Part One - The Background

I have been trying to write this story for over a week now and have been finding it a lengthy process. Therefore, I'm going to break it down into three parts so that you can read it a little easier and I can make sense of it a little easier. Hopefully all three parts will be posted by Sunday or Monday.

The time has come when I feel secure enough in the case against our perpetrators to give you all a few more details. I will not use names... because after all everyone is innocent until proven guilty right??

So sit back and get comfy and let me tell you a little story. It may explain a little of why I've been absent lately.

Once upon a time there was a man and a woman, we'll call them Jack & Jill, and they lived in a big farm house in the country. On October 9th there was a man and his "wife" (for the purposes of the story we will assume she was his wife... who knows if that is true), we'll call them Jon & Jane, who were driving along when all of the sudden they noticed that there was something wrong with their vehicle.

So, being in the area they decided to pull into the driveway of Jack & Jill because Jon used to know Jack. (Or worked with him on a jobsite once or something.) Anyhow, they knew nothing about cars but remembered that Jack liked to work on cars and were hoping he could help them to fix whatever was wrong with their vehicle.

Jack, however, was not home when they pulled into the driveway. Jill answered the door and immediately got a strange feeling about this man at her door. However, his car story seemed plausible so she called Jack on his cell phone and he told her he would be right home. While she waited she headed out to the car in the driveway where she discovered that Jane was also pregnant and due a week ahead of her.

Taking pity on this pregnant stranger and her husband Jill left to run an errand while Jack stayed behind to help with the vehicle. As it turns out the radiator in their vehicle had a leak. Jack attempted to help them plug the hole but with no luck. When Jill arrived back from running her errand Jon & Jane were still in the garage with their vehicle running.

About an hour after Jill got home Jon & Jane finally left. Their radiator was still leaking a little but they thought they could make it home. So... imagine their surprise when 45 minutes later they pulled back into the driveway. For the second time that evening Jill had this strange feeling that something just didn't seem right. After all, it is not like they drove 5 minutes and turned around. What were they doing for that 45 minutes?

However, since it was late and Jill was tired she decided not to ask too many questions and so Jon & Jane parked their vehicle next to the shed and came inside to wait for their ride. After a little chit chat about babies, etc. their ride showed up and they were off on their way.

The next day their vehicle stayed parked in the driveway but they did not show up to claim it. Then on Wednesday Jack called Jill at work to say that Jon & Jane were going to be at their house that evening trying to fix the vehicle. When Jill showed up Jon was out in the garage with Jack.

Sometime around 7:00 or so Jack came in and said he needed to talk with Jill about Jon & Jane borrowing his jeep. He told her that Jon's ex-wife had been admitted to the hospital and Jon needed to get to the hospital to pick up his son. Once again Jill was very uncomfortable with what was happening but Jack had already committed the vehicle so Jill sort of went with the flow.

Jack & Jon worked on Jon's vehicle for a little while longer while Jane came in and sat on the couch next to Jill. They talked for about an hour about babies and families and animals. Jane told Jill all about their dog and where they had been living and about her sister who had just twins so she was getting all of their baby stuff, etc.

Once they got ready to leave Jill felt a little more comfortable having had a conversation with Jane and feeling like she knew her a little better. They assured Jill that they had insurance and both had valid drivers licenses. They left the keys to their vehicle in the garage and told her that all of the vehicle information was in the glove box. Jill would later kick herself for not looking for that information and following her gut feeling about these two.

That said, the next day (we've made it to Thursday the 12th are you still with me?) Jill was VERY relieved to get a call from Jack saying that the vehicle and Jon & Jane were back safely in the driveway when he arrived home from work. Jill had to work late but Jack assured her that he would just be in the garage working on the vehicle.

She inquired about Jane and the children as she did not want them alone and unsupervised in her house and was told that only Jane was there and that she would be outside with them. Feeling somewhat comfortable in this knowledge she continued to work. While she was at work Jon and Jack were busy taking the radiator out of the vehicle to try to take it somewhere and get parts.

About 7:30 Jill left work and headed home. She picked up some food and got home around 8:00. Jack came in to eat while Jon & Jane headed out to get parts for their vehicle. They showed back up around 9:45 and Jack went out to give Jon some basic instructions on how to put the vehicle back together. So, imagine Jill's surprise when Jack came back in and told her that they would once again be driving his vehicle home.

At this point they were driving out of the driveway so there was not much she could do. The whole next day at work she pondered what she would do if they did not show back up. Finally about 4:00 she received a call from Jack stating that their vehicle was fixed and was gone from their house and he was just meeting them at their friends house to pick up his jeep.

Hurray Jill thought, this whole nightmare is over and not one bad thing happened!! (Dun, dun, dun.....) You see where this is going don't you?

