The Haunts & Horrors Megapack: 31 Modern & Classic Stories

by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

  “That’s fascinating, of course,” said Vanessa, not entirely candidly. “But the actual program is where my interest lies.”

  Nicola pretended to be slighted. “Oh, well, if that’s all—” She sniffed as she scanned down the page, and turned it. “Ah. Here we go. Six Fugues on Themes of Handel. That’s Dziwny’s own composition, as you know.”

  “As I know,” Vanessa echoed, the complex passages coming to mind. Her fingers twitched as if sketching out the cadenzas.

  “Then Nursery Songs. That’s by a student of Boccherini, according to the material here. It’s a flashy piece but essentially trivial; hardly anyone plays it anymore, but it has a certain appeal, with all kinds of ornaments and runs, just the sort of thing Dziwny was said to do better than any of his contemporaries, like his knack for fugues,” said Nicola.

  “Knack?” Vanessa repeated.

  “Oh, yes, I think so,” said Nicola. “He had the mental facility for them, they were his means to an end, not the end itself, a kind of magic trick that caught the attention of the public.” She looked down at the page again. “Anyway, there was an intermission; they served lemon ices and champagne. Then the Grand Toccata and Fugue on a Polish Folk Song, his newest work. He’d played it in public only twice before. He never finished that performance.”

  “Is there anything in that journal that says when he actually did it? And what he actually did?” Vanessa could not keep the eagerness out of her voice.

  “Yes,” said Nicola. “There is some mention of it.” Her frown became a scowl as she read the journal, translating as she went. “He had reached the second full statement of the central theme, a passage with a great deal of octave work in it, and when he reached the long fermata, followed by the repeated figure in the left hand, his right went into the pocket of his coat, and he drew out a small pistol. He put it under his right ear, and before anyone could properly discern his intent or move to stop him, he fired. He fell sideways, his head striking the keyboard, then there was consternation everywhere. The Graffin fainted and had to be taken from the ballroom by the Graf, who ordered that the room be vacated at once. It was an appalling incident, no matter what the reason may actually have been; with such a tragedy, the world will assume the worst, and will no doubt fix the blame on the Graffin. The servants were charged with the task of disposing of the body. Or reposing the body. Some of these verbs are pretty irregular, even for early 19th century German. It seems to say There was anxiety or perhaps All felt anxiety because of this calamity.” Nicola put the journal down. “The rest is about the inconvenience of having to leave the next morning just as it was coming on to snow.”

  “That’s pretty dispassionate,” said Vanessa.

  “Well, the Baron was said to be a cool one. Still, watching a man blow his brains out can’t have been good entertainment, can it?” Nicola closed the journal. “I think he probably heard the event described, just because of the tone of it. His wife was most certainly in attendance, and she would have told everything to her husband; we know she accompanied the Graffin to her room and stayed with her for the whole night—she wrote a letter to the Graffin’s brother about the event, but put her emphasis on the Graffin, not on Dziwny.”

  “Have you seen that letter?” Vanessa asked.

  “Yes. It’s in a private collection in Salzburg. The owner allowed me to read it and copy down its text.” Nicola smiled faintly. “Would you like me to read it? I’m afraid the Baroness didn’t write very well, more like a third-grader than an adult—hardly surprising, given the state of women’s education at the time.” She reached out for the handle of the tallest file cabinet in the room.

  “Never mind,” said Vanessa. “I get the picture.”

  “It’s not a very pretty one,” said Nicola. “If you change your mind, I can make a translation and fax it to you while you’re on the road.”

  “Thanks,” said Vanessa. “I’d appreciate that. I’ll put Howard on it, too. He’s the one pushing to tie in the suicide with the concert I’m preparing.”

  “Are you actually going to buy the forte-piano?” Nicola asked.

  “I wish. Shotwell’s asking a horrendous amount for it; I can’t justify spending that amount on it.” Vanessa shook her head. “No, I’m leasing it from him, for a pretty ridiculous fee, but at least I can almost afford it.”

