“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 nowI’mthe 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 yourgirlfriend,Joel. Can you think about my feelings for once?”
Immediately she regretted adding “for once.” Really it wasn’ttrue. 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 wouldsheknow?”
Kelly told him about the freshman-year heists, followed byFaith 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.