On Saturday night Jill was exhausted and went to bed early. About 10:00 she heard Jack yelling on the phone and came down to see what the commotion was about. Jack told her that he had called Jane's cell phone trying to get ahold of Jon and Jon had totally flipped out on him. He was going out to the garage to get Jon's tools and Jon was going to come and get them.

About 15 minutes later his phone rang again. It was Jon. Some words were exchanged and some how it was decided that they were going to meet at a gas station by Jack's house to "discuss" their difficulties. Since Jack had been drinking Jill drove him to the gas station the whole time assuring him that if there was any fighting she was leaving and he could gave fun in jail.

There was no fighting, although Jill felt the whole time as if there was something illegal going on. It just didn't make sense to her what was happening and she had a feeling that Jack was not telling her the whole story. Finally after about 5 minutes she went to confront them but Jack headed her off and got in the vehicle and told her to go home.

On the ride home Jack informed Jill that they had asked him if he had a credit card that they could use to register a hotel room to sleep in. He told them no and so they asked if Jill did. Luckily Jack had SOME part of his head screwed on straight when he told them that there was no way in hell Jill would let them use her credit card to register a hotel room. After all... why didn't they just pay with cash? Something didn't make sense.

The rest of the weekend was very uneventful and Monday came without Jill so much as giving it a second thought. As far as she was concerned Jon & Jane were on their way and she would not have to see them again. On Monday night Jack was helping his dad burn leaves while Jill was at home watching TV.

About 8:30 Jill heard the dogs barking. She looked outside but did not see anyone. So, imagine her surprise when Jack showed up at 9:00 and informed her that Jon wanted to come over and work on another vehicle. And imagine her even greater surprise when Jon pulled into their driveway from across the street where he had apparently been lying in hiding while waiting on Jack.

So now Jill's weird shit-o-meter was starting to go off. Things were just not adding up. First they wanted to work on a friend's vehicle. To which Jill promptly said no. She was not letting anyone she didn't know hang out in her garage while she was asleep. Then all of the sudden it was Jane's jeep they wanted to work on and the only people that would be outside would be Jon & Jill.

At this point it was raining and according to Jack they were moving in the morning and needed to get the Jeep in working order so they could use it to haul their things. Feeling defeated and outnumbered Jill gave up and went to bed. She cracked the bedroom window so she could hear anyone coming and going and laid down.

A little after 10:00 a vehicle pulled in which she assumed was the one they were going to work on. Then about 15 minutes later she heard yelling. She got up and looked out the window and noticed Jane standing next to the vehicle obviously quite upset with Jon. She was yelling but Jill couldn't quite hear what she was yelling about.

Then after about 10 minutes she started walking down the driveway and then down the road. Jon sat in the driveway for another 10 minutes or so and then headed out in their vehicle. Jill crossed her fingers that maybe they would just leave and not come back.

No such luck. About 12:00 she heard a vehicle pull in, around 1:00 she heard another and assumed it was the mystery car coming to finally get worked on. Around 6:00 she heard what she thought was the final vehicle leaving so imagine her reaction when she got out of bed at 6:30 and noticed that Jon & Jane's vehicle was parked next to the garage.

Jack's explanation for this was that they were either still in the garage or they had left it and would be back for it later. So Jane got ready for work as usual. When she got outside she noticed something VERY strange. The garage windows had all been covered. It was dark outside for heavens sake, why would they need to cover the windows?

Jack came out and opened the garage expecting to see them inside working on another vehicle. However, the garage was empty and Jon & Jane were no where in site. It is at this point in the story where Jill KNOWS something about these people is off. Her first thought was to go inside and call the police/lock the door.

HOWEVER, what would she tell the police? These people who have done nothing to me are acting strangely can you come and check it out? So she suppressed her negative feeling and headed off to work. When she got home from work the vehicle was gone but when she walked into the house she had an overwhelming feeling that something was not right.

In the bathroom she noticed two used towels and a brush that was not hers. She immediately called Jack and asked them if Jon & Jane had been in their house. It was at this point that she discovered that they had actually been sleeping in their car that morning and that's why it was in the driveway. According to Jack that was because they were moving and just need a place to crash for the one night.

Sometime that morning they had called Jack and let him know what was up and also asked if they could use the bathroom to get cleaned up. Being the sucker that he is he told them that they could enter the house to use the bathroom. It was at this point that Jill blew her top. It was bad enough that they had been outside when Jack & Jill were at work but entering their home when no one was there crossed a line.

Jill told Jack, in no uncertain terms, that Jon & Jane were NOT allowed back at their house ever again. There was something about them that creeped her out and she was done ignoring that feeling. After she got off the phone she walked around the house and took a brief inventory of major items in the house. Jack's wedding ring was there, all of their jewelry appeared to be in place, all major electronics were as they should be, etc. Some of the baby things in the office looked like they had been bumped but that could have just been by the cat. Nothing appeared to be missing.

So Jill decided that maybe her feeling was wrong. Maybe they did just need to use the bathroom.