MeXscape

Living, working, and playing in Mazatlan, Mexico

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And Yet So Far

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The next morning, around 11:00, an old, dirty, beat up, red Tsuru with no license plates pulled up in front of Pepe's house. Our street is very narrow, and the car completely blocked access so no one could come or go. A man got out and started calling to Pepe. I just thought, "What now?"

All of the possibilities started to roll through my head: Pepe's drug dealer, Pepe's drug customer, a fence, someone in the market for a stolen TV, someone Pepe owed money – the possibilities kept on going, and none of them were good. The man certainly looked unsavory and had an unpleasant demeanor.

Pepe wasn't home, so the man's calls were fruitless. As we watched him, an old Ford Explorer slowly drove by the end of our street, then backed up and went up the hill. We have noticed the car around for the past week and had it pegged for Pepe's friends. I started to get an uneasy fear knot in the pit of my stomach.

Of course, Pepe chose this moment to come sauntering up the street. When he saw the man and the car, he stopped – right in front of our house. They had some shouted conversation that I did not understand. The Ford Explorer came back and the occupants got out. My sense of foreboding became crushing. This was not a recipe for a tea party.

Pepe turned and ran. The man from the Tsuru drew a gun. The men from the Explorer drew guns. I didn't even have time to think, "holy shit" before the assorted men were joined by uniformed officers that appeared from nowhere, also with guns drawn.

That is something I had never considered when flipping through the possibilities when the red car showed up. Plain clothes officers and unmarked cars. One man shouted to Pepe to stop, and the whole group followed Pepe in close pursuit.

Now, when men with guns drawn go running down my street, I make it a kind of policy to not stand there with my head hanging out the window, and I couldn't see anything from my duck and cover position, so I am surmising about the next events based on what I heard and what I saw afterward.

At least one of the officers spent his money on ammunition, because there was a very loud gunshot. We think it was a warning shot fired into the air, because Pepe was not shot and we didn't hear an impact with brick, cement, asphalt, rocks, trees, or any other hard surface.

I am sure several minutes passed, but is seemed like bare seconds later, the police escorted Pepe up the hill. His face was quite bloody from a large cut over one eye, so Pepe either tripped down the concrete stairs that go up our hill, or the police tackled him none too gently. Either way, I am impressed the police caught him, because Pepe is really fast and had a 100 foot head start on them.

We both watched as Pepe was led up the hill, then looked at each other and shared the same thought: They are going to arrest him, right? I mean, you don't go through all this trouble and fire a gun and everything and then not arrest someone, right? And sure enough, they put him in the back of a police truck and took him away.

Not having slept in the last 36 hours, we were both exhausted, but knew that we were not going to be able to rest any time soon. Full of giddy relief and heart-pumping adrenaline, we decided to head down to Puerto Viejo and have a few beers.

We met a friend there, and regaled him with the more exciting highlights of our story while enjoying cold Pacificos and the warm Mazatlan sunshine. The feeling of freedom and just all out joy was immense. But eventually, the adrenaline wore off and we knew we needed to go to bed. We paid our tab and walked up the hill.

On the way home, we noticed that Liane's friend had showed up to secure her house. There was an iron cage going in around her air conditioner. We decided to go ahead and take her recovered belongings over there. While we were talking with Liane's friend, Pepe walked by. It was like being hit with a hammer. We just saw him taken away by the police. How can he possibly be here?

It turns out that even though we have honest men and women patrolling our hill, the jail is not so fortunate. Pepe, with his pockets lined by his recent late night excursions, bought his way out of jail for a paltry $1,000MXN.

I know I was crushed. I cannot even begin to imagine how our officers feel. After all their effort, so long wanting to put him away, and to have it all negated by a dishonest jailer. It must be so demoralizing.

We had to walk past Pepe sitting on his stoop in order to get back home. When we passed by, he gave us the look. My fear knot was back.

Once back home, we talked about what to do. Fortunately we knew that Pepe's favorite form of retribution was robbery, so our main concern was our stuff. Yes, he has gotten violent in the past, but it has always been impulse violence when he is really in need of a fix, not planned or methodical violence.

We decided to sleep in shifts, so someone is always in the house and awake. Chuck gets the 10 pm to 3 or 4 am shift, I get 4 am to 9 am. Just to be safe, we don't walk anywhere. We take the truck everywhere we go. The poor dogs are confused and edgy. We're pretty tired. And lonely. We don't get to see each other much. It's not a long term solution, but it's working for us, for now, until we figure something else out.

The whole story:
Robbery Redux
The Saga Continues...
So Close
And Yet So Far
Ding Dong, the Meth Head's Gone

Comments (3)
  • sans  - MethPep
    Good luck! If we were closer I would volunteer a shift!
  • jennifer  - MethPep
    Thanks. If you were closer, I would take it ;)
  • NancyD  - House arrest
    Chuck and Jennifer, I am just horrified by what you are going through. I would be happy to come over so you guys could go out or get some sleep. Or maybe have a party? Something to exorcise the demon?

    I can't even imagine how pissed off you must be. Call me if you want me to spell you, really.

    Take care, Nancy
  • jennifer  - House arrest
    Thank you Nancy. I have had just enough sleep to be appalled at the idea of you seeing the house in its present condition. Maybe after maid day?
  • NancyD  - House arrest
    Anytime at all. I mean it.

    N.
  • MichaelF  - holy shit!
    Pardon my french, please.
    I'm concerned aboiut you 2.
    I hope the dogs keep you safe.
    I hope Pepe gets incarcerated soon.
    Michael
  • sans  - methpep
    Nancy has a great idea!! I have some sage from an Indian reservation in New Mexico!!
  • jennifer  - methpep
    And I have the tequila!
  • jennifer  - holy shit!
    Thanks Michael. The dogs are tuning out to be really fine guard dogs. I think they understand something is up. They have quit all the useless barking they usually do at random passers by and save the alerts for people we really need to be aware of. Of course, there are a lot fewer random passers by now...
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