Arlene and Iris ran to their house almost instantly, even though neither of them really believed that their somewhat empty house would be a magnet for robberies.

Iris ran up the stairs first. Out of breath, Arlene just looked up and said something resembling "Was he right?" or "Do we need a new lock?"

She didn't need an answer. Iris loud scream explained everything. The lock was broken, the door was cracked, and the entire house looked like it barely survived a hurricane.

Arlene and Iris stood in the common room, unable to even panic, looking at the mess surrounding them.

"We should probably look around to see if anything was stolen." Iris said, poking at Arlene's ribs.

"I thought people in England would be nicer." She mumbled in agreement. Then, inch by inch, she scoured the entire house.

Iris crouched beside the door and examined the lock. She sighed.

"This lock shouldn't be sold for houses. It barely suits a shed." She complained, exasperated. "How did he even know that?"

Arlene ran back to the common room.

"Nothing was stolen. Not that there was anything to steal in the first place."

They stared at each other for a moment. Then, in silent agreement, they got back to work: cleaning and organizing once more.

The "valuables" arrived in the evening: the laptop, the TV, the radio...All the things that would normally be stolen. Although it took Arlene and Iris the rest of the day to put their house back together, they were quite happy that nothing was stolen. Iris followed Sherlock Holmes' advice and called in a locksmith.

The new lock was installed by the afternoon of the following day.

That night, Arlene and Iris sat together on their new couch, watching their favourite old movies on their new TV, and drinking hot chocolate. The murderer and the robbery was already forgotten.

"I like it here," Iris said, throwing her head back on the pillows. She outstretched her legs, right on top of Arlene's. Arlene side glanced at Iris.

"Me too," she said through her teeth. She stared at Iris' fluffy green socks for couple of seconds. Then she grabbed one of Iris' feet, ripped the sock of, and rubbed it against the sole.

"STOP IT! I AM NOT EVEN TICKELISH!"

"LIAR!"

"STOP IT!"

"GET YOUR FEET AWAY FROM ME, AND I WILL!"

Iris gently nudged Arlene with her feet, before sitting properly down on the couch.

Arlene couldn't stay mad at her forever - in fact, there was never a moment when they were mad at each other for more than an hour.

"Arly, but how did he know that someone was going to rob us?" Iris said, changing topics.

"I don't know. May be he did it?"

"No. It can't be. I mean they work for police."

"No they don't. You saw the officer's face."

"Okay yes, but they helped him arrest someone."

"Who is he anyway?"

"Wanna Google his name and see what pops up?" Iris said, rubbing her hands together and reaching for the laptop. "It gives me an excuse to test the high speed internet here..."

Arlene giggled. "You want to Google someone's name in hope that they are famous so you can brag about meeting him, aren't you?"

"No...Maybe...Yes. And you are the one who calls me a party pooper." Snickering, Iris impatiently waited for the computer to turn on.

"So are we not watching the movie anymore, or what?" Arlene mumbled, sneaking glances at the computer screen.

"Science of Deduction...This guy is good."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh my God, this guy is a genius."

"Let me see!"

"No! I was looking!"

"Just let me see..." Arlene said, taking the laptop out of Iris' hands. "The battery's low. It's going to shut off any –"

Before Arlene could finish her sentence, the entire street fell into dark silence.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!" Iris said, slowly turning around and giving Arlene "the stare".

"I didn't do anything, I swear!"

"Ah fine. Where did you put the candles?"

Arlene set up the candles on the coffee table, while Iris went around the house shutting off lights, in case the power comes back on during the night. Blackouts were not uncommon back from where they came from.

Soon enough, the power came back on. The two girls were about to separate and go sleep, when someone started repetitively banging on their front door.

As one who gets annoyed less often, Iris slid down the stairs' carpet and the tiled floor to the front door.

"Who's there?" She asked without opening the front door.

"I live next to you..." the woman's voice was cracking, full of panic.

Iris opened the door and saw the her face was wet with tears that were still streaming down her face. She was wearing a long coat over her pyjamas.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, my daughter disappeared!"

"When?"

"You are not going to believe me, but she was there before the power went out, and now she's gone! Please, for heaven's sake tell me that she got lost and ended up on your balcony!" The woman was sobbing and shaking. If it wasn't for the silk pyjamas and golden earrings, she would have looked like a homeless person. Iris called Arlene down, and together they walked the woman inside. Iris went to look around the backyard and the balcony but found nothing out of ordinary.

"The power was out for an hour...There was nothing, no sound, no screaming, no crying, no footsteps...She disappeared..." the woman kept saying, each time quieter and quieter.

"I'm sorry, I didn't find anything..."

The woman mumbled apologies, got up and left. Arlene ran after her, and watched her knock on the other houses' doors. Iris called the police.

"It looks like one way or another, we still end up involved in the court case." Iris said.

Oh, how right she was.