Chapter 3: Chapter 3
3
I opened the door.
Out in the corridor, Gordon was leaning on his crutch by the doorway of the hospital room, a bag of fruit in his hand.
"Hey, man, I came to check on your mom."
My mother waved a hand.
"Gordon, go on home."
Gordon nodded and started away on his crutch.
I followed him out of the room.
"I'm going to pay the bill. You can go."
"Sure."
Gordon hobbled toward the elevator, leaning on the crutch.
Three minutes later, I came back from paying.
I was halfway into my jacket when I saw Gordon hurrying toward me on his crutch, two police officers behind him.
"That's him!" Gordon pointed at me, his voice loud. "Officers, I think he stole my ring!"
"Who stole your ring?!"
"Whether you stole it isn't up to you," Gordon said with a cold smile.
An officer stepped forward and reached into my jacket pocket.
He felt around twice, then pulled out a small box. Inside was a diamond ring.
Gordon shouted right then and there: "That's the ring!"
I looked at the ring, then at the look on Gordon's face, and it all came clear.
"Officers, I think he planted that ring in my pocket himself."
"Bullshit!" Gordon roared. "Graham, you broke dog, short on cash so you just steal?"
Then, as if he despaired of me, he sighed and turned his back.
One officer frowned. "Sir, you're a suspect in a theft. Please come with us to the station and cooperate with the investigation."
I glanced into the hospital room.
My mother lay in the bed, wanting to say something and not saying it.
Before she could get a word out, the two officers took me by each arm and walked me out.
At the police station.
"Come clean and it'll go easier. Fight us and it'll go hard," the tall officer said. "Why did you steal the ring?"
"Officer, I really didn't steal it..."
I was about to ask them to pull the hospital security footage.
The door of the mediation room burst open and someone rushed in.
Sophia's eyes were red, and the moment she was through the door she screamed: "Graham! Have you no shame?"
She charged up to me and slapped me across the face.
Crack.
The sound was sharp, and the whole mediation room went quiet.
"Fine, you have no money." Sophia's voice shook. "But you steal the keepsake his mother left him too? Are you even human?"
"Sophia, listen to me. I didn't steal it!"
I thought back to five years ago.
Five years ago, when Sophia and I had just gotten together.
"Graham, you're the person I trust most. Even if the whole world blamed you, I'd still only believe you."
She used to lean into my arms all the time, patting my back, telling me I was the best.
"What are you looking at me for?" Sophia glared at him. "You're just a loser! Gordon is a hundred times the man you are!"
I turned my head away, not wanting to argue with her.
The mediation room door opened again.
A nurse wheeled my mother in.
She was in a hospital gown, her face deathly pale, an IV line still taped to the back of her hand.
"Mom."
I saw the look in my mother's eyes.
That look was all disappointment, all heartbreak.
"Graham..." My mother caught her breath. "Sophia has been good to you with all her heart. How could you do something like this?"
"Mom... I..."
My mother's voice trembled. "Calling off the engagement, stealing. You've shamed me completely!"
Afraid it would worsen her condition, I dropped to my knees at once. "Mom, I swear to God, I did not steal it!"
She sighed, turned her head, and said to the officers: "Officer, this is mediation, isn't it? I'll vouch for him. I'll apologize to Gordon myself in a moment."
"All right, you work it out. If you settle privately, have Mr. Farley come in tomorrow to withdraw the case."
