In the - unfortunately - ongoing saga, it seems that being "green lit" isn't really a thing. Either that or nobody plans to follow through with it. It only took 5 days of lying low before Adam surfaced again, both boldly and sneakily.
Rich had to take a few things to Amanda, stuff he'd been working on for her replacement bike after Adam stole it and - it's believed - sold it for drugs. Possibly why he stole at least one of Rich's bikes too. Rich and I had had the conversation where he agreed that maintaining that friendship was not the best of ideas, at least not now. He suspects she may be complicit in his craziness, even goading him on and covering up afterwards. Right or wrong, Adam is a danger. Anyway, when Rich arrived at her house, Adam was in her garage, using her welding equipment. He'd gotten there on a mini bike. His truck hasn't been seen since the hit and run, at least so far as we know. Rich dropped the items off by her front door, and by the time he passed the garage again, perhaps 30 seconds later, Adam was gone on his minibike. Rich recognizes the sound.
A few days ago, Adam started passing by our house out on the street on his bike. Sometimes he stops and stares at the house/Rich, whether just taunting or casing the situation, we don't know. Possibly both. But stuff coincidentally has been happening. Rich has a different bike than before the hit and run. (The damaged bike had been fixed to be rideable but - of course - got stolen.) The latest bike mysteriously has its bolts loosened while it sits in the back yard, something that doesn't "just happen". Small things disappear, even some which Rich knows he set down inside the lanai a bit before, and while we are actually in the house!
Rich mentioned that the gas grill, which we've bought hamburgers for, suddenly hisses gas when it's connected and ready for use. While we can't say this is mischief rather than, say, summer sun damage or such, it's just another thing piling on. One with potentially drastic consequences if Rich had worse hearing or sense of smell.
We believe our electrical system has been tampered with at the breaker box, and this morning's project, with the help of one of Rich's friends, has been to trace every outlet in the house to its breaker, check amp load levels, do a better job of labeling each breaker switch, and make a separate chart I can put in the computer for future reference. Labels can get "lost."
This is part of the issue. We found out it may be more complicated - criminally - after we made another decision. Yesterday we decided we needed a security system. Just not one those really expensive ones. After a trip to Home Depot, we got motion sensor spotlights for both carport and patio, as well as a pair of motion sensor cameras that are hidden where it's difficult to know they exist but give good coverage of both patio and lanai. It's a decision not to scare him away but to get proof of his visits and damages. Plus a photo of his face if he's gotten cocky enough to forgo wearing his "mask" - which Rich describes as bondage gear. It was in the process of working on the carport light that Rich discovered a problem, wiring that can no longer be shut down by flipping the breaker and/or turning off the wall switch inside the house. We know it didn't used to be wired like that because we'd replaced that light fixture several years ago. And Rich knows that Adam has mad skills with fixing/tampering with all kinds of things.
This prompted the check of the electrical system, but only of the "new" breaker box. A few years ago our insurance company informed us we needed to upgrade our old breaker box, and send them photos to verify it had been done. $5 grand later (!) it was completed, leaving all the old breakers in place in their old box, then tunneling them through a pipe into the new one and giving each a new breaker switch, along with a whole new breaker for the solar installation which pipes directly into the new box. When Rich went to check both boxes, he discovered that the catch holding the lid on the old box has been tampered with.
Having the kind of ingenuity he does, he went and got an old toner cartridge and a makeup brush, and established that the surface of the box cover does indeed hold recent fingerprints very well. Mostly they will be his. He decided not to work on opening that box until after we notify the cops of the latest issues. That way, if we can persuade them to open the box and fingerprint the inside, any prints they find will both be recent and not belong to any of us. But right now it's more important to verify whether what is currently running current is not likely to be a fire hazard in the house.
We also know which two houses along the street behind us Adam goes to visit when he's in the neighborhood. Rich can follow the sound of the minibike to where he stops. Starting at the house most directly behind ours ( since they are slightly offset) he can count two to the east and two to the west as places where he hangs out. It's enough to keep Rich paranoid about anything he might be doing out in the yard or even in the lanai being visible to both Adam and his friends. We're not sure whether they are also participating in any of the "mischief" or not, but the hidden cameras should record whatever happens. If we can catch anybody in the house when we are also, like happened yesterday, only now with cameras, somebody is going away for a long time. Here that's an aggravated felony.
Steve is not taking it all that well. It's too much stress with no seeming letup. I can't blame him, too many things to contend with since we returned, and even when they're not "mischief" they just pile on and pile on. Somehow his credit card number got appropriated last week, and while the bogus charges got canceled or his "card" refused for a large purchase since they didn't have his pin number, he's waiting for his new one before he can spend any money. At least he'd just done a major grocery purchase before it happened.
This afternoon we might get some hopeful news when I drive him to see the doc who is to do cataract surgery on one eye. It's not as bad as mine got, meaning he's not blind in that eye yet, but it's bad enough to be a handicap and an annoyance. I've reassured him that recovery from the surgery is nearly instantaneous these days, or at least was for me, as well as painless during the procedure. I've also assured him I can handle the copay if his new card isn't here by this afternoon. And we now know the piece we are missing for the gas oven to be connected, so I can swing by and pick one up. Apparently we are responsible for that. The installation company has been emailing back and forth with me and promises they will send out an actual competent person who can work with gas this time. (We'll see.) Some oven-baked Texas Toast will surely make Steve feel better. Me too.
No comments:
Post a Comment