Putting the update here at the top:
I still haven't been able to confirm if if was "the kid" who did this or not, but I did call the local PD and a detective will be here soon to talk to me. I actually expect that to happen briefly because of where we are, and if there's anything important to tell you all about I'll do so. But for now I'm going to log off so I can focus on resolving this.
Please don't rec this diary, because I don't want attention drawn to it at this point.
Here's the sitch: our truck has been parked for a couple months because neither of us have been able to drive for reasons unrelated to this post. I knew it would take some work to get it started after sitting for so long so I've been putting it off, but circumstances have made it important that I get it running again. I tried yesterday with no success, so my FIL came home for lunch today and told me "let's get that truck runnin', kid."
A small fire, a lot of smoke, and a few panicked minutes later and the rig was purring.
I decided to take it for a drive to keep the battery charged and burn off the gas and oil that had coagulated around everything. When I got to the gas station to fill the tank I noticed a bullet in the bed. WTF? Weirder, I picked it up and freaked out a bit: written in sharpie on the bullet were the words "your mine" [sic].
Here is where I may have fucked up, but I'm not sure. I was totally uncomfortable with the bullet being there, so I threw it in the trash at the gas station. I realize in hindsight that wasn't a good idea, but I was shocked and stunned and just wanted the thing out of the truck.
I got home and told my wife about it, noting that although I'm familiar with different types of ammo I'd never seen a bullet like that before. We googled it and found out it's either a tracer bullet, an armor piercing bullet, or both. So not something that most people around here would use; guns in this area are usually for hunting only, and any ammo one might find would reflect that. I'm a native Idahoan, I've been raised around guns, but I actually had to google that shit.
Here's why I'm asking what you would do.
A) it was irresponsible of me to throw the bullet in the trash. I recognize that now but didn't think of that at the time.
B) was this a stupid prank or something more sinister?
C) should we call the police?
We didn't want to call the police because it may have been a prank by my little BIL's friend who is living with my in-laws as basically a foster kid. He does stupid shit all the time for attention without thinking about the consequences. He hasn't come home for the night yet so we don't know. (While this would be the best option, my FIL is NOT amused and will probably tear the kid a new one, verbally, of course.)
But what if it's not him? And the style of ammo makes us wonder about that. My older BIL is the type to have ammo like that but he's NOT the type to leave it lying around, especially when kids are around, and he hasn't been around much at all lately. At least not long enough for ammo to be misplaced.
We're waiting until we can confirm if it was a prank. The kid is a pain in the ass but he's otherwise a good kid and he doesn't lie or obfuscate when he's in trouble.
If it wasn't him, what then?
This is just all so surreal that I don't know what to do. And I'm also feeling kind of shitty for throwing the bullet in the trash. The odds of it hurting anyone are small, but STILL!!
Any advice? Thoughts? Chastisements? I'm seriously at a loss and have no idea if I should take this seriously (even if it's not the kid) or just write it off as a stupid prank.