3. Police
"Hello, I'm PC Armstrong," the male officer said, "and this is PC Hythe" he continued, nodding at his colleague. Pete and Sue smiled and introduced themselves and the children, before taking the officers into the kitchen and making them a cup of coffee. Armstrong noticed the smashed window as he sat, but made nothing else of it just yet.
"So," Hythe began as she sipped her coffee, "why don't you take us through what happened? We were told a burglary, correct? Armstrong, take notes."
"Yes," Pete replied, "Sue woke up just before half past five this morning as she believed there to be some noise downstairs. She then woke me up and I went downstairs to investigate, thinking it was probably my youngest son making breakfast or something."
"Ah yes," Hythe interrupted, "Ben Brockman – the boy who called us here last year because you sent him to his room an hour before bedtime?" She laughed slightly as Ben smirked at her and Armstrong.
"Yes – that was fun!" Pete said sarcastically, before getting back to his story, "Anyway, I went into the kitchen and noticed the smashed window but no sign of anyone else. As I turned to the living room, there were some footsteps behind me, so I turned around but got punched in the face and blacked out for two hours. The next thing I remember is Sue and the kids finding me about forty minutes ago. After my explanation to them and having to break up Ben and Karen's little brother-sister fight – which resulted in the television being smashed in the living room – we were called in here by Jake, who'd discovered the stolen items after that, we dialled 999."
"Okay," Hythe replied, "if that's all you know then thanks for your statement. We'll have to verify with Jake in a minute about the kitchen before he called you through."
"Your nose doesn't look too great, Mr Brockman," Armstrong noted.
"I believe it may have been broken by the intruder," Pete said
"Well," Armstrong began, "Hythe here has exceptional first aid training, would you be ok if she took a look?" he finished. Pete nodded, so Armstrong motioned for Hythe to go and fetch the first aid kit from the car. Hythe returned and discovered that Pete's nose was broken but not so badly that it'd require hospital treatment. She applied some supporting strip bandages to his nose and gave him a few painkillers. She turned to Jake, who verified his father's account as true – he'd gone to make a drink and discovered that they were missing a computer, CD player, radio and iPod.
"Well, that's just about everything," Armstrong started as he and Hythe stood up, "we'll send some detectives round later to go round the place, otherwise thank-you and we'll be in touch with any developments"
"Thanks again" Sue said as she showed the officers out of the door. Armstrong and Hythe shook hands with Pete and Sue and walked back to their car.
"What happens now?" Ben asked, "Also, can I set a trap in the garden in case the burglar comes back with a gun?"
"Firstly, DO NOT dig any traps, Ben," Pete said, sternly, "and also the detectives will come and see if they can find any clues, then I suppose there will be a process where they try to find the burglar. If he is found then they might take him to court and he could go to jail" he explained.
"How do you know the burglar was a man, it could have been a woman. Don't be sexist, daddy" Karen chimed in.
"Well…." Pete faltered, unable to answer the question, "I don't know. Anyway, before you ask, yes you do have to go to school tomorrow!" he laughed, but was already dreading the fight that he knew would he and Sue would be dealing with the next morning.
