Symphony of Secrets

ALSO BY BRENDAN SLOCUMBThe Violin Conspiracy AN ANCHOR BOOKS ORIGINAL 2023Copyright © 2023 by Brendan SlocumbAll rights reserved. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, and distributed in Canada by Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto.Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.The Library of Congress has cataloged the Anchor Books edition as follows:Names: Slocumb, Brendan, author.Title: Symphony of secrets / Brendan Slocumb.Description: First edition. | New York : Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC, 2023.Identifiers: LCCN 2022058719Subjects: GSAFD: Novels.Classification: LCC PS3619.L645 S96 2023 | DDC 813/.6—dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022058719Anchor Books Hardcover ISBN 9780593315446Ebook ISBN 9780593315460Cover design by Madeline Partneranchorbooks.comep_prh_6.1_143148854_c0_r0 ContentsCoverAlso by Brendan SlocumbTitle PageCopyrightDedicationOverture: 1936Act 1: BernChapter 1: The Extra KChapter 2: Olympic GloryChapter 3: The Exuberance of REDChapter 4: Sorrow Is Everything HereChapter 5: A Shout-Out to the Boogie DownChapter 6: Jar versus PotChapter 7: Wearing GlovesChapter 8: Delaney’s Dark LadyChapter 9: Pros & ConsChapter 10: Newfound SistersAct 2: 1918Chapter 11: Coming to NYCChapter 12: Jamming with the FellasChapter 13: White TorrentChapter 14: Azure & BirchChapter 15: Following the TrailChapter 16: Gainful EmploymentChapter 17: The Orange in the Black & GreenChapter 18: Amber in the SpeedwayAct 3: Bern & FreddyChapter 19: In the Crash & the DissonanceChapter 20: Decoding a Treasure MapChapter 21: Sorting Out the NoiseChapter 22: Hold Up, SlickChapter 23: A Thousand or a Dozen Songs I Want to HearChapter 24: BOOM!Chapter 25: Needing New TrousersChapter 26: You Can Trust UsChapter 27: Open for BusinessChapter 28: NondisclosureAct 4: JosephineChapter 29: The Wrongness of G-FlatChapter 30: Hunting a New Ebony HandbagChapter 31: The Rightness of Falling UpwardChapter 32: This Is WarChapter 33: The Girl in the Flapper DressChapter 34: #1 Best PizzaChapter 35: Oranges & LemonsChapter 36: A Sorry-Ass ApologyChapter 37: Honesty & CooperationAct 5: EnsembleChapter 38: Person of InterestChapter 39: Mrs. Carney Moved OutChapter 40: Here’s Your JumpsuitChapter 41: Coming Back TomorrowChapter 42: Dear Members of the BoardChapter 43: Stealing Your SongsChapter 44: Coffee & Toilet PaperChapter 45: Steak Dinner & Two Bottles of WineChapter 46: Sincerely YoursChapter 47: Save a Dog from the StreetChapter 48: Ormolu & LawyersChapter 49: The Long Arm of JusticeCurtain CallChapter 50: Sliding into the CornerChapter 51: Brass FiligreeChapter 52: Stepping into TomorrowAuthor’s NoteAcknowledgmentsAbout the Author_143148854_ This is for anyone whose voice was muted; for those who didn’t have the chance to be heard—or for those who, like my brother Kevin, had their voices taken far too soon. OVERTURE1936 SIXTEEN HOURS BEFORE HIS DEATH, Frederic Delaney realized that he’d left his Hutchinson champagne stopper at home. It had always accompanied him to a debut performance. Always. What would its absence, now, mean on this night of all nights?The rumble of the crowd beat against his dressing room door. A moment ago, he’d welcomed it like a quilt tucked around his shoulders, but now he felt the pressure of the audience’s expectations enshrouding him, a white torrent against his chest.He tried to convince himself that all would be well. He’d order a second bottle of champagne. It would be on hand by the end of the performance.Besides, this was a brand-new moment in his life, a fresh start. Maybe it was time for a new ritual anyway. A second bottle to symbolize his second chance.Tonight was, without question, that chance. Finishing this last opera had been an arduous journey (he imagined telling Edward Kastenmeier, the Times’s head music critic, “Be sure to use the word arduous.”), but now, looking back with perspective and distance, he could admit that the writing, and the rewriting, was well worth the agony. This, he told himself again, was his greatest creation, and it was, in a word, glorious. He knew it in his bones.He mouthed the word to himself: glorious. He imagined how the word would look in print.This was the music—this magnificent opera—that would relaunch his career. He would bestow a sardonic smile upon Kastenmeier when they next saw each other. “Has-been,” Kastenmeier had called him, along with “washed-up” and “ridiculous.” Tomorrow Kastenmeier would be whistling a tune replete with remorse, apology, and just a tiny bit of envy. Frederic only wished he could be there to watch Kastenmeier eat crow.Frederic patted his trouser pockets again, still hunting for that errant stopper.Until tonight, the ritual had always been the same: Pour out two glasses of champagne. The toast. Cork the bottle. The performance itself. The applause. The return to his dressing room. Then: Emptying out the final two glasses. The second toast. That was how it had gone for years now, years beyond counting. Beyond what he wanted to count.He’d always brought a champagne stopper with him; a few years ago, in those heady days that would soon be his again, he used to leave it in his tuxedo pocket, because he’d have premieres several nights of the week, all in different theaters. Tonight a ballet uptown, tomorrow a Broadway musical, the next night a medley in a vaudeville house, and then the premiere for a film score. Champagne every night of the week: pour out two glasses before the performance, two glasses after, and the rest of the bottle—if any drops were left—a sacrifice to the gods.No stopper in the little basket next to the refrigerator. He patted down his pockets a final time, as if a cork would magically manifest inside one.So he’d throw away the rest of the champagne. For a moment he considered drinking it—that would be one way of making it gone—but of course that was absurd. He needed to have his wits about him during the performance.Time to begin the ritual. The beginning of a new life.He retrieved the two glasses from where they glowed upon a shelf, their wide bowls open to the night.Then