She told him it had been a day after the ill-fated Faith lunch.
“OK, so in one month, who has been up here?” He was more asking himself, and he rocked back and forth with his head still in his hands as he spoke, the words coming out in a jumble. “We had Becky and Stefan over for dinner but they were downstairs the whole time… My mom stopped by for lunch and dropped off some plants, but she never came upstairs, not that she wouldeversteal anything from us… We had an electrician one daybut I was with him the whole time… I can’t think of anyone else…oh wait…”
His eyes grew big and he turned to Kelly. She felt a shiver go up her spine even though she had no idea what he was about to say.
“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 wasworking 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. Kellynoticed 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 policenow.”
“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 electricianbe lying to us right now? Maybe he did see the jewelry and then sent someone back for it.”
