Previous Chapter Start at the Beginning THIRTY-EIGHT What actually happened after Dilligas split was that no one gave a flying fuck about RK Dizazztr. Not a soul — agent, promoter, producer, bandmate, journalist, stan. Full of hard-earned wisdom he’d have been happy to share, he watched in frustration as one…

Previous Chapter Start at the Beginning THIRTY-SEVEN Usually when a case of consequence was resolved in BK&S’s favor the winners were fèted with champagne and brie. Not so after the Williams case settled. Either the landlord-tenant section was too small to lavish a ten-dollar bottle of Brut upon, or the…

Previous Chapter Start at the Beginning THIRTY-SIX Sometimes Arnold wondered whether he really made his own decisions or whether he just went along as some larger, even stupider force like Fate made the decisions for him. Of all the criminal defense attorneys in the East Bay, he chose Toni Lefferts…

Previous Chapter Start at the Beginning THIRTY-FIVE As a student at UC Berkeley it took Linda forever to declare a major. Unlike most of her fellow undergraduates, she arrived without a career goal or intellectual obsession. She was curious about everything but didn’t feel the need to become an authority…

Previous Chapter Start at the Beginning THIRTY-FOUR Over the last fifty years the biggest criminal in Berkeley had committed murder, discriminated against minorities, evaded local, state, and federal taxes, busted unions, blighted neighborhoods, and trafficked in nuclear weapons. The death penalty was too good a punishment. But inasmuch as the…

Previous Chapters Start at the Beginning THIRTY-THREE Previously when Arnold came to Symphony Hall it was with Linda for their subscription concerts. They’d trudge up the wide, red-carpeted stairway to the cheap seats in the second tier, a promontory affording an unexcelled view of the baffles, curtains, and reflecting panels…

Previous Chapter Start at the Beginning THIRTY-ONE Not one to share his private life beyond a few trusted souls, Arnold told Sterling Nesta only that Rudy wouldn’t be their go-between anymore. “Little dude drop out of school?” Nesta surmised. Arnold nodded. Rudy had withdrawn from class, too ashamed to show…

Previous Chapters Start at the Beginning THIRTY Unlike Arnold, who couldn’t because he was a man, Linda cried after the police called. She cried for her son, who was still a baby. Cried for the woman he hit. Cried for the woman’s dog. Cried for Arnold, whose life was on…

Previous Chapter Start at the Beginning TWENTY-EIGHT A classical conductor has manifold responsibilities. He (or, increasingly, she) must know every player’s part. He must coordinate those parts so the piece has aesthetic coherence. He must assure the sound generated by each section is balanced lest, for instance, the horns drown…