Heidi Slyker never thought she’d see her flute again after losing it in the back of a cab nine years ago — but, thanks to the kindness of strangers and some skillful detective work, the Maryland musician has been reunited with her instrument,The New York Timesreported.
It was 3:30 in the morning, and in only a few hours, Slyker had her first rehearsal playing flute with the New England Philharmonic, according to theTimes.
On the floor of the cab sat her flute, aBrannen Brothers Flutemakerssilver Millennium worth$10,000that Slyker had reportedly bought in high school with her own money.
When the cab pulled up to her apartment, Slyker, now 36, stepped out without her flute, and told theTimesshe “immediately knew” she’d forgotten it.
She reportedly called the cab company, which was unable to find both the driver and the lost flute, and also filed a police report.
“They were like ‘Flute 2 sounds terrible.’ And I was like, I’m sorry,” she said. “I was able to finish the concert, but I never got asked back… It was terrible. I finally got into an orchestra and I just had to quit.”
Then, in March, the unexpected happened. Slyker told theTimesshe received a call one morning from Brannen Brothers, who said a music store in Boston had contacted them about a silver flute, which a customer had brought in for an appraisal.
The instrument’s serial number reportedly matched that of the one Slyker had lost in the cab nine years earlier.
“I almost passed out,” she told the outlet of receiving the fateful call.
Brett Walberg, sales manager and woodwind specialist at Virtuosity Musical Instruments, told theTimessomething did not seem right with the silver flute a customer had brought in on Feb. 12, as the man who brought it in did not strike Walberg as a professional flutist.
“It was kind of like watching someone who’s never picked up a football before, versus, like, Eli Manning picking up a football,” Walberg said.
The store could only hold on to the flute for so long before returning it to the man who brought it in, as it could not immediately be determined as a stolen instrument, according to theTimes.
Walberg, however, called Brannen Brothers and gave them the instrument’s serial number as well as the customer’s information. The company told Walberg that the $10,000 flute was now worth $12,960, as the instrument is made of precious metals and appreciates in value, theTimesreported.
Anews releasefrom the Boston Police Department said detectives spoke with the customer on April 9, and he said that he’d bought the flute from an unknown man.
“The individual then turned over the flute to detectives so that it could be returned to its rightful owner,” the release said. “It was then determined that the individual was a taxi cab driver who was driving a cab the day that the flute was reported missing.”
Slyker and her beloved flute were finally reunited on Monday, according to the release.
“I’m not a vengeful person, but he really did mess with me,” she told theTimes. “It was just so personal, and it affected me in so many ways.”
source: people.com
