His Castle
Once the police let me back into my house, I couldn’t believe the mess they’d left behind. They weren’t responsible for all of it (fingerprint powder—yes; bloodstains—no) but somehow I never expected to return to such an obvious crime scene. This was, after all, my home.
Where to begin?
Janice would have known how to lift the trails of muddy footprints from the carpeting without grinding the dirt in, how to remove the blood splatters from the upholstery without damaging the fabric, but she was no longer available to act the expert. Her opinion, which in this case would have been appreciated, had been silenced forever.
The color of dried blood surprised me.
While there were certainly both commercial products and folk remedies that would have helped, the police had neglected to leave me a list. At the very least they could have suggested a cleaning agency.
There were three messages on the machine.
“Hi Janice. This is Lacey from Petri Properties. The couple that went through this morning were very interested but they wondered if you’d go down five thousand. Please let me know either way.”
“This is Glen. Your car’s ready.”
“I just heard the news. I’m so sorry. Call me when you have a chance. I’ll pray for you until then.”
I deleted the messages and poured myself a drink. What did I do about Janice’s car? I assumed I was obligated to pay the bill but maybe I could convince Glen to buy the car from me for resale instead. I’d save the cost of the repairs and he’d earn himself a sweet markup.
My mother I’d already talked to. That left Lacey.
“Lacey Petri.”
“I’m returning your call regarding the house on McKinley.”
“The property is not currently being shown. If you’ll leave me your name and number—”
“No, I’m the owner.”
Lacey gasped. “I’m so sorry about your wife.”
“Thank you. And thank you for the flowers. It was very considerate.”
“I brought people through the house just that morning. Your wife was a wonderful woman.”
“A wonderful woman. As I’m sure Janice told you, this was our first home. Our whole life together took place here. I’m afraid I’ve decided not to sell.”
“Frankly, that’s the smart play. Potential buyers act as though one burglary automatically means there’ll be another. All I’m hearing from now are curiosity seekers and ghouls. Let the publicity die down for a while before you relist with us.”
“I’ll let you know the moment I reconsider.”
Despite the fact that Lacey had been an accessory in the attempted theft of my house, I felt bad about her losing the commission. She must have dozens of people through the property during the short time Janice had it on the market.
If the police hadn’t found all those partial prints that raised a reasonable doubt, they probably would have arrested me on the strength of the circumstantial evidence alone.
I drank to the irony.