Page 7 (1/2)
"We checked each and every fingerprint and they were all ones we could identify"
"Oh" She didn’t disguise her disappoint for Detective Hildebrand?"
Faith nodded "It doesn’t make any sense"
"In ay?"
"The ites of sentimental value Like you said earlier, this break-in seemed…personal"
"Give estured helplessly "They took a picture alburandchildren were born You sahat they did to Carl’s photograph I had--oh, it’s too silly to mention"
"No, it isn’t"
Her lower lip treained her composure "A toy train…It was fro on the bedroom dresser Scottie’s son likes to play with it when they visit and--"
"That was stolen?"
Faith nodded again "I never thought of it as a valuable antique, but perhaps it is"
"What about jewelry, cash?"
"I don’t keep anything of real value lying around"
"That’s s over what she’d told him, Troy peeled away the paper froers, and he left it to cool a moment while he doctored his coffee
"I can’t believe this happened tobreath When she spoke again, her voice shook slightly "I just don’t understand it"
He syry, violated, afraid "I want to assure you the depart within our power to find whoever is responsible," he told her
"Why ed to reach across the table to take her hand "I wish I could answer that, but as you said, none of this makes sense I’d like to think it was a randoardless of who did this and why, you were an easy target Froain"
"No, I won’t" Faith straightened, tensing her shoulders as if to say she’d dare anyone to try breaking into her hoain Troy had encountered that determination of hers more than once and almost felt sorry for anyone who earned her wrath
"Is there anything else you can tell me?" Troy asked "You never knohere a snificant it seeo, when he was still a deputy A break-in had occurred, and Troy had stopped to talk to so unusual A kid, who couldn’t have been ht or nine, mentioned a white Jeep The , blond hair The boy had claimed the man looked "mean"
A couple of days later, Troy had passed a white Jeep parked at a gas station When the driver ca, stringy blond hair Suspecting this ht be the same person, Troy ran the license plate number--and discovered that the Jeep had been reported stolen He followed the man and arrested him without incident It later turned out that this man was responsible for a series of break-ins all around Cedar Cove The best part of the story was that the majority of valuables had been recovered
At his question, Faith hesitated "I’," she said
"Let e of that"
"Okay" A vulnerable look ca that the person who broke into the house has been back"
Without revealing any outward sign of alarm, Troy asked, "What makes you say that?"
Faith stood and walked over to the kitchen sink and pointed out the"There was graffiti on the back of the garage"
"Show me," he said abruptly
"I painted over it the next day… The words were ugly and I didn’t want randchildren to see them… Or anyone else for that rabbed a coat fro by the back door and led him outside He shivered in the January cold as he followed Faith to the far side of the garage He could see the fresh layer of white paint "Although it e said"
Faith stared down at her feet and told hily words He wished she’d told hiht have yielded evidence Noever, it was too late
Troy frowned "You think whoever was responsible for the break-in came back and did this?" It was definitely a reasonable assuht…I woke up and heard noises At first I was too terrified to move I was afraid they were inside the house It took e" She was obviouslyan effort to control her voice, but despite that it started to treently
"I knoish I had Oh, Troy, I’ve been so scared"
Troy couldn’t bear to see Faith upset Instinctively he slipped his arly htened He wanted to reassure her that he’d do whatever he could to prevent anything like this froain
"You should’ve called 9–1–1," he repeated
"But what if it was nothing? I thoughtaith ," she confirmed, "and I realized I’d been foolish not to call the authorities right away"
"You should have," he said There was no telling what ht’ve happened while she hemmed and hawed, afraid to risk a little embarrassment