FALL... October (Part 91b)

To go out to dinner the next night meant we had to spend money for a baby sitter, if we could get one. The first thought was for Karen. Elle had gotten lucky the night we’d gone out with John and his wife but it was a Saturday. Her mother answered the phone and told Elle that she was “taken” but if anything changed that she’d have Karen call. We didn’t have a fall-back other than Elle’s mother and Elle knew that she had guests for the weekend. It didn’t look good but then I remembered Janice who baby sat when Elle was called in to teach. Knowing that there was no second shift on Saturdays and that she didn’t have a boyfriend I felt we were home free.

It took into the afternoon to finally reach her and couldn’t believe it when she said she was going out with some of her friends from work. Then she suggested her sister Jan. In her duties for my grandfather she didn’t have to be there at his house until 9pm. I knew that we were only going out for dinner and that if she had no plans  it would work.

We didn’t hear from Jan until almost 5pm but she said she’d be glad to do it for us. I remember her disclaimer that she hadn’t done any baby sitting since she was 15. Once she turned 16 she had a regular job. After briefly chatting with Elle she said it was similar to the one Elle had back in her high school days. It created an immediate bonding between the two of them. The kids, as expected, were shy at first meeting but upon our return found they were good friends. The meal was excellent and it was good to see Cliff (the owner) once again. He was surprised to hear that I was back involved with stock cars again. All in all, a pretty good day.

With all the things going on during the day it slipped my mind to call Ali about ordering the kids underwear. It turned out to be a good thing. It was about 10pm the next night (Sunday) when I got a call from Jan, She sounded frantic. She said she thought she heard a noise from the back porch. I told her to just go into the kitchen and turn on the porch light. She would have none of that. While I was trying to calm her down she screamed into the phone that she heard more noise. I felt sure there was some simple answer to it so offered to go over to check everything out. After telling Elle where I was headed she pleaded with me to call Jim and to have him go with me. I hated the thought of it but caved in and got him out of bed.

Jim had a high power flashlight and when we pulled into the driveway he shined the light on and around the back porch. I immediately saw that the door to the storage area under the porch was open. I didn’t like that but Jim was ready to go take a look. As we walked up to the open door I could see that the hasp used to latch and lock it had been pried away from the frame. That was not good!. Jim pointed the light into the storage area and all we could see was a small wheelbarrow and some garden tools that Wally, the man who worked for my grandfather during the day, used to maintain the yard.

I’d told Jan that we’d go to the front door and as soon as I rang the bell she opened the door. Her eyes were wide open and it was obvious she was scared. She was wearing a pair of what I called “spotted swiss” light yellow pajamas. It was a thin cotton material but there were these little green “dots” that appeared to be raised. Elle had, at one time, a blouse made of similar material. In any case, it was fairly see through. She had her arms folded across her chest but I thought I could see the outline of her panties.

Jim and I agreed that it was an obvious break in and we needed to call the police. My grandfather was asleep and we decided to leave it that way. It took about a half hour before a cop showed up even though the police station was only a 10 minute walk away. Back outside the cop shined his light all around the area and that was when I noticed that there were clothes on the washline. I had missed that when Jim and I arrived. It was obvious that the clothes belonged to Jan as I recognized the nurse uniforms. The cop wanted to know what, if anything, was missing and without Wally I couldn’t help him with that. Then he asked if anything was missing from the washline. I wondered why he’d ask that. We had to go get Jan to find out. She was reluctant to go outside but the cop assured her that she’d be safe. She grabbed a coat and at the washline she immediately noticed that there was a whole open space. She calmly stated that all her underwear was gone. The cop then asked if she could give a description and I could see that made her clearly uncomfortable. However, the cop was very professional and I was reminded of an early TV cop show, Dragnet and Sergeant Joe Friday... “The facts, ma’m. Just the facts!”. I don’t remember the numbers but it was primarily her panties and bras. The cop wanted to know if she had name tags on them or any markings that could be used to identify them. She said there were non but I do remember her commenting that some of the panties were almost brand new. That triggered the memory of me peeking into her drawer and seen the cotton panties with the Woolworth tags still attached.

It was close to midnight by the time the cop left. I was told to get a list of the missing items, if any, from under the porch and bring it to the police station and then sign the report. Jan still looked frightened so I asked if she wanted me to stay over. The offer changed the look on her face so I knew where I’d be sleeping the rest of the night. I told Jim to drive my car back and that I’d get Wally to drive me home in the morning.

To be continued...