4
Concert Begins
The titian-haired girl detective ran out of the room immediately. However, when she got to the corridor, nobody was there; the door leading to the fire exit was open.
"I guess he got away," Nancy muttered. She returned to the room where all the other people were in. Mrs. Mott was in there, looking a little worried. "It's nothing," Nancy said with a smile.
But she had to admit that the strange feeling inside her was not gone. Was she worrying too much, or was it her detective's instinct?
Nancy just decided that she was worrying too much. She was determined to have fun with her friends, and nothing would make her do otherwise.
"Mmm! I love a nice bowl of buttered popcorns!"
Bess shouted as she carried a bowl of popcorns she bought to her friends. Frank, Joe, and Nancy were there.
"What took you so long?" Joe asked playfully. "Deciding what drink to order, aren't you?"
Bess grinned. "Which do you think is better? The Diet Coke, Sprite, Seven-Up, or Pepsi?"
"I'd like the Pepsi," Frank said. "Diet Coke tastes disgusting!"
The girl detective smiled. "You can say that again!"
It was just ten minutes before the concert would start. The detectives had started to see crowds of people coming into the theater. There were at least a thousand people in the theater at that time. The detectives already bought their tickets and were waiting for the concert to start. As they went to the concert hall, Frank saw a person wearing a coat, a hat, and a pair of sunglasses. The person was waiting in line to buy a ticket.
"That's weird," he muttered. "It's so hot out here. Why is he wearing a coat?"
Frank looked at the person closely, but then a crowd of people blocked his view. But when the crowd was gone, so was the mysterious cloaked person. Surprised for a moment, Frank followed the rest of the detectives into the concert hall.
In the practice room, Jennifer Fontaine was getting ready to play the solo. Wearing a black dress, she looked at herself in the mirror. She then took the black velvet box that was in her bag. Opening it, she saw a glittering necklace with a sapphire. It was her birthstone, and she grinned as she put it on. It was as black as her dress, but was glittering even brightly. On the box were the words: "BM to JF with Love."
The applause arose as the young violinist appeared from behind the curtains. Nancy and the others had some of the best seats in the whole auditorium. Nancy looked around and saw Mrs. Fontaine just a few seats in front of them.
After stopping, and the applause ended, Jennifer began to play one of three pieces she was to perform. The first was by Vivaldi, the second by Mozart, and the last by Handel.
The girl's talent was reflected as she played vigorously the three pieces. She played with energy and passion, and before long, the fifteen minutes were over and the audience was clapping once again, but this time louder.
Frank, Joe, Bess, and Nancy all smiled and clapped along with the crowd. Nancy saw that Jennifer's mother was clapping with a big smile on her face.
As the first performer went backstage, the second one, who was Abrahan Connor, the violist, came onto the stage. Unlike Jennifer, his pieces had random tempo; at first it started slow, but then turned to a speedy piece that required both energy and talent. His performance lasted fifteen minutes as well.
Nancy and the others clapped with the crowd. But when the girl detective looked down, Mrs. Fontaine was gone.
"I wonder where she could've gone to?" she wondered.
The third performer was the cellist, Smith Wickliffe. He had slow, emotional pieces composed in three different eras of music; the first one was from baroque, the second classical, and the last romantic. Nancy noticed that Mrs. Fontaine was still gone.
There was a short intermission after the performance. Some of the audience walked
The fourth and the last musician to play was Katrina Berkeley, who was the pianist. She played a prelude by Rachmaninoff. This piece started slow and quiet but turned into a fast-paced one in the middle and ended slow bit loud and emotional. The second piece was a romance by Tchaikovsky that stayed slow and emotional from start to finish. The last one was a sonata by Beethoven that stayed quick-paced all the way. Nancy then noticed that Mrs. Fontaine had come back at the end of the performance. She guessed that the lady came back for the performance of the entire quartet.
Five people appeared from behind the curtains. The conductor faced the audience and bowed after the four performers sat down. Then, turning around, he waved his hand to get attention and swung it down, starting the first piece.
The thirty minutes quickly passed as the performers played the pieces. As the applause faded, the musicians bowed and went to the back of the stage.
The applause finally died out. As the people got up, the detectives decided to see the performers. Back in the practice room, the quartet was chatting with one another and having a drink. Seeing the detectives, Jennifer smiled. "Did you enjoy our performance?"
"Sure did," Bess said. "You were awesome!"
Suddenly, the door opened and the stagehand came into the room. "I'd like to leave now, if you don't mind," she said. Mrs. Mott nodded with a smile.
"Thank you so much for coming here tonight," the manager told Leticia. Leticia smiled at the others and went out to the hall.
"I'll be going, too, if you don't mind," said Abraham Connor, standing up. "I need to take some rest. I'm worn out after today's performance."
Smith Wickliffe, the cellist, nodded in agreement. "If you'll excuse me, I'll be heading home now. Goodnight."
There were only Jennifer, Katrina, Luke, and Mrs. Mott in the room with the detectives. After chatting for fifteen or so minutes, the others decided to go as well. As the performers went out to the hallways, Mrs. Mott looked at Nancy.
