The Music OF LOVE

Zena had agreed to work with her ex-boyfriend — but could he be trusted?

- Jane Ayres

Gazing through the window of the medieval-style turret in Orpheus Tower on to a pretty walled garden, Zena was glad she had reached agreement with Graydon on the arrangements of working together. Graydon was ploughing money into the place, seemingly determined to make the venture a success. Currently out meeting with his PR consultant to discuss strategy for social media promotion, he had already created an impressive website. It would take time to build up a reputation, but Gracie had generously emailed her past students about the grand reopening of Orpheus Tower, which Zena hoped might bring in customers.

Although Graydon planned to move into the upstairs apartment that Gracie had previously occupied, Zena was relieved he'd be staying in a hotel until redecorating was completed. She was determined to keep things businesslike. Besides, Zena still felt aggrieved that the place wasn’t hers — yet. But being able to use what was once Violet York's study to compose her own music was a dream come true.

‘This is where the magic happened,’ she murmured, laying out her manuscript pad beside the computer that ran her composition software, next to her electronic keyboard. Most composers that Zena knew now wrote at a keyboard, like she did. Violet, however, had been one of those rare musicians with perfect pitch, able to hear the sounds she composed inside her head. The tools of the trade had changed in a way Violet could never have imagined back in the 1930s.

After spending two hours at her desk, Zena went down to the kitchen to make coffee. She’d only taken one sip when she heard distant strains of a distinctive piano melody, ethereal and somehow familiar, drifting through the house.

Zena was puzzled. She was alone, and the new Steinway piano hadn't yet arrived. Was the music coming from upstairs? And where had she heard it before?