I Drove the Getaway Bus
I was driving an eastbound 21. A man boarded at Marshall and Cretin, carrying a loaded pillow-case (not unusual - there’s a laudromat up the street). He just walked past the farebox; after a block or two I asked for his fare. “I showed you my pass” he said. I asked to see it again, as I’d missed it.
Before he could respond, a St. Paul squad car signaled me over; my heart sank - I have a lead foot and had already been warned. The officer came to my window and asked to speak to a customer. As I opened the door, pillow-case guy was dropping change in the farebox; did he think I had a hot-line to the police for lack of payment?
The officer asked pillow-case guy to step off the bus a moment; he wanted to leave his belongings on the bus, but the officer said they couldn’t delay the bus and asked me to give the passenger a transfer.
I got a phone call at home that evening from the officer who explained that the pillow-case was full of goods from a burglary and asked if I had observed anything suspicious. I told the officer about the late, and sudden, fare payment. The officer thanked me and said rare coins were part of the booty, so he’d try to retrieve the evidence.
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