Symphony of Secrets

After working on the Red score each day, Bern works with Eboni on the contents of Josephine’s trunk. Bern idolizes Delaney and happily listens to his music to discover more about it. The trunk contains “147 separate pages of Delaney Doodles” (226), which Bern and Eboni try to decode. Eboni writes programs to examine the symbols. As they work together, Bern thinks there might be some chemistry between them. They hire a detective to investigate legal records for Josephine Reed. Eboni insists that Josephine and Delaney had a child, but Bern disagrees.

One morning, Eboni confirms that the doodles were drawn by Josephine, not Delaney. She discovers this when she finds doodles on receipts for places Delaney couldn’t have been because there are records of him being somewhere else at that time. Bern realizes that the doodles are Josephine’s personal system of musical notation and that she worked with Delaney on his compositions. This information causes Bern to question his work on Delaney’s scores, and he is also forced to reconsider Delaney’s status as his hero. Bern wonders what happened between Josephine and Delaney.

When Freddy plays the piano at work, he is hurt by Ditmars’s rejection. He tells Josephine about the rejection and accidentally dislodges her papers, all of which have the initials JoR and her symbols on them. She explains that Dr. Moore suggested she come up with the notational system to find sounds that she enjoys in the noise of everyday life. Josephine calls this “Transcribing.” Josephine explains some of her symbols, stating that some are simply what she hears, while others are new melodies.

Over time, she feels comfortable enough to explain more about her symbols and transcribing to Freddy. Her verbal descriptions of the symbols include colors. Freddy and Josephine have an intimate moment at the Ivy Lounge, but they are interrupted before they can kiss. 

Bern and Eboni argue about whether to tell the Foundation that Josephine wrote some of the music credited to Delaney. Eboni argues that the Foundation wouldn’t want to share the royalty money with Josephine’s descendants. Bern counters that the Foundation could help them find more of Josephine’s music and family. Eboni shows him a spreadsheet that lists locations from the doodles. She wants to visit them to try to crack Josephine’s code, and Bern agrees to go with her. They discover that the purpose of many of these buildings has changed, and they do not discover any additional clues. However, they do find an excellent pizza place.

Josephine and Freddy go to clubs and dance halls together, but they travel to and from work separately. She listens to him play at the Alibi Club and says that he “played like a torrent. The best torrent” (265). Then, she plays one of the band’s new songs and changes it. Freddy is impressed with her variation. She shows him her notation for it. She isn’t sure how many songs she has in her piles of papers (her Compendium). When Freddy looks through the papers, he realizes that she has written many songs. She tells him about her trunk in Pennsylvania Station. They collect it together; it is filled with records of sounds, as well as new melodies.

Freddy adds lyrics to four of Josephine’s songs and brings them to Ditmars. Ditmars rejects him before hearing the songs, so Freddy plays them in the office’s practice room. His coworkers gather around to listen. When he finishes playing all four, his audience applauds and Ditmars offers Freddy money for the songs. Freddy haggles and gets a better price and a decent cut of the royalties. Freddy also wants to be credited as Fred, not Freddy. After work, Freddy tells Josephine that he wouldn’t have gotten as much money for the songs if people knew that she had written them. He buys her new clothes and asks her to wear them out that night. They take a cab to a club called the Shortstack. The large, 22-piece swing band plays her music. Josephine is enraptured and glowing. A the end of the evening, Josephine hugs Freddy and thanks him.

Eboni discovers where the patterns in the Doodles repeat. She realizes that the code is the music and that it includes both the notes and instructions on how to play them. They discover what some of the symbols mean. Bern hugs Eboni. During the following week, this discovery guides their work on decoding Josephine’s notational system. At first, Bern believes that both Delaney and Josephine had “perfect pitch and perfect recall” (293). Eventually, however, he comes to doubt that Delaney wrote any of the music, and he is crushed to realize that his hero is a fraud.

