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“This ticket was sold at the fundraiser, not by a Walton Square business,” Carlita said.

“Which means whoever lost the ticket on top of Elvira’s roof was there last night.” Mercedes absentmindedly tugged on a stray strand of hair.

“The bad news is we had tons of people there.”

“The place was jam-packed.” Mercedes began scribbling on her notepad. “Paisley and I were in charge of selling the tickets. I can confirm we sold a lot.”

“Figuring out who had this ticket will be like searching for a needle in a haystack,” Carlita sighed.

“We can drill down a little and find out what the raffle item was.” She flipped to another tab and pulled up the long list of goodies. “The ticket was purchased for a chance to win Colby’s Corner Store’s $200 gift basket.”

“Was the ticket a winner?”

“Nope.”

“Interesting.” Carlita paced. “Colby’s was also broken into. I wonder if there’s a connection.”

“Maybe the burglars were ticked that they didn’t win the raffle and decided to break into the store to get some free goods.”

“What about the pawn shop and Elvira’s place?”

“I can understand the pawn shop, but why Elvira’s?” Mercedes wrinkled her nose. “Maybe they got mixed up and thought they were burglarizing a place which actually had something worth stealing.”

“Could be. Based on how sloppy they were, I think it would be safe to say they weren’t professional thieves.”

“I wonder…”

“Wonder what?” Carlita prompted.

“I don’t want to come across as being judgmental.”

“You’re wondering if maybe one of Steve’s clients or friends might have been behind it.” Carlita sucked in a breath. “I hate to admit it, but the thought had crossed my mind last night. A few of them were a little rough around the edges.”

“Some of the nicest, most honest people are covered in tattoos.”

“While some of the nastiest, most judgmental people are viewed as upstanding citizens of society,” Carlita said. “I know, and I agree. The fact of the matter is the only thing we know for certain is one of the criminals was in pretty good physical shape. They were sloppy, and they were there last night.”

“I guess the next step would be to talk to Steve and Ken Colby.”

“Which is where I’m heading now.” Carlita thanked her daughter. “I won’t take up anymore of your time.”

“You’re not bothering me. Actually, I wouldn’t mind tagging along.”

“The more the merrier.”

Mercedes threw on sweatpants and a T-shirt. She grabbed her keys before following her mother down the stairs and to the end of the alley.

Making a sharp left, the women strolled along the sidewalk to Steve’s tattoo shop, only to discover the lights were off and the doors were locked.

“Crud. They’re not around.”

“Steve and Paisley are probably still recuperating from last night’s shindig,” Mercedes joked.

Carlita glanced at her watch. “It’s early. Let’s head to Colby’s. I know the grocery store is open.”

Continuing on, they rounded the corner, reaching the entrance to the neighborhood’s popular specialty store. The overhead bell chimed, announcing their arrival.

A quick check of the cozy, charming interior, most of which you could see from the entrance, found Faith, Ken’s daughter, standing near the cash register. Her father stood behind the bakery counter near the back.

“I see Ken.” It was a straight shot down the center aisle. Carlita caught his eye and gave a friendly wave.

“Good morning, Carlita.”

“Good morning. We didn’t get much of a chance to talk at Steve’s fundraiser last night. It was so hectic. I wanted to thank you for your donation and for supporting our small community.”

“You’re welcome. It’s a shame the evening had to end on such a sour note.”

Faith finished ringing up a customer’s purchases and hurried over. “Are you telling Carlita and Mercedes about what happened?”

“How the store was burglarized?” Mercedes asked. “It’s the other reason why Ma and I are here. Officer Jonkers told us this place was broken into.”

“Along with your pawn shop. What did they take?”

“Nothing. Although they managed to bust out an upstairs window.” Carlita told them it was a window to nowhere. “I guess they weren’t dumb enough to keep going and break into the pawn shop.”

Ken told them he and Faith were on their way home last night when they heard the security alarm going off at the end of the block. “I knew right away it was this place.”

“The alarm didn’t scare them off?”

“No.” Faith shook her head. “We did.”

“Did what?” Carlita asked.

“Scared them off.”

