Chapter Eleven #2
“Do you remember one day, maybe about a week after the electrician was here, that I told you someone rang our doorbell in the middle of the day while I was working?”
Her mind flipped backward. It had been a small mention in the midst of many other things they talked about but yes, she did remember.
“A woman?” she asked.
“Yes. I had a conference call coming up and was working on some notes for it. The doorbell rang and a woman with curly hair and glasses was standing there.”
“Go on…” Kelly could feel where this was going, and her throat tightened.
“She said she was the electrician’s assistant and he had left a tool here.
He had told her where it was and could she dash upstairs and grab it?
She was on her way to meet him at a jobsite.
She had on work overalls. My conference call was about to start so I told her that was fine.
She’s the only person I can think of who was unsupervised upstairs. Oh my God, Kell, do you think she…?”
“Did she have a bag with her?”
“Uh, I don’t know, I honestly didn’t pay attention.”
“And you didn’t notice anything else gone after she left?”
“No. She went upstairs quickly and left.”
“But Joel, you said you were with the electrician the whole time. How could he have left a tool here?”
“I had to step into the hallway and take a call while he was working so he was alone in the guest bedroom fixing that light switch. We don’t go into that room much so I guess when the woman was at the door, I just figured the tool was in that room somewhere.
I pictured it like a screwdriver or something he set down on the bedside table. ”
“And you never got her name, or saw what kind of car she drove or anything?”
“No, I didn’t … I should have. Oh no, if she did this…” His voice dropped. “Kelly, if she took your jewelry, I will never forgive myself, ever. I’m so … so sorry.”
He glanced at her with eyes glistening and a pleading look on his face.
She felt herself believing him, giving in to the story that he was likely not a robber but had perhaps inadvertently let one into the house.
Kelly wanted to scream at him for being such an idiot but she knew deep down that she likely would have let an electrician’s assistant in too.
“Our Ring cam, Joel, would it still be on there? Does it save video for that long?” Kelly wanted to see this woman herself.
“Great idea. We paid for the premium that holds the videos for sixty days.”
He took off down the stairs and Kelly followed him. They went straight to his laptop and he started madly typing until he had the Ring cam backlist pulled up.
“It must have been a Tuesday,” he mused. “Because that’s when we have the big conference call each week. Right before ten is when she arrived … Aha, here it is…”
He hit play and they both leaned forward for a closer look.
A woman appeared from the edge of the screen.
She did not seem to have a car, or at least she wasn’t getting out of one.
She stopped at their house and looked up at the front door, then walked confidently up the steps and rang the doorbell.
Kelly noticed right away that she did have a bag, kind of a larger one, like a hobo purse.
She was wearing thicker glasses that made it hard to discern her eyes.
The video showed her talking to Joel for a moment, then walking in.
Three minutes and thirty-seven seconds later the video had her leaving and heading in the same direction she came. Kelly tried to see if the hobo bag looked any larger than when she walked in but it was hard to tell, plus rings and necklaces and brooches wouldn’t take up much space.
“Holy crap, it had to be her, she’s literally the only person I can think of,” said Joel.
“We have to call the electrician and ask if he sent someone. I threw his business card in the kitchen drawer. Really nice guy, he even put his cell number on the card in case we had any problems with the light switch.”
Joel ran to retrieve the card and punched the number into his phone. Kelly could hear someone answer.
“Hello, yes, is this Vince Ingraham? I’m sorry to bother you on a weekend,” Joel said, and started explaining the whole situation while Kelly stared at her boyfriend intently.
His face fell quickly and he looked at her with dread.
He hung up and whispered, “He says he didn’t leave a tool and he absolutely didn’t send someone to retrieve it. We have to call the police now.”
“And tell them what? We have no name and no vehicle.”
“What choice do we have other than to call the cops? Are we going to sit here and do nothing?” Joel asked, his voice rising. “A woman stole from you, from us. We have to at least try. We have the Ring cam video.”
Kelly thought for a moment, twisting her hands.
Her stomach was a tight knot. “One thing I don’t get, Joel, is how this woman would know we had an electrician if he didn’t send her.
Why would she tell you that at the door?
Could the electrician be lying to us right now?
Maybe he did see the jewelry and then sent someone back for it. ”
“But Kell, he never went into our bedroom, and you keep the box closed anyway. He wouldn’t have seen your things walking past. I’m telling you, we went straight to the guest bedroom and he started working on the light switch.
I was with him except for that brief time I had to take a call and went into the hallway. ”
“Then it all makes no sense,” Kelly said. Sadness and anger settled into her bones in equal parts. “You’re right. Let’s call the police. Joel, honestly, I don’t even know if I can go to the wedding now.”
“Wait, what? Can’t you wear something else? Some other jewelry? We’re going to blow off the wedding?”
“It’s not that, I just don’t know if I’m in the mood.”
Joel gave her a look she couldn’t place. It wasn’t a glare, it wasn’t a confused stare, it was more like … he was assessing her. She didn’t like the look. He spoke slowly.
“Kell … this wedding is important to me. Hank is a good friend and an important coworker. And honey, can I say something else? The fact that you thought it was me who stole from you … that really hurt.”
Her stomach clenched and the next words came flying out of her mouth too quickly.
“So now I’m the bad guy? What else was I supposed to think?
I go to my jewelry box and everything is gone.
And when I say I’m not sure if I’m in the mood for a wedding you don’t listen to my feelings at all.
You just say that Hank is a good friend.
Well, I’m your girlfriend, Joel. Can you think about my feelings for once? ”
Immediately she regretted adding “for once.” Really it wasn’t true. Joel was very attentive. She just needed to dump her seething rage and profound loss over the jewelry on someone, and he was the only target.
