Assaulted Pretzel by Laura Bradford

Way until the cobblestoned street bowed to blacktop and the English homes that denoted the western side of Heavenly. Here, the modest one- and two-story homes all boasted driveways and garages with at least two cars parked outside. Lamps, glowing computer screens, and flickering television sets were visible behind curtains, painting a picture of life inside that Claire had always thought was normal. And she still did in many ways. But since moving to Heavenly, she’d also come to realize that normal didn’t necessarily mean best.
    Now, she found herself strongly favoring moments like this—where comfortable silence fed her soul in a way no mindless television program or time-stealing website ever could. The fact that she felt more centered and more at peace on a regular basis these days was surely not a coincidence.
    She considered sharing that thought with Benjamin but opted, instead, to keep it to herself. After all, comparisons were meaningless when one only knew a simple life.
    “That is a lot of lights.”
    “We use a lot of electricity on this side of town,” she joked.
    “But that is more.”
    Following the path made by his now outstretched hand, Claire focused her attention on the familiar Victorian just around the next bend in the road. Sure enough, Sleep Heavenly was ablaze with light while its side parking lot played host to two Heavenly police cars.
    “Oh no…” Feeling her heart begin to pound, Claire took off in a sprint toward her aunt’s inn, Benjamin matching and then surpassing her steps to the front porch and the wide-open door beyond.
    When they reached the front hallway, she broke left, the sound of her aunt’s tear-choked voice pulling her feet up the steps two at a time. “Aunt Diane? Aunt Diane? Where are you?” she shouted. “What’s…” The words died on her lips as Virginia Granderson stepped out of the room she and her husband had been assigned and beckoned Claire inside.
    “Diane is in here. With us.”
    She followed Virginia into the room, stopping midway to the bed at the sight of her precious aunt and the twin tears that rolled down her round face. “Diane. What’s wrong?” Instinctively, she dropped onto the Grandersons’ bed and draped an arm around the woman. “Are you okay?”
    When Diane didn’t answer, Virginia filled in the picture. “The Karbles’ room was ransacked.”
    “
Ransacked?
” she repeated with a voice that was too loud for the confines of a room now inhabited by five adults. “What do you mean, ransacked?”
    “We—meaning Diane, Wayne, and myself—came home from the festival maybe three hours ago?” At her husband’s nod of agreement, the sixtysomething woman continued. “We spent an hour or two just sitting over a pitcher of icedtea and talking about all of the wonderful food we tried. When we were done, we all came upstairs to freshen up for dinner and that’s when your aunt noticed that the Karbles’ door was open.”
    “It was a mess,” Diane finally said, her voice strained and tired. “The mattress was ripped open, the drawers were all taken out of their dresser and dumped over, the interiors of their suitcases were ripped…” Diane buried her hands in her face, releasing a tortured sigh as she did. “Nothing like this has ever happened here before and I feel horrible. I…I don’t know what I’m going to tell them when they get back.”
    She felt her stomach lurch. Diane didn’t know? Was that even possible? Quickly, she glanced up at Benjamin, noting the surprise in his face as well. But before either of them could say anything, Diane went on, her words muffled behind her softly wrinkled hands. “I called the police right away and they’ve been taking pictures for the past thirty minutes. I heard one of them say Jakob would be here shortly when he is done at the festival grounds. I just hope he’s here when the Karbles return because I’m sure they will be angry and want the kind of answers I’m at a loss to give