The Symphony of Spite

Some scores are written to be heard. This one was written to be read.

Clara Vance lost her hearing to acid five years ago - and gained something rarer. She reads the world now in vibration, in the tilt of a jaw, and in the architecture of a musical staff most people only ever hear. When an unmarked envelope arrives containing a hand-inked, unreleased score, she doesn't hear a requiem. She reads a countdown.

Buried in the notes is a cipher only she could decode - predicting the exact moment the Opera House's chief patron dies in the balcony above.