ACCOUNTANT BY DAY

Today was a day full of interesting coincidences. The most important one is that a detective from the Prairie Village police department told me that I had done “commendable detective work” in having helped point them toward a guy who had stolen some checks and was passing them around. There were a couple of things funny about the check, which was for $150, and the man that brought it in on Friday. I was vaguely suspicious, but didn’t end up busting him then because I was really busy and alone at the store, and I couldn’t reach the maker to substantiate my suspicion that something was fishy. I didn’t cash his check, but left the maker a message anyway, and when the lady on the checking account phoned back today to tell me that she’d never heard of this man, I told her to file a police report and contact her bank. She called back later all happy and stuff because she said that the man had somehow gotten a book of her checks and had cashed a different number at the downtown UMB branch and she said that she never would have known if I hadn’t called her to ask.

Honestly, that was all in the course of my job even though I wish it were true that I were an amazing hero who had gone above and beyond the call of duty to save the financial identities of kind and appreciative strangers. I didn’t act on my hunch, because I wasn’t willing to call the police over a mere feeling, especially on a busy Friday. Therefore he still hasn’t been busted yet.

Later this afternoon a detective from PVPD called to ask me a few questions. I gave her all the basic information and added a couple of things I’d noticed about the check after I thought it seemed weird, and described the man as best I could remember. I faxed over the copy of the check and his ID. The detective said, “Well, I’m so glad you called this lady to let her know. If you hadn’t, we wouldn’t have known anything was up for weeks, until she got her statement. She said she doesn’t use this account much and wouldn’t have noticed.” Much as it pained me not to be able to wallow in the nice feeling of congratulation, I told the detective that it’s normal procedure for us to call the maker, so I had just been doing my job. It wasn’t special on my part, I said. Then she said, “Well, not necessarily. You didn’t have to leave her a message once you knew you wouldn’t be able to verify it. And you said in your message Friday that you thought the check seemed sketchy. What gets me is that her own bank didn’t catch it, and you did. What made you suspicious about it?”

So I explained, “Well, the memo line of the check said ‘washer/dryer’.”

The detective said, “I noticed that. But why would that make the check fake?”

I said, “Well, that lady lives over near 80th & Roe, which is a pretty nice neighborhood. People in that neighborhood probably wouldn’t buy a washer OR a dryer worth just $150, let alone both, and from some stranger. They’d buy new appliances from the store. Even if she bought it for her kid who just moved out or something, she’d get something nicer than that. The people at the used appliance place down the street from this store have stuff more expensive than that, and we’re in a crummy neighborhood over in Wyandotte. So it didn’t make sense.”

The detective actually said, “You’re right, I hadn’t thought of that.” Then she said, “That is some commendable detective work.” Her exact words. She said, “Good work!” again before we hung up, and told me that they’d be back in touch if they needed me as a witness or something.

The reason that is a totally awesome coincidence is that just yesterday I decided it would be fun to be a detective, and then today out of the blue a real detective tells me good detective work. She actually used the word detective. I couldn’t believe it. It totally made my whole day. I’m going to read all about detective work. Maybe it was a sign!