“Yeah. I told you the gas connection is back there by the back door. I did it when we broke in. There won’t be any heat, and I didn’t see wood anywhere for the fireplace. They aren’t going to be able to stay in that house. Who turned the breaker off?”

“I did. I ripped that box to hell and back,” Harry said. “I dumped those nuggets behind the hot-water heater. No gas, no electricity. If the temperature drops any lower, the pipes are going to freeze and burst. That happened to me once at the dojo when I first bought it and we had a ten-day freeze. You have to let the water drip.”

“How soon before there’s a knock on this door?” Espinosa asked.

“Any minute now,” replied Jack. “C’mon, guys, close the drapes and blinds. Espinosa, you’re the one who will open the door if it happens. They might recognize Ted from some of his articles and bylines. Harry and I can’t be seen. Just say you’re the owner’s nephew and you came down here at his request to turn the heat up and…drip the water. Shit! We don’t know the owner’s name. Newsom might know the owner.”

“The name is Michael Otis. The house on the other side is owned by Kevin and Joan Holmes,” Harry said.

“Man, I love you!” Jack said, hugging his friend.

“So, what’s our game plan?” Ted asked. “Are we staying here, or are we leaving? When is that guy at the guardhouse going to wake up, Harry?”

“We’re good for now. What do you want to do, Jack?”

Harry’s deferring to him was such a rarity, Jack was stunned. “I say we wait thirty minutes to see if anyone knocks on the door. If it doesn’t happen, we split, head for town, get rooms at a motel, and sack out.”

Ted pointed to the stack of freezer trays he’d piled up on the washing machine in the mini laundry room. “You backed up the Rover, right?”

“You’re losing it, Ted. You were in the damn truck, guiding me. Yeah, I backed it up. Why?”

“We have to get this stuff in the truck. Four guys. Their stuff is gone. What do you think those two are going to think? Too bad we weren’t smart enough to back into the garage. If you had done that, we could have barreled out, and if they are watching, they wouldn’t know there are four of us. Four means robbery!” Ted snarled just as the front doorbell rang.

“Espinosa, you’re up! We’ll hole up here in the laundry room. Make it good!” Jack said.

Espinosa raced to the front door and took a deep breath before he opened it. “Yeah?” he barked.

“You aren’t Mike Otis,” Adel Newsom said, suspicion ringing in her voice.