4: 4
4
Early the next morning, I opened the window.
Sure enough, my motorhome was gone from the lot below.
I picked up the phone and dialed.
"I want to report a theft. The motorhome I bought is worth five hundred and eighty thousand dollars, and it disappeared this morning. Please open a case and investigate right away."
After I hung up, I stretched out lazily on the bed.
Then it hit me, there was still one thing I hadn't done.
I got up, washed and dressed, and went straight out to take care of it.
By the time I came back, two officers were already waiting at my door.
"You're the one who reported a stolen motorhome?"
I nodded.
"Have you noticed anyone suspicious lately?"
"Or is there anyone you suspect?"
I thought for a second.
"My car keys went missing too, so I think it was someone I know. First they took my keys, then drove the motorhome off."
The two officers exchanged a glance.
One of them asked.
"Who do you suspect? Any proof? Does the vehicle have GPS?"
"It does. Not just GPS. I installed a camera inside too."
I opened the surveillance feed on my phone.
The inside of the vehicle was there in full view.
Joseph was driving.
Rita had her younger son with her, while her older boy was scribbling all over the inside of the motorhome with a pen.
Her mother-in-law, Maureen, was scolding him.
"Stop scribbling. If you wreck it, that little tramp will make us pay for the damage for sure."
My sister Rita said with a smile.
"Mom, we hardly ever get out like this. If the kid likes drawing, let him draw."
Maureen asked.
"And if that little tramp makes us pay?"
Rita gave a scornful little laugh.
"She wouldn't dare! I'll be doing her a favor if I don't come after her for the thousand-plus in gas!"
Maureen's face soured at once.
"That little tramp Bess Henson, going out without filling the tank first? Made us waste all that extra money for nothing."
Denys, sitting beside them, grumbled.
"You two really don't know how to handle things. Should've waited till she filled the tank, then taken it, no?"
"And another thing, when you swiped the keys, you should've grabbed that bottle of Romanée-Conti of hers while you were at it. That wine's worth tens of thousands. Leaving it in her hands is a flat-out waste!"
The officer had seen enough by then.
He said, grave now.
"Make us a backup copy of that surveillance video right away."
"Also, you know all these people, don't you?"
I nodded.
"Rita Henson. She's my sister."
The officer paused.
"Blood sister, or a cousin?"
I said.
"Blood sister."
The officer hesitated, then asked.
"You still want to press charges? You're not withdrawing?"
I asked back.
"So it's not a crime if my own sister steals from me?"
"No, that's not it…" the officer said with a frown. "Since you're not withdrawing, and it's not a complicated case, we'll open it right now, then?"
"Of course."
With my go-ahead, the officer left.
I kept watching the footage on the feed.
The motorhome passed through a toll booth.
Rita's family started complaining again.
"That tramp Bess Henson, forcing us to steal her motorhome. Now she won't travel with us, so we have to pay for everything ourselves, on top of the highway tolls."
Rita laughed.
"Mom, you just don't get it. The highways are free over the holiday."
"Oh. Still a loss, though." Maureen said, unsatisfied. "We put over a thousand of gas in her car!"
"And there's still meals, tea, every last thing coming up that costs money!"
"If she were here, we wouldn't have to spend nearly this much."
Rita said.
"Mom, didn't you say you'd set her up with old Lambert, and old Lambert would pay a three-hundred-eighty-thousand bride price?"
"Once we're back, we'll make it happen right away, get every cent back with interest!"
Maureen frowned.
"That's all well and good, but will your sister agree to it?"
"She doesn't need to agree." Rita said, cold and low.
"Once we're back, we'll use stealing her motorhome as the excuse, go over to apologize, invite her out to a meal to make it up to her."
"Get her drunk, then drop her straight into old Lambert's bed."
"Then take photos. By then, she won't be able to deny a thing!"
Maureen's eyes lit up at once.
"Now that's a good idea. And afterward we can use those photos to threaten her, make her buy them back at ten thousand a shot, or we release them! She wouldn't dare risk it. She'll pay up nice and obedient to get the photos back!"
Rita burst out laughing.
"Mom, that's why it's you. How did I not think of that?"
Maureen roared with laughter. "Ha, we'll snap away, take a few hundred, make her our family's slave for life, ha."
Listening to this family carry on, I gritted my teeth in fury.
But it wasn't long before they stopped laughing.
Rita's phone rang. She answered, and the officer's voice came through.
"Is this Rita?"
Rita asked.
"Who's this?"
The officer's tone was grave.
"This is the South End case unit. Someone has filed a report saying you stole her motorhome."
"The motorhome is worth five hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Under the law, that qualifies as an especially large sum, which already constitutes a major crime."
"Turn around now and come to the South End case unit to turn yourselves in. Cooperate, and it may go easier on you. Otherwise the charges will only be heavier."
The family that had just been laughing and scheming against me fell into a dead silence.
