i watch a lot of crime drama...
...
Law & Order (regular, SVU and CI),
NYPD Blue,
CSI,
Cold Case, etc. So, I know that when a cop leaves a business card in your door, it's a good thing to call back.
I came home from erranding today and saw a card stuck in my door. Scribbled on the back, which was the part facing me, was "Please call me. Thank you. I was here at 11:15am." I figured the card belonged to someone from the management service for the condo complex, or maybe it was a realtor looking to see if I wanted to sell (there have been a lot of sales in this complex, recently). I flipped the card over and saw it was from a sergeant in the SJPD homicide unit. Ack! Not a realtor.
Knowing that I'm not a murderer and don't associate with any, most of my brain wasn't freaked out. But I admit to feeling a bit disconcerted about the whole thing. I don't live in the greatest part of town (I don't live in the worst, either) and every few weeks or so I'll hear what sounds like gunfire, and maybe once a month there will be a helicopter in the air, hunting for someone. Last night I heard what I
know was a gunshot. There was nothing in the paper this morning so I figured no big deal. Then...this card shows up in my door. I hadn't seen any cop cars or ambulances around here after the noise, so if it had been gunfire and someone was dead, it wasn't
inside the complex and thus what good would I be as a witness?
All of these things ran through my head, and I immediately called the number on the card but the fellow wasn't there. I gave my name and number to another cop and was told the original cop would call me back when he got in. Waiting...waiting...so he calls me back. Turns out it had nothing to do with anything that happened in my neighborhood, and SJPD was just helping on a cold case from New Jersey. They were looking for someone and my house was their last address so they were "just knocking on the door" as I was told. The name they gave was a partial match to mail I sometimes get in my mailbox, but that person hasn't lived at this address for at least five years (I've lived here for three, the person who owned the place before me lived here for two). So I gave the info I knew and he asked if it would be ok if the New Jersey cops called me, I supposed to repeat what I told him. "Sure," I said...because accumulating good cop karma can't hurt!
