Catopolis by Martin H. Greenberg

Author:Martin H. Greenberg
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: thriller
Published: 2011-04-14T21:00:00+00:00

I passed by the elevator and took the winding staircase, careful not to slip on its newly polished marble steps. Rap music drifted down from above-the cleaning crew had obviously preceded me.

One man was wielding a big floor buffer, moving it from side to side in time with the godawful beat. Two were dusting the wainscoting that ran around the room and down the hallways that led away to the north and the south. The third man was in the bathroom; I heard the toilet flush.

Occupied, they didn’t notice me. I drifted from one display case to the next, slinking as much as possible. I looked through the glass of a low shelf, squinting in the dim light to see decorative red and white and green satin ribbons, and to make out the words on a card in front of a battered violin:

IL PRETE ROSSO, THE RED PRIEST: A VENETIAN PRIEST AND BAROQUE MUSIC COMPOSER, ALSO A VIRTUOSO VIOLINIST. THIS VIOLIN WAS THE LAST INSTRUMENT HE PLAYED BEFORE HIS DEATH.

A card in the next case read:

BORN MARCH 4, 1678, IN VENICE, THE DAY AN EARTHQUAKE SHOOK THE CITY. HE DIED JULY 27 OR 28, 1741. HIS FATHER, GIOVANI BATTISTA, WAS A PROFESSIONAL VIOLINIST AND FOUNDER OF A TRADE UNION FOR MUSICIANS, WHO TAUGHT HIM TO PLAY. HE BEGAN STUDYING FOR THE PRIESTHOOD AT AGE FIFTEEN, AND HE WAS ORDAINED TEN YEARS LATER. IT IS BELIEVED THAT HE WAS CALLED

IL PRETE ROSSO BECAUSE OF HIS RED HAIR.

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