The following morning, Lucy and Lincoln were seated on either side of their makeshift table in the garage. They were dressed in their detective suits.
"I can't believe we forgot to ask Ben about the party guest list," Lincoln said.
"Well, we can't go back to his house," Lucy replied. "His mom would freak. So, what's our next move?"
"We have to find out who that girl is."
"She is most likely the culprit," Lucy nodded. "Or an accomplice or a witness."
"Probably not a witness. Why would she just be standing outside the house?"
"You're right, I'm sure."
"You two are totes adorable!"
Lincoln and Lucy turned to see Leni, Lyra and Amanda enter the garage through the open bay door.
"I think we did we did an exceptional job on Lucy's outfit," Amanda said. "What are you to going to do today? Did you find any leads?"
Lincoln told the three girls that a strange girl or woman had been seen several times hanging around the Crane house.
"Oh, did they see what she looked like?" Lyra spoke up, loudly.
"Just that she had brown, possibly shoulder length hair and was on the shorter side," Lucy said. "She was wearing a grey hoodie, so the witness couldn't see much."
"So you really have nothing to go on," Lyra pointed out.
"Pretty much," Lucy said, glumly.
"Leni, how easy is it to pick a lock?" Lincoln asked.
"Depends on the lock," Leni said. "All locks are different. Older locks tend to be easier as long as they aren't all rusted inside."
"Who did you learn to pick locks from?" he asked.
"Uncle Luke, when I was seven, I think."
"Besides Luan and Lucy, have you taught others to pick locks?" Lincoln asked.
"I've taught all my friends, Amanda, Lyra, Kelsey, Jake, Vickie…"
"I get the point," Lincoln interrupted. "You've taught this skill to a lot of people."
"Yes, I did."
"So it's an easy skill to…"
The five kids' attention was turned to the street by the sounds of vehicles stopping and car doors opening and closing. In a matter of seconds, two patrol cars, an SUV and a sedan had filled up the street parking directly in front of the Loud house. Leni, Amanda, Lyra, Lincoln and Lucy hurried from the garage to join Lori and Luna in the front yard. Lori was instructing Lola to call their parents who were both at work.
Two uniformed officers, one being Ofc. Mitchell, Detectives Paulson and Amos and Juvenile Probation Officer Olivia Munson approached the house, but were blocked by the Loud children, Amanda and Lyra. The only Loud children not present were Lola, who was on the phone, and Luan who had rarely left her room for the past few days.
"Are your parents here?" Det. Amos asked.
Lori, being the eldest, elected herself speaker for the group and stepped forward.
"They are at work. I literally just sent one of my sisters to call them."
"Very good," Amos said. "We need to speak with them."
"Why?" Lori said. "You can tell us. We may be young, but we're not stupid…yah, we're not stupid."
Lori's gaze had briefly shifted to Leni, who was smiling blankly at the police as she spoke.
"It would still be better if we waited for your parents," Det. Paulson said. "So we don't have to explain things multiple times."
"Hey."
"EEP!"
Lori jumped in surprise at the voice coming from her immediate right.
"I found this poking up from his back pocket," Lucy said, holding out a folded bundle of papers.
Somehow, without anyone in the group noticing, Lucy had snuck over to the detective and back to her siblings with the papers.
"Give those back!" Paulson exclaimed.
The kids formed a human barrier between the cops and Lori as she opened the papers to look though them.
"These are an arrest warrant for Luan and a search warrant for the house."
There were multiple cries of outrage from the Loud children.
"You just searched the house the other day!" Luna exclaimed. "What do you think you will find that wasn't here before?"
"Yah, and Luan has already been arrested," Lori said. "Why would you do it again?"
"We won't let you arrest her!" Lana cried, opening a cage no one had noticed her having prior.
Lori lunged forward in alarm, but was too late to stop what followed from occurring. Out of the cage sprung a skunk!
"Get 'em, Lil' Stinks!"
The skunk made a hissing sound and ran at the cops and Olivia Munson. Everyone except Lana, including the Loud children, scattered at the sight of the pungent animal. The kids all ran onto the porch and the police and Munson crowded into the SUV. Lana stood on the front walkway laughing as her skunk walked circles around the SUV.
It was at that moment that Lynn Sr. pulled into the driveway in Vanzilla. He had already spotted the skunk, so he made no move to exit the vehicle, instead he cracked the window.
"Lana, you get that skunk out of here right now!"
"Oh come one dad, they want to take Luan again!"
"I'll deal with that! You just get the skunk out of here!"
"Come on Lil' Stinks, show's over."