  Nicola shook her head in disapproval. “Do you really plan to perform the same program Dziwny did?”

  “Yes,” said Vanessa mischievously. “It’s quite a hook, don’t you think? I hope it makes for more money, given what I’ve had to lay out in leasing fees.”

  “It’ll bring the critics out in droves,” said Nicola in a disapproving way.

  “That’s the general idea.” Vanessa came around the desk to give Nicola a peck on the cheek. “Thanks for this. You’ve been wonderful.”

  “If you say so,” Nicola remarked unconcernedly.

  “I’ll make sure you have a ticket to the first performance,” Vanessa promised as she started out the door.

  “Perish the thought,” said Nicola as a parting shot.

  * * * *

  “Look at this!” Howard Faster exclaimed jubilantly as he hurried in from his lunch, the hotel door banging with the force of his entrance. “Mickey Resselot just brought them over.” He thrust half-a-dozen newspaper clippings toward Vanessa. “And there’s more coming.”

  “Fine,” said Vanessa distractedly as she continued to study the score in her hands. “I’ll look at them later.”

  “You’ve never had press like this!” he crowed, ignoring her preoccupation and putting the clippings down on the round table by the window. “Chicago! Cleveland! New York! Minneapolis! LA!”

  “And the concert is scheduled for Seattle,” said Vanessa with a slight smile. “Do you think they’ll all send someone to cover the concert? I doubt it. This is just the sensation of the week, something to talk about.”

  “So long as they do talk about it—in advance, yet—I don’t care if they cover the event or not,” said Faster, adding with a smirk, “There’s more: PBS may want to tape the concert if this keeps up.”

  “Isn’t that aiming a bit high?” Vanessa asked, putting the score aside with a suggestion of exasperation. “I can’t concentrate with you bouncing off the walls.”

  “Of course it is! We should be aiming high, with all this lift! Besides, I’ve had feelers already, and that means someone there is thinking about it; I’m just following up. You know, I think I’m going to see if A&E wants to put in a competing bid. If nothing else, that should add to the excitement.” He gathered up the clippings again. “You could finally get the break you’ve been working for!”

  “On a gimmick,” said Vanessa.

  “Not a gimmick, on a hook. A hook, Vanessa. There’s a big difference.” He took one of the three chairs in the small parlor of her suite and pulled it up to the table. “You can get attention because of the history of the forte-piano, but if you can’t deliver the music, it’s nothing but a flash in the pan.”

  “Too bad Dziwny didn’t have a flash in the pan, literally,” said Vanessa. “Only thirty-six, and just beginning to hit his stride. He could have done some wonderful things if he’d lived. Think of the waste.”

  “You can say the same of Mozart, or Bellini,” said Faster.

  “They died of natural causes, albeit prematurely, and Mozart had a long career, longer than many others, because he started so young.” Vanessa picked up the score again. “Dziwny was just finding his way, getting his composition feet under him.”

  “Is it true his name means strange?” Faster asked.

  “Or wonderful,” said Vanessa. “They made a great deal over the significance at the time.”

  Faster considered this. “I think I’ll mention that in the next press kit. It could give us a little mileage now, too.”

  Vanessa shrugged. “Do we need to clutch at straws that way?”

  “No, we don’t, and we’re not,” said Faster. “But it’s
an interesting historical note, and that makes it worthwhile.”

  “If you think it’s important—it doesn’t seem that way to me,” she told him while she made a point of giving her attention to the score. “This transition from B-flat to G minor is sneakier than it looks. You can say it’s obvious, but there’s a ninth in the arpeggio that makes all the difference.”

  Faster gave up. “Okay, Vanessa. Okay. I won’t take up any more of your time. It’s about time for lunch and getting ready. You have to be ready to leave for the concert hall at seven-thirty, remember, and the Toronto Star is sending a reporter over at four this afternoon; you can’t afford to be in the bath.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” said Vanessa, not entirely truthfully.

