The Maestro Murdered
Chapter Five
McGill pushed up the collar of his jacket a little higher. It was a blustery day in March, all the more punishing because just a few days earlier the weather had been so comfortably spring-like. But at least he was done for the day and on his way to visit two good friends—Elizabeth McDermitt and David Currant—both of whom he had known for years, dating back to his undergraduate days.
They were both musicians—both pianists—with Elizabeth’s career flourishing somewhat more so than David’s at this point. Of course Sean had completely turned his back on music—at least as a performer— when he joined the Philadelphia police department. But he still loved to hobnob with musicians and Elizabeth and David were among his favorite people in Philadelphia. He could never quite figure out their relationship. They were a couple—on and off anyway. Right now and for the last month, both were in Philadelphia and they had taken up residence in a somewhat bohemian but none the less charming apartment on the west side.
At any rate, he was glad for the chance to get away from his boss on the one hand and the erstwhile staff of the Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra on the other. He would undoubtedly feel differently about the whole affair if he thought he was making any progress at all. Nobody knew anything about the theft, apparently, and only a few of them really seemed to care very much about it. And he couldn’t really blame them. As robberies went, this was a pretty unspectacular one and the value of the missing items was apparently negligible. So why was he being told to spend so much time on what seemed like a blind alley? He really had no idea. But although he had been a detective for a fairly brief time, he knew enough to know that the seriousness of the crime—or lack of seriousness in this case—was not the reason why he was being asked to investigate the matter so thoroughly.
Just a few feet ahead of him was the entrance to Elizabeth and David’s apartment. He had very much enjoyed a visit with them only a couple of weeks earlier but he knew that this occasion would be even more therapeutic.
Elizabeth smiled cheerfully as she carefully poured the glistening red wine from a small carafe and handed him a glass. Sean nodded appreciatively as he sank back into his shabby but comfortable chair.
“So now you’ve got a real musical mystery to solve, I take it,” David said, grinning broadly.
Sean grimaced lightly. “I guess so. It’s a musical something anyway. The real mystery is why I’ve been assigned to this case in the first place.”
“Come, come now, Mr. McGill,” said David. “You’re probably the only musical cop your district has to offer. Of course you’d be given plumb assignments like this one.”
“What I want to know,” Elizabeth said, “is why you haven’t solved it yet? I mean, think about it…we’re talking about two or three hundred dollars’ worth of crummy old violins. I should think that you’d have plenty of suspects cornered by now.”
“Enough, please,” Sean said. “I’ve suffered enough for one week.”
“Ah, but you’ve just begun to suffer,” said Elizabeth. “And now that I know that you’ve been invited to the big reception, the fun’s just beginning.”
Sean sighed. “No one is more aware of that than I am. I don’t mind questioning witnesses but I have always despised that sort of reception.”
“Well it’s your lucky day, Sean,” David said gleefully, “because Elizabeth and I are going to be right beside you throughout the whole ordeal.”
“The reception? What exactly are we talking about?”
“It’s quite simple really,” Elizabeth said. “You may not be aware of it, but David has served as the occasional pianist for the Philadelphia Philharmonic on and off for a little over three years now. He’s still on the invitation list for these things! It came in the mail today.”
“You’re kidding,” said Sean, shaking his head slowly. “At least I hope you’re not kidding because I would love some help with this. It’s difficult for me to know how to approach some of these people, especially at what is supposed to be primarily a social event.”
“It’s not really necessary to approach them,” said David, a sly smile covering his face.” It’s more a question of observing the endless variety of human nature, at least the kind associated with the bizarre world of orchestral politics.”
“I think it may be more helpful to think of it as encountering the animals in their natural habitat,” Elizabeth added gaily.
“So you’ve gone to these things in the past?” asked Sean.
“Once or twice,” said David. “The orchestra doesn’t really call on my services that often so I’ve never really felt myself to be a full-fledged member of the club. But you can be sure that I’ll be there this time, with Elizabeth as my guest.”
Sean brightened. “That’s terrific. How about giving me a quick ‘what to expect’ summary on some of the major characters I’m going to encounter at the reception?”
“Well, you’ve already met some of the major ones,” David replied. “Herr Hauptmann, our former conductor and soon to be our present conductor, is an interesting old fellow. Very dedicated to music. Very dedicated to the orchestra and certainly successful with it.”
“Anything suspicious about him stepping down when he did?” Sean asked.
“Nothing that anyone was aware of,” said Elizabeth. “At least nothing we ever heard about.”
“”No scandals, if that’s what you mean,” added David. “He just felt that he was getting up there in years and had the orchestra in a secure enough position to bring in a new conductor.”
“And what about the new conductor, Ms. Stenke? What did you hear about her?”
“That’s a little more complicated,” David said. “I don’t think anyone would question her musical ability, but her chemistry with the orchestra has never been quite as good as Hauptmann’s.”
“And why was that?”
“Personality differences, I guess. And Hauptmann already had a big name in Europe before he came here. So maybe the orchestra was more inclined to yield to his wishes because of his reputation.”
“No such reputation for Ms. Stenke?”
“Well, she was considered an up-and-coming young conductor to be sure. But her accomplishments didn’t match Hauptmann’s. No one would have expected them to—she was just too young for that.”
“I think that there were other factors at work as well,” added Elizabeth.
“Namely?”
“The obvious ones. Hauptmann’s an older man who projected a sense of confidence and could easily be seen as a father figure by the mostly younger members of the orchestra.”
“And Stenke?”
“A woman…a young woman at that. Perhaps she had more difficulty projecting a sense of authority.”
“I’ve been told that the critics sometimes gave her a hard time as well,” said Sean.
“True,” said David, “but that might have had more to do with the more contemporary repertoire she favored. Critics like to be thought of as progressive in their tastes, but the reality is often quite different.”
“Even with the critics, I think gender had something to do with it,” Elizabeth said. “They were just not used to deferring to a young female on aesthetic matters.”
“And how about the orchestra hierarchy? The Board of Directors and the wealthy donors?” Sean asked.
“They had loved Hauptmann to death,” said Elizabeth. “And why not? He almost single-handedly transformed a young orchestra that no one had ever heard of into a top-flight ensemble that was doing remarkably well at the box office.”
“And is that the key point?” asked Sean.
David nodded. “Well, of course no one would want to admit that it was all about the money. Orchestras often run at a deficit these days and couldn’t survive without their major donors. But in this case you had a young orchestra that was getting great press—even on a national level—and was actually making a profit. What’s not to like?”
“So is Stenke taking a leave of absence b
ecause of the pregnancy or because she was being forced out by the Board or the rich donors?”
“Who can be sure?” said Elizabeth. “The pregnancy would have forced her to slow down a bit and eventually take some sort of leave of absence to be sure, but most people expected that leave to begin after the current season. The fact that she’s stepping down now—with a couple of concerts to go—that’s what’s surprising.”
“What do you think, David?” asked Sean. “Pressure from above?”
“Some, I suppose,” said David. “Wilfrid Carter, the president of the Board, was known to be fairly unhappy with the way things were going. Was there some specific conversation between him and Ms. Stenke that drove her to make this decision? We may never know.”
“You don’t expect any important information to be revealed at this upcoming reception?”
“Of course not, you foolish man!” snapped Elizabeth, smiling cheerfully. “I can say with complete confidence that absolutely nothing of any consequence will be revealed and all the speeches will be completely innocuous.”
“How about the cocktail chat after all the speeches?”
‘Now that,” said David, “is quite another matter.”