Page 101 of Echoes of a Silent Song
“Wow.”Blair’s mind whirled with the onslaught of new information.“Wow.”
“Hey, look at you guys!”Joy gave Callum’s shoulder a friendly shove.“Solving three murders all because you found an unfinished piece of music in the choir library!That almost sounds like a TV series.Choral director and collaborative pianist by day, crime-fighting superheroes by night.” She framed the words with her hands.“I’d watch theheckout of that show.”
Blair laughed and shook her head.“I think I’m retiring from solving crimes.”
“Shame.”Callum tossed a teasing grin over his shoulder as he headed for the door.“You’d be cute in a cape.”
Blair turned to find Joy leaning back in her chair, arms folded across her chest, with a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin on her face.
She sighed.“Okay, fine, whatever.You told me so.He is, in fact, devastatingly handsome, and I have a thing for him.”
“I think it’s more than a thing, Blair.You come to life when he enters the room.”
Blair groaned.
“What?”Joy leaned forward.“Why is falling for someone who’s handsome and talented and good to you such a bad thing?”
“I said after Derek that I’d never give my heart away again.And I certainly didn’t intend to, especially to someone planning to leave in a few months.But it happened anyway.Despite all my efforts not to, I’ve fallen in love with Callum.”
Joy squealed.
“He’s only here through May, though, and then he goes back to Boston.So where does that leave us?”
“I wouldn’t be too sure that’s his plan,” Joy replied.“I’ve seen the way he looks at you.I don’t think he’ll be eager to leave you behind.”
“No, but he might ask me to come with him.And I can’t leave here.”
“Sure you can.It’s simple, really.You pack all your stuff, you sell your house, and you move to Boston.”
“You know what I mean.The kids.You.My dad.My whole life is here.”
Joy smiled.“And that’s why God invented FaceTime and airplanes.Don’t get me wrong—I would miss you terribly and I’d call you every single day and I would be mad at Callum for taking my best friend halfway across the country.But I’ve never seen you like this with a guy before.I think you’d be making a mistake if you weren’t willing to at least think about leaving your comfort zone.”
As usual, Joy was probably right.But could Blair actually leave?For a guy?That went against everything she believed in.
“Just pray about it, okay?”Joy squeezed Blair’s hand.“Open your heart to whatever God has for you.Because I guarantee it’s better than anything you’d ever dream up for yourself.”
Callum’s phone buzzed on the desk just as he finished the last of his lunch.Ralph’s picture filled the little screen.Callum raised the phone to his ear.
“Just thought I’d touch base, my friend,” Ralph said.“You’ve kinda disappeared on me.”
“Yeah.Sorry.I’ve been solving a murder.”
“And I’m Mary Poppins,” Ralph replied without missing a beat.
Callum grinned.“Well, Miss Poppins, you better come floating in on an umbrella next time I see you.Because I have literally been solving a murder.”He filled Ralph in on the investigation into Iris’s death.
“Wow,” Ralph said.“So all Vic Nelson’s music is plagiarized?”
“Much of it.”Callum leaned back in his chair.“I think eventually he did figure out how to come up with his own stuff.But most of his earlier music was stolen from Iris Wallingford.”
“What happens to Iris’s notebook now?”Ralph asked.
Callum’s gaze fell on the office bookshelf, where the notebook was proudly displayed.“The police gave it back to us.It’ll live in the choir office forever and always.”
“Good,” Ralph replied.“Shame you can’t put any of her pieces on a concert.”
Callum sat up straight.“Ralph, you’ve just given me a brilliant idea.”
