Yesterday, a neighbor out for his morning walk found a purse sitting open on the trunk of a car across the street from us. He also found a ladies wallet on the ground nearby. Since he lived blocks away, and I was out with Andre, he asked me if I would ask around and see if I could find the owner. Neither of us wanted to leave the purse sitting there, so I agreed. Helping out a neighbor seemed like a no brainer.
While I was at the Park with Corinne, Raelene went across the street to see if anyone lost a purse. Instead of our neighbors, however, she talked to the house sitter. He didn’t know anything about a lost purse, but he did admit to having some “females” over the previous night. He wasn’t sure who they were, how to contact them, or what their purses might have looked like, so Raelene left and called me.
The whole thing was starting to smell, and it dawned on me that an open purse and dropped wallet might mean the purse was stolen. Someone probably smashed a car window a few blocks away, grabbed the purse and ran, stopping only to fish out the cash and dump everything else. My suggestion was to call the cops, and I agreed with Raelene that she should post to the neighborhood group as well.
When the Richmond Police CSI showed up, he immediately started harassing Raelene about taking the purse. He kept telling her that if any money was missing, the owner of the purse could accuse us of taking it. I was inside with Corinne, who was eating lunch, when I heard Raelene say, “oh my God, I had no idea that was in there,” and, “are we going to get in trouble for this?” I went outside and asked what was wrong, and Raelene told me there was pot in the purse. The CSI said no, not pot, heroin. Um, what? He then pulled a small baggie out of the wallet and said, “see, black tar heroin.” Raelene went white, and I probably did too.
Holy crap.
Oddly enough, the CSI suddenly became a lot friendlier. I guess finding narcotics made his point much easier to make. If you find a purse or bag, don’t mess with it. Call the police and let them deal with it. The CSI then talked to the guy across the street and tried to talk to the neighbor who found the purse (he was still out for his walk). We didn’t get into trouble, and I doubt we’re going to hear about it again. The owner of the purse is going to get her stuff back, sans the heroin of course, and I doubt she’s going to be claiming someone stole her cash.
The moral of the story? You never know what’s in that lost bag. Call the police, and let them find the owner.
