I followed the officer into the back office and pressed play on the footage. Four minutes after my car pulled away, a man in a soaked work jacket appeared in the open doorway. He looked at the empty counter, then at the cash register, and my heart sank. He stepped inside and walked slowly toward it.

Then two teenage boys slipped in behind him, whispering. One reached for the drawer. The man spun around, grabbed the boy’s wrist, and shouted something I could not hear. My knees nearly gave out. Then he turned and looked straight into the camera. The officer paused the video and let me read his lips for myself. “Tell her I am not leaving until she comes back.”