Rock Candy and Robberies

by Patti Benning

  She heard a quiet beeping, then the ghostly sound of a ring tone and realized Eli was dialing the police on his cell phone. When he started speaking, she could barely focus on what he was saying

  “Maverick,” she said at last. The dog stopped growling. “Come here.” He came up to her and pressed against her leg, and she stroked his head lightly. It seemed to help calm her down a little bit, and she took a deep breath. Another worry jumped to the forefront of her mind. Where was Felix? He wasn’t used to going outside, but she had no doubt that if the door was left open like this, he might get brave enough to venture out. The thought of him out there somewhere in the cold and dark, frightened and shivering, made her heart ache.

  “They are on their way out,” Eli told her.

  “We have to go find the animals,” she said.

  “We have to wait for the police.”

  She wanted to argue, but she knew he was right. They couldn’t just barge into the house and start looking for their pets. Not only would they risk messing up the crime scene, but there very well might be another person inside, waiting to do them harm.

  She was relieved to see the flash of red and blue lights through the trees a few minutes later. The police vehicles pulled into the yard and she realized at the last second that Maverick was still off leash. Any second he would start barking at the police officers. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “Eli, your belt. I need to use it as a leash.”

  He took it off quickly and handed it over. She looped it around Maverick’s neck and told him not to bark.

  He looked up at her and then back to the police officers, who were beginning to get out of their cars and whined, but seemed to hear the seriousness in her tone and didn’t make a sound.

  It seemed to take forever to explain to the police what had happened. The officers who weren’t questioning them were already combing through the house. It took her a while to convince the police that she really was supposed to be there, even though she wasn’t the homeowner. She had just put her ID away when one loud bark came from inside the house and a man shouted. A moment later, she heard a door slam shut. An officer came out, looking shaken.

  “There is a giant dog hiding in one of the bedrooms,” he said.

  “Keeva,” Candice breathed, filled with relief.

  “I took a cursory look around the room and shut the door. She scared me half to death. We’ll have to get her out of there before I can check the room more thoroughly.”

  Candice nodded. “We can put the dogs in the mudroom,” she suggested. “There is a gate that will keep them from going into the rest of the house.”

  “Sorry, ma’am, but you won’t have access to your house until we’ve cleared it of all the evidence. We’ll let you up there to collect your dog, but that’s going to be it.”

  “I have a cat too,” she said, hoping that Felix would be easy to find. She blinked. “Wait, how long are we going to have to stay out of the house for?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Look, I know your parents. I’ll see what I can do. I’ll have my guys working overnight, but you’re going to have to at least find somewhere else for yourselves and the dogs until morning.”

  She nodded. “That’s okay. We’ll go back to our place. Can I go get Keeva now?”

  It took a few more minutes, but eventually an officer escorted her upstairs. She managed to get permission to grab one of the dog leashes first, he stood by the bedroom door while she knelt down next to the bed. She was surprised that the Irish wolfhound had managed to fit under there.

  “Keeva, sweetie,” she said softly. “It’s me. Do you want to come out now?” She heard a thumping sound, like the dog was wagging her tail, but no dog appeared. She carefully bent over and picked up the bed skirt. Keeva was squished under there, and next to her, surprisingly, was Felix.

  “Oh, Felix,” she said, relief washing through her. “You’re such a smart cat.”

  She reached under the bed and pulled out the petrified cat, whose claws were dug into the carpet. It took a couple moments to battle with him, but at last she managed to extract him.

  “That does not look like a dog,” the officer muttered.

  “It’s my cat,” she said. She hugged Felix to her. “Can I take his carrier?” She nodded to the cat carrier in the corner. The officer nodded, and she quickly put Felix into the carrier and then knelt down in front of the bed again, trying to urge the dog out. Keeva kept wagging her tail, but seemed to have no intention of moving. At last, Candice crawled halfway under the bed and managed to clip the leash onto Keeva’s collar. There was a bit of tug of war and some cajoling, but Keeva finally managed to extract herself from under the bed. She gave her body a big shake, then looked up at them, as if asking what all the fuss was about. With a shaky laugh, Candice patted her head. “I’m glad you’re all right, girl. Ready to go?”

  The officer carried the cat carrier as she walked Keeva down the stairs. Eli was by his car, and she saw that Maverick was already in it.

  “This is my card,” Detective Jefferson said, handing her his business card. “I’ll contact you once you can come back to the house. Like I said, we will try to get the evidence collected quickly, but there’s no guarantee.”

  She nodded. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

  She put Keeva in her own car, knowing that there was no way both dogs would fit in one car, and started up the engine. Once her car was running and warming up, she walked over to Eli. “Are you ready to go?” she asked.

  He nodded. “I wish I could go grab my laptop, but I’m guessing that’s out of the question. So yeah, I guess I’m ready to head out.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Let’s head home. Then, we’d better contact your parents.”

