Jury was still out on that.
“But I might have seen who picked it up,” she went on. “I think…I don’t think it was a normal kidnapping.”
“Why?”
“It was that glassblower.”
“Crow?” I asked.
She nodded. “He came by this morning. He seemed inebriated. Drunk. And loud. He was singing. And he waved. He knew I was right here in the sunroom.”
“You watched him that long?”
She sighed. “When I saw he was taking the penguin I didn’t want to interfere. He is an artist of a sort. I thought maybe he would dream up a delightful photo op. Maybe something that would renew interest? I mean, not for me, of course. I have all the attention I could possibly want. But it’s good for our town. Brings in the tourists.”
I didn’t tell her that the nearby casinos, gorgeous open beaches, ample fishing, antiquing, wineries, craft breweries, and small town coziness was more than enough to bring in the tourists.
“Did you contact Crow and ask him to bring it back?”
“I tried. He wasn’t answering his phone, so I drove to his shop.”
“And?”
“It was closed.”
Crow had just gotten back into town. It was possible he hadn’t wanted to head straight back into the glass-blowing business. It was also possible he was still drunk from Roy’s party.
“We’ll look into it,” I told her.
“You don’t think he’s going to…to harm it, do you?”
He was a trickster god. “I don’t think that would be his goal, no. Have you thought about setting up your own photo shoots with it?”
She shook her head firmly. “I just wouldn’t. Part of the fun is seeing other people get creative. If it were just me dressing up a concrete penguin. Well, my goodness, do you realize how much of an eccentric attention-seeker that would make me out to be?”
Than cleared his throat. I would have said he was choking back laughter, but I knew he never laughed.
“Right. Okay. We’ll try to locate Crow and find out if he still has the penguin in his possession.”
“Do you think he might have given it away? Or might havesoldit?” She was wringing her hands now.
“I don’t think he sold it.”
“But it is valuable. He could probably get a pretty penny for it on the dark web.” She leaned forward as if sharing a secret. “I know what that is.”
I nodded soberly. “Next time you see someone stealing your penguin, please just call us. We’ll come out, stop the theft, and you won’t have to imagine your penguin smashed into a million pieces and being sold, chunk by chunk, on dark ebay.”
“There’s a dark ebay?”
“There’s a dark everything, Mrs. Yates,” I said as seriously as possible.
She frowned, looked out the windows, and tugged on her fingers. “I hope you find Mr. Crow quickly. Tell him I will press charges if anything has happened to my property. I’ve insured it, you know. If it’s harmed, I can sue. I will sue.”
“I’ll let you know the moment we have anything to report.”
“Thank you, Myra. You have always taken this so much more seriously than either of your sisters. And don’t get me started on Officers Hatter and Shoe. They make jokes when I call in my complaints.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
