BOMAW Vol. 10-12 (137 page)

He stopped dead in his tracks because for one thing, there was a cat on the coffee table, looking at him - weary and starting to growl at him in warning. Obviously, a wild feral cat. Caught so off guard by it, he could only stand there staring at him, unsure of what to do and then the second thing that caught his attention, broken glass on the sofa, and the window above it, broken - open. For a second, he wasn't sure what that meant.

"LUIEEEE!!!" Meribel screamed the third time for her son, getting pissed because she knew he heard her.

His mother's shrill screech for him snapped him out of his moment of shock and sent him running back up the stairs, a bit startled by what he saw. By the time he came through the upstairs door into the kitchen, his father; irritated; had been on his way to get him. Right away, Luis blurted. "DAD! I think somebody broke in! The basement windows out and there's a mean cat in the basement!"

That stopped Derrick in his tracks. Meribel had been standing in the refrigerator upstairs putting food away that needed to be kept cold when she paused, turned looking at Luis past her husband's back. "What miho? What did you say?" She couldn't believe her ears.

"The basement window is broke in." He repeated. By then, his father was rushing down to investigate. Meribel slammed the door to the refrigerator and was quickly following suit. The other kids were coming into the house when Luis, with wide eyes, told them what was going on. Soon, the sounds of their stampeding feet coming down the stairs into the basement filled the air to stop behind their parents who were both staring at the broken open window and looking at the cat, that was spooked now by all the people. Afraid of dealing with so many, it made a quick retreat onto the sofa and up and out of the window. Sending broken pieces of glass scattering in it's wake.

"Is anything missing?!" Marcus asked right away, looking around - going to the TV first, then the stereo equipment, next their games and Playstation.

"Don't touch anything!" Derrick yelled out. "Everybody - back outside! NOW! Right now! Get outside and wait by the van! Meri - get on the phone and call the police."

She rushed immediately, shaking - to do so.

Thirty minutes later, the police were there questioning them on their front porch, while an investigative team dusted their home. Derrick insisted that they be thorough. The first place they dusted was the sofa, and sure enough, there were Shoe prints found on it consistent with someone stepping in through their window. Lucky for them, they had a leather sofa in the basement, due to Meribel because of the children always spilling things. Once those prints were found, the team realized they had little choice but to go over every inch of their home. Just in case, the entire family had to be finger printed as reference for their prints that might be found. Meribel explained that she'd cleaned her house and dusted thoroughly before she left, so if there were prints from them, they would be minimal.

The standard questions were asked as just the two of them were allowed into the house to follow a team.

"Is anything missing?" Was asked by the lead officer.

"We've just returned home, we sent the kids out right away, so there's no way of knowing if anything is missing. So far, it looks like everything of value is still here."

"What about small items of value, like jewelery?"

"Again, we haven't searched. I have jewelery and so does my husband." Meribel informed the officer.

"While we're here, check for those items once they're done dusting your room. How long were you away?"

"A little over a week, 8 days in fact." Derrick inserted.

"Have you any enemies?" Was asked next.

They were in their bedroom now which had been dusted, looking through their things, for their hidden jewelery. Meribel paused, looked at her husband then at the officer. "I do."

"Who?"

"A woman who has been after my husband. Her name is Margaret Wheeler, she is a teacher at the school where he coaches. My husband had to have a restraining order put out on her. She's also been reported to the school board." She informed the officer, looking back and forth from Derrick as she spoke.

"How recent is this situation?" The officer asked, looking toward Derrick for the answer.

"It's current, present, ongoing now."

"I see." The officer made notes and then asked Derrick, "How - after you is this woman? I mean, how far has she gone with you?"

"There's a restraining order - what does that tell you?" Meribel repeated.

"What provoked the restraining order? What provoked you reporting her to the school board?" He was asking for specifics.

