Chapter 12: Locked Out

Dustin handed over his phone without a word.

The officer turned it over and scrolled until he stopped on a photograph of a gray duffel bag under a bed.

"Time stamp says ten to one this morning."

"Yes," Dustin said.

"The report says the property was stolen yesterday afternoon, from a storage unit."

"The report says Erin and I took it. At ten to one we weren't taking it. We were finding it."

Dustin's voice stayed level.

"A Foundation badge opened her building before we got there. Pull the entry log."

"I sent every picture to my email and to Brynn Kessling at ten past one," he added. "You can ask her."

The officer looked at the security man in the navy suit.

The security man looked at the pavement.

"We'll still need statements," the officer said, but he didn't sound sure anymore. "Both of you, at the station, this afternoon."

They left.

Dustin stood in the door of the van with his hand still out where the phone had been.

"You sent them to Brynn?" I said.

"I sent them to everyone I trusted," he said. "It was two people."

I sat down on the cot.

I should have felt relieved.

Instead I felt something small and cold.

The bag was gone, and I was frightened of whatever Caleb would do next.

The statements took two hours.

I told a tired detective the truth in short sentences, and he wrote it down.

He said Caleb Kessling's report had a flaw, and he would have to look at it.

That was all anyone gave me.

At two in the afternoon I walked back to my building with Dustin beside me.

The sky was white, and snow had started to fall.