TTSOML #100: Raul Bujanda's Game

Bujanda kept calling me. I didn't return his calls because I was out. When I finally returned a call, he talked to me for awhile and said he wanted to meet up with me again. I can't remember what happened first, but I think he tried to call and come over after work one night and then later he was in California, for his "psych eval".

When Bujanda called asking to come over to my apartment, he said he had to see me. I wasn't going to see him at my apartment because I didn't want him getting the idea he was coming over for an overnighter or something and I wasn't ready to let him in my house. I didn't know him well enough. I'd gone to other people's houses before, but not brought them to my house. So I told him no. I said instead, if he wanted to see me, I could meet him in a public place. He said nothing was open and I said what about Fred Meyers? It was the one off of Terwilliger. He said it was closing, because it was already 11 or close. So then he said the Burger King parking lot. I was going to meet him there.

So I called my "ex", the boy toy, and told him, and asked what he thought. He seemed angry and I didn't know why because it wasn't as if he had been telling me he was only exclusive with me. I guess he did take me to dinner at his mother's house a couple times, but still, he had been so rude and spent his time talking to young guys when we went to clubs to dance. So what was the big deal. I was still trying to be friends with him. I would have remained friends if he'd wanted to. So he knew where I was meeting Bujanda, and I can't remember if I told Christa or not. She was very odd about the whole thing, not wanting to talk about him at all, or the FBI at all. So I drove to meet Bujanda and there were two or more cars in the parking lot but just two with lights on. One was in the back and one had tinted windows and I assumed it was his car. It was. I was confused at first because he'd been telling me on the phone he had to take a van back. He said he was coming back from hanging out with some drug dealers or something. So where was the van?

When I pulled up next to his car, he rolled down the window and then asked me to get in his car to visit. So I did. I had no reason not to believe he was FBI. His card was legit, and he was smart enough, I could tell by talking to him. I just knew he really was and I later confirmed I was right. So I'm in his car and noticed a Catholic prayer card of Jesus on his dash, facing me. Although I knew it was Catholic, I still tried to not to assume things or be judgmental, although I should have been more careful, especially when I was in the middle of litigation with the Catholic church. I said, enthusiastically, "You have Jesus!" and he laughed. I reached over to pick it up and he told me not to touch it. I picked it up anyway. Why did it matter? I couldn't get it to go back the right way though. It was a card of the sacred heart of Jesus, with the flaming heart deal in the middle of Christ's chest. It was facing one way and then after I touched it, it faced another way.

Bujanda had told me he always wore a medal of St. Jude but he hadn't been wearing one when I met him. Then he's got this Catholic prayer card carefully positioned in his car. So he asks me a bunch of questions, and then when I was talking about how I was planning to go to law school and then join the FBI through the lawyer referral program, he stopped my talking by leaning over to kiss me. He kissed me and touched me, but he pulled away from french kissing. It was sort of odd, like he was doing it out of a duty or something, and not really meaning it or feeling it. Just as it was getting passionate, he pulled away. So I thought this was bizarre, coming from a guy who had asked if he could come over to my apartment that night.

He was wearing a white T-shirt, jeans, and a red fleece pullover.

He had barely kissed me. I noticed, across from us, another car with two people in the front, facing and watching us. I said, "Are these your people?" and he said no. But they were obviously there to watch. So then he opens the door for me and gets out and suddenly, he makes this big show. He grabbed me in a stronghold way and kissed me in a passionate manner. I thought it was so weird. It was like he was putting on a show for someone. He hadn't kissed me like that in the car. So I got in my car and went home, alone.

He kept calling me. He called me every day, more than once. Next, he was telling me he had to go to California for the mandatory "psych eval", because, he said, in his line of work, they had to check their guys out to make sure they were "okay". He called me from California when he got there, saying he'd been placed at some lousy Motel 6 or something. So he called me from there and then said he was going to buy a new shirt, and after he did, said it was yellow. He said he didn't think he was going to have to stay longer, and he only had a couple of shirts with him. Or maybe it was one, and he didn't want to wear the same thing. I said why not, they'd understand, and he said no. So he went to his psych eval and called me after, saying now he was at a different motel. A better one.

I asked him how his psych eval went. He said he did okay but that he was really screwed up. I asked how and he said on one thing he was at the total abnormal end, a very big extreme. But, he said, the psychologist said it was normal for his personality and what his work was. I asked what the issue was and it sounded like emotional detachment or something. He was in San Diego, California. He said he'd call me from the plane or when he got home.

So he did, and through these few conversations, I began to trust him a little bit. He seemed like a decent guy. I did wonder about the Catholic prayer card thing.

The other thing I wondered about, was his car. He didn't know how to operate the radio. It was like he'd never been in the car before and yet he was saying this was his car. His excuse was that it was in the shop and then someone else borrowed it and screwed up the stereo. But that wasn't true. I could tell he just didn't know how to operate it. Also, he made a big deal about some switches on the top of the car. He acted like I'd seen them and made excuses, saying he wanted to get rid of it. I didn't know what the switches were for.

Finally, the other weird thing was that Bujanda did not just have one walkie-talkie with him. He had 3 or 4. He talked to his boss, "Bill" on one of them and had another one next to that one, and then one in the backseat. I thought it was strange. Why did he have all these walkie talkies in his car? When he talked to Bill, Bill told him to get some sleep after discussing a few things about the van. Bill was pretty discreet about the topic though and I now think Bill knew all along, what was going on.

I also decided, later on, that the car Bujanda was driving, hadn't been his car, and that it was, instead, likely an undercover car borrowed from the Portland police.

I was able to later confirm Bujanda was then and afterwards, on a joint taskforce with the Portland Police. He had told me this himself as well. He said they helped eachother out with stings and different busts and projects.