Chapter 13 - The Envelope in the Locker
The video proved Claire and Daniel had entered the bakery after Grace left.
It did not yet prove they had taken the money.
Then Margaret noticed something.
“Go back.”
Richard rewound.
“Stop.”
Claire was holding something when she entered.
A white envelope.
Richard zoomed in.
“What is that?”
Margaret’s face hardened.
“The money found in Grace’s locker was in a white envelope.”
Richard sat back.
His face had lost all color.
“I fired her.”
Margaret said nothing.
“I called her a thief.”
“You were under pressure.”
“That doesn’t change what I did.”
“No.”
“It doesn’t.”
Richard stared at the frozen image.
“I never even asked whether Claire had been in the building.”
Margaret looked at him.
“Because you trusted the story that made your decision easiest.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“What do I say to Grace?”
“The truth.”
“That I’m sorry?”
“Start there.”
“It won’t be enough.”
“No.”
Margaret’s voice softened.
“It won’t.”
At the hospital, Grace sat near the window when Richard arrived.
Noah was reading beside her.
Ellie was drawing.
Richard stopped in the doorway.
Grace recognized him immediately.
Neither spoke.
Finally Richard said.
“We found the footage.”
Grace’s fingers tightened around the blanket.
Noah looked up.
“What footage?”
Richard stepped inside.
“The night your mother was accused.”
Grace’s eyes never left his.
“What did it show?”
Richard swallowed.
“You told the truth.”
Grace did not react.
“You entered the office for inventory sheets.”
“You left two minutes later.”
“Hours later, Claire and Daniel came back.”
Grace closed her eyes.
Richard continued.
“Claire was carrying an envelope.”
“The same kind found in your locker.”
Grace turned toward the window.
Richard’s voice broke.
“I was wrong.”
Thirteen years of pain sat between them.
Grace finally looked at him.
“I knew that.”
Richard nodded.
“I know.”
“No.”
“You knew it as a possibility.”
“I knew it every morning I woke up.”
“I knew it every time someone asked why I left Bellmont Bakery.”
“I knew it when I was pregnant and nobody would hire me because your reference said I was terminated for dishonesty.”
Richard could not speak.
Grace’s eyes filled with tears.
May you like
“You lost one night of sleep over that decision.”
“I lost thirteen years.”
