MissouriGranny, TY for your kind concern about my safety.
My BF left town today so I wasn't able to drag him w/ me this time. But, I'm glad to report back that I made it home safe & sound!
I drove UP 10th/Joe White Ave--starting at Ocean Blvd & ending where the road ends at Grand Strand Humane Society--& looked for any sign of a pay phone along the LEFT side of the road. Then I drove back DOWN again & looked for any sign on the RIGHT side of the road. I figured if I was taking the time to check them out, I needed to be thorough enough to give y'all a
definite answer.
Ok, so we knew about the pay phone at the Kangaroo Express on the corner of 10th/Joe White & Seaboard. That's the phone I checked last night that didn't work... not even a dial tone. I even put in 50 cents & dialed my cell number anyway... just to see if I would get a dial tone after I put the change in it. There still wasn't a dial tone & my phone didn't ring... nothing... not even dead air. So, we know the phone on the corner of Seaboard & 10th does not work.
After last night, we know there's another pay phone on 10th/Joe White--at the Circle K, at the intersection of 17 Business AKA Kings Highway. (I
really don't know
why MB feels the need for all these roads/highways to have multiple names. It's maddening!) That's the phone I used to call my cell... which produced the number (843) 916-4534 on my caller ID. For those of you that might have missed it, I called the phone back while I was still standing by it & it didn't ring. On my phone's end, it rang once & then emitted a screeching noise similar to that of fax machine.
During my trip
today, I located
one other pay phone. This phone is located at the Family Dollar directly across the street from the Circle K... on the other side of Kings Highway. I'm not gonna lie. I reeeeaaallllyyyy didn't want to stop & check that phone because I didn't feel safe getting out of my car there AT ALL & I had serious doubts it would be the phone SM called Heather from that night anyway. The phone isn't on the corner or next to the road, and I could have easily missed it if I wasn't looking so hard. It's directly in front of the Family Dollar & the back of the phone faces the street... so I couldn't tell if there was an actual phone even in there. I had to park my car in what could almost be considered an alleyway & walk around the corner of the block to reach the phone. But, I knew if I didn't check it out... there could always be the chance that it
was the phone SM used. So, I booked it around that corner as fast as I could, & there was a phone in there... but again, no dial tone. I chunked the change in there & dialed my cell (just to be sure) & it was just like the phone at Kangaroo... nothing.
With that being said---I can say w/ 100% confidence that if the phone SM used to call Heather is located on 10th/Joe White Ave, as reported by MSM, it HAD to be the one located at the Circle K. The only exception would be if one of the two non-working phones (at Kangaroo or Family Dollar) was working back in December. However, it seems less likely to me now that the phone at Kangaroo could have been working then now that I know the one at Family Dollar doesn't work either.
Also, I pulled back up to the phone at Circle K to look for cameras again while it was still light outside. I still didn't see anything except for maybe one above the entrance doors. & the signs I mentioned last night that I thought said 'under the jurisdiction of MBPD' actually say 'no loitering'.
Anyway, I took a picture of the Family Dollar, the phone at the Circle K, the loitering signs, & what could be a camera above the Circle K's entrance doors. Sorry if they aren't all that great....
A) Camera at Circle K?
B) Circle K pay phone
C) No loitering signs at Circle K
D) Family Dollar
