The Tooth Tattoo(57)

Diamond murmured in agreement. ‘And the smell of disinfectant in the car definitely came from the floor in front of the passenger seat, which backs his story. When he first opened the door I thought maybe he’d had a corpse in there and tried to clean up, but you wouldn’t stick a corpse beside you in the front. The boot area was free of the smell.’

‘And he needn’t have shown us the car,’ Ingeborg said. ‘He could have said it was at the other end of the campus.’

Diamond surprised Ingeborg by suggesting she alone should do the follow-up interview with Taki. ‘She’ll respond better to you. In kindness you should tell her Mikio’s version of what happened the night she got drunk. If she’s alone with you and more relaxed she may recall something of real importance.’


On the drive back to Bath, he said, ‘Well?’

‘Well what, guv?’

‘Well, you’re looking pleased with yourself. How did it go?’

‘It was rather sweet. She wept a few tears, but they were tears of relief. She’s given herself a hard time these last few months imagining what happened. I think they’ll be back on speaking terms soon.’

‘And did you get any more from her?’

Ingeborg smiled. ‘I did. I asked about the musicians Mari was keen on. We’d talked earlier about the posters in her room, but we didn’t get down to names.’

‘We asked Mikio and he couldn’t remember any.’

‘Taki did. She said there was one string quartet that stood out and it was called the Staccati.’

‘The name you brought up earlier?’

‘Yes – because they’re based in Bath.’

‘Really?’ He turned to look at her, eyes gleaming. ‘How do you know about that?’

She played casual. ‘Who’s been doing the rounds of all the music colleges? I heard the name and remembered it and what’s more I’ve met one of the players.’





14





The four were united again for the next rehearsal at the Michael Tippett Centre. As if to compensate for the day before, they had a spat-free session, rounding off with an hour’s bar-by-bar dissection of the ‘Grosse Fuge’ and then a run-through.

‘The best yet,’ Ivan said, resting his instrument on its case. ‘We can all improve our intonation, but that will come. Some of your playing was exquisite, Mel.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Some of it?’ Cat said, laughing. ‘Good in parts like the curate’s egg?’

‘I didn’t mean that,’ Ivan said.

‘He can take a joke.’ She turned to Mel. ‘I liked your sound, too, sunshine, and Anthony won’t say a word, but he was quietly purring at those last Arpeggios.’

‘Do we have a date for this recording?’ Mel asked, to steer the attention away from himself.

‘That’s up to us,’ Ivan said. ‘We’re not ready yet.’

‘The recording studio has its own terrors,’ Cat said. ‘Personally, I prefer performing in front of an audience.’

‘Don’t we all?’ Ivan said. ‘I always find I can bring out something extra.’

‘Is that one of your Ukrainian customs, bringing out something extra?’ Cat said. ‘Do that in public here, comrade, and you’ll get arrested.’

Ivan clicked his tongue. ‘Isn’t it possible to say anything serious in present company?’

Anthony stood up and packed his violin away, indifferent to the banter as usual.

Cat said to him, ‘Your turn to share a taxi with me and my cello, right? I’ll phone for one now. Want me to order a second one, guys?’

Ivan said he was staying on to teach a student, but Mel said he was ready to leave.

When they reached the foyer only a few minutes later, a cab was already outside.

‘Can’t be ours,’ Cat said. ‘It’s too quick.’

‘I’ll check,’ Mel said.

The driver lowered his window and when Mel asked who he was waiting for, he said, ‘Mr. Farran.’

‘That’s me,’ Mel said, surprised. ‘Is the other cab on its way?’

‘I wouldn’t know, mate. I was asked to pick up Mr. Farran, the viola player.’

‘Fair enough.’ He gestured through the window to the others that he’d got lucky.

It all happened so fast that the taxi was zooming along the road to Bath before he realised he hadn’t given his address. He must have used this driver before, he decided. Often at the end of a rehearsal he felt so wrung out that he wouldn’t have recognised his own father in the driver’s seat. They were heading in the right direction, so he relaxed and thought about his plans for the rest of the day. He’d need to fit in more practice. In spite of the praise from the others, he knew Ivan was right. His intonation – accuracy of pitch – could be improved. With such latitude possible in their creation of sound, string players had a huge advantage over anyone else in an orchestra, yet there were phases, say in a long legato line with open strings, when the pitch should be suppressed. He’d noted a couple of passages in the Beethoven when he needed to adapt better to the violins. Ivan would certainly speak up if there wasn’t an adjustment next time they practised.