Page 45 of The Attercop

Both shook their heads.

Declan turned around. “Wait a minute, I think we ran into the same guy last Saturday. I gave him twenty bucks.”

“Twenty?” Sam said. “It’s no wonder he keeps showing up.”

“Can anyone be more specific about his appearance?” Gary asked.

Declan closed his eyes and tried to picture the man. “The best I could tell from the loose-fitting clothes he had on, he was probably around six-feet tall, medium build. Caucasian. Light-brown hair. Light-green eyes. Charlie, did you notice anything else?”

“Now that I think about it, there was something strange about him. For someone so dirty, he smelled…clean.”

“I know what you mean,” Gwen added. “You’d think a guy that was living on the street and looked that filthy would smell the part.”

Gary made more notes but offered no opinion.

“If there isn’t anything else,” Sam said, “I’d like to take Gwen home.”

“That’s fine. I’ll be in touch,” Gary replied.

Sam’s eyes travelled between Declan and Charlie. “And you two…I suppose you’re going to involve yourselves in all of this, no matter how much the police tell you to sit still. I’m just going to ask you both to be extra careful. This person you’re dealing with is clearly unhinged.”

“Sure,” was all Declan said.

Charlie said nothing.

Sam took Gwen by the hand and they headed down the stairs.

Gary sat down on the couch. “Let’s move on to the break-in up here. Was anything missing?”

“Nothing, other than the medal that was found in Gwen’s coffee grinder,” Declan said.

The dog whined.

“Duck thoroughly searched the place,” Mrs B offered, “and he found no evidence that whoever broke in went any other places than through the washroom and up the stairs to the apartment.”

Gary laughed. “We’ll be double-checking that. After all, he’s not a trained police dog.”

“Well, perhaps not, but hedidmake the discovery,” Mrs B said, folding her arms.

Gary shrugged and turned back to Declan. “Do you have any idea why someone would go to all the trouble of breaking in just to steal that medal?”

“Possibly. Maybe we could head into my office and discuss it further.”

Gary got a puzzled look on his face. “Oh…kay.”

Mrs B briskly made her way across the room. “I’ll be at my desk with the dog if you need anything.”

Declan led the others into his office, then turned to Charlie and said, “Close the door behind you.”

He took his seat behind the desk. Charlie and Gary took the facing chairs.

“I didn’t want to say anything in front of Gwen, Sam or Mrs B, but I think that this might be connected to something weird that happened last week.”

Gary frowned. “Why am I not surprised that something weird has happened to you. What was it?”

“Whoever broke into our place had the same MO as the person who broke into my therapist’s place last week.”

“Your therapist?”