“No, no,” Eden said. “One of the units drove me back to my car. We just got the first report from the evidence techs on the break-in at your house. No signs of tampering on the entry alarm. The intruder must’ve used a passcode reader, like on the gate at City Lot 2, where Steve parked his car. Also no fingerprints on the doors, the sound system, or the bottle. Bailey says we might get DNA off the beer bottle, but it’ll take a few days.”

“Anything stolen?” Rivas asked.

Mahler shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“So this wasn’t a robbery?”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“What does it look like?” Coyle asked.

Mahler considered it for a moment. “Hard to know. Some sort of stunt, maybe.”

“Was it just one guy?”

“Only one came out the back door. Male. We couldn’t get close enough to see him. He ran up the hill behind my house and got into a car. We didn’t get a make on the vehicle.”

Holland came forward. “Wait a minute. This guy was actually inside your house when you arrived?”

“Yeah,” Mahler said. “He was there.”

“You surprised him?”

“We don’t know.”

Eden tapped at the screen on her phone. “I don’t think so. Bailey spoke to the alarm company. They’re still running diagnostics, but they claim the alarm didn’t malfunction. It was hacked. That’s the only way the sequence could happen. Someone reprogrammed the alarm to call Eddie instead of the alarm company. So this guy was waiting for us.”

“Can we get a trace on the cell?” Mahler asked.

Coyle shrugged. “We’re working on it. But if the guy was smart enough to get in the house and hack the alarm, he probably used an untraceable phone or spoofing software to block the trace.”

Holland raised his arms. “Guys, guys. I know I’m new to this, but do you hear yourselves? You’re saying some bright guy takes all this trouble to bypass the house alarm, break into the house, drink a beer, and then hack the alarm to call Eddie. I mean, fucking come on. What’s the point?”

“Same as the dogs in Steve’s car,” Rivas said. “To screw with us, show us how smart he is.”

Holland rubbed his wool cap. “And tell me again, how do we know it’s connected to the park homicide?”

“The music,” Eden said. “The intruder put a song called ‘Für Elise’ on Eddie’s sound system.”

“Was it playing when Eddie arrived?”

“No. It came on as the intruder was leaving.”

“We think he controlled it remotely,” Coyle said. “Probably through his cell.”

“Can we trace anything on the recording?” Mahler asked.

“No, it’s a generic download. No digital fingerprints. Could have come from anywhere.”