Shizuka Satomi?

She seemed in a very good mood. Lucy was tempted to ask if she’d had a nice date, but she was still Shizuka Satomi, and one does not casually ask the Queen of Hell about her relationship with the donut lady.

“Lucía, I was wondering,” Shizuka asked lightly, “do you possess your family’s client records?”

“What?”

“Your client records. Your notes. The last time I was here, I noticed you’d stopped most of your old work. So I wondered if maybe Franco had tossed out the notes, or perhaps hidden them somewhere.”

“No—of course I still have them.”

“All of them?”

“Yes. Why wouldn’t I?”

The Matías had kept detailed notes and letters for every instrument that they had worked on, for every client. The notes recorded the stories of each adjustment, each refit, each repair. As such, they were the most valuable part of the store.

To be honest, Lucy felt more than a little offended that Shizuka Satomi had even considered that she did not possess the family’s client notes. She might not be a son, but she was still a Matía.

“Good. Then I was wondering if you might take a look at this.”

Shizuka placed a case on her counter.

Lucy opened the case and stared. Andrew sat down. Even he knew what it was.

The most radiant and fiery maple. The peculiarly graceful carving. The thin crack on the pegbox—a crack that Catalín Matía had repaired himself.

This was Shizuka Satomi’s Guarneri del Gesù.

Three legendary names reigned over the world of violins. Amati was the first and eldest. Stradivari was the most valued and renowned to the public. And then there was Guarneri. And the greatest of the Guarneri was del Gesù. A fine del Gesù was worth tens of millions of dollars. Paganini’s priceless il Cannone was a del Gesù, as well.

Yet Shizuka Satomi chatted as if she were talking about a leaky faucet.

“There’s something wolfy going on with the G string, at high C. Can you take a look?”

“Wolfy?” Andrew whispered.

“Wolf tones,” explained Lucy. “Unwanted sounds that a violin makes at certain frequencies. They are not uncommon in del Gesùs, but we try to keep that quiet, no pun intended.”

She stopped, surprised by how effortlessly that had come from her mouth.

“So, you’ll take care of this, right? I’ve been living with the problem for a while, but it’s time to have her in perfect working order.”

“Wait, what? No, I didn’t mean—”

“You helped my student. Are you saying you won’t help me?”

“Miss Satomi, as fine an instrument as your student’s is, this is another matter entirely.”

“Didn’t you work on Aoi’s Strad when you were eleven or twelve?”

“I was ten.”

“Exactly,” Shizuka said. She pushed the case to her.