A day late and a dollar short, the crew from Advantage Alarm Systems arrived Monday morning to install the safety electronics and change the locks.
Eliza had downplayed the missing television and VCR to Janie when she arrived back home from her weekend with her grandparents. She had promised that Mrs. Garcia would go out and buy another set in the morning while Janie was at school. But after her in-laws had left and a mollified Janie was tucked into bed for the night, Eliza had made a detailed inventory of all that had been taken. It made her weep.
All the sterling flatware, eighteen place settings, given as wedding presents to her and John. Her jewelry, including her diamond solitaire engagement ring and the simple gold wedding band her husband had lovingly slipped on her finger. The diamond studs that had been John’s first-anniversary gift. An emerald bracelet that had been in the Blake family for three generations, which Katharine and Paul had given her when Janie was born. Her University of Rhode Island class ring. The watch her parents had given her as a graduation present. Things that had been lovingly bestowed upon her, representing the milestones of her life.
If she could have just one thing back, it would be the sapphire-and-diamond pin John had bought before he died, to be given to his wife after the birth of their child. He had known he wouldn’t see the expression on her face as she opened the velvet jewelry box. Eliza treasured that pin. It linked them between this world and, she hoped, the next.
As far as Eliza was concerned, the sentimental value of the stolen items far exceeded their monetary worth. She would gladly write a check out to the thief if she could buy back the things he had taken from her. She could easily replace a camcorder or a DVD player. She could order another beta-tape playback machine. She couldn’t replace pieces of her life.
And the pictures. To take all the personal pictures for their ridiculous frames! It was cruel and Eliza felt raped.
Someone had come into her home and callously taken what was hers. He shouldn’t get away with that. But so far he was. The police had taken their report and mumbled something about being on the case. They had seen it all before.
No sign of forced entry. Someone with a key had just come in and helped himself.
Eliza didn’t want to allow herself to suspect that Mrs. Garcia could be involved in this, but Larson’s virulent warning sprang to her mind. She dismissed it. Carmen Garcia had worked for her previous family for years and they had had nothing but glowing reports about her. If they had had doubts about her honesty, they surely wouldn’t have kept her on.
But, come to think of it, with the locks unchanged until today, Larson Richards himself could still have a key to the house. Had he never given her the combination for the safe so that her jewelry wouldn’t be locked up?