Soor the week before. ... somebody has been in my house.

[Rain Man]

Last week when I came home from work, I put my key in the front door and the door was already unlocked. I was 100 percent sure that I had locked it when I left that morning, and my wife left before me and got home after me. I was very suspicious because I was 100% sure that I had locked the door, but warily wrote it off as a freak occurrence. Nothing in the house was missing or disturbed.

Today when I went in to work I had a bit of an OCD thing going, in part because I was still sure I'd locked the door last week. I locked up, checked the door, and started to walk away. Something bothered me about it, so I went back and checked the lock again. Then I got out to the sidewalk, looked back, and went back and checked a third time.

Tonight when I got home, the door was unlocked again, and my wife wasn't home yet. Again, nothing was disturbed or missing.

So...what gives?

It's obviously not a burglar. Who breaks into a home and doesn't disturb anything and then leaves? And it's not like they're breaking in. The door is unlocked either with a key or it's unlocked from the inside.

Only the following people have a key or inside access:

1. Me. I didn't do it.
2. My wife. She says she didn't do it.
3. My cat has inside access but doesn't have a key. I don't think he could unlock the door without thumbs.
4. Our cleaning ladies. They come on Tuesdays, but these two events haven't happened on Tuesdays. (I was in the house this Tuesday when they arrived too, so it's not a one-week time shift.) It's been the same cleaning company for years, and the two ladies have been working our house for a couple of years or so. Not sure why they'd be coming in on a non-authorized day.
5. We have a basement apartment, and a new tenant moved in last month. She doesn't have a key to the house, but conceivably she could get into our house via the laundry room, which we share. It's her emergency exit in case of a fire or something and she knows it's off limits, but conceivably she could still get into the house. Not sure why she'd do it if she's not stealing stuff.
6. We have a longtime housesitter who has had a key in her possession at various times. Conceivably she could have copied it, but she's a friend of the family and she housesits anyway, so she has no need to break in while we're here.
7. One of our neighbors has a key as part of an "if we lock ourselves out" arrangement. They're friends and we've been neighbors for 15 years, so I don't see them coming in uninvited.
8. That neighbor has a new worker in his home (at-home business) who conceivably has access to our traded key if he knew what it was and where it was. I have a hard time imagining him breaking into our home with his bosses next door, though.
9. The neighbor also has a basement apartment. In a convoluted scenario, she could conceivably sneak into his house and steal our key, but that sounds as farfetched as eliminating the national debt.
10. The house is 104 years old, and I think the lock is original. If we have a ghost, the ghost would have the key as well as inside access. We've seen no evidence of a ghost, though I did see a TV show last week about the ghosts of Gettysburg, which could have prompted a visit from the spirit world. Not sure why a ghost would unlock the door, though.
11. We've done a lot of remodeling, so contractors have had keys in the past. It's been three years since the last project, though, which seems like a long time to wait.

Who else could it be? What else could it be? Who keeps unlocking my door?

[2112]

Maybe it's the guy who stole your bike?

[Thig Lyfe]

Soor?

[Just Passin' By]

I'm not saying that I know for certain, but never trust a cat

[BossChief]

At least I cleaned up after myself...BTW can you please get some more BBQ sauce?

[alnorth]

Would your cat need a key to unlock the door from the inside?

[Extra Point]

It's that complimentary individual from a few weeks ago. Consider that a precursor to that stalkage. That, or someone at random likes the smell of your wife's panties.

Change the tumblers, and get new keys.

[keg in kc]

I think I'd have changed the locks already.

[TinyEvel]

IPIIHB

I Put It In His Buttertub

[ZootedGranny]

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Extra Point

It's that complimentary individual from a few weeks ago. Consider that a precursor to that stalkage. That, or someone at random likes the smell of your wife's panties.

Change the tumblers, and get new keys.

This seems possible. And there are worse stalkers to have, I'll say diplomatically.

[Bowser]

"Somebody broke into my house, stole everything I had, and replaced it all with exact replicates. I looked at my roommate and asked 'Did you see this?' He looked at me and said 'Do I know you?' "

- Steven Wright

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

I think I'd have changed the locks already.

That was my initial reaction. But whoever it is isn't stealing anything or disturbing anything, and I want to know who it is. So I bought a motion detector security camera tonight. We'll find out soon enough.

[pr_capone]

Originally Posted by ZootedGranny

I'm not going to sleep well tonight.

------

I would most certainly change the locks though I did once have a cat as a child that could open a closed, but unlocked, door.

That cat did not have opposable thumbs.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Would your cat need a key to unlock the door from the inside?

No, but I don't think he'd want to go out the front door. And it'd be really hard for him to jump high enough to unlock it.