Friday, I was on my lunch break, when the alarm company for the house called. The motion sensor had been triggered, and was everything okay or did they want me to send the police out? I hesitated, wondering if fat cat Gecko could have triggered the motion sensor? "Go ahead and send the police," I decided.
A few minutes later, I called the police dept. I told them what happened and asked if they had seen anything wrong at the house. They said, no, an officer went out and everything seemed okay. I thanked them, and then called the alarm company to see if I needed to go home and reset the alarm. They said that someone did need to go to the house to reset it, so a phone call to work saying I would be back asap, I was on my way home.
Before I got home, I called Mom so that I could have someone on the line while I checked out the house. Our next door neighbor is usually home, but I didn't see her car in the driveway. The house on the other side is for sale, so I knew that no one was there, either. I started walking around the outside of the house, checking all the windows on the house and basement. The side next to my neighbor checked out fine, so I went back across the front and started down the driveway side. I got all the way to the back of our bedroom, and realized something seemed odd. I could see the blinds inside the window really clearly. It took a second for me to realize that the screen was gone, along with the glass! As I backed up, it registered in my mind that there was a neatly stacked pile of glass on top of the garbage can, next to the window. I hurried back to my car, telling Mom what I'd seen and that I needed to call the police.
I called the police, waited, called Mom back, waited some more, finally called the police back. She had no record that I'd just called, but she remembered me from calling the first time to check on the house. She said she would send a car out. A few minutes later, one police car pulls in, followed by another, and another. The police get my keys and ask me to wait on the sidewalk. Brandon calls and says he's on his way home. The police check out the back of the house, but the chain on the back door keeps them from getting in without breaking it. So they go to the front porch. I see one of them draw her gun. I offer, feebly, "I have a cat...please don't shoot him..." I wait, and finally they yell for me to come reset the alarm--all is clear. Finally I get to go in the house and see how bad it is.
It appears they threw a rock through the window to see if the alarm would go off, and when it didn't, they carefully broke out the rest of the glass (stacking it on the trash can, I guess) and climbed on through (using our a/c unit as a step-up--what idiot put it next to the bedroom window?!?!). So the rock was on the floor, and Brandon's clothes were all over the floor as well. "Have you been in any fights recently, ma'am?" the officer asked. "Are you dating anyone, married? Any disputes with the neighbors? Was it like this when you left--was this clothing all over the floor?" I guess they have to ask the same questions of anyone, but damn, if I
had been in a fight recently, wouldn't I have blamed them already? The questions seemed ridiculous, but I answered them. A few minutes later, two of the officers left, Brandon got home, and the fingerprint guy arrived in a big black "CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION" van.
It seemed the only thing missing was a carved wooden box that sat on Brandon's bedside table. He had very little in, just some old coins, we think, but it belonged to his grandfather, who died when Brandon was young. Weird that they stole the box, but not the digital camera sitting next to it, or anything else in the room. Guessing it was two people, and the second one went out into the hall, setting off the alarm before they could grab anything else.
So, besides making a mess and scaring us a bit, we're all okay. I finally coaxed Gecko out from under the bed and after being a bit needy for a while, he seemed okay. Two alarm sirens in one day, a rock through the window, strange people in his house, and then cops with guns--a trying day for any kitty.
See photos below for the mess, after we started to clean it up and replace the window.
Broken glass...and the rock that was thrown.
View from inside bedroom into yard. Broken glass can be seen at upper part of window.
After we removed the glass, before new glass installed.
Close up of broken glass.
Mr. Fix-It, replacing the glass.
