Single Father • Namjoon + BTS!Kids

cxxxv.

"Have all of our current cases been resolved?" Lisa asked, spinning around in her chair to look at Jaebum, who gave her a sullen look.

"And by that, you mean did I check everything out and fill out the paperwork for them?" he crossed his eyes, and Lisa just fluttered her eyelashes.

"So you did?" she asked hopefully, and he sighed, rolling his eyes because he couldn't really stay mad at her.

"I got most of it. There's a little left for you to finish up. Sign on the line, stuff like that."

"Fill me in on the cases," she said, bringing her chair over to his desk to skim the reports.

He scooted over as he flipped through the first file. "A few weeks ago, two masked teenagers tried their first home invasion in an upper middle class suburban neighborhood. They had guns, six chambers each, loaded with blanks, and they had voice scramblers incorporated into their masks. The plan was to scare them into submission and have one guy guard them in the family room while the other raided the parents' bedroom for jewelry, cash, you name it. Supposedly, they were after the wife's diamond bracelet, but the assumption is that there were ready to grab anything small and easy to transport."

"So what went wrong?" Lisa asked, scanning the paragraphs of the written report. "You said nobody was injured during the invasion, right?"

"Right. While the second guy was searching the bedroom, the first guy took their cell phones and held them at gunpoint. At some point, the family's dog came into the room, and the daughter was afraid that the first guy would shoot the dog, so she asked if she could hang onto him. The guy said okay, and she held him neck to the couch by his collar. I'm not sure if she figured it out then or if it had been her plan, but the dog has one of those collars they're making now that send an emergency transmission to the nearest medical help facility for animals. It's usually activated by dogs hit by a strong voltage of electric fence or something like that, but apparently it can be activated manually by pressing the button on the inside of the collar. The daughter hit the button, and ten minutes later, there were two vets or...animal EMT's - whatever you call them - knocking on the door. So the two guys panicked and fled out the back door, leaving the family unharmed."

"Did they get anything from the bedroom?"

Jaebum nodded, flipping the page. "They got the bracelet, among other items that had been left out in the open."

"And? Did you recover the stolen property?"

"I'm getting there," Jaebum said, smirking. "So I read over the family's statements, and it made me think. Masks made sense. No criminal wants to be picked out of a line-up. But voice scramblers, for a low-level suburban home invasion? That seemed a bit like overkill. Which made me wonder if the two suspects were worried that the victims would recognize their voices."

"So the family hypothetically knew their assailants?"

Jaebum nodded. "Added to the fact that the assailants never asked for directions to any rooms..."

"So they knew the layout of the house?"

Jaebum nodded. "And for a low budget operation, the most plausible explanation is that the assailants knew the layout of the house because they lived in an identical one."

"They lived in the neighborhood?"

Jaebum nodded. "It made sense. The wife was probably wearing the bracelet out and about. Maybe the two boys saw it or heard about her bragging or something. However it happened, they found out that she had it. They knew the family, knew their schedule. Knew the layout of the house. If something went wrong, they had a safe haven nearby. The only thing I didn't understand was, if they knew the family's schedule, why wait until they're all home to attack?" Jaebum looked at Lisa, crossing his arms smugly as he answered his own question. "Because they were in school during the day."