Mercedes made a choking sound. “You saw whoever broke in?”

“Saw them. Chased after them,” Ken said. “They probably would have moved faster if not for the fact they were trying not to drop the loot they stole and one of them was limping.”

Carlita’s jaw dropped. “Limping? I knew it. This proves it’s the same two. The climber fell from my drainpipe. What did they take?”

“I have a copy of the police report.” Faith excused herself. She returned a short time later and handed Carlita a piece of paper.

“Thanks.” She slipped her reading glasses on and studied the sheet. “Vitamins, supplements and energy drinks. This seems like an unusual combination. Was there anything else?”

“A bag of pork rinds.”

“Pork rinds?” Mercedes blinked rapidly. “I guess they got hungry.”

“All their burglarizing must have worked up an appetite.” Carlita handed the report back to Faith.

“I thought they were kind of odd choices myself,” Ken said. “The chip of choice is typically Doritos or potato chips. They didn’t touch the popular stuff…booze, cigarettes or lottery tickets.”

“It was an unusual burglary,” Faith said.

“How so?”

“They didn’t even try to steal the safe.”

“Because it’s bolted to the floor,” Ken said. “They would need some heavy duty tools to cut through it.”

“Or maybe they didn’t get that far,” Carlita said. “If you scared them off, you may have prevented them from stealing more or doing even worse damage. What did they look like?”

“Both were wearing dark clothing. As I mentioned, one of them had a limp. They hightailed it out of here as soon as they saw us,” Ken said. “The thinner of the two set the pace.”

“Which was at a pretty quick clip,” Faith said. “I guess they were surprised when we showed up.”

Carlita’s eyes narrowed. “Hang on. What time did you leave Steve’s place?”

“It was close to half past eleven,” Ken said. “I remember telling Faith I wanted to catch the late-night weather forecast because I planned to go fishing today.”

“But had to cancel because of the burglary.” Carlita frowned. “I’m sorry your good deed backfired.”

“It’s not your fault. So, when did the break-in occur?”

Carlita gave him the timeline of when the pawn shop window was busted and Elvira’s place was broken into. “They went from my place to Elvira’s and then maybe over here.”

“I know this might sound like a dumb question, but why Elvira’s place?” Faith asked. “I get why they would want to get into this place and the pawn shop, but what would a security services company have that they could want?”

“Gems, gold, booty,” Mercedes said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Elvira told anyone and everyone who will listen that she’s searching for gold.”

“Ah.” Faith clasped her hands. “You’re right. She’s pretty well-known around here for her treasure hunting.”

“And for breaking into tunnels, digging up her yard, chipping away at her basement walls,” Carlita said. “She could have inadvertently put a target on her back.”

“Would you like to see our camera’s surveillance recordings?”

“If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Not at all.” Ken ushered them back to the storage room, where he accessed the footage. He tracked down the timeframe in question and hit the play button.

Although the images were grainy and dark, Carlita was almost certain the burglars were the same ones. “Where did they break in?”

Ken took them outside to the sidewalk. He spun around and pointed to the alley. “There’s a small bathroom window back there. They broke the glass and climbed in.”

“Can we take a closer look?”

“Sure.”

Walking single file, they approached the window, now covered with a sheet of plywood. “They tossed a rock through the window, flipped the lock and let themselves in.”

Carlita studied the opening. “The thinner of the two could have easily climbed in here.”

“With a little heave-ho help from their partner in crime,” Mercedes said. “Would this have triggered the alarm?”

“Nope.” He explained as soon as they stepped into the hall, it activated the motion sensor. “The burglars made it about ten steps before the alarm went off.”

“I wonder if anyone else in Walton Square was broken into.” Carlita made a mental note to email their neighbors and thanked Ken for showing her the footage. “There is a final clue. We found a raffle ticket on Elvira’s roof.”

“From the fundraiser?”

“Yeah. I kept a list of tickets, what rolls were given to who.” Mercedes told him the ticket was sold during the event. “The ticket Ma found was for your gift basket.”

Ken stared at her in disbelief. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Interesting.” His expression grew grim. “This is all starting to make sense.”