Chapter 8 – Ink #3
“Oh, that’s calcium powder. It gets everywhere,” Presley said, oblivious to his new suspicion.
“Calcium powder? Haven’t heard that one before,” Detective Pine said.
“Haven’t heard what?” Presley asked, starting to catch on.
“Calcium powder. Most people say it’s powdered sugar or flour when we find it in the kitchen.”
“Oh.” I watched as realization washed over Presley’s face. “Well, Officer—”
“It’s Detective,” he corrected.
“I’m aware, but I’m not going to show respect to someone who has none for me, in my home.”
“Is there a problem?” McCoy asked.
“Yes. Your partner is insinuating that the white powder on my countertops is something other than a calcium supplement we give to our pet bearded dragon. In case you all forgot, I am the victim here! My home and safety were violated. I called you for help, and now I feel like I need to call a lawyer.”
“The club has an attorney on standby. I know she’d be happy to assist you. Shall I call her?” I asked.
“Look!” Ariel said as she entered the kitchen.
She had her bearded dragon cradled against her chest with one hand, and she was holding a plastic bag with the other hand.
“These are his supplements,” she said and shook the bag.
A light dusting of white powder floated to the floor.
“See. It gets everywhere.” She waved the bag around again.
Squatting down, I ran two fingers through the powder. I stood as I rubbed one finger on my gums. “That’s not coke, fellas,” I said and looked pointedly at the lead detective. “You wanna check me?” I asked and wiggled my middle finger at them.
McCoy sighed. “That won’t be necessary. Sorry for the confusion. If you want to continue looking for missing items, I’ll catch up with you. I need a few minutes with my partner.”
“Of course,” Presley said and ushered Ariel into the living room, with me following behind.
“I think I should call my dad,” Presley said as soon as we were out of earshot.
“Let’s see what happens next,” I suggested. “The club does have a lawyer on standby that we can call if they make the wrong choices in there.”
When the detectives entered the living room, Detective McCoy approached us while Detective Pine continued toward the front door. “Please excuse Detective Pine. He’s needed at another scene. Now, where were we?”
Other than the kitchen and Ariel’s room, the garage and one of the bathrooms seemed to be the only other rooms of interest.
It took several hours to process the scene, but in the end, the list of things missing was shorter than expected—clothes, food, and camping gear. As for the bathroom, it looked like someone had taken a shower but didn’t take anything.
“Here’s my contact information,” Detective McCoy said and handed a business card to Presley. “Please call me if you notice anything else missing or come across something else you think we should know about.”
“I will,” she said. “Thank you.”
After the police left, Presley sat down on the couch beside Ariel. “Do you have a preference on where we stay tonight?”
“Why do we have to stay somewhere else?” Ariel asked. “Do you think whoever did this will come back?”
“Probably not, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay here with the front door compromised.”
“But then anyone could come in and take our stuff,” Ariel said. “They could take Sir Pickles.”
“Ariel, can I talk to your mom for a minute?” I asked.
“Uh, sure. I’ll be in the kitchen,” she said awkwardly.
“She has a point. Someone could easily get into your house,” I said. “If you’re okay with it, you could stay here, and I can sleep on the couch.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t. I offered,” I said simply.
Presley exhaled heavily. “I don’t know what to do.”
“If you stay somewhere else, you’ll probably be worried about your house the entire time, right?”
“Yes.”
“And if you stay here, you’ll be worried about someone trying to break in again, right?”
“Again, yes.”
“Okay, how about this? Stay here. I’ll secure the front door for the night and sleep on the couch. Tomorrow, we’ll get the door replaced and make sure you two feel safe in your home.”
“Yeah, I think that will work,” she said. “I’ll go tell Ariel.”
While she went to the kitchen, I took a closer look at her door. It appeared to have been pried open with a crowbar or lever. The door wouldn’t close correctly due to the cracked doorjamb and bent hinges.
Walking into the kitchen, I found Presley and Ariel sitting at the table talking quietly. “Do you have any scrap wood I can use to brace the door?”
Presley’s forehead wrinkled as she thought. “There might be something in the garage.”
“What about the frames for the raised garden beds?” Ariel suggested.
“Oh, yeah, I guess we could use those. Would that work?”
“As long as the wood is long enough to go across the door. I just need two or three pieces to brace the door so no one can open it,” I said.
“Yeah, they’re long enough. I’ll show you where they are,” Presley said. When she got up to go outside, Ariel got up and went with her, clearly scared to stay in the house by herself.
The garden boxes were leaning against the fence in Presley’s backyard. “This is perfect,” I told her. “I can use two sides to secure the door, and then I can put your garden box back together once the door is fixed.”
“I’m not worried about the boxes. I mean, if you can put them back together, great, but if you can’t, that’s okay, too.”
“If you’ll point me in the direction of a screwdriver, hammer, and nails, I’ll get this taken care of.”
“I keep that stuff in the garage. I’ll show you where it is.”
I followed her to the garage and got what I needed. It didn’t take long to take the garden box apart and nail two sides of it across the top and lower part of her front door. “That will keep anyone from opening the door,” I told Presley when I was finished.
“Thank you,” she said. “I got you a couple of pillows and some blankets for the couch. Do you need anything else?”
“I’ll be fine,” I assured her.
“We’re going to head to bed. Ariel’s ready to drop.” It was clear to me that Presley was, too. It had been a long day with a lot of excitement.
“Good night.”
“Night, Ink.”