We walked Hubert Alden to the back of the theater and introduced ourselves. He braced his back against the corner where the walls met and folded his arms, taking us each in as we studied him.

"The medical examiner told us you called this morning. About Natalya Galinova. I'm the detective handling her case."

"I'm grateful to you for that. Is there going to be any problem having her-well, her body-released to meto take home?"

"I've got some questions, naturally. And we're waiting for her husband to sign the appropriate paperwork. Under the circumstances it's a bit unusual for someone who's not related to be making the claim."

"We've had a professional relationship, detective. I've supported Talya, as an artist, and I've been very generous to the dance company, too."

"This is what I'm a little confused about," Mike said, furrowing his brow and making circles in the air with his right hand, in his best Columbo imitation. "Exactly how does that partnership work?"

Alden's description of his patronage was cut-and-dried. He denied there was any sexual involvement with Talya Galinova.

"So what are you in this for?" Mike asked.

"I've made a lot of money, detective. I'm fifty-two years old-an investment banker. Married briefly but no children. My grandmother was one of the most important opera singers of the last century. It's in her honor that I support great artists."

"Who was your grandmother?" Mike asked.

"Giulietta Capretta, before she became an Alden. Do you recognize the name?"

Mike shook his head in the negative.

"And you, Ms. Cooper?" Alden said, pushing away from the wall and walking down the aisle toward the exit door.

"I've heard recordings of her that my father had. Singing with Caruso at the old Met, if I'm not mistaken."

Alden flashed a smile at me, imitating his grandmother for us, as he wagged a finger, and proceeded to roll all his r's in a perfect trill, much like Rinaldo Vicci did. " 'Alas, young lady, you can have no idea how big my voice is if all you've listened to are the records. When I made recordings, they had to turn my back to the horn,'" Alden said, gesticulating grandly with his long arm, " 'or I would have ruptured the mechanism.' That was Giulietta's rebuke to the poor folk who never actually saw her perform in person."

Alden was playing to me and I could see that Mike was annoyed. He got a few steps ahead of Alden and me and waited impatiently for us to catch up.

"So that's what makes you so generous? Granny's memory?"

"That's not enough for you, Mr. Chapman? The Aldens have been patrons of the arts for a very long time," Alden said, continuing to walk with a swagger, tugging at the lapel of his coat to keep it in place on his shoulder. "They were part of the cabal responsible for the building of the old Met. Broadway and Fortieth Street, 1883. Back when they were considered too gauche to be admitted to the Academy of Music."

I had learned the story of the creation of the first Metropolitan Opera on my earliest trips to Lincoln Center. After the Civil War, the old guard who ran the academy, which had been the premier showcase for European and American opera performers in America until that time, had rejected the attempts at membership-and the petroleum money-of the nouveau riche: the Vanderbilts, Goulds, Astors, and Belmonts. The wealthy upstarts organized their own guild uptown, sending the Academy of Music into financial ruin and leaving on its site the Con Edison plant that still operates on 14th Street today. And opening night at the Met was so sparkling an event- women brilliantly gowned and jeweled-that the parterre boxes that held the rich patrons werethereafter called the Diamond Horseshoe. Undoubtedly, an Alden ancestor had been in that crowd.

"So in your particular case, what did the half a million get you?"

"Talya's attention, certainly. She was great company, Mr. Chapman. Remarkably smart and uniquely talented, beautiful to look at, great to be with."

"And her husband, he didn't get in the way?"

"Talya's husband hasn't been relevant for more than a decade. Lovely chap, as they say across the pond. He'sbeen in a wheelchair since he suffered a stroke-he must be close to eighty years old-and I have to say he's getting a bit gaga. He's got an attendant around the clock and wants for nothing."

"So what was the attraction there?" Mike asked.

"Money, when the old boy had it. But those days are long gone."

"Friday evening, the night Talya was killed, were you at the performance?"

"No, actually. I wasn't even in town, I've got a place outside Vail, and I flew out for the weekend. I didn't even know she'd been killed until Sunday evening."

Mike gestured toward the stage of the Imperial. "What's your interest here?"

Hubert Alden sighed. "You may know that Talya was pressing to play this role-the Evelyn Nesbit part-if the show got to Broadway. Joe Berk had been calling me to try to talk her out of it. Gave me the script to read. Have you seen it?"

"No."

"There's another role we all thought would have been perfect for Talya. She just didn't take it very well when Joe Berk and Rinaldo Vicci told her about it."

"Why?" I asked.

"It's the part of Evelyn Nesbit's mother, Ms. Cooper. The next act of the show is really all about how Evelyn's mother took control of things after the murder. She was a very young woman, in fact- younger even than Talya was now. Thirty-something-quite glamorous herself and extremely manipulative. The Thaws bought her off-lots of mink, lots of jewelry. The second act is all about Evelyn and her mother, and what was known at the time as the murder trial of the century. Borrows heavily from that razzle-dazzle number in Chicago, but you don't often get an original thought on Broadway anymore, do you? And how can you lose an audience with a media circus, an insanity defense, and an attorney named-um…" Alden said, snapping his finger.

"Delphin Delmas."

"Very good, detective. I guess murder really is your beat."

"I take it Talya didn't like that idea."

"The talons came out. She was furious with all of us."

"But she's dead, Mr. Alden," Mike said. "Why are you still in this game? You got another horse in the race?"

"I've backed a lot of shows for many different producers. I've watched the Berk family splinter itself into factions for years. Any time two of them are fighting over the same property, there's always a chance to step into that wedge and pick up a bargain. I've listened to Joe's tirades for as long as I've known him, so I thought I'd come see if Mona had anything going for herself."

"She invited you?"

"Mr. Vicci is the one who called. Rinaldo Vicci. Talya's agent."

"Depends on which way the wind was blowing, didn't it, whether or not he represented her?"

"Talya? She'd come back to him. She always did."

"Were you here today to see Lucy DeVore?"

"I didn't know anything about the kid. Didn't Rinaldo tell you that Talya had begged him for one chance to let Mona Berk see what she looked like in the leading role? Didn't he tell you that it was supposed to be Talya Galinova up there on that broken swing this afternoon?"