Although unusual, the knock on my front door at 6:15 a.m. didn’t concern me. I knew several neighbors were early risers. Even so, I only cracked the door so I could see who it was. Imagine my surprise when I saw two police officers at my door. I opened the door wider.
“Good morning. We are trying to get a hold of your neighbor, but he doesn’t seem to be at home. We saw your light on and we were wondering if you had contact information for him, ” the tallest of the two female officers said.
“I think I do,” I replied, a little nervously, and invited them inside, warning them that, if she ever woke up, Lucy was very friendly. “I was the secretary for our HOA and should at least have an email address,” I added. As they entered, I noticed the officer who did most of the talking held official looking papers.
I fumbled to look up my contacts, while she chatted about how she figured it was okay to knock because the lights were on. I mumbled something about being a morning person and how my neighbor is not around much, preferring to stay at his girlfriend’s house. She then told me he’d been involved in an accident and had fled the scene.That’s serious, I thought,. Are they allowed to tell me that? Is it OK that I am giving the contact information I have. Are we both sharing confidential information? I carried on any way, pretty sure they could probably look this up somewhere else.
Of course the Internet was slow and I was fumbling, still a little nervous having two police officers in the house. I asked if they were just starting their shift or just ending it (they were ending) all the while hoping I could find what they needed.
And then, there it was. I wrote the email address on a sticky note. They thanked me and then they were gone. It was big excitement for a Monday morning, and Lucy slept through the whole thing.
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