After he ran through the process, Tillman gave them a copy of the police report, saving them a trip to the police station, and a printout labeled victims’ rights information.

Maja stared at the word “victim” for a moment before she spoke. “I’ve never been involved in anything like this. I feel like I should be doing something, but I don’t know what.”

Jake smiled sympathetically. “Right now we’re still in the information-gathering stage. When we’re ready to file charges, you’ll get a copy in the mail. Or you’re always welcome to call my office. What happens after that will depend on whether the perpetrators plead guilty or not. At that point, we may need an impact statement from you. But that’s a ways off.”

“The police told my wife that some kids were ticketed near our house on Friday night,” Ted said. “It seems to me that they’re the most likely culprits. Who were they?”

Jake nodded slowly. “Well, I can’t discuss those specific charges, but I can tell you that the police are following up on every lead.”

“If the police had followed up on Friday night, we might have avoided the most serious damage to our home,” Ted said, his voice tense. He’d been worked up all day after seeing the house. Maja put a hand on his arm—she knew that they needed the prosecutor, and the police, on their side, and she didn’t want Ted to fly off the handle.

But Jake seemed used to dealing with people thrust into extreme situations, and he took Ted’s questions in stride. “I can assure you that the police department is doing everything in their power right now,” he said.

“Thank you,” Maja said quickly. “We appreciate what you’re doing. It’s funny—in the city, we were always on alert. But it never occurred to me to worry about something like this out here, in the country.”

“Well, this is more of a suburb than the country, but we do have crime here, like anywhere else,” Jake said. “An incident like this is unusual, though. It’s not much of a welcome, is it? I hope it doesn’t scare you off of New Falls. It really is a nice town.”

“That’s what everyone says,” Maja said with a sigh.

Jake walked them to the door. “I’m sorry that this happened,” he said again. “We’re going to do everything in our power to make it right.” He shook his head. “The parents need to open their eyes. You’d think that kids who have everything going for them would want to protect it, but it makes them feel invincible. Now they’re going to get a taste of the real world, and I don’t think they’re going to like it.”