The ransacking of Nancy Cleghorn’s home is both a violation of a recently murdered woman’s private space and a clue to what someone may have wanted concealed. When Ellen Cleghorn reports the destruction, V. I. Warshawski finds a house searched with unusual thoroughness: bedding is cut open, bricks are removed from a fireplace, and personal papers are scattered through a room Nancy had made into an office. The damage points beyond ordinary burglary, though the intruders’ purpose remains uncertain.

Discovery and Setting

Ellen Cleghorn calls after going to Nancy’s house in South Chicago to collect her financial records. She finds the rooms badly disturbed and contacts V. I. Warshawski, who had been considering a visit to Louisa Djiak when the news arrives. The timing places the break-in within the investigation of Nancy’s murder, but the call does not establish when the intruders entered or what they hoped to find.

The house stands on Crandon near Seventy-third Street. Its scale and age make its neglected state especially striking: a large, three-story wooden building occupies an outsized lot, with small cupolas, stained-glass windows, and a carved banister. Nancy had put much of what she owned into buying it and had repaired only a few rooms. The house was therefore both a substantial undertaking and an unfinished home, its signs of care set against the damage left behind.

The Search Through the House

The entry hall initially gives little indication of what has happened because it contains no furniture. The damage becomes apparent upstairs, in the main bedroom, which Nancy had already renovated. Its finished floor, plastered and painted walls, and working fireplace with a tiled mantel and brass fittings still suggest the room she was trying to make comfortable. The intruders have overturned its furniture and bedding, undoing that work.

The search reaches beyond what a casual theft might require. The mattress cover has been pulled away and its stuffing cut; the fireplace grate has been lifted and several bricks removed. Those places could conceal money, consistent with a possible theory that the intruders were drug-seeking thieves, or they could have been searched for papers. Warshawski considers the possibility that Nancy possessed evidence of something serious enough for someone to kill to keep it secret, but the house alone does not prove that this was the motive.

The dining room, another space Nancy had made usable, shows a different kind of destruction. Plates and tableware lie on the floor, chair seats have been torn away, and the shelves of the walnut cupboards are broken. Nancy had been using those built-in cupboards as a small home office while she waited to renovate the study. Her personal papers are spread across the room, making the attack on her records as conspicuous as the damage to furniture. Warshawski and Ellen sort through the debris, recovering bank statements and an address book, as well as mortgage and insurance documents for Ellen to examine later.

Extent and Possible Purpose

The disturbance is not confined to the bedroom and dining room. Warshawski checks the other rooms and finds loose floorboards pried up and the grates removed from all six fireplaces. In the old kitchen, the intruders scatter flour and sugar and take food from the refrigerator. The damage to several different kinds of spaces—storage places, fireplaces, cupboards, and ordinary household areas—makes the search seem systematic, even though its target is not identified.

The contrast between the house’s unfinished rooms and the destruction of the rooms Nancy had repaired gives the intrusion a personal dimension. The break-in does not simply remove or damage property: it disrupts the home Nancy had invested in and the records that made up her private and financial life. Warshawski’s shaking hands and difficulty containing her feelings register the effect of seeing that destruction. The episode also changes the meaning of ordinary household objects: the bed, fireplace, cupboards, and floorboards have become possible hiding places in a search whose stakes may extend beyond money.

Entry and Immediate Aftermath

Warshawski and Ellen determine that the intruders entered through the back door. The lock has been forced, and the door has been left unsecured. Because the overgrown backyard conceals the open entrance from people in the alley, the rear of the house has offered cover. Ellen finds a hammer and nails in the workshop Nancy had set up beside the pantry; Warshawski uses them to board the door shut. They can secure the entrance, but they cannot restore the house to its former condition, and they leave without speaking.

Warshawski has walked through and disturbed the scene without first reporting the destruction, knowingly departing from proper police procedure. Her assessment is that a formal investigation may not give the damage close attention, despite Nancy’s murder. Afterward, she calls Bobby Mallory, who says he will refer the matter to the Third District and asks her to remain available if the police want to question her. The ransacking thus adds a possible line of inquiry to Nancy’s murder investigation while leaving its central question unresolved: whether the intruders sought money, records, or evidence that someone feared would come to light.