14. Piper
Piper
P iper brought the ceramic doll with her to the prison. Sleight of hand was one of the first things Jed had taught her when they got together and she was pretty good at it.
She’d borrowed someone’s phone on the bus ride to the prison to look the doll up.
It was a Florence, from the World War II era, and in good condition like this one was, it would be worth about fifty dollars.
Abby had at least twenty of them lined up on her shelf, along with a lot of other figurines.
She’d never notice that this one had gone missing, fifty dollars would just about cover the gas bill this month, and Jed would be pleased to see that Piper had completed the mission he’d given her during her last visit.
There was just the gnawing feeling of guilt in her stomach to be overcome.
Piper didn’t like doing these things - especially to Hunter’s employer - but she had to admit that Jed had a point.
Abby would be no worse off without another trinket to collect dust in her house, and the fifty dollars she’d get when she pawned the doll would make a real difference in her life, and in the boys’ lives.
As she ran her finger over the smooth ceramic, Piper pushed aside the feeling of guilt. That was another skill that Jed tried to teach her, but it had never really taken.
When she got to the visitation room, Jed was waiting for her, the phone already pressed to his ear. When Piper picked up her own receiver, the first thing he asked was not how are you? or how are the boys doing?
It was, “Did you do it?”
She set the doll down on the little ledge in front of the glass that separated them, and Jed grinned wide, showing his teeth.
“Attagirl,” he said. “How did it feel?”
Piper swallowed hard as another wave of guilt washed over her.
It had been kind of a rush the moment she set the ceramic dog back on the shelf and palmed the Florence doll.
It was an adrenaline rush that Jed had introduced her to many years ago, when she was a stupid teenager and they’d go into the shops downtown, stealing from them just for the practice.
But it didn’t take long for that adrenaline to turn into a sour feeling in her stomach. Piper couldn’t jeopardize Hunter’s job, no matter how much she craved her husband’s approval.
"I can't do it again,” Piper said. "It felt wrong. This is my sister’s employer we’re talking about.”
"Yeah, a senile old woman in a mansion in the middle of the woods," Jed said, keeping his voice low so that the guard standing by the door wouldn’t overhear them. “How much more perfect can you get? They’ll never even notice the stuff’s gone, but you know who will?”
“Who?”
“Josh,” Jed said. “Think of what a difference it will make for him if, for once, he doesn’t have to wonder whether the price of his medication is a burden on the family. You know he practically gives himself ulcers worrying about that kind of thing.”
Piper nodded. He was right - she worried about Josh a lot and no matter what she did to keep her money troubles from him, he always seemed to sense it.
“What do I always tell you?” Jed went on. “The system is rigged against us. If you play by their rules - the rich people with the fifty dollar figurines cluttering their houses - you’ll never get ahead. You’ll always be struggling just to keep your head above water.”
Piper cast her eyes down on the figurine. Even the Florence doll was a reminder of how different Piper’s world was from Abby’s. In a long dress embellished with lace, her hair in curls and her hands delicate, it was clear that Florence was no working girl.
“Hey, you hear me?” Jed barked, and Piper snapped her eyes back to him. He jabbed his finger against the glass and said, “Don't let anyone tell you that all you deserve is a minimum wage job serving entitled brats their morning coffee. You want something, you fucking take it.”