MUKILTEO — In a distracted moment, Terry Preshaw left her car unlocked outside her downtown Everett office.
Her Finke Triple Horn, a high-end brass model handmade in Germany, was on the backseat in its soft green case.
When she returned to her car after the day’s work, the horn was gone. That was Nov. 11, 2010.
Last week, Preshaw got a call. Her horn had resurfaced.
After five years, the news brought a whirlwind of emotion. Somehow, someone bought the horn, found the news stories about the theft and decided to return it.
The horn is just as magical as she remembered, she said Tuesday. Over the years, she’s grown as a player, and can better appreciate its craftsmanship.
Preshaw, 61, is a longtime local business immigration attorney. She grew up in New Jersey and picked up the flute in the fifth grade.
“I played it for two years and I was actually quite miserable with it,” she said.
In middle school, a music teacher suggested she consider the French horn.
“It was really strange,” she said. “I just loved that instrument so much from the beginning.”
In her teens, she aspired to become a professional musician. Then she got to college and found out there were much better players out there. Music stayed a lifelong passion.
She’d always borrowed her instruments from schools, so she finally bought her own horn after college.
Six months later, she had to sell it to pay for law school. She later owned a basic model that served her well for decades. Over the years, that horn, a Holton, sustained damage. It was inconsistent in concerts.
In 2009 she fell in love with the Finke. It was used but in pristine condition, and at $6,500, about half the price of a new model.
After the theft, she tried out a couple of different horns, but “the memories of how great the Finke was continued to linger,” she said.
She’s first horn in the Mukilteo Community Orchestra and also plays in the brass group at the Mukilteo Presbyterian Church. She considers herself an advanced amateur, though she has been paid for a few gigs.
The man who bought the Finke found it at a Redmond pawn shop in 2011. The serial number had been melted off, with a clumsy fake one added in the wrong spot.
Preshaw believes she identified the thief. She and an Everett police detective confronted the man, but there just wasn’t enough evidence for an arrest.
Meanwhile, the man who returned the horn must have understood how important it was to her, she said. They met up July 30 at the downtown Everett police station.
She’s left feeling stunned and grateful. The horn needs some work. It’s heavier than she remembered. She played it that first night.
“The tone is still unbelievable,” she said.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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