The Switch (13 page)

Chapter 21

The part of the plan was for
David and John to go on a night time fishing trip. At least that is what they
told the others. Their real plan was to use the cover of darkness to visit Gore’s
house and look for prints outside their windows.

They waited until about an
hour after dark and paddled across the lake. As they neared Gore’s dock John
set his paddle quietly down inside the canoe. David kept his paddle in the
water and guided the canoe’s drift within inches of the dock. John stepped onto
the dock making no noise. David quietly backed the canoe away from the dock and
paddled away slowly. He stopped out into the lake and sat still watching john
disappear into the darkness. He could see flickering light through the front
window of the house, probably from a fire in the fireplace.

John stayed behind the
available cover of bushes and trees as he approached the house. The dry leaves
on the ground made it difficult to walk without making noise so he moved one
step at a time placing his foot down gently and was able to check the dirt
under each window on the back of the house. He held the palm of his hand
partially blocking the beam of his small pen light as he checked the dirt.

He was back at the dock in
less than three minutes. He pointed the pen light towards the canoe which he
could see silhouetted on the moon’s reflection of the water. David moved back
to the dock. John got in and pushed them away from the dock without making a
sound. Neither spoke a word until they were a couple of hundred yards out into
the lake.

Well, David asked, “What is
the verdict?”

“They have prints too. Unless
Gore is peaking in on his own wife, we need to concentrate on Rockford. I’d say
our next step is to wait for more prints to show up under our windows or go
ahead and watch Rockford’s place at dusk.”

David made a stroke with his
paddle and the canoe eased forward. “I see no reason to wait for prints. I
think we should go ahead and watch him.” 

Two hours before dark the
next evening they went into the woods with their .22 rifles using the alibi of
going for an evening squirrel hunt. They positioned themselves in the woods,
one on each side of Rockford’s cabin.

Within ten minutes of it
getting dark, they saw him leave his house by the rear door. David used his
binoculars to watch him walk up his dirt drive passing by within twenty yards
of John. John saw him coming and stood behind a large hickory tree and waited
for him to pass.  

When he was sure Rockford was
well out of sight, he moved out onto the driveway and knelt down. He held the
light within a few inches of the ground and began looking for Rockford’s
footprints. He was on his hands and knees looking at the prints when he was
grabbed on the shoulder. He jumped up and swung his fist. David ducked just in
time to avoid the punch.

“Hey man, I’m on your side,”
David whispered. 

“Damn, I thought you were Rockford.”

He pointed the light at the
tracks in the driveway. “Look at the tracks, same wavy pattern and small shoe
size. He is our man for sure.”

“Are we going to follow him?”

“No, let’s stay here and wait
for him to return. Then we can go check for prints under our windows.”

“Aren’t we going to try to
catch him?”

“Not tonight. If we follow
him in the dark, there is too much of a chance he will see us moving around. I
don’t want to scare him off. I want to see his prints in the fresh dirt more
than one time. Then we can be sure it is him and we can do what we have to do.”

They sat together along the
edge of the driveway and waited. It was nearly an hour later when Rockford came
back down the driveway. As he walked past their hiding position he stopped dead
in his tracks as if he had heard something. He turned his head and starred to
the left of their hiding position.

John slowly moved his head to
look in the same direction when there was a loud blowing of a frightened deer.
The deer bolted from the trees along the opposite side of the driveway and was followed
by at least three or four more deer.    

Rockford continued to look
that direction for almost a full minute before continuing on to his house.
David and John did not move from their position until they could see the light
of candles inside his house.

They went directly to Lynn’s
house and checked the ground. As expected, they found fresh tracks under her
bedroom window.

David smoothed out the tracks
and whispered, “Let’s go check my place.” Rockford’s tracks were under his
bathroom window.

John leaned close to David’s
ear, “You go ahead in the house. I will check for prints at my house and we can
talk tomorrow.”

The next morning they met in
John’s workshop. John looked out the open shop door to be sure none of the kids
were nearby, “His prints are under two of my windows. He is definitely our
guy.”

“So what is the next step?”

John put down the broom he
was using to sweep the floor. “He is probably starting his sightseeing tour with
your house since it is closest to his. Lynn’s is next closest and mine is at
the end of the road. Our plan will be for you to be hiding outside and watching
your house. I will sit outside Lynn’s. When he leaves your house you take off
thru the woods and go to mine. If it worked out right, you will witness him
peeking into your windows and mine. I will see him looking into Lynn’s”

“What excuse will we use
tonight?”

John laughed, “Another
fishing trip.”

