Page 50 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“I closed the door and locked it behind me. I remember because it was no easy feat with a plate of cookies in my hands.”

Tyler added, “It looks like the lock was picked.” He opened the door again and lit the area around the keyhole with his flashlight. Garrett saw what he was looking at and stepped away so Aspen could see as well. “Unless those scrapes were there already,” the cop said.

Before Aspen could answer, Garrett said, “I replaced that lock myself a few weeks ago. There were no markings on it.”

Aspen’s eyebrows lifted, giving him anI can speak for myselflook.

“Sorry.” He breathed deeply and stepped into the living room, telling himself to shut up.

She turned back to the cop. “What else did you find?”

“We think whoever did it came inside, despite the blaring alarm.”

The alarm was off now. The alarm company must have done that. Or maybe the cops had some magic way of getting it done.

Aspen looked around, but the living area looked untouched. “What makes you think he came in?”

“Upstairs.”

As the cop said the word, a second uniformed officer jogged down the stairs. “Master bedroom’s the worst.” When he reached the bottom, he stuck out his hand. “Officer Fontier. Sorry about this. Far as I can tell, the burglar spent most of his time in the master.”

Aspen said, “Can I?—?”

“Go ahead.”

She was halfway up before she turned to Garrett. “Will you come with me?”

He jogged up to join her, thankful she’d asked. He hadn’t wanted to intrude, but everything in his being ached to know what had happened.

All the doors were open, but the extra bedrooms seemed untouched.

The junk room was almost completely empty. He’d known she’d gone through the things in there but was still surprised to see it, considering what a mess it’d been.

They continued to the master.

She froze in the doorway, but he could see over her head.

The room was wrecked. Her clothes were strewn all over the floor. The bedding had been ripped off the bed.

The bureau drawers were open. One lay face down on the carpet.

The bathroom looked about the same.

He swallowed a rise of nausea at the sight and followed Aspen inside the smaller space. He wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and comfort her.

But she was focused on a box on the bathroom counter. It was brown leather, about the size of a bag of hot dog buns, and wide open, its contents spilling out.

Jewelry.

“Is something missing?”

She picked through the pieces, then shook her head. “Not even the necklace Dad gave me for graduation…” She lifted the chain, and he saw a sizable diamond surrounded by other diamonds dangling from her hand.

Finding the treasure didn’t seem to comfort Aspen. Her skin turned ashen. “What did they want?” She glanced around, then moved past him back into the bedroom. “As far as I can tell, nothing is missing.” Again, she turned to him. “Are they trying to scare me? To…” She shook her head.

Officer Tyler stood in the doorway.

“How long did it take you to get here?” Garrett couldn’t help the irritation in his voice as he gestured to the space. “He wasn’t in any hurry.”

---