CHAPTER THREE
“We got a call this morning from the music festival coordinators. They’ve only been open two days and already, they’ve had multiple thefts,” said Hex.
“That sounds like something the police or sheriff would handle. At the very least, their own security,” said Joseph.
“Usually. The problem is the thefts were the instruments belonging to the musicians themselves. Instruments worth thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some of these musicians came here from a festival down river, and said they’d encountered the same issue.
One of them is now out two instruments,” said Hex.
“Two? What are they taking? Drum sticks? Flutes? It has to be small to walk away with it,” said Carl.
“Nope,” said Luke shaking his head. “One was a grand piano. The other was a cello. These are huge instruments, heavy, not something easily moved and yet they disappeared under lock and key.”
“That sounds like an inside job to me,” said Striker.
“Well, either way we agreed to take it on,” said Luke.
“We did? Why?” asked Adam.
“Because one of the instruments was my guitar,” said Amanda. “My favorite guitar.” She held the empty case close to her body as if hugging a longtime friend.
“And the other was my violin,” said Erica. She looked as though she might cry right there on the spot. She’d had that violin for nearly twenty-five years. It was an extension of who she was.
Carl looked around the room, then back at his brothers, Luke, Ben, and Adam. When the rest of the room nodded, he did as well.
“Looks like we’ll be chasing runaway instruments.”
“Hey, some good news,” said Ace. “The piano and cello were recovered when a pawn shop notified the police that someone called for them to give an estimate on the pieces. They identified them as very expensive pieces, not something this individual would have had.”
“Who was it?” asked Luke.
“One of the stage hands.”
“But that doesn’t account for my guitar and her violin,” said Amanda. “We’re supposed to perform at that festival in two days. I’d like my guitar back.”
“Do you have another, just in case?” asked Cam.
“Of course, we do,” smirked Erica, “but when you have a favorite instrument, that’s what you want to play for a crowd.”
“I understand,” nodded Eric. “Did you leave it at the event after rehearsal?”
“No,” said Amanda. “We set our instruments down backstage last night after rehearsal. The concert manager wanted to speak with all of us for a few minutes, so we set our things down and just moved onto the stage.”
“We were literally only a few yards from where they were,” said Erica. “There were three other people who had things missing as well. Smaller, easy to carry instruments like ours.”
“Alright, we’ll head down there and see if we can find out what happened,” said Luke. “Did either of you see anyone or anything that would have made you suspicious?”
“Not me,” said Amanda turning to Erica. She shook her head.
“I didn’t see anything other than musicians, just like us and they were all on stage like us.”
“What’s the concert for?” asked Hex.
“We’re raising money for children’s music programs across the country, hoping to raise money for instruments, ironically, and to help with a special musical education program for kids with hearing disabilities.”
“Seriously?” asked Luke. “That’s cool. Did we tell Uncle Alec? What about Keith?”
“Keith is helping us with the students,” said Amanda. “He’s got three from his school that he’s bringing to the event. Alec has offered to do whatever we need, obviously, and so have a lot of the other seniors.”
“Great, I’m sure they’ll be a wonderful help,” nodded Luke. He looked at Cam, Eric, and Hex. “Why don’t the four of us head down there and see what we can find?”
“Sounds good to me, brother. I don’t know shit about music but I know how to catch a bad guy when needed,” said Eric.
“We just want the instruments back,” said Erica. “We’ll be rehearsing with Bull if you need us.”
“Let’s go find a guitar and violin,” said Eric.