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I RACED BACK THROUGH the store and out the back door. Getting into my car, I locked the doors and grabbed my phone out of my bag. I dialed 911. I soon heard sirens heading my way. When I saw Detective Winn getting out of the one car, I got out of my Prius and hurried to talk to him.
“Hello, Lisa,” Detective Winn greeted me. Is it a worrisome thing to be on a first name basis with the town’s chief detective?
“I’m so glad to see you!” I said. This, too, was unusual for me to say.
“So, tell me what happened. Walk me through it.” Detective Winn gestured toward the door.
“I got here early and hoping to have the store to myself for a few hours to get some work done. When I got here...”
“What time was that?” Detective Winn was scribbling notes in a small notebook.
“About 7:00. I parked my car...”
“You parked it where it is now?” He asked.
“Yes, right there.” I pointed to my car. “When I got to the door, I noticed it was ajar. I thought maybe Garrett had not locked it last night.”
“Who is Garrett?” Detective Winn didn’t even look up to ask the question.
“Garrett Neil teaches guitar here. He was the last one to leave last night.” I explained.
“Do you know what time he left?”
“I believe around 8. I know he had some late students. He texted me when he left, I can check my phone if you the exact time.” I was tired of answering questions and wanted to go look at the bullet hole in my beautiful new office wall.
“Alright and I am going to need his contact information. You saw the door was ajar, then what happened?” Detective Winn was ambling toward the building, writing notes as he walked.
“I went in. Nothing seemed to have been touched in the store itself. There are some costly guitars and other instruments that are on display. None of them had been moved.” I gestured to the wall displaying the guitars.
“Have you taken an inventory?” He looked at the guitars.
“No, I can, but the wall is still full of instruments. Anyway, then I went over to the cash register, and the cash drawer was still closed. It doesn’t look like it was touched or tampered with.” I lead Detective Winn to the old cash register.
“Do you have cash in it?” Detective Winn looked somewhat surprised.
“None at the moment. We keep $250 in the cash drawer during business hours. Anything above that goes to the bank. After we close for the day, the cash goes into the safe in my office overnight. I also keep $250 in petty cash in a lockbox in the safe.” I explained. Officer Winn walked over to a tenor saxophone that was displayed behind the counter. He lifted the price tag and looked at it. He looked back at me and quickly dropped the tag like a hot potato when he saw the number that was on it.
“You only keep $250 in your cash drawer?” His eyes were wide. Clearly, he had never priced tenor saxophones before.
“Most people get financing for items like that.” I explained and nodded toward the saxophone. “And for smaller purchases, everyone uses a credit or debit card nowadays. We keep the register, mainly, because it is a pretty antique.” Colette Charles would have been heartbroken if I had gotten rid of the shiny, brass, antique cash register when I took over the store!
“Ok, so what did you do next?” Officer Winn kept looking at the saxophone, with a bewildered look, like it was going to jump off the wall..
“I went back into my office. Back this way,” I lead Detective Winn down the newly constructed hallway to my office. I stopped in the doorway. Detective Winn stepped inside.
“All the papers on the floor? Those weren’t there last night?”
“No. They are all the registration forms and other paperwork for my upcoming Chamber Music Festival.” I answered and watched Detective Winn pick up two forms and look at them.
“Did you touch any of them?”
“No, I was about to, but then I noticed the bullet hole.” I pointed at the wall. “As fast as I could, I raced out of here to call you.”
“Ok.” Detective Winn looked down the hall. “Joe! Can we get fingerprints in this office?” One of the policemen came down the hall with a briefcase. He set it down in the hall, opened it, took out some items, then came into my office and got to work. “They have already photographed in here.” Another officer was heading towards us, down the hall.
“Bullet hole this way?” The officer asked Detective Winn.
“Yes, Glen. Right in there.” Detective Winn pointed into my office. “When they finish up, Lisa, you can go back in and straighten up. Thanks so much. You have my card?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
“Good. Call me if anything comes up or if you think of anything else. Have a good day.” Detective Winn headed back down the hall, toward the store. I watched the officers working in my office for another minute. Then I realized I hadn’t looked in the teaching studios or the recital hall to see if there was any sign of anyone being in those spaces, or if any damage that had been done. I hurried to the hallway on the other side of the store. I was relieved that I couldn’t see any indication that anyone had been in either the lessons studios or the recital hall. Huge relief!