When darkness fell they were
in hiding in the bushes with their binoculars ready. David first saw Rockford
creeping along the edge of the trees near the edge of the lake. He could see Rockford
was carrying something in his hand that looked like a rifle. His heart was
pounding with excitement as he focused the binoculars on Rockford standing motionless
under Lynn’s window. A short time later a dim light filtered through the
bathroom window. He strained to see Rockford in the darkness. It appeared
Rockford bent low under the window as he raised the rifle towards the window.

David got nervous thinking Rockford
was going to point the rifle in the window. He strained his eyes to make out
exactly what Rockford was doing but it was too dark. He moved forward twenty
feet and looked again. Rockford did not have a rifle; he had some type of
periscope. He was holding one end to his face while the other end was at the
level of the window.

David took a deep breath and
calmed slightly.

Rockford held the periscope
to the window for only a few seconds before he lowered it down and disappeared
into the darkness.

David made a wide swing
through the trees and jogged towards John’s.

John was only thirty feet
from the rear of Lynn’s house. He had a clear view of the house and could see
candle light through the bathroom window He could hardly believe what happened
when Rockford arrived. Rockford was carrying something long and thin and sat it
on the ground as he stretched to look into the bathroom window. He immediately
pulled his pants down to his knees and began jerking on himself so fast and hard
John thought the man would hurt himself.  Rockford masturbated until the
candlelight was gone from the window. He pulled up his pants, picked up the
thing he had put down when he arrived, and moved out of sight.

John had feelings of anger
and laughter at the same time. He was upset that this pervert was peeking in
windows of his family, but he could not subdue the humor in seeing how
violently Rockford had chocked his chicken.

David positioned himself
under a large bush behind John’s house and waited. He was there about fifteen
minutes when he saw a shadow walking across the yard in front of him. Here came
Rockford with his periscope.

David was hiding under John’s
boat trailer and had a close view of Rockford and the house. Sue must have been
in the bathroom because Rockford seemed to be fidgeting nervously. When Rockford
pulled down his pants and began masturbating wildly he had to fight to hold
back the laughter.

Chapter 22

David and John met back at the
workshop shortly after Rockford returned to his cabin and talked about what
they had seen.

David said, “I am concerned
with what this pervert will do next. I wonder if he will get past just looking
into windows and maybe get physical and try to rape someone.”

“That leads us to the next
question, what do we do now?”

“John, I don’t know. I have
thought a lot about it, and I can’t make up my mind. I know we can’t let him
continue peeking in the windows.”

John knew exactly what he
wanted to do, but he lied and said, “Well, let’s think about it for a couple of
days, there is no hurry. We both better get home. They will get worried if we
are out much longer.”

David agreed and headed for
home. John stood in the doorway and watched as David disappeared into the
darkness. When he was sure David was home, he did not go into his house, he had
something he wanted to do. Something he had not discussed with David. He picked
up his rifle and walked across the yard to the driveway.

They did not talk about
Rockford until David found John sitting on a swing at the edge of the lake
watching the kids swimming two days later. David sat down on the swing beside
him.

“Have you made any decisions
about the pervert?”

“Yes, I want us to go talk to
him together”.

“When”

“Let’s take care if it right
now.”

“Let me go get my .22.”

“No guns, We aren’t going to
shoot him.”

David looked shocked, “We’re
going unarmed.”

David slid off the swing,
John followed

They walked along the
driveway without speaking and knocked on the door of his cabin. There was no
answer. John opened the door and called out for Rockford but there was no
reply. David followed him into the house with caution.

David said, “It looks like he
is not here”.

John looked out the window
toward the lake. “His boat is tied to the dock.”

David went out the rear door
and hollered very loudly for Rockford. There was no response. “Maybe he is in
the woods hunting.”

John looked around and
noticed his rifle was standing in the corner of the living room.

He pointed at it, “Where ever
he is he did not take his .22 with him.”

David walked through the rest
of the house. “The bed is made.”

“Well, it’s not doing us any
good to stay around here, let’s go and come back later.”

As they walked back down the
gravel driveway, David asked John what his plan was to deal with Rockford. He
also asked why they had come unarmed, that seemed dangerous.

John continued walking and
ignored the question.

David reached out and grabbed
the sleeve of John’s sweatshirt. “Hey, what is going on?

He stopped and looked David
straight in the eye as he always did when he was very serious.

“Have you ever heard the
expression don’t ask, don’t tell?”

“Yea.”

“For all we know, he found
out we were onto him and he left. If there is anything in that house you want
or need, take it without guilt or worry. I feel confident we will never see
that pervert again. John emphasized the word confident very dramatically.     

David’s jaw slowly lowered
into a position where his mouth was half open,  “You didn’t………..”

But before he could finish
his question John placed his index finger to David’s mouth and said “Don’t ask
and don’t tell.”