Lucy had no idea what a P20+ was. But Mr. Zacatecas had paid more than three times that price for his Romanian beer fiddle. Lucy retrieved her penlight and peered inside.

Hmm. The sound post was shifted slightly toward the treble side, up and away from the bridge.

“Who adjusted the sound post?”

“Um … I did. I used a paper clip,” Katrina said.

“You adjusted the sound post?” Miss Satomi asked. The sound post was one of the most important parts of the violin. And, as even a slight change in position could drastically alter an instrument’s sound, most musicians would never think of adjusting it themselves.

“A paper clip, huh?” Lucía Matía said.

“I learned from the Internet.” Katrina was surprised at how easily she responded. She was still nervous … she’d even been misgendered … but this was nothing like being petrified at Grunfeld’s.

“I see … well, aren’t you a diva?”

Why was everyone calling her a diva?

“She always plays just a hair sharp,” Miss Satomi added.

“D-did I mess up?”

“No, no … you did fine,” the woman said. “It’s a little snug, but it’s good and level. If you like it there, I’ll place it there again. In fact … it’ll probably stay in place after I remove the strings and bridge.”

Lucy smiled. The kid had very good hands. And a great ear. In fact, if she weren’t studying with the Queen of Hell, Lucy might have offered her a job. And so far, this repair looked pretty simple. All the instrument needed was a basic—

But then, Lucy paused.

The bridge did not move.

She glanced at Katrina, who was now staring at her shoes, then at Shizuka Satomi, who shook her head slowly.

So this was why they had needed her help.

The bridge … was glued to the spruce? This was crazy. The repair costs alone would be more than what the instrument was worth.

But it was Shizuka Satomi asking.

And besides …

Lucy had been in this shop since she was a child. She had seen students sneer at worthy violins without a proper pedigree. She had seen them treat fifty-thousand-dollar instruments like servants, or toys.

This student was giving her violin nothing but love.

“I’ll need time,” Lucy finally said.

“No rush. She can play any one of mine for now.”

Lucy looked up, startled by what that implied, then returned to the violin in front of her.

“Okay. Obviously, we’ll need a new bridge. Aubert?”

“Milo Stamm. Premium,” said Shizuka.

“Y-yes. We can order that.” Of course. Lucy remembered—Auberts were fine professional bridges, but Stamm was a Satomi trademark.

“Then again, if you think Despiau would be better, by all means use one. Yifeng preferred the 10A—the one with three trees.”

And yes. “Yifeng” was Yifeng Brian Zheng.