He laughed. That was the first thing he did.
“Oh, come on,” he said. “Court. Come on. She’s covering herself. That’s what they do.”
“What’s he talking about, Maureen?” Courtney said. Her voice had gone very small.
“Tuesday morning,” I said. “You were at Pilates. He asked me to drive him across town in your car. A store on Route 9 with a yellow sign. He took the blue velvet pouch in with him. He came out with an envelope.”
“I went to get my watch looked at,” Bradley said.
I looked at his wrist. Courtney looked at it too. His steel watch was ticking right there, same as always.
“The blue pouch,” Courtney said slowly. “The bracelet pouch. It’s missing too. I thought she took the whole thing.”
“She did take the whole thing!” Bradley said. “Court, she’s been in this house twenty years. She knows every drawer. She probably heard me mention an appraisal and she’s spinning it.”
“You said it was an anniversary surprise,” I said. “You said don’t spoil it.”
He opened his mouth. Closed it.
“I wrote it down,” I said. “Same as every trip. The notebook’s in the glove box of your car, ma’am. Tuesday, ten-forty, Route 9. You’ve been reimbursing me off that notebook for twenty years.”
Courtney didn’t move for a long moment.
“Give me your phone, Bradley,” she said.
“Absolutely not. This is insane. You’re going to take the word of the—“
“Of the what?”
He didn’t finish.
Courtney picked up her own phone off the counter. “Then I’ll call the police and report the bracelet stolen. They can check the pawn records. Isn’t that what you want? You wanted her fired. Let’s do it properly.”
That’s when his face changed. Not much. Just a little, around the mouth.
“Let’s not get the police involved in a family thing,” he said.
“A family thing,” Courtney said. “Ten minutes ago it was a theft.”
She looked at me, and then at the mess on the island: my pills, my glasses, Rosie’s horse, the broken frame in my hands. I watched her see it. I watched her see what she had done.
“Maureen,” she said. “Would you go get the notebook out of my car, please?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I went. I set Frank face down on the passenger seat while I opened the glove box, because I didn’t want to carry him back into that kitchen.
When I came back in with the notebook, Bradley was gone from the kitchen. Courtney was standing at the island, reading something on her laptop with her hand over her mouth.
She read the notebook page. Then she read it again.
“Go home, Maureen,” she said. “Please. Paid. I need to...” She stopped. “I’m so sorry. Please just go home.”
I scooped my things back into my bag. I didn’t look at her while I did it. I didn’t even think of Frank, still face down on the seat of her car.
Bradley was waiting for me in the driveway.
He was standing by my old sedan, hands in the pockets of his quarter-zip, trying to look relaxed.
“Maureen,” he said. “Let’s be adults about this.”
“I’d like to get in my car, Mr. Bradley.”
“Listen. You’ve been with us a long time. I’d hate for it to end badly.” He kept his voice friendly. “If you told Courtney you got confused about the day, that you saw me go into the jeweler’s for an appraisal, I’d make sure you got a year’s severance. A great reference. You’d never have to work again, practically.”
“With what money?” I said.
He blinked.
“The landscapers stopped in May,” I said. “Your car didn’t go in for service. You get the mail before me now. I’m not stupid. I’m just quiet.”
The friendly voice went away.
“Who do you think they’re going to believe?” he said. “You were in that bedroom every day. You had the access. It’s my word against the help’s.”
“It’s your word against my notebook,” I said. “And against whatever it says in that envelope.”
I got into my car. My hands didn’t start shaking until I was at the end of the lane. Then I pulled over by the mailboxes and sat for ten minutes holding the steering wheel, until I could drive.
That night my daughter came over with Rosie. I didn’t tell them the whole thing. I only told them Grandpa’s picture had broken, and that I’d left it behind.
Rosie, who is eight, said, “Can we fix it?”
“I think so, baby,” I said. “I think it’s just the glass.”
