Fortunately, burglaries are pretty rare. I presume it has since occurred to you that, if anything had gone missing from your building during the critical week,

Fortunately, burglaries are pretty rare. I presume it has since occurred to you that, if anything had gone missing from your building during the critical week, you'd have been down at the local police station in handcuffs, making a phone call to a lawyer? I'd be astonished if that hardware store didn't have surveillance video of you. Incidentally, the trick where you test someone's level of guilt by massively overcharging them, then seeing if they pay without a peep, is straight out of G.K. Chesterton's The Blue Cross: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/204/204-h/204-h.htm http://www.gutenberg.org/files/204/204-h/204-h.htm I'm thrilled to learn that this hundred-year-old mystery-story trope also works in real life!