Page 8 of Secret Triplets for Christmas

"None of my things of value have been taken. It could be that they didn't know that piece of art was expensive. I don't know how they would miss the jewelry."

Detective Donovan studied the art piece and then came over to my jewelry box, using his finger to sort through what was in there.

"How about alcohol?"

"Alcohol?" People broke into other people's homes for booze?

I shrugged and made my way back to the kitchen, trying to ignore the mess. Why would somebody do all this destruction? There was no way I would get it all cleaned up before the girls were supposed to come home tomorrow.

I pushed that away for the moment as I entered the kitchen. I reached up to the cupboard over my refrigerator to open it. "I have wine and vodka. They still seem to be there."

"Have you made any enemies? Somebody who would just want to come in and trash your house?"

Did I? I couldn’t imagine that I did. I got along with everyone at work. My neighbors and I were friendly. "No. At least not that I know of."

"I'd like to take your statement, which we can do at the station, or maybe it would be less stressful if we went out for coffee. There's a nice little place not far from here."

I nodded, appreciating his sensitivity to my situation. I agreed to meet him there. As I drove over, I called my father to tell him what happened.

"Jesus, Lindsay. Are you okay?"

"I'm a little rattled, but I'm grateful that neither I nor the girls were here."

"Come here and stay with us tonight. Do I need to come get you?"

"No, I'm going to meet with the detective to give my full statement. And then I’ll be over."

"Do you want me there? Maybe I should call you a lawyer."

"Why would I need a lawyer because my house got burglarized?"

"I don't know. I'm worried sick."

I smiled, knowing that my father still saw me as his little girl despite my being twenty-six years old.

"I'll be fine, Dad. I'll be over in a little bit."

I arrived at the coffee house and ordered decaffeinated tea thinking I didn't need any more stimulants in my body. I sat with Detective Flynn at a small table and recounted my day.

No, nothing unusual had been going on in the last few days or weeks.

No, I didn't see anything unusual that morning.

"It's probably kids," Detective Flynn said once I finished answering all his questions.

It made no sense to me. "Why would kids break into my house and mess it up?"

"It could have been some sort of peewee gang initiation. Maybe they were looking to steal something but didn't find anything they wanted."

It still made no sense to me. Did peewee gangs really exist?

"But I will look into it. We’ll take some fingerprints and see if anybody in the neighborhood saw anything. We'll look to see if there's any similar incidents going on in the area or even the city at large."

I held my warm cup between my two cold hands, but I was sure that the nippy December air wasn't what was chilling me to my bones. "Your tone makes it sound as if you probably won't find out who did this."

He gave a shrug. "Probably not. I would recommend getting some new locks."

I frowned. "How did they even get in? I'm certain I locked my door."

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