“Bill, these folks want to talk to us about the officer who took the report on our break-in,” Mrs. McKeogh explained.

“Sir. My name is Dan Hendricks, and this is my partner, Jenn Charles.” He extended a hand, which Bill McKeogh shook.

Hendricks caught Jenn’s eye while he repeated his spiel about consulting with the police. Making it very clear that they were not, contrary to his wife’s impression, detectives. The McKeoghs didn’t strike Jenn as child-kidnapping pedophiles. They would have been in their early twenties when Suzanne disappeared.

The McKeoghs were more than happy to help. Hendricks produced a notepad and took notes as he asked a series of questions about the responding officer’s demeanor, helpfulness, and attention to detail. Jenn played along, asking follow-up questions to coax the details of the break-in out of them. Like most victims of minor crime, the McKeoghs were eager to discuss it.

Mrs. McKeogh had come back from the grocery store and found the back door jimmied open. She’d called the police, and her husband at the office, which was only ten minutes away. She’d waited out front until the (very nice) officer arrived. The (very helpful) officer confirmed that the back door had been jimmied open and did a sweep of the basement and upstairs before letting them reenter the house. It didn’t appear that anything had been taken, although there hadn’t been time yet to look carefully. They didn’t have a lot of cash or expensive jewelry in the house.

“The officer said it was probably just kids.”

“Why?” Jenn asked.

“Because there was no damage inside the house,” Mr. McKeogh said. “The officer told us that in most robberies speed is the main concern, so they would have ransacked the house. The officer said the house should be a disaster. Drawers dumped out, pictures thrown on the floor, looking for anything valuable. Usually there’s a lot of damage, he said.”

“And you’re sure nothing is missing?” Hendricks asked.

“No, not for sure. We really just started checking.”

“The officer gave us his card and said to call him if we realized something was gone,” said Mr. McKeogh.

“May I see it?” Jenn asked.

Mr. McKeogh handed it over. Jenn copied down the officer’s information and gave it back.

“What about electronics? Any computers in the house?”

“We have a stereo and a couple of TVs. My wife has a laptop, and we have a desktop set up in the family room for the kids.”

“We don’t want them looking at the Internet where we can’t see them,” Mrs. McKeogh said.

Hendricks asked, “So your computers are password protected?”

“Mine is, but the family room computer isn’t. Why?” Mrs. McKeogh asked. “Do you think that’s what they were after?”

“Anything’s possible. You should probably check it to be safe.”