Thieves Smell Like Poopy

Stef's bike got stolen last night. Not just her bike, but the expensive baby seat on the back (a really nice one we got at a garage sale) and the child carrier trailer attached to it. Yup, her entire "take the kids for a bike ride" setup. Granted, Sarah and Lily can both ride two-wheelers now, but sometimes they just liked to ride in the trailer. All in all, it would cost a fair bit over $450 to replace everything new. We're not likely to find those same things at garage sales.

The sad part is that we both somewhat suspect a fellow that has been coming around looking for work lately. He has helped us with a couple things, for which we paid him, and he seemed like a decent fellow. The fact that he asked for work, and then actually worked hard when offered the work, earned my respect. But yesterday he told me that his mother had died that morning and he was trying to get money for a suit. Call me cynical, but hard luck stories like that seem.... unlikely. I lent him my lawnmower to mow a neighbor's lawn a few doors down. Stef's bike was parked up by the house in the front yard during all this, and when she got home sometime after midnight it was gone.

I really want to believe he didn't steal it, but I can't discount the possibility. Maybe it's the time proximity. Maybe it's the hard luck story. I'm going to drive to a couple pawn shops today to see if anyone has tried to fence it. I mean, how many hard-up parents would need to steal a bike with capability to carry three kids? I still don't want to think bad of him, but we've never had anything stolen from us before (despite ample opportunity) and the timing was just too close.