  It took them a while to get settled into the farmhouse. It felt a bit odd to be back after she had been planning on being gone for two weeks. Felix seemed happy to have returned, though. He climbed right to the top of his cat tree and sat up there, staring down at them all.

  At long last, they sat down in the living room and Candice sent her mother a quick email. It didn’t give any real information, just telling them that something had happened and they were all right, but they needed to talk. She would have sent more details, but it would’ve taken way too long to explain it all through a written message.

  A few minutes later, the video call application sent a notification that she was getting an incoming call. She clicked the button to accept it and saw her mother and David crowded around the screen. Behind them was a round porthole and a picture of a tropical island, and a comfortable looking bed. She was impressed by how nice the cabin on the cruise ship looked.

  “What happened?” her mother asked, looking frightened. Candice took a deep breath and began explaining.

  Both of her parents looked increasingly worried and about ready to burst by the time she had finished. “Are you sure you have no idea who the gunshot victim was?” her mother asked.

  Candice shook her head. “Definitely not. But other than that, there’s not much that I do know. I don’t even know how they got into the house. I wasn’t paying attention enough to notice any broken windows.”

  “The door was kicked in,” Eli said. “I noticed it when you went inside with the officer to get Keeva.”

  “Are both of the dogs all right?” her mother asked. “Felix?”

  “They’re fine. Maverick was running around outside, and Keeva and Felix were hiding under the bed in the guest bedroom. It was such a relief to find them all safe.” Belatedly, she realized that they hadn’t grabbed any dog food from the house. The dogs were going to have to tolerate cat food for breakfast, until they could get to town to buy some dog food.

  “Just as long as everyone’s all right, that’s what’s important,” Moira said. “Why would someone break into our house though?”

  David frowned. “I wish I had the answer to that one. We aren’t even there to tell if anything is
missing.” He sighed. “It will have to wait until we get back I suppose.”

  “Are you going to come back early?” Candice asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Moira said, grimacing. “We’ll have to see what it would take. I’m not sure what the cruise lines policies are for that sort of stuff. Plus, I would feel bad leaving Karissa on her own after we invited her to come with us.”

  “We’ll try to handle it all ourselves,” Candice said. “There’s no reason you can’t keep enjoying your vacation.”

  She could tell that her mother didn’t quite agree with her, but they wrapped the conversation up and were about to say goodbye when David said, “If someone broke into the house and ended up dead, then that means that there was more than one person there.” Candice blinked. It was obvious now that he had pointed it out, but she hadn’t considered it before. “Be careful. Both of you. We don’t know what’s going on, and somewhere out there is a killer who might be waiting for his chance to return.”

  Chapter 6

  Even though she was exhausted from a long day, Candice still found herself waking up before she usually did the next morning. She had slept restlessly, and when she saw the first signs of sunlight through the curtains, she decided that enough was enough. She got out of bed, leaving Eli and Felix sleeping in their normal positions, and called the dogs over by patting her leg. She let them out into the hallway and let them stampede down the stairs in front of her. With a tired sigh, she went into the kitchen and pulled out the bag of Felix’s food. Both dogs were looking at her eagerly.

  “This is probably a lot richer than you’re used to,” she warned. “I’m only going to give a little bit to each of you, just to stave off your hunger until I go to town and pick up some more dog food today. I don’t want to upset your stomachs.”

  She got a couple of bowls down from the cupboard and put a small scoop of the cat food in each one before setting them on the floor. The dogs seemed thrilled by their new food, and quickly downed their meals.

  While the dogs licked the bowls clean, she set up the coffee maker and made a pot of coffee as strong as she could. When Eli came down, he found her at the kitchen table, sipping her coffee and scrolling through a page on the Internet on her cell phone.

  “Any news?”

  “Not yet,” Candice said. “I’m not sure if I should ask Logan to cover my shift at the candy shop today or not. If something happens, I want to be available, but if we don’t hear from the police, then I don’t want to just sit around all day.”

  “What time are you supposed to go in?”

  “I have the closing shift,” she said. “It’s the busiest, since the kids get out of school at the beginning of it.”

  “Well, why don’t you see if Logan’s free, but tell him that you’re not sure yet if you need him to cover for you? That way you’ll be keeping your options open in case the police do call in.”

  “I guess that’s a good compromise,” she said.

  She set about composing her text to Logan while Eli began opening cupboards in the kitchen. “I’ll get started on breakfast. What do you want?”

  “Something warm,” she told him. “It’s cold enough outside, I feel like I have to soak up all the heat I can before I face the day.”

  They spent the next hour making and eating pancakes and taking the dogs outside. Logan had told her that he was available that afternoon if she needed him, so she was able to keep that in mind as she waited for the police to call. She did a load of laundry and checked her email again, wanting to see if her parents had contacted her about anything. Nothing. She sighed, frustrated. She just wanted someone to let her know what was going on. As if in response to her thoughts, her cell phone rang, and she answered the call quickly.

  “This is Detective Jefferson speaking,” a male voice said after she answered the phone. “Am I speaking to Candice Rothberg?”