  “And after the concert, we’ll have a late supper and you can have a look at what they’re saying about the Dziwny forte-piano, and your concert.” He gathered up his material and started toward the door. “You got to make the most of this, Vanessa. You’re not going to have another chance like this, and you know it. I’m your manager. I’m not steering you wrong on this. You have a real chance here, and you need to make the most of it.”

  “Yes. I know,” she said. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” said Faster in affectionate exasperation.

  But Vanessa responded seriously. “I want to do this right,” she said, her feelings burning like a banked furnace. “I know it’s a big opportunity, and I don’t want to blow it. I have to be true to Dziwny and his music. And that means preparation.”

  “You mean getting lost in it,” Faster corrected her.

  “You may think that if you like,” she said with an assumed coolness that fooled neither of them.

  “Okay,” said Faster. “Have it your way.”

  * * * *

  The Dziwny forte-piano had been restrung and carefully tuned; it sat in the center of Vanessa’s practice studio behind her house, smaller than her Baldwin concert grand, but more intriguing. She approached it carefully, wanting to get to know it well. Its tone was soft, almost liquid, and it responded to Vanessa’s expert touch with sweetness and clarity. She practiced diligently, keeping her attention focused on the sound the instrument produced. As much as she wanted to be lost in Dziwny’s music, she had to give more notice to the character of the forte-piano, to learn its strengths and weaknesses so that she could show off its range when she finally performed publicly on it. The bass was more vibrant than in many forte-pianos, and she began to use the low notes to support the upper melody in a more deliberately contrapuntal manner than she had done at first. Suddenly she felt the piece begin to open up to her—the instrument revealed more of the composer’s intent than she had thought possible. The Handel variations went on from a playful scherzo fugue, the theme in the mid-range of the instrument into a rocking, six/eight lullaby, left hand echoing the right in melting, lyrical phrases, each playing with the theme of the fugue until the two melody lines blended into a stirring restatement of the theme. Vanessa could almost smell the hot wax of burning candles and the heavy odor of attar of roses over sweat that must have been present when Dziwny played. Half-closing her eyes, Vanessa imagined the ballroom of Schloss Lowenhoff with its painted wall panels and the small audience in their fancy clothes.

  The Graffin would be sitting in the front row, the Graf next to her; she would have a shawl around her shoulders, since it was winter and Lowenhoff was draughty. The candles would waver a bit because of that, and that would add to the dramatic impact of the concert. There would be the quiet shuffling of the audience, and the occasional inevitable cough. She went on playing, finishing the last, grandiose fugue with a flourish that was unlike her usual pristine style.

  “Very nice,” said Faster from the door behind her.

  Vanessa blinked, feeling slightly disoriented, and coughed to cover her confusion. “How does it sound?”

  “It has a pretty big voice for a forte-piano,” said Faster. “And a lot more complexity than I’ve heard before.” He cocked his head speculatively. “Have you thought about where it would be best to record the CD? I think a live hall would be better than a studio. More ambient sound, don’t you think?”

  “It’s possible,” she said, suddenly as tired as if she had been playing for twice as long as she had been.

  “How’s the program going?” Faster asked.

  “I haven’t run through the whole thing yet,” she said. “I need a little more time with the instrument before I can figure out how to pace myself through the pieces.” It was an excuse she realized as she said it.

  “Is this going to be a problem?” asked Faster, looking a bit worried.

  “Oh, no,” she said, a trifle too quickly. “It just takes familiarity with the works. This isn’t like programs we do now, and I have to accommodate the difference.”

  “How do you mean?” Faster sounded dubious.

  “Well, if this program were being performed now, it would probably be the Nursery Songs first, then the Grand Toccata and Fugue and then the Six Fugues on Themes of Handel, because it demands the greatest virtuosity, and the work is the most musically interesting as well as technically challenging. Fugues Five and Six in particular, are real showpieces, meant to impress the audience.”

  “Then why did Dziwny perform the works in the order he did? Does anyone know?”