As Derrick filled him in, Meribel checked her things, and hidden behind the bottom drawer, to the back of the lingerie drawer, was her jewelery, gold chains, rings, earrings, pins, a few gems Derrick had gotten her over the years. She pulled the drawer out to check and make sure it was still there when she caught a slight whiff of an odor that caught her off guard. She lifted the drawer sniffing her lingerie and smelled something that reminded her of urine, it wasn't strong yet, but it was enough to alert her to the fact that something was amiss. She set the drawer on the floor and grabbed a handful of lingerie. More of the odor assailed her nostrils as she looked at her delicate silky night wear and panties. Many of them were stiff and stuck to each other. She turned the drawer upside down, dumping the lot on the floor to see that the bottom of the drawer had been wet, soiled and dried. She dropped it to the floor and stood away from it.

The officer and Derrick stopped talking to turn their attention to her. That something was wrong could not be missed. "What's wrong Meri?" Derrick asked. She couldn't look at him, but at the officer instead, "I think you should call your people up here and gather these things."

"Why?" He asked.

"Because I think they've been pissed on! I'm not completely sure, but having six children, I can pretty much identify the scent right away." She steamed storming past them into her bathroom where she turned on the sink to wash her hands. Both men walked to the drawer and the things on the floor where she dumped them. The officer went into the hallway and called one of the guys up to gather all of her lingerie to be placed in a bag to be taken in and analyzed.

Derrick walked into the bathroom where she stood scrubbing her hands over and over, her back to him. "Meri, Meri..." He called twice, gently turning her by the shoulder, unsure of what to say. "Come on Meri, that's enough, they're clean now."

"She's been in my house! She's been - in - my house!" She kept scrubbing, one shoulder shrugged upward to wipe at a tear falling.

"Wait until the police finish investi-..."

"SHE'S BEEN - IN - MY HO-O-O-OUSE!!!" She screamed out of control, snatching a towel from the rail, tears running down her face. Realizing she was on the verge of hysteria Derrick tried to grab her into his arms. "Meri please, at least the police are here, if she has been, if she's done this, we got her!"

The officer standing by as the others came back into the room, tried to calm her as well, "Ma'am, if this lady, has been here, and we can find evidence of that, we will deal with her, but we need you to remain calm, and let us do our job, okay?"

"I want - her arrested - now - right now!" Meribel demanded, having snatched herself out of Derrick's arms, stepping around him back into the room.

"We have to prove first of all that she indeed was the one who broke into your home. What we're going to do, is speak with your neighbors, see if they saw anything, heard anything. See if we can get a match on the prints and evidence collected. If and then, we find that she is the one, we'll be issuing a warrant for her arrest."

"How long will this take? Because I can tell you now, this bitch is crazy! She comes into my home, pisses in my things! God only knows what else she has done in my home!?" Meribel raged. "I want to know, if it is her, what will she be arrested for and for how long?" She demanded.

"If - that is, if - we prove that she is the one who has entered your home, we can get her on a few charges."

"What?! I want to know what?" Meribel pushed.

"Breaking and entering for one; trespassing; violating her restraining order; destruction of property; if she's stolen anything, theft; harassment and mental anguish as well."

"You might as well arrest her, because she did this!"

"Ma'am, Mrs McPherson, I understand you're angry with good reason to be. But we must do this by due process to make any charges stick. However, should she be the one, when we are done, for safety reasons, we advise that you get rid of all foods that are open, not sealed. Get rid of everything in your cabinets, pantry, refrigerator and freezer that could have been tampered with. Clean every surface in your home, strip down all the beds, wash all the sheets, towels,
etc.
Throw away your toothbrushes and anything else that cannot be sanitized and do a complete inspection of everything to see what items might be missing." He advised as Meribel stood growing more and more angry as the moments ticked by. The officer turned to Derrick, "More than anyone, if things are missing, they will probably be things of yours. Clothing items, jewelery, your favorite cologne, pictures - in fact - where are your photo albums?" The officer asked Derrick.

He was standing at the moment, gazing at his wife who would not look at him.

