The house was one of dozens of cookie-cutter
places, but I didn’t know the layout, and I didn’t have the benefit of the
garage door opener to get inside. When I got close, I veered around the side of
the house near the garage. I figured the backyard would likely have too many
windows to deal with, but the garage should be empty, now.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a key,
and I was never any good with a lock pick. I tried to force the door, but it
didn’t budge, and kicking it open would either break my foot or make too much
noise.
I made my way to the backyard
cautiously, sticking close to the house and peeking into windows whenever I
could. Fortunately, the little hoodlums wanted the place to still look empty,
so they didn’t have any of the blinds open to the backyard. Still, they could
be in any one of those rooms. I couldn’t go up and put my ear to them, either,
since they might see my shadow thanks to the insanely bright lamp in the alley.
I crouched low and used an app on my
phone to record. I just pressed the mike against the glass. It was no laser
microphone, but when playing it back, I could hear if there was noise on the
other side of the glass.
From what I could tell, they were in
the back bedrooms. That made sense because they could have a TV on without broadcasting
to the neighborhood they were in there. I crept along the back porch to an
arcadia door. These doors were infamous when it came to security. I didn’t have
to deal with pins in a lock, I just had to flip a latch, and I had tools to
help with that.
“You carry
stuff like that with you?” Jessie asked.
I quirked
an eyebrow up at her. “Well, yeah. I am a detective.”
“Isn’t that
illegal? I mean what about warrants and stuff?”
“I’m not a
cop, and yes, it is illegal, but they’re also tools of the trade.”
“You should
really take the time to become more proficient with them, Matthew,” Nikki
smiled. “I have also heard that bobby pins are excellent and surreptitious
tools for infiltration.”
“What can I
say? I just don’t have a delicate enough touch.”
“Oh, I—”
“Ahhh!” I
interjected. “I thought you wanted to hear this?”
She smirked
at me.