  “Well, the style of concerts was different then, and the Grand Toccata and Fugue was newer; most of the audience hadn’t heard it before, so it made for a greater finish then than it would today,” said Vanessa, adding a bit more awkwardly, “Also, assuming Dziwny intended to kill himself, he wanted a work that gave him the opportunity, and it exists in the fermata, and the long thematic statement in the left hand. He had almost forty seconds to draw his pistol, aim, and shoot.”

  “So you think he planned the program around his suicide?” Faster looked a bit disgusted.

  “It certainly seems to be the case,” said Vanessa, her face showing no trace of emotion. “I don’t know when he decided to kill himself, but he planned the concert at least a week before playing it.”

  “Ye gods,” said Faster. “What a plan to carry around with you for a week. I would have thought he did it on the spur of the moment, something impetuous, but you think he could have set it up well in advance.”

  “It’s possible,” said Vanessa, getting up from the forte-piano. “I need a break. Come with me. I’ll put water on.”

  “Or open a bottle?” Faster asked. “Some of that Pinot Grigio?”

  “Sure,” said Vanessa as she coded the alarm and opened the door. “Thirty seconds to get out.”

  “Coming,” said Faster, moving past her with a wink. “You take good care of that.” He waited while she locked the door; following her across the small, green yard to the rear door of her house, he pondered how to bring up the most recent request he had received about the Dziwny forte-piano.

  “Well, I can’t afford to have anything happen to it, can I?” she asked as she went ahead of him toward the house.

  There was a mud-room that was mostly used for garden storage just inside the back door, and a good-sized pantry, then the handsomely remodeled modern kitchen with its island range on the central diagonal of the room, and double ovens against the wall. At the end of the island was a bar, three stools in place for informal dining, and Vanessa motioned to one of these. “Sit. I’ll get the wine as soon as the kettle’s on; I’ll be right back.” She grabbed the kettle and filled it at the sink, then set it on one of the six gas burners and lit it. For a long moment she stared at the yellow-tipped blue flames.

  “Something wrong?” Faster inquired.

  Vanessa shook her head. “No. No, I’m just tired.” She bustled out of the room and returned with a bottle, two stemmed glasses, and a corkscrew, all of which the thrust at Faster. “Here.”

  He took them all and set about opening the bottle. “I had a call from Shotwell today.”

  “Not more money,” Vanessa said
at once. “Until I start getting receipts from concerts, I’m on a budget.”

  “No, not more money.” He pulled out the cork and sniffed it, then poured wine into the two glasses. “Someone’s approached him about the forte-piano.”

  “Oh, God,” she exclaimed, her heart sinking, “He’s had an offer to buy it.”

  “No,” Faster assured her. “Nothing like that. A parapsychologist wants to run some tests on it.”

  “A what?” She stopped in the act of taking down her favorite teapot.

  “Parapsychologist. He’s supposed to have a pretty good reputation for psychometry.” He held one of the wine glasses out to her, feeling abashed.

  “And Shotwell’s interested?” Vanessa was incredulous. She took the glass, but paid no attention to it.

  “Apparently.” Faster said drily. “He’s accepted a hefty fee from the guy.”

  “I’m surprised Shotwell didn’t try to find a psychic,” said Vanessa nastily.

  “Now, now,” Faster warned her as he lifted his glass.

  “Well, it smacks of the worst kind of sleaze, if you ask me.” She hurriedly turned off the flame under the shrieking kettle. “Sorry. I’m jumpy.”

  “Rehearsal nerves,” said Faster at his most understanding.

  “I guess,” Vanessa said without much conviction. In order to change this uncomfortable subject, she asked, “So who is this parapsychologist and what is he looking for in the Dziwny forte-piano? If it is a he?”

  “Yes, a he. Doctor Christopher Warren.” He waited for her to say something, then went on. “He’s actually pretty well-known, and his work is taken seriously. He’s got a couple books out, and he’s on the lecture circuit.”

  “Doing what? Psychometry?” She drank a little of the wine and then poured some of the hot water into the teapot to heat it. “I’m sorry. That was bitchy.”