house taken over

in this paragraph: why did the author include these details?

I still had my wrist watch on and saw that it was 11 p.m. I took
Irene around the waist (I think she was crying) and that was how we
went into the street. Before we left, I felt terrible; I locked the front
door up tight and tossed the key down the sewer. It wouldn’t do to
have some poor devil decide to go in and rob the house, at that hour
and with the house taken over. ❧