Page 24 of Heart of a Hero

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Mark sat in the living room of the elderly couple, taking notes as the forensic team moved about the house. Brad walked back into the room after accompanying the husband upstairs while Mark interviewed the wife. Her face still held anger with a dose of fear mixed with what he suspected was pain.

“Yes, Detective. As my husband said, we returned home and drove into the garage. Stanley helped me navigate the steps into the house. After my knee replacement, I had to relearn how to go up and down steps carefully. I still don’t go up or down stairs unless he’s with me.”

“You realized someone had broken in?—”

“Almost immediately. There was glass from the door that leads from the kitchen to our patio and pool area.”

The house was south of Baytown, in a small neighborhood of million-dollar homes. It wasn’t visible from other neighboring houses, so the intruder easily came in through the back. An alarm was sounded, but the thief must have known it would take time for someone to get to the home, so they made quick work of what they stole. Upstairs in the owner’s bedroom was a jewelry box sitting on the dresser. The box contained several expensivedinner rings, diamond and pearl earrings, and a diamond-and-emerald bracelet.

Stanley Whitten moved around Brad and sat next to his wife who was perched on the edge of the sofa. “Honey, let’s take this to where you’re more comfortable.”

“And where would that be, Stanley? A different house? Because right now, this house feels tainted!”

“Then let’s move into one of the rentals for a few weeks until we get everything put right.”

A tear slipped down her cheek, but she dashed it away. Looking at the detectives, she said, “I’m sure this seems dramatic to you. After all, the thief came when we weren’t here. We weren’t held at gunpoint or assaulted or… or… anything like that. I’m sure you think a door repair and a call to our insurance company would make this all better.”

“No, ma’am,” Mark said, shaking his head slowly while holding her gaze. “I know this is traumatic. Especially feeling vulnerable after surgery, and then to find that someone was in your personal space and took items of value and sentiment.”

Mrs. Whitten sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly as her gaze moved from Mark to Brad and then over to her husband. Offering a slight nod to Stanley, she then looked back at Mark. “Thank you, Detective Robbins. I appreciate your understanding.”

Brad caught his eye, then said, “Mr. Whitten discovered something else had been taken besides the jewelry box.”

Mark gave his partner his full attention and waited, his pen poised over his notepad.

“He kept a small lockbox on the floor, just under his side of the bed. It was visible to someone who might notice, but Mr. Whitten admitted he hadn’t looked at it in a while. The lockbox was taken. It contained a handgun.”

While Mrs. Whitten gasped and her knuckles tightened over the handle of the cane that rested against her chair, Mark quickly noted the weapon's type and registration number as Brad gave him the information.

Mr. Whitten sighed and shook his head. “I bought the weapon years ago and used to go to the firing range for practice. I have it in the lockbox under the bed so that if there was a home invasion at night, I could get to it, but I confess that I haven’t thought about it in months. It just didn’t hit me when Julia discovered her jewelry box was missing that I should look for it. Not until Detective Stowe asked me to make sure nothing else was missing.”

“And cash? Any cards?” Mark asked.

“No. I had my wallet and Margorie had her purse with her.”

“Where had you gone?”

“Margorie had a physical therapy session. We go to Shore Rehab twice a week for her physical therapy. We’ve been doing that for a couple of weeks.”

Finishing their time with the Whittens, they checked with forensics, then headed back to the station. “It struck me that three of our victims have had surgeries lately.”

“Yeah, I noticed that,” Brad said. “But how does that tie in with the others? What’s the common denominator?”

Mark sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know, but I want to go back and dig into the other cases from the past six months.”

Brad agreed. “Got to tell you, that’ll be our Monday morning job. Right now, I’m ready for the weekend.”

A smile slid across Mark’s face. “Me, too.”

Brad glanced to the side. “What the hell is that smile for? You got a hot date lined up?”

“Actually, yes.”

“No shit?”

Mark chuckled. “I asked Karen Drummond out to dinner?—”

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