"Mr. McPherson, please ... where do you all keep your photo albums?"

Meribel charged out of the room and down the stairs, she went to the coffee table where they were kept and brought them back up to the room. She went through them to the one that held pictures mostly of him. She knew the album well, because she had put it together. She'd started it when he'd gone off to college and all she could do, was dream of him. She'd gone through Gert's albums and made copies of her favorite pictures of him from a little boy and up, adding to them, pictures she'd taken over the years, or pictures of him others had taken. Because of the order of the pictures and the events tied to them, she knew the album like the back of her hand. She opened it in the bedroom, in front of the officers and her husband, and flipping through it, it didn't take her long to start shaking her head in disbelief and certainty!

"Are there pictures missing Mrs. McPherson?"

She looked up at the officer and then to her husband, "Yes! Several pictures! I know them well!"

One of the officers standing by, pulled out a clean sheet, "Can you describe them?"

"Every single one!" She bit out and staring at Derrick with tears rolling, she describe each picture missing. How old he was, what he was wearing at the time and where he was when the pictures were taken and who might have been in it with him. Of those missing, two had been with him standing with his father and brothers, and another he'd been standing with friends from the College he attended.

When she finished, she turned away from him, them and started stripping her bed, snatching the spread, sheets and pillows. Piling them up in the middle of the floor. Calling her children in to do the same. Giving them brisk orders to clean out the refrigerators and pantries, and not to let one thing from them touch their mouths. She gave Marcus the order of taking all the bed stuff out to the back and burning it in the burn barrels they used. He looked at his father as if to question her sanity. Derrick shook his head at him. In other words, don't say a word and do as she says.

Half an hour later after the burning began, the police finished up all they could there, promising them the results as soon as they were available.

Derrick was left with little to say once the officers departed. It would have done no good, because his wife, after reading off each of his pictures with so much detail, and he wondered, accuracy? Said nothing more to him. She moved with a determined fierceness to clean out their home, scrubbing it, stripping it and rearranging it. He dare not get in her way. He and Luis picked up a new pane window and fixed that one that had been broken in the basement. Along with that, Derrick bought all new locks, and extra ones for their doors, just in case. He called out a security firm, got a quote on the cost of putting in an alarm and then booked it immediately to be done. The soonest they could get out there to install it was the following week, Tuesday. After fixing the window, after putting in the new locks, after booking the security appointment, he went outside and called his father.

"I'm bringing my family up this weekend, is that too soon?" He asked his father right away, and then went on to explain what they'd come home to.

"You can bring them now if you wish, you know you don't have to wait." Bart informed him.

"I'll find out what she wants to do after she calms down. She's not pleased with me right now."

"I can't imagine that she is. You bring her home here to us, where she'll be safe."

"Thank you dad, I will." Derrick clicked the phone off. As he sat in the back of the van, one scene kept playing over and over in his mind. And that was of his wife's tear filled eyes, blazing into his, giving detail after detail on the pictures of him. It wasn't until that moment right then, that he came to fully realize and appreciate the degree to which she had loved him. "Dear God up in heaven, please don't let this get out of hand. Please, if it's her, make them arrest her to keep her away from my family, my wife. Please." He agonized in prayer. If this had been surrounding the actions of a male, Derrick knew he would have dealt with it by now. But he hadn't a clue - how to handle a woman like this. His entire young life had been geared, directed and disciplined to protect women - to treat them with the utmost respect - whether they deserved it or not. He, of all his brother's had absorbed that ideal the deepest, going to his very core. He simply was not equipped to handle this woman who was clearly, a psychopath.

They'd been home three hours now, he'd stayed outside, out of the way after putting in the new window, the new locks. He looked up to see his wife finally approaching him in the driveway - but she stayed out of his reach, a clear indication that she was distancing herself from him. Neither of them could speak right away. It was as if they both were weighing their next words to each other. Meribel was the first to say something. "We're done. I've gotten rid of all the food except can goods - the kids are hungry."