today i got a phone call from my friend and old coworker, marlene. she asked if i was sitting down. i was. she told me that pat (our old coworker) had been arrested. for the murder of his wife yesterday. WHAT!?!?!?!!?!? no non onononooonooo this is not happening. i am in shock. ABSOLUTE shock. i KNOW this man. REALLY well! and for at least 6 years! marlene had to be wrong about this... it isn't true. it's some other 44 year old man who happens to live in lincroft, nj with the name patrick allen, right?! where'd she get this story?! i'm shaking. with tears in my house. this isn't happening. this isn't true. it can't be.
pat was sort of a boss figure, sort of coworker, mentor and friend to me. he was the outside wholesaler, i was the inside/outside combination wholesaler. we traveled to conferences together. we traveled to properties for tours together. we went to meetings together. a lot. we went on one EPIC 10 day trip to something like 14 different properties and 7 states?! I can't even remember where all we went, but it was all over! i mean, I KNOW THIS GUY WELL! when you spend that much time traveling and driving in cars, you chat. you get to know someone. when i told him i wanted to leave the company and move to chicago, he helped me get a job here. it ended up being a shitty job, but it got me to chicago and it paid well (well, until they no longer made payroll, but that wasn't his fault!). after i lost that job, he helped however he could to help me find another... and when i lost that next job, he would check in periodically and sent me job listings. he was always trying to help.
my very favorite pat story is when we were at a conference in vegas. we were all at the bar and i saw a super cute guy walk in. i mentioned it to pat and the other client/friends that were around us. pat says "do you want me to get him over here?!". i said he's probably gay or married... and all embarrassed, but emboldened by the booze, i said, "umm, ok"... the next thing i know pat's talking to this guy and the guy has some weird expressions (oh hhhhhhh noooo) and then the guy smiles and pat walks back over and says "he'll come over and talk to you in a min". what?! yesssss! "way to go pat!! but um, what the heck did you tell him?" pat says "i asked him if he was gay... and he said unsurely, waaaaaat, why? and then pat says just answer the question... the guy says, no... and pat says, are you married? same answers from the guy... then pat says - you see that girl over there? she thinks you're cute. come talk to her. and the guy says, ok!". i ended up spending the rest of the night hanging out with him. and we hung out the rest of the conference. unfortunately he lived in sf and i was just done with denver boy and another long distance deal seemed dumb at the time. turns out this guy was some hot property because a few years later he's in the news for dating and eventually marrying marissa mayer, google's 3rd employee and super rich chick! dangit. i missed the boat on the hot guy.
marlene had gotten a call from a coworker who'd talked to a previous good client of mine and friend/client of pat's. after searching on the internet and seeing the news articles, i had to make some calls. pat. his cell is disconnected. his office line went straight to vm. ok, email. sent him emails saying please tell me this isn't you. it can't be you. called kenny (my old client/friend and pat's client/friend) who lives in nj. he confirmed. it is THE pat we both know. he didn't have any details for me, but he was every bit as shocked as me. called marlene back. told her it's true. it's all over the internet. pat is being held on 1.5 million dollar bail. they aren't saying how she was killed, who found her, who called 911, or any details. they aren't saying what the evidence is either. nothing. i'm going crazy. i'm in shock. it JUST CAN'T BE. this is some HORRIBLE MISTAKE, right?!
he has two boys - i think they must be like 11 and 13 ish now. those poor boys! they have lost their mom and their dad is in jail. and it's almost thanksgiving! they must be going through hell.
http://matawan-aberdeen.patch.com/articles/homicide-reported-in-lincroft#photo-8488646
http://www.app.com/article/20111119/NJNEWS/311190023/Middletown-man-charged-wife-s-slaying?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage
1 comment:
hi, i sometimes follow you blog through trish, leslie & devon (worked at camp with them). i can relate to what you are going through. last year, a co-worker and perhaps one of my closest friends at work was arrested by the FBI on charges of possessing and distributing child porn online. i was in disbelief, shock, anger and sadness. it is a really tough thing to go through when you think you know someone and that view of them is turned upside down. i'm sorry that you have to go through this. my only advice is that you need to treat it like someone's death - the person you knew is gone and you have to grieve that. but it is also harder b/c you know that person is alive and has done something horrible that cannot be rationalized. it will take a lot of time, but lean on your friends going through the same thing. sorry you have to go through this.
-debi
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