But our bedroom had been tossed. I groaned. So much to put away! At least the bathroom was still orderly.
We were thunderstruck when we saw Sophie’s room. It was a wreck. Robin unstrapped Sophie, handed her to me, and he and Phillip began silently righting the crib, restoring the bedding, picking up the stuffed animals and the diapers and the tiny clothes. Setting the rocking chair back on its base. I’d spent hours arranging that room while I waited for her birth. I started crying, and I wasn’t ashamed of it.
Finally, I retreated to the living room to spare myself more misery. I was looking around helplessly, trying to find a place to sit with Sophie. Cathy pulled one of the armchairs upright and replaced the cushions.
“Thank you,” I said, absurdly grateful. “Cathy, I don’t understand this at all. Nothing’s missing! At least, nothing that wasn’t already missing, Robin’s keys and his old sweater. And the only rooms wrecked were this one, our bedroom, and Sophie’s room. Why?”
“Can you think of anything that would, I don’t know, group those rooms together?” Cathy righted a chair for herself.
I thought and thought, and then it came to me; it should have been obvious immediately. “Those are the rooms Virginia was in,” I said. “She didn’t need to go in Robin’s office or Phillip’s room. By the way, did you get any useful information off her phone?” I just threw that in there to see if I could learn something.
Cathy said, “That’s police business, not yours. You’ve got enough trouble of your own without taking on more.”
That was for sure.
“Can you tell me who has a key to your house?” Cathy said this in a matter-of-fact way, but as she waited for my answer she was very serious.
“Me and Robin, Phillip of course, and my mom has a key in case of emergency,” I said. “That’s all.”
“No maids?”
“We’re always here to let them in.”
“Did you have the locks changed when you moved in?”
“No.” I started to add, “Why would I?” But the words never left my mouth. Arnie Petrosian might have a key, from his “friendship” with Laurie Martinez. I was racked with indecision. Would it be wrong to mention this to the police?
Officer Dan strolled in, and stood beside Cathy’s chair. The next question he asked solved my dilemma.
“I see you have a brand-new security system,” he said.
“How’d you know it was brand-new?”
“The manual is still stuck behind the keypad.”
“Oh. Yeah, Arnie Petrosian and his assistant were here this afternoon installing it. He said he knew the Martinezes pretty well.” I put a little emphasis on the last two words, hoping they’d get my drift.
“He did?” Cathy looked thoughtful.
“It was his assistant who bothered us,” I said.
“How so?” Cathy was tapping on her phone.
“Robin was pretty sure he’d been going through my purse, or the kitchen drawers, while he was alone in the kitchen area.”
“What was his name?” Dan was eager.
“Arnie never introduced him.”
Cathy looked as if she didn’t think much of my brains. “And Robin didn’t call us,” she said.
“He wasn’t a hundred percent sure. So we talked to Arnie about him, and Arnie acted kind of weird, but he said he’d fire him. Arnie would fire the assistant,” I said, to clarify.
“So tell me,” Dan said. “Since you just got this system installed, why didn’t you set it when you left the house this afternoon?”
“He didn’t have one part or something, so it’s not active yet. He said he was coming back tomorrow morning first thing.”
Cathy and Dan (what was his first name?) both gave me the same look; as if I were the dumbest creature on God’s green earth. I didn’t think I deserved that much scorn. I’d trusted an elected official of the county, and after all, getting a home security system was a good thing.
When Cathy and Dan went to the door, I followed them. Standing in the open doorway, Cathy reminded me someone would be by to dust for prints in about half an hour. “And for God’s sake, when Arnie comes back to finish, pick a code and arm the system,” she added.
“We will.” As they walked to their cars, I stepped outside with them. Despite all my troubles, it was a beautiful day.
A car pulled in to the curb, and my friend Angel got out. She had Lorna with her, and she extricated her toddler from the huge car seat and expertly balanced the child on one hip. Since Lorna was three years old, that was quite a load, but Angel could handle it easily.
“Woe!” Lorna said, as she and Angel neared us. (That was as close as Lorna could get to “Roe,” and it had stuck.) Truly her mother’s daughter, Lorna exhibited no excitement (or enthusiasm) when she recognized me.
“Yeah?” Angel said, looking at the patrol car and the unmarked car.
Cathy and Officer Dan stood still in our driveway. It was like the two officers had spotted a dangerous animal. They both looked cautious and wary.
“Breakin,” I said, inaccurately.
Cathy corrected me instantly. “Not a breakin. Some unauthorized person came in with a key.”
“Angel Youngblood, this is Detective Cathy Trumble, and Officer Dan.”
“Cleve Dan,” he said, and I felt relieved. At last, I knew his name.
“I know Ms. Youngblood,” Cathy said. She didn’t sound happy about it. “We met when someone tried to snatch her purse from her car while she was getting gas.”
“I stopped him,” Angel told me. Not that I had ever doubted it.
“She gave him a trip to the emergency room,” Cathy said.
Angel tilted her head toward Lorna. “My daughter was in the car.”
“I understand,” I said, with enough energy to startle the officers. I had gotten in touch with my inner savage now. I was completely on Angel’s page.
“Ms. Teagarden here didn’t report a man her husband found going through things in their kitchen,” Cleve Dan said, inviting Angel to join him in the club of people who found that ridiculous.
“She can report or not, as she wants.” Angel’s look would have squashed a bug. “You got a security system?” she asked me, inclining her head to the Spartan Shield sign Arnie had planted in our front flowerbed.
“It seemed like a good thing to do. But it won’t be ready to arm until tomorrow.”
“It’s pretty interesting that someone came in the day before the system was going to go active.” She made sure the two police officers heard her.
Lorna had been quiet all this time, but now she said, “Down, Mama.”
“Sugar, we’re just stopping off to check on our friend,” Angel said. “We’ve got to fix supper for your dad.” Angel looked from Lorna to me. “We were just on our way home with our groceries when we saw the police cars.”
“Edamame?” Lorna said hopefully, and I hoped my jaw didn’t drop too far. Cathy and Cleve Dan looked startled.
“Sure, honey, we’ll have edamame. And some fruit. And maybe some tofu. Or pineapple, you want that?”
“Wonton noodles?” Lorna had trouble with the “noodles” but it came out recognizable.