CONGRATULATIONS roban05! You literally answered the trivia before I asked it! That was going to be next chapter's trivia, but congratulations! You get it early!
NOTE: Not sure if the electric reprogramming can be done, but I am assuming it can, which is something I never thought of until I realized that this car switch wouldn't work without it. It's very scary, but I'm sure only the tip top of criminals even know how to do it, so I'm glad for that!
?-?
"You prove my car is innocent?" Krissy asked when she answered the door, annoyed by the entire scenario.
"Actually, we proved that your car was switched out." Jack replied.
"See? Wait, what?" She asked, confused by his reply.
"Do you mind if we come in and explain. It's a bit cold outside." Myles asked.
"Yeah, fine. Let me get my mask." She said quietly, still processing what Jack had said as she walked to her purse nearby, while the men walked inside and closed the door.
"So what exactly is going on?" She asked as she led them to the living room.
"Have you been anywhere lately?" Jack asked as they sat down on the couch.
"No, I mean, we went to the grocery store this morning. But other than that, I haven't really been anywhere." Krissy replied.
"And how long were you in the store?" Myles asked.
"I don't know, maybe an hour or so? It's awfully hard to shop quickly with a toddler in tow!"
"Tell me about it!" Bryce exclaimed, chuckling. "I have 3 daughters myself. They're grown now, but I still tease them about their terrible twos!"
Myles and Jack looked at each other. "It is possible." Jack said. Myles shrugged.
"What are you saying?" She worriedly asked.
"We're saying that while you were in the store, someone switched out your car for their car. That is not the car you had yesterday sitting in your driveway right now." Myles explained.
"But how? All my stuff is in it, my key worked, how?
Jack shrugged. "You took enough time that he was able to move all your stuff to his car in the exact placement."
"But what about my key? It worked! If it wasn't my car, wouldn't my key not work?"
"All that is a simple electronic reprogramming. New cars now don't have real keys, so it's all digital, which can be reprogrammed." Jack explained. "Actually, a way to test it is to try to open the door with the key that wasn't in the vicinity of your car at the time."
"It's with my husband." She quietly replied.
"And I bet it won't work." Bobby said assuredly.
"You know," She said, thinking. "When I got in the car after the store, something felt different, I just couldn't place it. Everything looked exactly the same. What do I do now?"
"You let us do our job." Jack replied. "We need 3 things from you; your car and both yours and your daughter's fingerprints as reference samples."
Krissy looked at each officer of the law with wide eyes. "This is real, isn't it? Very real."
Myles nodded. "Yes, unfortunately it is. But I promise you, we will get out of your hair as soon as we possibly can."
She slowly nodded, full realization kicking in as Jack took out his phone, pressed a button, and put it to his ear. "Yeah, you can come on in."
"This person that switched my car, the person you're looking for, are they bad?" She asked, nearly whispering.
Jack nodded. "Yes, he is. We've been trying to catch him for 5 years. But I promise you, we will catch him this time."
She closed her eyes and shook her head, getting up to walk around, taking her mask off to run her hand over her face. "How could I have been so stupid? How did I not see?" She complained, mostly to herself.
"You couldn't. It's not your fault. It's his." Sue said as she and Mya walked into the room seeing what she had said.
"But I felt it and I ignored it!" Krissy exclaimed.
"Sometimes we ignore our intuition. It's not a bad thing, but sometimes we're told it is wrong, or it's illogical. It's not your fault this happened to you. Don't blame yourself." Sue replied.
"But how do I go on after this?" She asked. She had since put on her mask, so Sue had to look at Jack for interpretation.
"AFTER TODAY DO-DO?" He signed. Krissy looked at him confusedly, so he explained. "Sue is Deaf, but she reads lips. She can't read lips with a normal cloth or paper mask. That is why we wear these masks with clear plastic holes, so she can understand when we speak."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know." Krissy replied. "What can I do to help her understand?"
Jack turned to Sue. "Why don't you go get a clean clear mask from the truck and give it to Krissy?"
Sue nodded, smiling through her mask, then getting up to grab the mask.
"Alright, Krissy. I'm ready for you." Mya said, her fingerprint kit ready and open.
Krissy nodded. "I'll go get Meg."
Everyone nodded as they watched her go get her child.
"I'm back!" Sue announced as she walked through the front door at the same time Krissy came back with her baby.
"What do you say, Meg first?" Mya asked, and Krissy nodded. "Here we go!" She happily exclaimed as she gently took Meg's little fingers, pressed them into the ink, then on the paper.
Sue smiled through her mask, watching the scenario play out. "MYA, KIDS, THEM TWO GOOD TOGETHER."
Jack nodded, also watching.
"There we go, all finished!" Mya exclaimed as she finished wiping Meg's hands. "Now it's Mommy's hands!" She said as Krissy set Meg down, then gave Mya her hands.
During Krissy's fingerprinting, Sue came in with the mask, handing it to Krissy, to which she smiled behind her current mask.
"There, we're done." She said as she finished up and Krissy put on the mask.
"What's next?" Krissy asked as she continued to wipe the ink off her fingers.
"We've called a tow truck, we're going to tow your impersonated car to be analyzed, and hopefully we'll find something to go on to get your real car back." Jack explained.
"Am I, are we in danger here?"
Myles shook his head. "No, but if it is any consolation, we can assign a cruiser to be stationed in front of your house."
Krissy gratefully nodded. "Thank you." She replied, almost whispering.
"Alright people." Jack said, clapping his hands as he got up after a few seconds of silence. "We have a criminal to find. Let's do it!"
"Yeah!" Mya exclaimed, following Jack out of the house, Myles and Bryce right behind. Sue lagged behind to study Krissy. "Everything will be alright, I promise you. These guys are the best you could have on your side, and the worst enemy anyone on the other side could have."
Krissy slightly smiled through her clear mask. "Good to know."
"Stay safe, and we hope we won't see you soon." She replied before leaving. Krissy nodded, waving goodbye.