The skunk dutifully walked back to Lana and into the cage. Lana picked up the cage and carried it to an unknown location behind the garage. The police emerged out of the SUV like clowns getting out of a clown car and met Lynn in the front yard. Lori handed the papers over to Det. Paulson, mumbling something that sounded like "Sorry sir" to the detective. At least that was Lynn hoped she said.
"I'm sorry for the troubles my children have caused you, detective," Lynn said. "How can I help you?"
"I'm going to choose to just let that all go," Det. Paulson said, unfolding the papers Lori had handed to him. "We have a new warrant for the arrest of your daughter, Luan. This time she will be going to the juvenile facility for booking pending her court appearance."
He handed Lynn one piece of paper. Lynn looked over the warrant. It listed the two charges, Larceny and Burglary and beneath that it noted that Luan was to be held without bail.
"To be held without bail?" he exclaimed. "Isn't that excessive?"
"A judge will set bail or release after reviewing these charges," Det. Paulson said.
"When will that be?"
"Her court date is at the bottom of the warrant. I don't recall what it is off the top of my head."
Lynn read the date. It was set for the following Monday. It was Friday.
"I should note that we have a weekend judge that comes in over the weekend that will most likely take a look at this," Det. Amos assured Lynn. "The two charges are felonies and in many cases, those being charged with new felonies will have to go before a judge so the judge can determine appropriate bail."
Det. Paulson handed the other piece of paper to Lynn.
"This is a warrant to search your house again," he said.
"What has changed? Why are searching my house again?"
"This morning a gardener found a paper lunch bag containing the Crane's stolen bracelet," Det. Paulson stated. "The family had a camera system installed after the theft and it caught someone wearing hoodie sweatshirt stashing a small item where the bracelet was found early this morning."
"What did this person look like?" Lynn asked.
"The individual never showed their face," Det. Paulson said. "All that could be seen was that the person had shoulder length brown hair, on the small side and most likely female. She fits the general description of your daughter Luan."
"And why the search of my house again?"
"Of the fifty-two diamonds that the bracelet contained, ten are still missing," Det. Paulson replied. "We wouldn't be doing our due diligence if we didn't check for them here."
"Do you know how many girls there are out there who are the same shape and size as my daughter?" Lynn exclaimed. "With brown hair? That's not enough to arrest her on!"
"Well, there were fingerprints on the outside of the paper bag," Paulson said. "They match Luan's prints we took when she was brought in to the station."
Lynn didn't reply. He just looked towards the ground in defeat. Luan spoke to no one as she was lead out to the patrol car out in front of the house. Her siblings yelled encouragement to her as she was driven away, but she didn't acknowledge them.
"We're going to need you and your children to stay clear as we perform the search," Det. Amos told Lynn Sr. as soon as the patrol car carrying Luan pulled away.
He nodded and she turned to Olivia Munson.
"Thanks for coming out with us. You can head out now that Luan is no longer here."
"I will, I just wanted to talk to someone first."
Munson walked over to where Leni was standing with Amanda and Lyra. Leni and Amanda seemed to be comforting Lyra who was scrubbing at her puffy eyes.
"I just feel so sad for Luan," Lyra said. "She could never to something like that!"
"Hey there Lyra, I didn't know you knew the Louds," she said.
Lyra didn't smile, but responded politely, "I've been friends with Leni since we were in kindergarten."
Munson pulled Lyra aside to speak with her. What the two of them didn't realize was that Lucy was sitting, unobtrusively behind a bush, within earshot, where she had been watching the police go in and out of her house. People not noticing her happened all the time so she was used to it and often used it to her advantage.
"How are you and the Douglas' doing now that it is all official?"
Lyra brightened a little.
"Oh, really good. Even though I've lived with them for six years, it's a nice feeling to be officially adopted by them."
"Have you heard from your biological grandmother at all?"
Lyra shook her head and a dark look came over her face.
"Before my mom died, she told me about what her mom did to her. I'm glad she stopped contacting me. I quit accepting her calls a year ago. She just made the adoption process take longer. That and the Department of Social and Health Services' bizarre fixation on finding my biological father. I never met him or even learned his name."
"Well, there is always a chance that your mother never told your father about you and he would have wanted you in his life. They had to cover all their bases."
"I know. I just was scared that maybe he would and I wouldn't be able to stay with the Douglas.'"
"I totally understand, Lyra."
The woman and teenager parted and Munson got into her sedan and drove away. Lyra rejoined her two friends. Lucy stayed where she was and mulled over this new piece of information about Lyra in her mind. She and the rest of her family knew of her situation, her mother died when she was ten and was taken in by the Douglas family as their foster child. No father had ever been in the picture. They had known Lyra for years, but this was first Lucy had heard that the adoption was final. She stowed that bit of info away in her mind. Once the police were gone, she would have to talk to her parents about throwing Lyra a party.
