“Why would I steal from myself? Why would I sabotage my own performance?”

“Controversy? Attention? Stage fright? You tell me,” said Officer Burgermutt. “Frankly, I think it’s pretty suspicious you won’t show us your face.”

“Either way, we’ll have to report this to Duchess Strickland,” Officer Gutierrez added.

“Please, can’t you look for a little while first?” Mona Pearl pleaded. “I’m sure the statue will turn up soon, and my grandmother doesn’t need to know it was ever missing.”

“Miss Strickland, when a valuable piece of artwork goes missing, that could be a serious crime. The statue’s owner deserves to be informed of the investigation. I’m sure you and your grandmother can agree on that,” said Officer Gutierrez.

“My grandmother and I don’t see eye to eye.”

“Hard to see eye to eye when you’re wearing a mask all the time,” muttered Officer Burgermutt.

“Can you think of any possible suspects?” Officer Gutierrez asked, ignoring her partner’s comment. “Anyone who might want to sabotage your performance, or send a message to your grandmother?”

Mona Pearl shook her head and let out a wail. Officer Gutierrez tried to give her a comforting pat on the back, but the costume was too furry and prickly, and she quickly withdrew her hand.

“All right, we’ll go back in and take a look around. Is there anything else we should know?”

“Just this,” said Mona Pearl, thrusting out her palm. On it was the crumpled paper with the words Fake Art written in red ink.

“Weird ransom note,” said Officer Burgermutt. “They didn’t even ask for money.”

He took the note with two fingers and held it up to the fading light to study it. Then he asked Mona Pearl to take him to the last place she’d seen the statue. She nodded and bowed theatrically, the collar dipping low enough to reveal the crown of her head again, with its neat middle part. Then she led Burgermutt through the gallery doors and out of my sight.

Officer Gutierrez hung back. She looked over at me.

“Hi, Nancy. Didn’t know you were already on the case.”

Officer Gutierrez had worked with my father on a few cases. Dad said she was one of the best investigators in River Heights. Apart from me, that is.

“I’m off the clock. I came to see the show. Just enjoying River Heights Art Week. I hope this doesn’t mean the Duchess will cancel her party. Have you spoken to her already? I bet she called you in earlier today when her statue went missing the first time.”

“Actually, no one contacted us from the Strickland mansion, and there weren’t any alarms triggered. Mona Pearl must know the security codes.”

“I thought the Duchess was estranged from her family.”

“Breaking into your grandmother’s house to steal a statue when you could’ve just asked—that sounds pretty estranged to me. Any idea what to make of this weird note? I know you have experience decoding cryptic messages.”

“Well …” I thought about it. “It sounds like it was written by someone with strong ideas about art, but I couldn’t say whether it’s referring to the statue, Mona Pearl and Diana’s whole performance, the opening of Slay Gallery, or something else entirely.”