Two Lovers on the Red Square

By Benjamin Navailles

When a tenor mysteriously dies right in the middle of the performance of a no less mysterious original opera, a stubborn detective sets out in search of the truth: wasn't it rather the beautiful soprano who was in danger? The investigation will lead him from one surprise to another, between the worlds of thugs and artists, across France and the Russia of the 1990s. And also on the path of true love...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Benjamin Navailles
• Release date: Sep 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005441302

Book preview

Two Lovers on the Red Square

By

Benjamin Navailles

Copyright 2022 Benjamin Navailles

Published by Benjamin Navailles at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

1- A strange show

2- An expensive fatality

3 - The specialist

4 - Facts and Instinct

5 - Trouble in the troupe

6 - The diva and the private eye

7- Sokolov and Sokolov

8 - The lamentations of Lamentin

9 - Is it a curse?

10 - Heading for Moscow

11 - A new boss

12 - Anguish on the phone

13 - A festive atmosphere

14 - A relaxing night

15 - Declaration of love

16 - The trap

17 - Never two without a third

18 - Settling the scores

19 – Small talk

20 - A courtesy visit

21 - Post-mortem confession

22 - Another man

23 - Sokolov as the savior

24 - A complete triumph

25 – A quiet dacha

26 – Father and son

27 – Surprise on stage

28 - The pharmacist

29 - Two for the price of one

30 – Caught in the act

31 – Happy ending

1- A strange show

Paris, France, 1998. Everywhere in the city, the walls and billboards were plastered with flashy posters announcing the forthcoming holding, at the Théâtre Modagor, of a grandiose show entitled Two Lovers on the Red Square. According to the legend on the posters, it was a totally new opera, both modern and rooted in the greatest lyrical tradition, promising an impressive display of means, in cast and special effects. To tell the truth, this strange show aroused a lot of curiosity in the media, which was also very much in demand to talk about it. Indeed, nobody, even in the show business, had ever heard of the members of the troupe: this immense super production was going to be performed without any star. The singers, the dancers, the conductor and composer, the producer and director, were all complete outsiders, and many of them amateurs or absolute beginners. What was known was that the bulk of the cast came from Russia, where they had been assembled by the producer Lukian Lopakin - a man as mysterious as he was eccentric. The prima donna, Mathilde de la Bardière, was French, while the tenor and hero of the play, the attractive Paolo Ragazzi, had just arrived from Milan. Despite this lack of notoriety, the show seemed to have a gigantic budget, largely financed by large Russian and Swiss investors.

Attracted by the joyful and prolix interviews of Lukian Lopakin, and by the undeniable beauty of the young couple starring in the show, the curious public crowded the evening of the premiere, without knowing anything about its artistic and musical content. The price of the tickets, however unaffordable, did not discourage them, and there was even a slight jostling between the barriers as people were packed together in front of the theater. Between the two hours that the opera lasted, there was an intermission with refreshments and snacks. This allowed to get a first impression from the audience. Obviously, the virtuosity of the tenor and the emotional grace of the beautiful soprano, supported by a powerful philharmonic orchestra, had absolutely conquered the spectators who were in a hurry to return to their seats to listen to the rest of the performance. The incredible bet of the no less incredible Lopakin was almost won. Almost.

As the opera entered its final fifteen minutes, the lyrical plot was about to deliver a climax, both expected and feared by an audience totally absorbed by the story. On the stage, set up like the Red Square in Moscow, the ballet swirled as never before around the main characters, and in the pit, the orchestra led by Victor Chichitchtenko seemed to be in a virtuoso frenzy. In the center of all the eyes, the lovers with such pure voices realized the impossibility of their love and resigned themselves in pain to parting. Extracting a tragic verse from his chest, the tenor, passing from the arms of the baritone to those of the soprano, gave the latter a heartbreaking goodbye kiss.

Suddenly, as soon as he had moved away from his partner's lips, he let out a hoarse, slightly muffled cry and collapsed to the floor. The musicians abruptly stopped playing and, for a few seconds, the room was silent. At that moment, the soprano, seeing Paolo Ragazzi's inert body and purple complexion, began to scream with all the power of her expert vocal cords, and panic filled both the stage and the rows of seats. The beautiful young tenor had just died before the eyes of the audience. And at the climax of the opera.

2- AN EXPENSIVE FATALITY

Dawn was as quiet as usual when Mr. Ernst Groenigen, comfortably seated in his big German chauffeur-driven car, passed the gates of his sumptuous villa. At that early hour, the sun had just risen and was shyly tearing through the clouds to reflect on the sleeping surface of Lake Geneva. While their president's car drove quietly to his offices in the center of Geneva, Mr. Groenigen's three secretaries seemed to be more agitated than usual, gripped by a certain nervousness mixed with anxiety. None of them wanted to bring the president his customary cup of coffee with the day's newspaper, and thus assume the role of harbinger of doom.

Mr. Groenigen's car stopped in front of the door of a huge business building with a dark red carpeted stoop. A gold plaque on the front of the building bore a logo that read: Groenigen & Partners, International Insurance. A uniformed doorman came to open the door and greeted him with great deference. As he entered the hall, which was built entirely of blue marble, the hostesses did the same, and the elevator man almost bowed. Smiling but not responding to any of the greetings, Mr. Groenigen made his way up to the top floor, where the management was located. At the sound of the elevator door opening, the three secretaries shuddered slightly, all at the same time. Their boss's calm and relaxed expression made them even more nervous: he still didn't know.

Entering his office and carelessly throwing his leather briefcase into an armchair, Ernst Groenigen exclaimed, with a discreet Germanic accent:

- Good morning, ladies! Monique, a coffee, would you, and bring me the news. Is it good?

One of the secretaries grabbed the newspaper, stepped forward shyly and held it out, replying:

- Not really, sir... A small incident occurred last night in Paris...

Frowning suddenly, the insurer grabbed the newspaper and opened it directly to the page that had been marked by his employee. Five columns of headlines read: TENOR DIES AT PERFORMANCE. The young Italian opera singer Paolo Ragazzi collapsed on stage last night in Paris after suffering a stroke. Mr. Groenigen's face suddenly turned scarlet. He painfully suppressed a scream of anger, unbuttoned his shirt collar to breathe easier, and immediately called for his first vice president. The latter came into the office almost immediately, not giving Mr. Groenigen time to finish reading the article.

- Did you see that, Franz?! How are we