At 4:23 am the Master Bedroom motion alarm went off and I went to the monitor to see if anything was going on outside.  As I replayed it I saw lights shining, lighting up the side of our neighbor Ken’s house.  I went to the window and looked out, but it was dark now.  Then I saw a flash, not a flashlight, maybe a cell phone.

I stepped as quickly and quietly as I could to the bedroom and woke Steve up.  I told him that someone was outside our room, right now!  Steve got dressed, went to the window, and peered out.  He stood staring and motioned for me to go to the monitor and see it anything was on the cameras.

There was a shape right between the houses, probably a man.  Steve had come alongside me and whispered he was going out the back door and either catch him of flush him out the front.  He wanted me to go to the front door and if he came by I could run out and see which way he went – except I was wearing a robe.

We were amazingly calm as we set up the sting.  After all these months it seemed all too easy.  Steve had that look in his eyes, nothing was going to stop him.  The shape started moving and his flashlight was on again, completely obvious this time.  Then he turned and the letters SHERIFF in luminescent fabric were clearly seen on his back. Then he was on his phone again and Steve slapped the bat he was holding into his palm and cursed under his breath.  Is he on a stakeout?  Steve wondered.

Just as he said that he walked out to the front yard and we heard his truck start up.  After a while he circled the block twice in his truck slowing down as he was near Morgan’s window.  I called dispatch later and they told me our neighbor’s house had been broken into.  Steve tried to call him to find out what had happened, but could not reach him and just left a message.

Morgan’s sister texted her at 10:32 am, “I’m awake! U?” and Morgan did not answer.  At 2:09 pm her sister texted again, “Did u wanna skype still???”.  Morgan answered her with, “We’re on our way to lunch. I’ll text you after?”  Her sister said, “Have a good lunch!!! Text me when you get back and we will all Skype it” with a bunch of happy faces then “We have never had a Thanksgiving Skype.” With two hearts, and Morgan sent her a heart back.

We all drove into Aspen and had our Thanksgiving at the Maroon Creek Club, which was a very rare experience for us.  Normally it was the whole family, and at least a few more people.  We even tried to always invite someone we had just met to share our dinner with them.  It was always festive at our home, but this was by far more quiet and mellow.  Each of the chefs there made their favorite Thanksgiving dish, and the food was outstanding.  Morgan was all smiles and had a great time talking about Thanksgivings to come, and how some day we would all be at her house, and how different that was going to be for us.  It triggered a memory in me, because when we were were on vacation with Morgan in July we were able to go to my best friend’s house for dinner.  Morgan was enthralled with the glass antique spoon holders my friend had, and said she would love those in her house one day, so I secretly wrote a note to myself since Morgan had been putting together things that she would love to have when she moved into her own home.

She was really starting to look forward to the Yoga certification classes she would be starting soon.  She wanted the both of us to be her first “pupils”, and we agreed.  She loved the tea and the desserts, I think she had at least one piece of each dessert.

Steve took the opportunity, on the drive home, to tell Morgan we had been looking at places to move to, and had found a few that would work. One in particular that we wanted her to see.  Quite matter of factly she asked what we were going to do if he, or the stalker(s) followed us.  Steve was quick to explain that this place had been picked with defense in mind, and the lowest window was twenty feet from the ground.  How it would be so much better for the cameras and there would not be blind spots as we had now.  There were some details to be worked out, but he thought it was going to be much safer for her and far more challenging for him to do anything like what he was doing now.

Morgan was quite cheered up by all this, and then reminded us it would not be so long before she was off to school at CU Boulder anyway, time enough for her Yoga certification program and then just a few months before she would be leaving…

Click here to read about the 116th day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=2273