“But anyone now?”
She shook her head.“Not really, no.”
Damn.They had zero suspects.
“How long’s it been missing?”Atticus asked, trying not to get lost in the conversation.
“It was there on Monday when I left for the day,” she said.“When I came in on Tuesday, it was gone.”
“And you really think no one’s noticed?”
“Of course they noticed,” Callie said.“But I’m tryin’ to keep it quiet.Like I said, it’s Spirit Week, so there’s a lot goin’ on.I need this to stay quiet for as long as possible.”
“And on Friday, when the football team goes out to take the annual picture with it…?”Slade grinned.
Callie frowned.
“What?”Atticus didn’t understand.
Callie looked at him and exhaled.“As soon as people start talkin’, word’s gonna get back to the superintendent.”
Atticus didn’t understand.“You have a problem with … that person?”
“Only that he’s my brother, and I really don’t want him comin’ down here to give me shit about a giant statue walkin’ away on my watch.”
“Understood.”Atticus grinned.“You know we’re gonna have to ask around, right?It’s the only way to find it.”
“I know,” she said solemnly.“Just maybe do it quick so my brother doesn’t have a chance to get on his high horse.”
Slade shook his head.“Still with the puns, huh, Callie?”
Slade followed Atticus out of the school, taking the route to show him where the statue usually stood.
“How hard would it be to steal somethin’ like that?”Atticus asked as they stared at the empty concrete pad where the mustang had resided for as long as Slade could remember.
“Probably not as difficult as you might think.”
“Really?”
Slade gestured toward the concrete pad.“If they have the equipment to lift it, it’s really easy.Otherwise, the statue sits on a base, so as long as someone has something to jack it up with, they could push something beneath it with wheels.From there, it’s a matter of pulling it onto a trailer.Would definitely take a wench to get it up there.I guess someone determined enough could probably pull it up onto a flatbed truck, provided the bed tilted.”
At least, that was how Slade saw it playing out.
Atticus was frowning at him.“You’ve given this some thought.”
Laughing, Slade shook his head.“Stealing it was one of the options for our senior prank.We just couldn’t figure out where to put it.Since no one could come up with a way to get it into the courtyard or on top of the school, we went a different route.”
“How were you plannin’ on movin’ it?”
“My cousins own Walker Demolition.They had the tools.”
“Could they have done it?”
“No.”
“Maybe their kids?”
“None of them are old enough.”
