After I inhaled my lunch today, I decided that I would actually take my lunch hour and leave the building. When I got outside, I realized the weather was GORGEOUS. It was in the low 80's (27 C), a nice wind blowing and no clouds at all. Forget a nap in my truck...I am going to walk at Huffhines Park.
The park is only a few blocks away, but I decided to drive rather than walk. I parked the Dakota in a shady spot and began my walk by heading towards the lake side (it is really a pond, but the locals call it a lake). I walked about halfway down the lake side when something reflecting in the water caught my eye. It looked like a sun/moon roof on a car/van, but I could not be sure. I looked at it for a while and then I moved on.
A few minutes later, I spied the number of the Parks and Recs office and decided to call it. "Martha" answered the phone:
Martha - Parks and Recs office, Martha speaking.
Me - Martha, my name is El Gee, and I know this may sound kinda strange, but I think that there is a car in the bottom of the lake at Huffhines Park, near the intersection of St Johns and Syracuse.
Martha - Oh my, are you sure?
Me - No, not 100%, but it sure looks like a sun/moon roof of a car or van. Are there access points in the lake that can be opened to allow you to go under it? (These are man made 'cement ponds'...so I thought it could possibly be an access point)
Martha - No, not that I know of...let me call someone over there.
We hung up and I began to survey the area a bit more. I noticed tire tracks on the slope leading down to the lake and a scuff in between the tire tracks. No skid marks, no torn grass. It was placed there on purpose.
I called "Martha" back and told her and she said, "Oh, my. Bobby should be right out."
I hung up and waited. "Bobby", the asst Parks and Rec supervisor introduced himself and I pointed to where I thought the car was. He took one look and said, "Yep, that's a car. Let me call the police dispatch."
He called the dispatcher and they sent out a female officer right away. A minute before she showed, 2 plain clothes detectives started walking down the hill to where "Bobby" and I were standing.
The female officer started to ask me some basic info and I obliged. She then asked me for my drivers license:
Female Officer - "You must not take your license out much. You are having trouble getting it out of your wallet."
Me - "I would think that would be a good thing, eh?"
Female Officer - "True"
After about 15-20 minutes they told me I was free to go, so I headed back to my truck and to work. I wanted to blog this before I forgot the details.
I plan on keeping up with the news to see if this was just a stolen car or if there was a body. I really hope it was just stolen.
Observations:
* The oldest officer at the scene kept muttering, "Gawd, I sure hope there ain't a body in there...that means a whole mess of paperwork. Thanks a lot, Mr. Gee."
* The asst parks super was even more cheery, "D@mn, if there *is* a body, we gotta call the health dept and the morgue. I bet the wrecker ends up ruining my lake."
* The female officer took some rather unprofessional comments quite well. One of the officers on the scene asked if she was going to strip down to her skivvies and swim on over to the vehicle to check it our. She just replied, "Yeah, sure, let me go find my Charlie's Angels wet suit."
* Telling your boss you were late coming back from lunch because you were being detained by the police can be fun. If you phrase things just right, you get all kinds of priceless looks.
* When the police (jokingly) ask you where you were last night, "You probably have not been to that crime scene yet" is not a good answer.
So yes, I had a fun lunch hour. Amazing that one phone call can ruin so many people's day. Gosh, I am so sorry.
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