After a final look around, I headed back into the main store area. Detective Winn had not told me that I shouldn’t open the store today as usual, so that was what I was going to do. I looked at my watch, knowing that I had sadly lost all the work time I was looking forward to, and I was right. The store had to open in 20 minutes. I glanced at the employee schedule that was behind the counter. I saw Hailey would be in shortly.
Hailey Spears had just graduated from college with a degree in piano pedagogy and was a delightful employee. Besides working the sales floor, Hailey shared the store’s load of piano students with me. She also had a ton of organizational skills that were really helpful! I was busy planning the debut season of concerts and such in the new recital hall, and I had very limited organizational skills. I was the creative one! She had also taken piano lessons when she was growing up with Colette, and loved the store as much as I did.
I had some nervous energy to get out while I was waiting to open and still had policemen in my office. I fiddled around with the displays, straightening boxes of reeds, putting the valve oil in order on the shelves, and various other tasks to keep busy.
Then I heard Hailey’s voice outside the store, talking to one officer.
“Lisa! Oh my gosh! Are you ok?” Hailey came running into the store.
“Yes, I’m fine! Thankfully, whoever was here, was gone when I arrived.” I reassured her.
“Did they take anything?” Hailey’s eyes were wide, and I think she was more shaken than I was.
“Not that I can tell. We can do an inventory over the day. They mainly got my office. It’s a disaster!” I nodded my head toward the hallway.
“Did they get into the safe?”
“No. It is still closed and looks untouched. Same with the cash register.” I patted Colette’s cash register reassuringly.
“Oh good. Let me put my stuff down, and then I can start doing that inventory.” Hailey took her things into the tiny staff room that doubled as a dressing room for the recital hall, and a break room for the store staff and teachers.
When she was gone, I turned on the iPad and went to the app that tracked our inventory. Hailey came back into the store, and I handed her the iPad.
“Why don’t you start with the instruments? Especially the higher-end ones. All the pro models. If something was going to be stolen, it’s one of those upper-end instruments that would have been taken.” I told Hailey.
“Works for me!” Hailey went into the stockroom, and I headed to the main door to turn on the neon open sign.
The next couple of hours were quiet. Hailey was busy checking the inventory, and I tried to reorganize the papers that had been strewn onto the floor of my office. Luckily, the professional performing, and teaching ensembles had already been emailed the festival packages, so the remaining paperwork would be easily refiled. The student group applicants were another story. I had just started going through those before the break-in, consequently putting those back together was a bit more complicated.
“Lisa, come here!” Hailey suddenly called from the store. I put the sheaf of papers I was going through on the desk, and headed toward Hailey. “Lisa, this is so weird. I’ve gone over most everything, and so far, none of the instruments are missing. I decided, just on a hunch, to go over the accessories.” Hailey still looked baffled.
“Did you find something?”
“Lisa, the only things not accounted for are 5 packages of Pizzicato Professional violin strings. All the viola, cello, and bass strings are here.”
“Really? Are you certain?” Hailey handed me the iPad.
“Should you call the police?” Hailey was recounting the packages of violin strings in their little plastic sleeves, hanging on the pegboard wall.
“I don’t know. Maybe I should call Esther or Garrett. Maybe they sold them?” I knew it was unlikely. The iPad automatically adjusted the inventory numbers when something was sold. I was just baffled. Who steals violin strings but leaves violins, worth thousands of dollars, behind? I was just about to say this to Hailey when I looked outside.
A woman in a blue jacket was looking in horror at the Fairview Music sign that was in front of the store. Hailey evidently saw the woman at the same time as I did. We both went to the main entrance door of the store.
“Can I help you?” I asked the woman. The woman just looked at me, then pointed to the letter F in Fairview. The sign comprised letters that were individually cut and were standing on a base, without a backing. I looked at the letter F, and I know I shared the woman’s look of horror.
A wire noose was around the letter F. It only took me seconds to realize that the wire that made up the noose, was braided with violin strings.