil’s Trill was selected by Barnes & Noble for their 2009 Discover Great New Writers catalog. In 2010 Danse Macabre was hailed as one of the top-five mysteries by Library Journal and selected as Book of the Year in fiction by the Utah Humanities Council. Death and the Maiden received glowing reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. Elias, a Yale University graduate, also has been a Boston Symphony violinist, Associate Concertmaster of the Utah Symphony, adjunct professor of music at the University of Utah, first violinist of the Abramyan String Quartet, and Music Director of the Vivaldi Candlelight concert series.
To listen to live performances by Gerald Elias of any of the music in the Daniel Jacobus mystery series, please visit his Web site at www.geraldelias.com.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
DEATH AND TRANSFIGURATION. Copyright © 2012 by Gerald Elias. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein
Cover photograph by Bill Miles
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Elias, Gerald.
Death and transfiguration : a Daniel Jacobus novel / Gerald Elias. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-312-67835-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-01480-1 (e-book)
1. Violin teachers—Fiction. 2. Conductors (Music)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3605.L389D44 2012
813'.6—dc23
2012005488
e-ISBN 9781250014801
First Edition: June 2012