Chapter 8
peace graham
. . .
“Where the hell is my bracelet?” I whispered to myself after I went through my things for the third time.
I knew for a fact that I had set it in my bathroom before I left.
The only reason I took it off was that I didn’t want it to get wet while I cleaned the sink.
No one had access to our rooms except the staff, which was why I kept searching.
After I tore my room up for another hour, I finally gave up.
Tears threatened to fall, but I refused to let them.
Instead, I decided to head to the front desk to see if anyone could answer my questions.
There were cameras everywhere, so someone should be able to access the footage.
The last time I saw my bracelet was this morning, so they wouldn’t have to look very far.
“Hey. Is Denise in? I need to speak to one of the managers.” The girl at the front desk looked up at me as if I were interrupting her, but I didn’t care.
“I’ll check to see if she’s busy.” She got up and headed towards the little office behind her. I kept to myself so I rarely had any issues, but I had a feeling today would be different.
“Hey, Peace. What can I do for you, sweetheart?” Denise was an older black woman. She always came in with a smile, ready to help anyone in need.
“Hey, I apologize for interrupting you, but I need help with a situation.”
“It’s no problem, love. What’s going on?” I could tell she genuinely cared about what was going on, and I appreciated that.
“I set my tennis bracelet on my bathroom counter this morning, but when I came home, it was gone. I’ve turned my room upside down trying to find it, and it’s nowhere to be found.
I know for a fact it was on my counter, and no one has been in my room besides the cleaning ladies.
I was wondering if there was any way to check the cameras.
The last thing I want is to falsely accuse someone of theft, but my bracelet has sentimental meaning, and I would really like to have it back,” I explained.
Denise gave me a sympathetic smile before she responded to me.
“Oh, no. I’m sorry this has happened. I would be happy to speak with the security staff to see if they can retrieve footage from earlier today.
Is it at all possible that you may have left it at work or in your car?
” she asked. I wanted to go off, but it wouldn’t get me anywhere.
She had every right to ask questions when I was essentially accusing her staff of theft.
“No, it’s not. I wear it every day, but I was running late this morning.
I accidentally spilled setting powder in the sink, and I wanted to clean it up instead of leaving it for someone else.
I removed my bracelet and set it on the counter while I cleaned the sink.
In normal cases, I would have grabbed it before I left, but since I needed to get to work, I forgot all about it.
I’m sure whoever grabbed it did so by mistake.
All I want is my bracelet.” On the outside, I appeared calm, but on the inside, I was ready to break down.
My mother purchased that bracelet, and it was one of the only things I had of her.
“Okay, sweety. I can see this means a great deal to you, and I would like to give you some peace of mind. Give me until tomorrow to get some answers, and we’ll see what we need to do to rectify this.
Hopefully, it turns up before then.” Denise placed her hand on mine before she retreated to her office.
It wasn’t the answer I was looking for, but I was satisfied that someone was working on it.
I turned to head back upstairs when I saw a group of women talking in the common area.
It wasn’t anyone I was cool with, but something caught my attention.
I noticed the sparkling jewelry on Marissa’s wrist, and my stomach sank to my feet.
I would have ignored it, but the similarities couldn’t be missed. Before I could think twice, I walked up to the group to get a closer look.
“Umm, can we help you? Why would you stand right in front of us as if we weren’t watching tv?” Lena questioned with her head cocked to the side.
All I wanted was answers, so I swallowed hard and tried to speak calmly.
“I apologize, I noticed Marissa’s bracelet, and it looked similar to mine.”
“Are you trying to call my friend a thief?” Lena sat up in her seat as if she were ready to jump up. Fighting was against the shelter’s rules, so I wasn’t willing to risk my housing. However, I wanted to know where the bracelet came from, and I wasn’t backing down from anyone.
“My mother gave me that bracelet, and I’m desperately trying to find it. Do you mind showing me the diamonds? All I need to do is verify that it isn’t mine and I’ll go back to my room.” It took everything inside of me to remain calm because my spirit wanted to tell her to kiss my ass.
“You’re a bold bitch. I’ll give you that. Did you really think you could walk your ass over here, accuse me of stealing, and I was gonna let you search me? Bitch, you have lost your mind,” Marissa spat.
“You don’t have to show me, but I’ve already reached out to Denise, and she’s having security pull the tapes. If you did take my bracelet, you’ll either be in jail or on the streets by tomorrow. I tried to come to you with respect, but since you want to get disrespectful, we can go there.”
“You look like the type of bitch who steals because no one else loved you enough to buy you anything. I already know that you and two of the girls on the cleaning staff are close, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they helped you take my things.
If you did take my shit, I would suggest you return it before morning comes, it’s hard to sell pussy with no place to sleep.
” I turned to walk away because if I stuck around, things would only get worse.
“Yeah, well, at least I’ll have a piece of your dead momma to keep me company. Maybe she’ll give me better luck than she gave you.” Her words felt like salt in a fresh wound, and before I knew it, we were on the ground, scrapping. Marissa weighed more than I did, but it didn’t faze me one bit.
I wasn’t sure how much time went by, but after a while, we were pulled apart by the staff. Blood poured out of Marissa’s mouth, but I felt no remorse. I tried my best to avoid any drama because I wanted to keep a roof over my daughter’s head, but I lost control.
“What in the world has gotten into you, ladies? You know the rules, so why would you put yourselves and your families at risk? What were you fighting about?” Denise questioned as she stood between us. She turned to face me first as she waited for an answer.
“She has my bracelet on. I tried to ask her about it nicely, but things got heated. She made a comment about my mother, and we ended up fighting.” I felt dumb as I repeated the story. The right thing to do was to walk away and let the staff handle things, but I messed up.
“I told you I would handle it. All you had to do was wait for us to investigate, and we would have gotten to the bottom of things. I’m sorry, Peace, but you knew the rules. I’ll give you a couple of hours to gather your things, and security will escort you out. I wish you the best.”
“Wait. What about my bracelet?” I was already out of a home; it would have been even worse if it had been in vain.
“I’ll be in touch with you once we review the cameras.”
“No, that’s not gonna work for me. We can involve the police if needed. I’m not leaving this property without my bracelet. There’s a small heart charm on the clasp, and it has the letter “P” on it. You can look at the bracelet and verify that it’s mine.”
Denise nodded her head for the security guard to check Marissa’s wrist. Her dumb ass should have had enough sense to remove the heart charm at least, but she may not have noticed because she was too busy being a sneaky bitch.
“It’s hers.” He lifted Marissa’s arm and removed it from her wrist. Denise gave her the same disappointed look she gave me.
“You need to pack your things, Marissa. We do not tolerate thieves in this facility. If someone helped you, please tell us who they are so we can let them go as well. I wish you the best.” Denise walked away as the guard handed me the bracelet.
They followed me to my room, where I packed up our things.
I wanted to beat my own ass for allowing my anger to get the best of me, but there was no time to dwell on things I couldn’t change.
Dreaux texted me to ask what time I would be there to pick up Promise, but I told him I needed some time.
He assured me there was no rush, but I planned to get out there as soon as possible.
The only reason I stopped by the shelter first was that I was anxious about my bracelet and I wanted to catch the cleaning staff before they left.
Once all our things were packed, the staff helped me load them into my car.
I was grateful to have a working vehicle because at least I would be able to get to work, and we would have a place to sleep.
My emotions were numb as I closed the trunk, filled with all our belongings.
Once again, my choices would have a negative impact on my daughter, and that hurt more than anything.
The only bright side was that I would have enough money for a security deposit and a down payment on Friday.
All we had to do was grind it out for a few days.