Targeted

Lou and I were both off last Friday. I had another doc appt, then went off to find the *perfect* gift for my sweetheart while she lounged at home. After I returned, a friend and colleague of hers came by for a visit. They kept me company in the kitchen, laughing over coffee and cream cakes while I prepared a batch of christmas candy.

It was such a fantastic day, I felt so merry and in the holiday mood. We had a glass of wine later and watched the movie Elf before turning in at a reasonable bedtime.

I woke right before three am the next morning to the sound of the bolt being pulled open on the front door. Now, I sleep like a log but I heard this and instantaneously woke with the very odd worry of Loubie sleepwalking her way outside. Robe and glasses thrown on, I was downstairs, out the door and right beside her by the time she got to the sidewalk.

She pointed a dark car parked far down the street. Someone had tried to break into our house, she said. She'd scared him off and he'd run to that car. The car then started up and pulled fully onto the road, the headlights only being turned on as it rounded the corner away from us.

WHAT?

She's always been a terribly light sleeper and wasn't worried to find herself awakened. There'd been a noise coming from downstairs, and she said she thought it might have been the cat messing with the xmas tree. But the cat was sat on the top of the landing when she got out of bed. Next she thought it might be our fridge, which sometimes makes noise. But when she got downstairs into the kitchen, she realized the noise was not coming from any applicance.

Looking for the source, she turned to the window over our sink, at the front of the house, only to see the silhouette of a man at the window!!

Lou hit the lights. She heard hasty footsteps in the gravel down the driveway and she ran for the door. As she slowly opened the door, she heard more footsteps, this time on the sidewalk.. so she ran out the door trying to see if she could identify the person.

No she wasn't able to tell who it was. We could only say the car was a dark color and looked like a sportscar, wider than it was tall and had rounded fenders - like an Audi TT.

The police officer arrived quickly after we rang. Oddly enough, the officer said 'hello again' when he came in as he'd been one of the investigators at our house last time.. He shone his flashlight on the window and we could see pry-marks, probably made by a screwdriver. That had been the noise Louie had heard.

As we gave our statement, his radio was going, relating other officers in our town chasing two men who'd been spotted in another back garden. The brought in the helicopter and we listened as the pilot directed officers on the ground to warm spots identified by their onboard cameras.

After he'd gone, it took us ages to settle. We crawled into bed and speculated.. the car we'd seen was a sportscar, hardly useful for hauling away much. What were the odds of two burglars operating in our little town that night, at such a time so closely together? IF we chose to think the two they caught were operating at our house as well...We found we could conceiveably conclude that the 'burglar' was probably looking to get in for Loubie's CAR KEYS. (She's got a nice, very fast car.. but you must have the key fob to start it).

Otherwise.. if there were two working together at ours.. why would one of them stay in the car, and be parked too far away to even give an alert or help in any way? We think they were going to go racing. Perhaps the other car was stolen too.. and when the cops got too close at the other location, the second person bailed out?

Once we began to think this, it triggered a memory in Lou. About a week before, a young man had knocked at our door. When she answered, he'd asked if 'Mick' lived here. Lou said no and the young man said oh, I though he might, he likes his nice cars! He went on to ask if she might know where 'Mick' lived, saying that he's got a few small kids.. Nope and soon enough he was gone.

We'd been scoped. Who knows. Maybe if she hadn't been home to open the door that time, they'd have gotten in right then..

The CSI guys came in the morning to dust the window for prints. But it'd been too wet out and they weren't successful. We told them about the man who'd come to the door and our guess they'd been after the car. They agreed we were probably right.

We're okay, really. We're having the house alarmed on Thursday.. hope they can take account of the fact we share our house with a bouncy kitty.. but I expect that's something they've dealt with many times before. Car keys have been moved to an even safer location and a motion light will be going up.

Remember I asked for boring? Not happening. (I haven't even told you about a kidney 'almost' becoming available for my daughter.. only to have it all fall through a few weeks ago.. but that's a story for another day.)

Maybe we should ask Santa for boring...