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They came in through the bathroom window, but first the thieves had to get over the fence behind the Library Thrift Store or slip in between or over the gate near the store’s entrance.

One thing is certain: they were successful in taking the Morris Street store’s week’s receipts. They, or others, were not able to enter the Edward Jones office two blocks east, at 708 Morris Street.

An email Monday from Joan Scarboro, president of Friends of the La Conner Library, to its members, shared that the break-in was discovered Sunday morning. They “remove[d] the week’s cash receipts. Also taken were the ‘valuables’ in the glass cabinet. The most hurtful loss was the framed twenty dollar bill which had been a good luck gift from our first manager, Gene York.” Scarboro did not disclose the amount stolen.

The 911 call was 11:45 a.m. Sunday. Skagit County Sheriff’s Deputy Steiner responded. Scarboro said “They concluded that they came in through the bathroom window. It is not an easy place to get into. It is a small space, about two foot square.” She speculated that “a small person was boosted up” by others.

She said the day’s sales are placed in a “mailbox” secured to the counter and that “it is made of flimsy metal and easy to jimmy.”

She termed the loss of York’s framed $20 bill “the crowning blow,” terming the thieves bastards, then turned contemplative. “Nobody is hurt; we lost some money, we will survive,” she said. “None of us are safe. I don’t go around worrying about it, but we can’t be complacent.”

Scott Price, Edward Jones financial adviser, saw the damage to his office’s front door when he arrived 7:30 a.m. Monday. He called 911.

Price said “there is a lot of what looked to be crowbar damage on the metal door and a tremendous amount of damage to the door jamb and there is wood from the door jamb all over the place. The door was still secure. The deadbolt was still bolted shut.”

Price emphasized that no money was in his office. “We don’t work with cash,” he said. Getting the door fixed was going to cost a lot, he said. He added, “the 16 killer dogs that we have in the office were very agitated.”

In a call Monday afternoon, Sgt. Tobin Meyer, head of the Sheriff’s Office La Conner detachment, said of the two weekend incidents: “It is not unheard of, but is a little out of the ordinary for La Conner.”

Staff reports were not yet written up, he said. Information about the burglaries was not yet available. He said it was a “cold burglary,” standard dispatch language, meaning it is not in progress. He did not speculate if the two burglaries were connected or on their timing.

Anyone with information can call Meyer at 360-466-3134 or the Sheriff’s Office Dispatch: 360-428-3211.