“That’s it,” he said, standing up with a harsh scrape of the chair on the floor. “I’m going for a walk. Call the police if you want … or don’t. I’m just trying to help, you know? A robber came into our house, Kelly, and took things.”
He grabbed his coat and stormed out the front door, slamming it.
Kelly felt tears well up. Her priceless jewelry was gone, her boyfriend was mad at her, their day and night were ruined, and, somehow, a woman posing as the electrician’s assistant had outsmarted them.
Kelly kept turning the scene from the Ring cam over and over in her mind.
Something began to dance at the tiny corners of her brain.
That lunch with Faith. Faith asking about Joel working from home, even inquiring about his conference calls, Faith knowing about the jewels from college and asking Kelly if she still had them.
The jewelry box Faith gave her. Was it possible Faith was hoping Kelly would use the gaudy box so Faith could send a woman into the house and direct her there?
But Kelly couldn’t figure out how Faith would have known an electrician did work at their home.
Kelly had never mentioned that during lunch.
Maybe this was a common ruse the police knew all about, the “electrician’s assistant scam” or some such, and this woman went to every house until she found one that matched her story.
No matter what, Kelly and Joel had been duped.
She picked up her cell phone and called the police. They said they’d be there within thirty minutes, and she texted Joel to please come home, then paced the kitchen until he arrived, followed shortly by the chime of the doorbell and a cop standing there.
She and Joel told the officer everything and showed him the Ring cam video. He took notes and asked them to forward the video to his email while he went upstairs and looked at the jewelry box. Then he sat back at the kitchen table across from the two of them.
“This is the first I’ve heard of this sort of thing happening.
There’s no scam going around like this in the city, and we get scam reports every day.
It looks from the video and from what you’re telling me that you were targeted and that this person perhaps knew what they were looking for.
I’m very sorry. There’s little for us to go on but we’ll still open an investigation.
It might be helpful if you can think of anyone who knew anything, like the fact that you had rare jewels or that one of you worked from home.
We’ll also check the local pawnshops. You might want to fish around online and see if someone is selling your stuff.
The problem is there’s a big black market too. ”
Kelly gulped back tears and glanced at Joel. He looked serious and sad. She turned her gaze back to the officer.
“Officer, I actually can think of one person who both knew about the jewelry and that Joel worked from home.”
The policeman’s eyebrows went up and he opened a little notebook.
“Yes…”
“Well, I know this sounds crazy … but … it’s Faith Richards at Channel 9.”
Joel’s head whipped her way.
“Oh my God,” Joel whispered.
The officer tilted his chin and looked at her like she was crazy.
“You mean that weather gal? The one with the earrings? My wife loves her,” the officer said. “How would she know?”
Kelly told him about the freshman-year heists, followed by Faith being suspended from school, how Faith had later lied to Kelly when asking for money because her “identity was stolen,” and then about the recent lunch and what appeared to be a lie about the jewelry box.
The officer clucked his tongue a few times and wrote some things down, but he had a disbelieving look on his face.
“We’ll look into it,” he summed up, closing his notebook and standing up. “But remember—there needs to be motivation, not just coincidence. What would motivate Faith Richards to send someone over here to steal your items?”
“Isn’t money enough of a motivation?” Joel asked.
“Sure, lots of times,” said the officer. “But I would think Faith Richards has plenty of that and wouldn’t want to risk her career and reputation on this, but like I said, we’ll look into it. Good day now.”
He let himself out of the front door as Kelly and Joel looked at each other.
“It’s Faith, isn’t it?” Joel asked. “She’s somehow behind this.”
“I think so,” Kelly replied. “I have a gut feeling, and sadly I know her too well.”
“But how would she have gotten our address? You didn’t tell her, did you?” Joel asked.
“No, but there are all kinds of people finders. If you google my name I bet it comes up. Let’s try.”
They did, and there it was in seconds. Name, address, the amount they paid for the house. Kelly moaned. Joel reached over and took her hand.
“As for the electrician part, could she have cased our house and seen one come in and out?” Joel asked.
“I mean, I guess she could have. Maybe she saw the truck in the driveway.”
They were both lost in thought for a full minute.
“Listen, Kell, this day has been the absolute worst but we have to get ready for this wedding, if we’re going. Are we going?”
She thought of her updo, her clothes still sitting on the bed.
She thought of the idea of sending Joel and staying home herself, but honestly, what would she do all night, watch TV while he was dancing and having a good time?
It might further drive a wedge between them.
If this was Faith’s work—and Kelly strongly believed it was—then she couldn’t let Faith also ruin her relationship.
She nodded and said, “Yes, we can go.”
But the whole time at the wedding her mind was distracted, her smile vacant, and she lost her train of thought in small-talk situations and had to excuse herself for the bathroom too often, dabbing at her eyes and trying not to smudge her makeup.
The jewelry, that rare, expensive, precious jewelry, was gone.
It was as if her mom and grandma had been ripped from her arms without her consent again.
Joel was distracted too, his eyes constantly checking on her, his laugh with his friends not genuine.
Kelly was acutely aware of the absence of the pieces she had planned to wear. Her collarbone and neck felt empty without the stunning necklace she had in mind, even though she substituted a much more plain one from her collection. Her wrists and ears had the wrong items too.
She did not catch the bouquet, did not even try, standing in the back of the group of bachelorettes instead, not even raising her arms as the flowers flew their way.
Joel did not whisper in her ear “We’re next” when they were dancing, and the night did not end with him on one knee.
Far from it. They made an excuse and left early, and when they got home he said he had a headache and went to sleep right away.
She lay there in the dark trying not to weep too loudly, the empty jewelry box gaping at her from across the room.
But as each minute passed, with Joel’s legs kicking involuntarily as they always did when he was falling asleep, her sadness morphed further and further into anger, white-hot anger.