Page 70 of Echoes of a Silent Song
“You must be Blair.”She extended a hand.“I’m Keira McLane, with Channel Six.”
“The face behind the emails.”Blair shook her hand.“It’s wonderful to meet you in person.”
“Thank you again for all the work you guys did for my grandma.”Keira set her bag down next to the piano, and the heavyset older man behind her put down his camera equipment.“She can’t stop raving about how sweet and helpful your kids are.”
Warmth bloomed at the compliment.“They’re great kids.I’m just the one who’s lucky enough to get to work with them.”
Keira indicated her cameraman.“This is Seth, my partner in crime.”
“Just pretend I’m not here.”Seth gave a friendly wave and started setting up his tripod.He and Callum talked quietly, Seth gesturing toward chairs and Callum moving them to set up a little conversation area in the crook of the piano.
“Wow, this room hasn’t changed as much as I thought it would have.”Keira strolled around the choir room.“It’s like traveling back in time.”
“I think all the directors since Vic left have been afraid to make too many changes.”Blair pulled out her phone to check her makeup.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am about this story,” Keira said.“I love local history.I’ll cover the city council meetings and the gourd festivaland whatever else the station has for me, but my real passion is uncovering hidden stories of the past.”
Callum gestured toward the chairs he’d set up.“This okay, Keira?”
“Perfect.”Keira settled into the chair across from Blair and Callum.“We’ll talk for half an hour or so, but most of this will wind up on the proverbial cutting floor.Final story is only going to be about three minutes.You know how it goes.”
Blair glanced toward Callum to find him grinning back at her.Had he ever been interviewed on television?Doubtless he had.That must be why he seemed so comfortable.
After handing out microphones and making sure all the technology was in working order, Keira crossed her legs at the ankles and glanced down at her notes.“Okay, Callum, I think most of your biographical information is on your website.Anything to update?”
“Nothing professional, no.But I did lose a loved one to suicide five years ago.I think that’s part of why Iris Wallingford’s story is so compelling to me.”His jaw flexed.
Blair’s heart squeezed.She reached over and placed her hand on top of his.He covered it with his own and flicked an appreciative glance her way.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Callum.”Keira’s brown eyes shimmered with compassion.“But thank you for answering my first question without me even having to ask it.I wondered what drew the two of you to find out more about Iris.”
“It all started with a piece of music we found.”Blair withdrew her hand and glanced toward Callum.“Did you think to pull that out?I sure didn’t.”
Callum grinned.“Put it on the piano before I went to meet Keira.”
“Excellent.”Blair turned back toward Keira, trying to ignore the huge camera behind the reporter.“Anyway, we found a handwritten, unfinished piece of music in the choral library.It was tucked into a box for another piece.”
“The piece is brilliant,” Callum put in.“We immediately became obsessed with it.”
“You more than me,” Blair said around a laugh.“But I remembered hearing rumors that Iris Wallingford wrote music, so when we found this, we got curious.”
Keira leaned forward.“Could we hear it?”
“The whole world should hear it.”Callum walked to the piano.
Blair followed.When she was settled at the bench, Callum cued her with a glance.The music was just as moving as before, but it tugged at Blair’s heart in a way it hadn’t when they played it the first time.Iris was no longer a stranger, and through the music Blair heard the heart of a talented teenage girl.
Next to her, Callum sang the text in that beautiful rich baritone of his.When she’d played through this piece before, they’d barely known each other and didn’t like much of what they did know.Now they’d kissed.More than once.Something shimmered between them now.
“That’s beautiful,” Keira said when they reached the end of what Iris had written.“I’m not anywhere near the musician you two are, but it’s gorgeous.I can see why you were inspired to try to find out more about who wrote it.”She scrolled through her phone.“Oh, I wanted to be sure to ask this.Grandma said Iris was dating Mr.Nelson back in high school.Did the two of you know about that?”
“That’s one of the more interesting things we discovered.We found a picture of the two of them together in the yearbook.”Blair scooted to the choir office, grabbed the yearbook off her desk, and brought it in.She laid the book open on top of the piano.“See?Right there.”
“Huh.”Keira studied the photo.“Mr.Nelson never mentioned dating the girl who died, at least not that I remember.”Her phone buzzed as they sat back down, and she glanced at it.“Okay, wow.Jeff just sent me an article from 1970 about Victor Nelson being accepted to the Whitehall Conservatory of Music in Chicago.”
Callum’s eyebrows shot up.“Vic went to Whitehall?”
“That’s ...no, that’s not right.”Blair frowned.“The diplomas on his wall were from UI-Chicago and UIUC, I think.”
