Today we are young/Too soon we are old.

--Dinah Washington

The Bitter Roommate/West Seattle/Thurs July 25/noon: "The trouble began shortly after my brother's death and the reading of his last will and testament," explained the 74-year-old West Seattle woman to the investigating officer, D. A. Ortiz. "Towards the last week of June 2002 someone shined a light directly through my window in the middle of the night," she said. The West Seattle woman was certain that the person with the flashlight was familiar with her home (which she recently inherited from her dead brother), because the prowler knew how to noiselessly penetrate the maze of shrubbery that obscured her bedroom window. The next incident occurred on July 13, when she was awakened by the sudden sound of a heavy flowerpot smashing on the concrete near the front of her home. She was certain it was no accident--that someone who was familiar with her property had deliberately broken the flowerpot. Then, on July 17, she woke in the morning to find that storage sheds in her carport had been opened during the night.

The woman does not believe her brother's ghost is responsible for these disruptions; she suspects her brother's former roommate, who was mentioned in the deceased's final will and testament but not left with what he really wanted: the home. The home went to her. She thinks the former roommate, a 26-year-old male, is very bitter about the way things turned out, and the West Seattle woman fears he may try to harm her or cause more damage to the property she inherited.

The Bitter Business/Downtown/Thurs July 11/5:33 pm: After the limousine stopped at the entrance of a downtown hotel, the driver stepped out and assisted a waiting businessman with his suitcase and garment bag. Once inside the limousine, the businessman said he had a plane to catch at Sea-Tac, and the limousine promptly departed. But while heading toward the airport, the businessman made an unexpected request. He wanted the driver to make a stop at the Pike Place Market. "I want to buy some seafood to take with me on the plane," he explained. The limousine driver obediently turned and headed for the Market. Once there, the businessman made yet another unexpected request. He asked the driver to roll up the partition between them, saying that he wanted to change his clothes before stepping out of the limousine (the businessman was wearing a business suit). The driver obediently rolled up the partition. A couple of minutes later, the businessman bolted from the limousine and disappeared into the swirling crowds of the Market. The driver rolled down the partition, looked into the back of the limousine, and found that it had been damaged!

Officer Manning writes: "The interior leather seat upholstery had been cut in approximately 14 different places. Also, bleach had been poured onto the carpet."

The driver suspects that his bitter ex-business partner is behind the crime; when kicked out of the business, the partner promised to turn the driver's life into a living hell. "The driver gave me the empty Ultra Bleach bottle and the garment bag," reports Officer Manning, "which did not contain any business clothes but a blanket and rocks."