Two Ziploc bags were nestled in some tissue paper. One of the bags held her toothbrush, and the other held a pair of her underwear, neatly folded. She dropped the bags quickly and closed the box. How had Bart gotten into her house? He couldn’t have! There were no alerts on her phone, and Keith hadn’t called her in a panic. She knew she’d armed it before she left. Celia pulled up the camera app, but Lucille’s front door wasn’t in view. There was no way anyone had been in her house today, she thought. Did Bart take them when he broke in before? She pulled her phone from her purse and called the police station.
“Yes, I need to speak with Walt Stanfield, please.”
“May I ask who’s calling?”
“It’s Celia Brockwell, and it’s urgent.” She didn’t want to panic, but Celia was shaking with rage.
“Celia, It’s Walt. What happened?”
“Someone put a package for me on my neighbor’s front doorstep today. She thought they delivered it to her by mistake. I opened it, and it has things from inside my house. I know no one has been here. My alarm was on, and there’s no one on either camera. I think Bart must have taken things when he broke in before.”
“What was in the package? Did you touch them?”
“My toothbrush and a pair of underwear. They were in Ziploc bags. I know what you’re thinking, but I’d bet you won’t find any prints. The underwear was folded like it had been washed. I only touched the bags and the outside of the box.”
“Stay there, and I’ll be over with someone. Do you think anyone is around your house now? He might be watching, wanting to see your reaction.”
“I didn’t notice anyone,” Celia walked toward the door. “I’m going to stay on the line and check.”
“No, Celia don’t go outside-“
“It’ll only take a minute.” She walked out of her front door and looked up and down the street. There were no unusual cars. Then she walked back inside and checked the back porch and yard. There was nothing out of place. “No one is here.”
“Stay inside and lock your door until I get there.”
“I will.” Celia hung up and looked inside the box again. She couldn’t remember if the underwear had been in her drawer or the hamper. The idea of Bart taking clothing out of her hamper was disgusting. And why hadn’t she noticed the toothbrush? Was it because she had more than one sitting in the holder? She couldn’t remember. Sometimes she would keep the old one to clean her jewelry. Regardless, Bart had not just left Jerry on her bed and roses on her floor. He’d gone through her things.
Walt and another policeman arrived quickly, and Keith wasn’t far behind them. Walt must have called him. The police began examining the box, and Keith took her into the living room to sit.
“So do you think he took your things when he was here before? You haven’t forgotten to arm the alarm, have you?”
“No way, I arm it every morning and every night,” Celia replied. “It must have been when he broke in before. Ugh, he went through my drawers...or my hamper. And why my toothbrush?”
“They’re both personal. He probably thought you’d notice the toothbrush.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t. Why keep them and send them to me? And how did he send them? Why did they end up on Lucille’s step instead of mine?”
“My guess is he knew he’d only get one shot in your house, but he wanted to prolong it. So he took a few souvenirs that he could scare you with later. You should probably go through the house and see if anything else is missing.”
“Hey, guys, you two should see this,” Walt called from the kitchen.
They walked into the kitchen, and Walt’s partner was taking photos of the box.
“See this?” Walt pointed to the postmark. “It’s not a real postmark. This box never went through the mail.”
“What? You mean he brought it here himself?” Celia asked
“Probably so.”
“Wouldn’t that be risky?”
“Well, he probably knows how far the view of your camera goes. My guess is he knew no one would see him going to your neighbor’s door. That would explain why he put it there instead of at your door. Delivery men make mistakes all the time, so no one would think anything of it.”
“I assume you’ll run prints and DNA on everything,” Keith said.
“Yeah, but I’m not hopeful. He probably wore gloves and made sure there weren’t any. My guess is that the only prints we’ll find are Celia’s and the neighbor’s. We’ll take it with us and check everything, though. And Celia, you need to go through this house with a fine-toothed comb. We need to be prepared for any more special deliveries.”
After the police left, Celia let out a string of curses. “That was very eloquent,” Keith laughed.
“Why thank you. I have more if you’d like to hear them.”
“Nah, I’m good. If I wanted more I’d have joined the navy.”
“The navy,” Celia chuckled. “Yeah, I’d like to see Bart buried at sea.”
“After walking the plank?”
“That’s not the navy, that’s pirates,” Celia teased. “But they’d work too.”
Keith folded his arms and looked at her. “So are you going to pack a bag?”
“Why would I pack a bag? I’m not going anywhere.” Celie pretended not to know what he meant.
“God, you’re stubborn!”
“I’m not running away every time he pushes a button. He doesn’t get that power.”
“It’s not about power. It’s about safety,” Keith countered.
“I am safe. He put the box at Lucille’s door because of my alarm system. He knew there were cameras. He can’t get in here without tripping the alarm and being caught on camera. This is probably one of the safest places I could be right now.”
“I thought you might say that. I’ll be right back.” Keith walked out of the house and walked back in after a minute or two. He was carrying an overnight
