A Musical Mystery: Part 3

James and I drove the rest of the way to Miami, he with his bass and I with mine, without incident.  We stayed at  his parents' house until we were able to find a cute  bungalow near the University, where I would be starting my second year of graduate school.  I was studying privately with Dr. Lucas Drew and had 11 private students of my own.  I also was playing with the Miami Philharmonic.  James continued to practice, freelance and tend to his bees.  We decorated our little house which mercifully sat in the shade most of the time;  we didn't have air conditioning--just fans.  I was thoroughly enjoying my life:  I loved playing the bass and was still madly in love with James.

We lived happily like this for all of the first semester.   In January, when the second semester started at the University, we met a student from Boston who had come to Miami to study with Dr. Drew.  His name was Jeff and he had been taking lessons with BSO Principal Bass, Henry Portnoy.  One day, we invited him over to our house to play duets and trios.  Jeff brought his bass and bow and was  interested in what kind of basses and bows James and I were playing.  He looked at James' bow and was very surprised.  "There are only two bows by this maker--Henry Portnoy has one and BSO Bassist X (false name used to protect the innocent) has the other.  I'll have to call Henry and tell him about this extra bow!" Jeff said.  I didn't think anything of it at the time,  but a few days later, Dr. Drew called me into his office for a private meeting.

"Henry Portnoy called me this morning and told me he has been missing a bow since Tanglewood was over.  Jeff called and told him that there was a third bow by that same maker down here in Miami. Henry immediately exclaimed that there was no third bow.  He said the bow James has is his bow and that James stole it.  But that's not all.  Henry's summer Tanglewood bass has also been missing since the end of the summer season, and he is sure James has that too.  Does James have that bow and bass?"

I was shocked beyond words.  I hadn't paid any attention to what bow James had been using.  And he only had his Ceruti bass at home.  I couldn't believe my ears---how had James managed to steal a bass from Tanglewood and bring it down to Miami.  It certainly wasn't at our house.  I told Dr. Drew that I had no knowledge of any of it.  "Well," he said.  "You'll have to tell Henry what you know.  He's convinced that you and James thought up a plot, and were in cahoots in order to steal the bass and the bow.  He's flying down from Boston tomorrow."  I didn't know how James could have gotten the bass down to Miami, since he and I had driven back together, and he only had one bass.  How could this have happened?  Was I so in love that I had totally missed what had gone on?