Sam frowned. “Was anyone hurt?”
“No, sir.”
“What all did they take?”
“He’s not sure, but he saw someone on their Ring doorbell sneaking away in the night with something in their arms.”
“Did their security alarm go off?”
“No, sir.”
Sam sighed. “So then where did the thief enter the house?”
“Uh…well, the back door was unlocked, but Miranda admitted she forgot to lock it last night, so…”
“So the security alarm didn’t go off. Nothing is missing. And all they have is someone walking away from their house in the night?”
“Yes, sir,” Carl said.
“Can you send me the video from their Ring doorbell?” Sam said.
“Yes, sir, but what do I tell Jeff?”
“Not a damn thing. He’s not in charge of policing this town, I am. And two perfectly capable officers were sent to investigate what appears to be a wild-goose chase. I want to look at the video. And in the meantime, go see if some of their neighbors caught anything on their security.”
“Yes, sir,” Carl said, and disconnected.
“Have mercy,” Sam muttered, and then took off to his office to check his email for the video.
The video arrived in an email. He clicked on the message, opened the attachment, and then sat there watching a shadowy figure walking away from the Dooleys’ front door. It did appear the person was carrying something, but it was hard to say what…and Sam wasn’t even sure if it was a man or a woman.
He played it over and over, trying to spot something in the shadows, or a car waiting for the person down the street. But there were only two streetlights in the cul-de-sac, and vision was poor. He began watching the video from frame to frame, and when he did, he spotted something he hadn’t noticed before because it immediately blended into the shadows in the following frames.
He grabbed his phone and called Carl.
When Carl answered, he sounded breathless.
“Hello?”
“Carl, where are you with the neighbors’ security cameras?” Sam asked.
“We’ve been all over the neighborhood. Either they weren’t aimed in the right direction, or they aren’t working, or they don’t have one.”
“Well, unless Jeff has discovered property that’s missing, I think there is no robbery. In a couple of frames, and assuming it’s a man, I see what looks like a dog’s tail hanging out from under his arms. I’ll bet you both a Coke that somebody let their dog out to pee, it didn’t come back, and the owner went looking for it. He either found it in Jeff’s yard or on the porch, and simply picked it up and took it home. Ask Jeff if he has a neighbor with a wandering dog, then ask around the neighborhood. It has to be someone nearby because there was no strange car parked at the curb. The guy was afoot.”
“Ooh, good call, Chief. I’ll let you know what we find out.”
“No problem,” Sam said, and went to check on the girls.
When he walked into their room, they were on their bed watching the movie, leaning against each other and holding hands. He paused a second, thinking how unique twins were. Linked at all times. Finishing each other’s sentences. And if his two slowed down or were sitting side by side, they were always holding hands. Like they weren’t fully turned on without the link. He couldn’t imagine what growing up and growing apart was going to be like for them, but it was inevitable that change would come.
Then the girls looked up and saw him.
“Daddy! Is it time to go to pizza yet?”
“Not yet,” Sam said. “I was just checking on you.”
“We’re fine,” Evie said. “We’re staying out of the cleaning ladies’ hair.”
“Out of their hair,” Beth echoed.
“Thank you,” Sam said, and gave them a thumbs-up as he walked out.
The cleaning ladies met him in the hall with a handful of candy wrappers.
Sam sighed. “Where did you find them this time?”
“They were poked up in the vacuum cleaner. I assume they thought they’d just get sucked up into the hose and in the bag and no one would be the wiser…but they kind of plugged it up instead. They’re getting better at hiding places, though,” one of the cleaners said, and giggled.
Sam frowned, then backtracked to their room and hit Mute on their movie.
“Daddy! Why did you do that?” Evie cried.
“Yes, why?” Beth said, her eyes welling.
Sam opened his fist and let the candy wrappers fall out on the bed in front of them.
Their eyes widened as evidence of their thievery was revealed. They looked up at Sam, then at each other, and waited.
Sam was not happy. This had been an ongoing issue for months, but after the big speech he’d given them, he believed they’d moved past it.
“I thought we talked about this. You both promised me to quit snitching candy without asking. Now this! What do you have to say for yourselves?”
“We haven’t snitched since we promised,” Evie said.
“Not since we promised,” Beth said.
“Then how do you explain all this…poked up into the vacuum cleaner?”
“We didn’t hide wrappers in the vacuum, Daddy. And those are old wrappers,” Evie said.
Beth nodded and even picked up a little wrapper.
“See, Daddy! This is Valentine candy.”
Sam knew them. They might sneak candy, but they’d never lie.
“Then how do you explain that the vacuum worked all this time until today?”
“We didn’t hide any up a vacuum. We hid it under your bed.”
Sam blinked. “My bed?”
They nodded. “We didn’t think you would look there.”
“I’ll be right back,” Sam said, and went to look for the cleaning ladies. They were in the living room, getting ready to dust the woodwork. “Uh…ladies, by any chance did you just vacuum under my bed before the vacuum suddenly quit?”
They nodded.
He sighed, then shoved his hand through his hair in frustration.
“False alarm. This was not a new theft. This was Valentine candy wrappers that the girls hid beneath my bed. You just vacuumed up the evidence of an old crime. Before we had the talk where they promised not to snitch candy anymore. I am a cop, and I cannot stay ahead of my own children,” he muttered.