In February, Mallory visits Bern, thanks him, and asks him about his trip to Durham. He says that he talked to a professor about the Appalachian aspects of Red. She requests that he get clearance from her before using the company’s plane in the future. Bern thinks about what it would mean for the Foundation if it turned out that Josephine wrote all of Delaney’s music, including the optics involved in the fact that a white man has stolen the work of a Black woman. When Bern talks to Eboni about it, she argues that Earlene, as Josephine’s relative, should receive some of the royalties from Josephine’s songs. Bern suggests that Earlene get a lawyer.

The narrative returns to Josephine and Delaney’s timeline. A couple of months later, Fred comes into work with a new song and demands 50 dollars, as well as a larger percentage of the royalties. When he plays the song, “Billy Blue Lane,” his coworkers enjoy it. As he and Ditmars negotiate, he tells Ditmars that he wants to write music instead of plugging music on the pianos in department stores. Ditmars offers to make him a house composer, but Fred wants to go freelance. Fred resigns from his position immediately and leaves the office, winking at Josephine as he does.

That evening, she cooks dinner while he works on transcribing another one of her songs, “The Way Into My Heart.” Fred claims that Ditmars was impressed with his lyrics as much as her music. Fred assures her that because of the existing racism in society, it is better to have just his name on the music. Fred remarks that they are making enough money for Josephine to get her own apartment. Josephine doesn’t want to move or stop working for Ditmars because she likes the routine. Fred agrees to allow her to stay with him, saying “You’re my girl” (306). She tells him that he saved her, and this pleases him.

In the middle of January, Fred buys a suit at Bergdorf Goodman. He also buys a Victrola. One of the clerks, Sophie, asks Fred for his autograph. Back at the apartment, Fred reveals the victrola to Josephine, as well as a record of their song, “Blue Billy Lane.” When she asks how they can afford such a luxury, Fred explains that he sold some more of her songs with his lyrics. Josephine buys more records but does not notice when Fred’s suit arrives.

Bern is called into Mallory’s office. She leads him into a meeting with the Foundation’s board members and lawyers via a videoconference. Kurt Delaney joins the call and asks Bern about Josephine. Bern tries to feign ignorance, but he is pressured into admitting that he discovered that JoR stands for Josephine, and that she might have been romantically involved with Delaney. Then, the board asks him about the trunk that he carried onto the Foundation’s plane in North Carolina. Bern tries to withhold information and claims that they were trying to decipher the code before reporting their findings. He admits that the trunk is in Eboni’s office and ignores her texts. Kurt uses bigoted language to address Bern, saying that Bern should have been working on Red. He demands that Bern turn over the trunk.

The narrative returns to Josephine’s timeline. Over the next few weeks, Ditmars commissions Fred to write songs, and he buys the songs that Fred brings in from Josephine’s Compendium. The instrumental pieces are successful as well. One day, Fred wears another new suit from Bergdorf’s to see Ditmars and tells him that he wants to be a partner in the music publishing house. Ditmars suggests that he buy into the company, offering Fred a two percent stake. Fred is unhappy with this offer and leaves. He decides to visit Miles Turpin, who has now started his own music publishing house.

When Fred gets to Miles’s office, he is unimpressed. Miles is excited to partner with Fred, but Fred decides that he has higher ambitions than working with Miles. As he walks back to the apartment, he thinks that the new radio business would be a good way to sell records. He finds a building that is up for rent and tells Josephine they are moving there. They will open Delany Music Publishing and live above it. They open on “Monday, June 2, 1919” (334).

After Bern’s meeting with the board, he sees Eboni’s texts. She says the police are confiscating everything from her office. The Foundation’s lawyer, Whitman, is in Bern’s office. They talk about the paperwork that Bern signed, which stipulates that he could be liable for millions of dollars in damages if he breaks the agreement. Bern does not admit that he hasn’t read the agreement or that he signed for Eboni. Whitman also points out that there is a confiscation section stating that whatever Bern finds belongs to the Foundation. Bern asks about Eboni, and Whitman claims that she is safe.