  “This is she,” she said.

  “I’m glad I caught you. We managed to collect everything we needed overnight. I just got done doing one last sweep of the house. You’re cleared to go back.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “I really appreciate it. All of our stuff is there.” Well, all of their important stuff, like laptops.

  Excited to give Eli the good news, she hurried into the kitchen and told him what the detective had said. The two of them began gathering up the animals. She texted Logan, telling him that, if he was still okay with it, he could have her shift for the day. She wanted the time to start getting her parents’ house cleaned up. She had only seen a little bit of it when she went inside to fetch Keeva, but what she had seen wasn’t very reassuring.

  When they got there, the body was gone, but that seemed to be the only positive change. The snow in the front yard had been trampled by the police officers and their vehicles, and the muddy snow had been tracked inside as well. She winced and found herself hoping that it would snow again soon just to cover up the tracks in the yard. The floors would need a good mopping before they looked normal again as it was.

  She walked the dogs directly to the mudroom, which seemed to have been the least affected room in the house, and put them behind the gate. “I don’t know how the rest of the house looks, and I don’t want you getting into anything nasty,” she told them. They placed Felix’s cat carrier on the kitchen table, deciding to keep him safely contained for now as well. Then, they started their inventory of the house.

  Candice was relieved that nothing major seemed to have been taken. Granted, she didn’t know her parents’ house as well as they did, but whoever had broken and hadn’t even bothered to steal her mother’s jewelry. It did look like a lot of the drawers had been rifled through, but the contents seemed to have mostly just been dumped out. Strangely, the room that seemed to have been hit the hardest was David’s office. It was a mess of papers, the file cabinets having been opened and the drawers turned upside down. She traded a worried look with Eli.

  “This must have been related to his old job as a PI,” he said.

  “He is mostly retired from that,” Candice said. “I don’t think he’s still very active there anymore at all.”

  “What about the file that guy dropped off yesterday?” Eli asked. “We assumed that was for one of the old cases, but it could be something new, couldn’t it? A case important enough for David to go back to work might be important enough for someone to want to steal his file on it.”

  “They have digital backup copies of everything,” Candice said. “Stealing the physical file wouldn’t do much.”

  “They may not have known that,” Eli pointed out. Sighing, Candice looked around the room, trying to locate the folder she had placed on the desk. It was gone, even though the other knickknacks on the desk remained. She frowned, wondering if maybe Eli had a point after all. She hoped not. She didn’t like the thought that whoever had broken in had found what they were looking for.

  “We’d better let my parents know about this,” she said.

  “I’ll get started on cleaning up while you do that,” he said. “I’m not even going to bother trying to organize these; I’ll just put them in stacks near where I find them.”

  She nodded and Eli got to work picking up the papers and files while she went back into the kitchen to pull out her laptop. She sent her parents an email, telling them what they had found. She had to back up a bit to tell them about the folder that Lenny’s assistant had dropped off the night before, since it had slipped her mind earlier.

  She sent the email and leaned back in her seat, feeling the stress of the last few days rush over her. They had a lot of cleaning to do, a door to repair, and most importantly, a mystery to solve.

  Chapter 7

  She and Eli spent the day cleaning up her parents’ house. By the time they called it quits in the evening, the house was mostly put back together. The mess on the floors had been cleaned, the knickknacks that had been spilled had been at least somewhat organized, and the door had been braced with a couple of rubber door stoppers. It
wasn’t perfect, but the door at least would have to wait until the next day when the hardware shop in town was open.

  The animals still seemed spooked in the house, and she felt bad for them. It must have been terrifying for them to have experienced the break-in. She couldn’t stop wondering what exactly had happened. How had one of the burglars been killed? Had they found what they were looking for? Had they really taken the file? There had been no sign of it in David’s study, she knew that much.

  Her parents returned her email shortly before she went to bed. It was from her mother, but David had added a couple of paragraphs at the bottom.

  I have no idea what was in the file, he had said. I’m going to email Lenny to see if he can tell me. I assume it’s one of the old cases that we’ve been getting organized, but if that was really what caused the people to break-in, there is the possibility it was something else. I’ll let you know if I find out. For now, be careful. It might be safer for you to stay at the farmhouse. Let us know if you want us to come back early. We’ll make it work if you do.

  She thought for a long time before answering. While it might be better if they were there, she wanted them to enjoy their vacation. If anything else happened, she would let them know about it, but for the time being, she told them to try to enjoy the cruise for as long as they could. She knew it would probably be costly and difficult, even if their enjoyment would be at least somewhat lessened by what had happened.

  She finished cleaning the next morning and she and Eli left the house at the same time; her to go to work and him to go to the store for the supplies to fix the door. She was worried about leaving the house unattended again, but knew that there was no helping it. Hopefully, whoever had broken in had already gotten what they wanted and would not be coming back.

  Allison was the only one she had told about what happened, but it seemed that her face let Suri know something was wrong, because as soon as she walked into the store, her employee frowned. “What happened?”