Luan felt the icy claws of fear grip her around the chest as the patrol car pulled up to the juvenile facility's sallyport. The patrolman parked, shut off the vehicle and a minute or two later, opened the back passenger side door for her. She stepped out into the sallyport. The roof was about two stories high and in need of a cleaning. Dirty spiderwebs could be seen rippling in a slight breeze in the corners and against beams and pipes. The concrete floor on the other hand was so clean and shiny that Luan could almost make out her reflection.
"It's like I in some sort of bizarro land," Luan thought. "That squiggly blob on the other side of the polished concrete is the real me watching all this happen."
Luan gulped a mass of panic down. She could still feel it trying to claw its way out. It was a suffocating feeling.
"This way," the officer directed her.
She walked through a large, steel sliding door that opened with a clang into a surprisingly quiet booking room. There were three small holding cells to one side, a counter with computers to the other side, behind the counter was a work space, a door and a bank of windows Luan could not see through. In front of her was a long bench against the wall and another large, steel sliding door. The door was open and she could see a long hallway beyond.
"Over to the counter, miss," called a woman in a uniform similar to the cop who had brought her in, on her belt was only a few pouches and a radio. The mouth piece to the radio was clipped to her simple epaulette. A male corrections officer wearing the same outfit joined her at the counter.
Luan stepped to the counter, automatically moving her legs. She was starting to feel dizzy, like her head was disconnected from her body. It felt like nothing around her was real. She took a deep breath, but wished she hadn't. The after smell of bleach was heavy in the air. There was something else there too, like a backed up sewer.
"This can't be happening," she muttered. Tears were near the surface now.
"Things are quite peaceful here today," the patrolman commented to the female CO as she approached Luan on the booking floor side of the counter.
"Yah, things have been slow here the past few months. You haven't had to bring a kid in here for a while."
"I'm glad. I hate seeing a kid go down this path."
He said the second sentence a little louder than the first. Luan knew that he was saying it like that for her benefit. Not that he needed to. She hadn't gone down 'this path' that he was talking about.
"This is all wrong," she said to the female officer. "I'm innocent."
"I'm not here to judge you or say you did or did not do something. I'm just here to get you processed and make sure that you and I are both safe, OK? I'm gonna need to pat you down, will you cooperate?"
Luan nodded, her body trembling uncontrollably.
"Miss Loud, I know this is all new and I know that it is upsetting, but I need you take a deep breath and try to calm down, OK?" the female CO said, gently. "You're doing great. Deep breaths."
Luan took a few deep breaths and the trembling lessened.
She was directed to remove her shoes and hair tie and to shake her hair out. She was then directed to show the officer the inside of her mouth, under her tongue and between her lips, cheeks and gums. The officer had her stand up straight with her hands on the counter and feet apart as the officer checked her pockets and her clothing for contraband. Of course, nothing was found.
"What size shoe do you wear?" the male officer asked.
"Seven."
"And what size shirt and pants do you wear? In the small, medium, large etcetera range."
"Small probably."
Luan was issued a size seven rubber pair of sandals, a small shirt and small pants. She chose a sports bra and underwear from a set of bins provided to her. She was warned as she entered into a tiny bathroom with a combination sink and toilet that she could not keep her own underwear or bra. They were to be handed over along with the rest of her clothes. She changed quickly. Not letting herself think about how many other girls wore the bra and underwear before her. That thought only made her want to puke. She wouldn't even share her underclothes with her sisters, much less with strangers.
When she stepped back out to booking with her clothes in her arms, all neatly folded, the patrolman was gone. The female officer was sitting at a computer.
"Just put your things on the counter here," the woman pointed.
Luan complied, looking closely at the CO's name tag. Cpl. M. Swanson it said. On her sleeves she had two inverted Vs stacked on one another. Looking at the woman more closely now, Luan realized that she had met the woman before.
"I remember you," she said. "I performed at your son Brendan's birthday party last month as a clown."
"I know. I remembered you when you walked into booking."
Cpl. Swanson didn't look up from her computer screen. She just continued to catalogue Luan's clothes.
"I didn't steal anything from the Cranes."
"Like I said before. I'm not here to judge you."
"It doesn't matter. Even if I go on trial and I'm found innocent, my days as a performer are over. No one will trust me again."
Cpl. Swanson pressed her lips together, but made no comment.
"Can I call my parents?"
"When we are done with the booking process and if I have time, you can use one of the booking phones. Otherwise there are phones in the housing units you will have access to."
"How long does booking take?"
"Not that long. It depends in part on you and if I have to stop to bring in another booking. A half hour is an average time…OK, can I have you stand in front of this computer and face the camera."
