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“I don’t remember,” Auggie said. “I don’t remember if I opened that window.”
“Auggie.”
“It might have been me. It was probably me.”
Theo tapped the screen again.
“But I don’t know the last time I opened that window.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Theo said. “That’s not important.”
Auggie opened his mouth, but he had no idea what to say to that.
“Which window is that?”
The words were the first indication John-Henry had come back, and Auggie struggled to piece together a timeline: what had John-Henry heard, how much, what had they said.
“The office,” Theo said. “Auggie’s office.”
“Our office,” Auggie said. “We share it.”
“Right,” John-Henry said and stepped outside again.
Theo had found the video of the burglar leaving. They exited through the same window, tugged the window down, and walked away from the house. A black bag hung from one shoulder. After they left the camera’s field of view, the recording ran for another fifteen seconds and stopped.
“They wore gloves,” Theo said.
“Theo, if I left that window open, I’m sorry.”
“In and out in three, four minutes.”
“I only open it on nice days; we haven’t had a nice day in forever.”
“Break-in happened at…seven after nine.”
“It’s been too hot to open the window.”
“So, they either knew your schedule, or they were watching, or they got lucky.”
“Theo!”
Theo’s eyes focused on him. “What?”
In the office, the window slid open, the sound carrying through the stillness.
“Theo,” John-Henry called. “Auggie.”
Theo still wore a question on his face.
Auggie pushed off the stool and headed down the hall.
John-Henry and Yarmark looked into the office through the window. John-Henry was finishing what sounded like a brief set of instructions about processing the window for evidence. Then he said, “Could you double check the office?”
“The laptop’s not here,” Auggie said.
“I know. But I’d like you to see if anything else is missing.”
The air floating through the window smelled like fresh-cut grass and the new mulch Theo had laid down over the weekend; it was hot, and sweat prickled on Auggie’s forehead, his cheeks, in the hollow of his throat. He shut the window, and John-Henry gave a thumbs-up and headed toward the front of the house.
