When the Curtain Rises (15 page)
“You were
really
good,” Kimberly said when Chloe was back in the wings again. “You're going to win something for sure.”
Chloe let out a long breath and smiled. “I already did.”
“You came
so
close to collecting the big prize tonight,” said Nyssa. The two friends were seated on the steps of the veranda, Abigail's famous root-beer floats in their hands.
One of Chloe's curls sprang loose as she shook her head. “It wasn't close at all. That David Mu guy blew me away. I bet he got his first violin when he was, like, a month old.”
“Yeah, well,” Nyssa grinned, “second place isn't
too
bad, I guess.”
“A miracle, really.” Chloe shook her head again, this time in disbelief at the thought of what she'd just pulled off.
“You earned your award,” Nyssa insisted. “There are no miracles.”
“No miracles, huh? You
still
don't believe, even after what happened to the painting?”
“There's a rational explanation for everything,” Nyssa said as she wiped some foam off her chin with the back of her hand. “There were multiple paintings and someone switched them on you. I've been saying that since the beginning.”
“I told you, I tried to take it down this morning. You'd need a crowbar to get it off the wall. Besides, if there were multiple paintings, why didn't I find the rest of them when I searched the house?”
“Did you search your aunts' rooms? Or Abigail's?”
“All right then, Sherlock,” said Chloe. “Since you seem to have an answer for everything, give me your explanation for Dante's disappearance.”
Nyssa put her frosted glass down on the step. “Honestly? I think it was staged. Dante wanted to catch the world's attention by performing the greatest vanishing act of all time. Magdala might or might not have been in on it. I don't know.”
“If it was staged, why didn't he ever come back?”
“Because the world didn't care whether he came back or not. They
still
weren't paying attention. Maybe he just lost it in the end.”
“His family cared,” Chloe insisted. “That should have been enough to bring him home.”
There was sympathy in Nyssa's eyes as she faced her friend. “Sometimes people who disappear don't know how to come back again. Even famous magicians.”
“Maybe,” Chloe said. “But in a strange way I think he did come back for a little while this summer.”
The two friends fell silent as the sun set over the canal.
“Who knows,” Nyssa said at last, pushing herself up from the step. “Maybe you're right.”
“Thanks, Nyssa” said Chloe. “And thank you too, Dante, wherever you are.”
I am grateful to Sarah Wood for sharing her insight as a performer and pianist. Thanks also to my husband, Bernard, and my daughters, Rebecca, Naomi and Emily, for their endless confidence and support. A special thank-you to Sarah Harvey, my editor, who led me with patience and much kind encouragement to the heart of Chloe's story.
Rachel Dunstan Muller was born in California and immigrated to Canada as a young child. With the exception of a year in Northern Ireland, she has lived on the west coast of British Columbia since the age of ten. She has been an English tutor, a ferry worker, a newspaper columnist and a training consultant, but writing fiction is her favorite occupation. Rachel currently lives in a small Vancouver Island community with her husband, four children, and an ever-changing assortment of cats, rabbits, birds, rodents, amphibians and fish.
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