"Please, Nancy. If you find any clue, please tell me."
Nancy promised with a nod. "I'll call you as soon as I find out something relevant to the investigation."
The lady seemed assured and went to the parking lot where all the performers parked their cars.
"I think we should call Jack," Joe reminded, yawning. "Boy, that concert took more out of me that I thought!"
Joe's brother took out his cell phone and dialed the number of the rock star's home. Nobody answered. Worried, Frank called again. Only the answering machine answered the call. He was even more concerned now.
"Do you think we should go and check?" Nancy asked. She looked at the clock. It was already eight-thirty, thirty minutes after the concert had ended.
"Yeah," Joe responded. "I have a bad feeling about this."
After thirty minutes, the detectives arrived at Jack's house. The lights were still turned on and nobody seemed to be inside.
"Jack?" Frank called as he turned the knob. The front door was unlocked, so they went inside.
What the detectives found terrified them. The room was a complete mess! The bookshelf was on the ground with all the books lying face down beside the shelf, the telephone was upside down with the cord stretching three feet away from the phone, the books were everywhere, the guitar was broken in half, the picture frames on the table were broken, and the CDs the rock star listened to were thrown everywhere, making the room a shambles.
"This is horrible!" Bess shouted out in astonishment. "Who could've done this?"
"I don't know," Nancy said. "But we need to find Jack… Pronto!"
The four spread out and searched the building. Frank looked in the bedroom. Joe went to the second floor. Nancy went to the basement. Bess went to the bathroom.
The person who screamed two minutes later was Bess. She was slumped on the floor, her eyes wide with shock and fear. What she was staring at was the rock star's body, bound and gagged, in the bathtub.
Frank immediately felt for the pulse. The rock star was dead. Looking at the rigor mortis, the man had been dead for at least an hour. "He must've been here for at least an hour, two hours max."
"D…Do you think it was a robber who did this?" Bess asked, trembling in fear.
"No way," Joe said, entering the room.
Nancy was perplexed. "How do you know that it wasn't a robbery? Maybe the thief saw the man and bound and gagged him so he wouldn't escape. And since he already saw the thief's face, the thief decided to kill Jack. That's possible, isn't it?"
Joe shook his head. "You are missing an important fact here," he said. "Look at the scene of the crime if you need to."
Nancy and Bess were still confused. As the girls went to the room that they saw first as they entered the house. The bookshelf was turned down with all the books lying around the shelf, the phone was on the floor with the cord stretching over three feet, and the CDs were flung everywhere.
Suddenly, Nancy gasped. "You're right! There is something wrong here!"
Bess was still confused. "Okay, you guys. Tell me what's wrong."
Frank pointed out the phone. "See that bookshelf? The shelf itself is overturned but the books are not inside the shelf! Don't you think that's odd? If a thief was really trying to turn the shelf down, he wouldn't take all the books out first and then carefully place the shelf down."
Now Bess got what the others were saying. "I get it. So if the thief did this, then there would still be ten or so books in the shelf, since not all books would fall out when the shelf itself tumbles down."
Nancy then interrupted them. "Guys, sorry to interrupt, but we need to go and call the police. This is officially a murder investigation now, and we can't lost a minute!"
Nancy was afraid of this. She didn't want the investigation to turn into a murder case! She had to solve this and catch the killer—fast!
Frank called the police right away. A few minutes later, the place was surrounded by police officers collecting evidences and taking fingerprints.
Jennifer Fontaine was already in her home, combing her hair. As she looked back her shoulder, she saw a woman standing there. "Oh, I didn't know you were there, Mom."
Mrs. Fontaine smiled. "I was a little busy. I just got here right now. You did a great job out there on the stage!"
Jennifer smiled as well. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. "It was nothing."
"Are you tired? Maybe you need a good night's rest for tomorrow."
The young violinist nodded. "I'll be in bed shortly. Goodnight."
The woman exited the room and went to the kitchen. Jennifer kept combing her hair. After making sure that her mother was gone, she stopped. With a quiet but swift motion, she pulled the drawer next to her and got a velvet box.
Opening it, she gazed at the content in the box. There was a necklace inside, and the girl took it out and tried it on. After a few seconds, she smiled and took it off, placing it back into the small black box. Turning it around, she looked at the message:
"To JF, from BM, a.k.a. JR."
Jennifer placed the box back into the drawer and soundlessly closed it. Then, she changed into her nightgown and went to bed. She turned off the lights.
Mrs. Fontaine was looking into Jennifer's bedroom. After casting a cold look at her daughter, she went to her own room and closed the door after her. After that, there was complete silence in the house.
Postscript: And, as always, the mystery thickens. Who is the mysterious BM and JR? What will the detectives face? Who can be the killer? To find out (or have a rough idea of) the answers, read the next chapter, titled: Alibi Sonata.
Nancy was stressed. All the alibis seemed solid, and no one could have killed Jack in the middle of the concert that was held miles away from the scene of the crime! Was this an impossible murder or magic?