I did. He listened without moving. When I finished, he said, “They worked from photographs.”
“That was my conclusion.”
“And they knew the exact box.”
“They knew the exact box and its position on the shelf.” I paused. “They also knew which score Dominic would never check, and I would never discard.”
Thiago looked at the changed markings again. “No other disturbance in the closet?”
“None.”
“Anything else out of place in the study?”
“Not that I saw. I’ll check again.”
“Are you certain the box is original?”
I sighed.
“Right,” he said. “Sorry.”
“I am very certain it was the original box.”
He nodded once. The score lay open on the table beside Michael’s financial report on Henri Fontenot. Thiago had marked several lines in pencil. On his legal pad, he had sketched a rough timeline of the threats so far: the shot, sheet music, baton, watch, and podium placement. Outward escalations and inward violations, two lines moving in parallel toward the concert date.
“It changes the frame,” he said.
“The watch stopped at 8:14 should have changed it.”
“Who knows that closet exists?”
“Anyone who’s spent enough time in the study and pays attention. That doesn’t narrow it as much as I’d like.”
“Who knows how you organize it?”
“That narrows it considerably.”
“Walk me through.”
I took a breath and explained. Board files and orchestra records were kept elsewhere, mostly in the Orpheum’s archive room. This closet was personal, but not secret. A handful of other people had seen the interior.
Fewer would know I arranged by period rather than strictly by composer or genre. Fewer still would know “Saints” materials occupied the middle shelf because Dominic could reach there without stretching.
Thiago watched my face while I spoke.
At the end he said, “This isn’t someone testing access.”
“No. They already know they have it.”
“It’s vandalism,” he said.
“In a sense. They’re revising history.”
Thiago reached for the bread, tore off a corner, and ate it while looking at the altered marking.
“I want to recheck the study side entrance and the second-floor interior cameras,” he said.
“I’m going to Bywater.”
