Bradie clears her throat, but her voice is still clogged with skepticism, like she can’t believe the words she’s saying…or at least doesn’t want to. “Jude is missing his Stanley Cup ring.”
Her support seems foreign to me too. I can’t remember ever having it before. Winnie raises her hand and points at me. “See! He looks baffled because he is baffled.”
“Look, I’m not saying—”
“But you are!” Winnie interrupts him. “You think he stole your ring. And Bradie clearly does too.”
“I don’t want to think that!” Bradie says defensively.
“And I don’t know what to think,” Jude argues.
“Is there any place else it could be?” Zoey asks, looking around the room like it’s going to magically appear under the table or something.
“Yeah, like maybe it got put in a drawer or moved into another room?” Bradie adds, and I realize she’s fighting for me too, just like Winnie.
“Holden wouldn’t do that,” Winnie says, her eyes on Jude. “You said at the beach I was a great judge of character and I am. I wouldn’t be with him if I didn’t think he would guard me, this house and everything else I love with his life. He’s trustworthy. I would bet my life that he didn’t steal that ring, Jude.”
Everyone looks at me again. I’m still reeling but this time from her words. She’s standing up for me. She’s got no more doubt, no more fear. She’s no longer looking for excuses. She’s mine as much as I am hers—finally.
“I didn’t steal your ring,” I confirm. “And I have to say, that if I thought you believed that I ever would, I wouldn’t have taken the job.”
Jude moves his eyes from his sister’s anguished face to mine. He’s expression is pure contrition mixed with anguish. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be an accusatory ass. It’s just…that ring means a lot to me, because of what it meant to my dad. He loved that I gave it to him and…I’m not thinking straight. I have to find it. But I’m wrong to jump to conclusions, and Winnie is right. I trust her opinion and I need to rely on my gut, which has always said you’re a good guy.”
“I want to believe in you too,” Bradie says, looking at me with sadness in her eyes. “But where is it?”
“Kidd,” I say and Winnie jumps.
“Oh God, you’re right,” she exclaims. “Stephen Kidd helped us the other day when Holden was out with the flu.”
“We don’t know a hundred percent that it was him,” I find myself saying because…I don’t know why. Force of habit. “But he’s stolen before. Granted it was when we were kids and I thought he’d changed or I never would have let him on the job site.”
“We were desperate and I told you to call him,” Winnie says and sighs. “Let’s find him.”
“No,” I argue and grab my phone out of my pocket. “Let’s let the police figure it out. If he did do this, he needs to face the consequences. I am done giving that guy a free pass.”
I scroll through my contacts until I find Joel’s number. I figured if he was willing to help me out in the dunes, he’d still be friendly now. I explain the situation to him, and he says he’ll look into it.
“Kidd,” Winnie repeats his name and shakes her head I can tell she wants to say much more but there is a child in the room.
“I’m sorry,” Jude says to me and I can tell he means it.
“Don’t be sorry. This is all my fault,” I say and I feel worse now than the fucking flu ever made me feel. “At the end of the day, if he did take it, that’s on me for hiring him. I was sick, but I should have known better than to rely on Kidd.”
“I gave him the chance too,” Winnie pipes up. “And I was the client by association. You said it yourself. I approved it, so I’m to blame.”
“No one is to blame but Kidd, if he did this,” Bradie says. “Let’s keep looking around. Maybe it got put somewhere else by mistake, or it’s under a piece of furniture or something.”
Jude nods. “Good idea.”
“Duke, you go take Declan in the other room and play okay?” Bradie suggests.
Duke pushes back from the table and Declan says to him. “I have Legos!”
“Cool!”
They head into the living room while the rest of us start hunting around the house, looking under the furniture in the sunroom and dining room. Winnie turns to me. “The boxes we used to store stuff are in the recycling bin on the back deck. I’m going to make sure Jude’s ring didn’t get stuck in one of them.”
She walks out the back door and I follow her. I lift the lid on their recycling bin and watch her start to pull out boxes.