She pointed to a device mounted to the ceiling. Luan did as she was asked and turned to her right when asked to.
The officer was true to her word, the booking process only took her a half an hour, and she was offered the chance to use a phone before being housed. After struggling with the phone system for about five minutes, Luan was finally able to speak with her father.
"Hi, sweetie," he said. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm OK. It hasn't been too bad so far. I had to change into a juvie uniform and they asked me a bunch of health questions."
"Health questions?"
"Like if I have any allergies or take any medications. What happened after I left?"
"Oh, they are still here, doing their search. They aren't going to find anything."
"I know. I haven't done anything."
"I believe you, sweetie. We all believe you. Just try to stay strong. Do what the guards say. Keep your head down. As soon as a judge sets bail, we'll see about getting you out of there."
"OK, dad," Luan's voice quavered, she was very near tears.
"Hey, it's going to be alright. We will get you out of there. We will find the truth, Luan."
"I know. I have to go. They are going to take me to my cell."
Luan hung up the phone and, as directed by Cpl. Swanson, she walked through the door opposite from the one she had originally entered into booking through. The officer followed along behind. They took a right after the door and walked through another sliding door. The floor was laid with ugly green and white tile and the walls were cinderblock that had been painted over with a dull, light blue paint. Heavy steel doors, all closed, were spaced periodically along the walls on either side.
"Grab a bin of blankets," Cpl. Swanson said, pointing to a row of bins, stacked three or four high, set against a wall.
Luan picked up the first one she came to.
"You won't see them until you take the blankets out, but there is a spork and cup in there, some soap, toothpaste and shampoo packets, a toothbrush, comb, towel and a booklet with the facilities rules, instructions for phone calls and commissary ordering, all the things you need to know while staying here. I encourage you to read it so that you don't incur any disciplinary infractions."
Luan nodded her understanding as Cpl. Swanson instructed her to continue down the hallway. Above her, Luan could hear the faint buzzing of the fluorescent lights. That, and the sounds of their shoes on the tile floor were the only sounds in the bare hallway. The corporal and Luan stopped as another large, sliding door opened in front of them.
"There's a stack of mattress to your left. Take the one at the top."
Luan had to get up on her tippy toes to reach the one on the very top. The mattress was about six and a half feet long, two and half feet wide and three inches thick. It was just foam padding inside a plastic tarp. It was not going to be very comfortable. The fourteen-year-old could hear voices now, high pitched female voices. They echoed faintly from somewhere nearby.
Cpl. Swanson directed Luan to a final sliding door a few feet down the hall from them and asked for it to be opened via her radio. The door slide open quietly for its size and the female voices very much louder, and now the sound of a blaring TV could be heard. Beyond the door was a large, high ceilinged room. It was far longer than it was wide. There were ten doors lining both right and left walls five on each side, most were swung all the way open, some were only slightly open and a few were closed. There were four steel tables, each with four steel stools attached to them spaced out along the center of the room. A flat screened TV hung high on the wall across the room from the door.
There were seven teenage girls sitting at the tables. Three more were standing at the phones to the immediate right of the door, next to an empty shower stall where a blond girl was using a rag to clean the tile walls. A thick canvas shower curtain was shoved against one side. Two more girls came out of the cells as Luan walked into the housing unit.
"Hey look, it's fresh meat!" one of the girls called mockingly.
There were some giggles in response to her comment and some of the other girls waved and said hello.
Cpl. Swanson directed Luan to a cell on the left at the far end of the unit. The door was already open. Inside the approximately seven by nine foot cell, was a set of steel bunk beds, a steel shelf with a small steel table and stool beneath it. Close to the door was a combination sink and toilet with a mirror above. The bottom bunk was already made up with a mattress and blankets and there were food and papers on the table and shelf.
"This is where you'll stay," Cpl. Swanson said. "Meals are at 5:30 a.m., noon and 5:30 p.m. Mail and requests are picked up at 8 a.m. There will be an officer doing a walk through at least once an hour, so you will need to act as you would if you were out in public, you know fully clothed. Showers are to be conducted between 4:45 a.m. and 6: 30 a.m. You will need to keep your cell clean."
The woman pointed to a button and speaker next to the door.
"This button is the medical emergency button. It is only to be pushed in the event of a medical or safety related emergency."
Cpl. Swanson left Luan to get settled in. The teen heard the large door of the mod close behind the officer. Luan quickly tossed her mattress up on the top bunk and pulled out the sheet and blankets, settling them over it. She quickly climbed onto her bunk with her plastic bin of meager possessions and pulled the blankets over her head. Her only miserable thought as tears started rolling down her face was that her life as she had known it was over.
