AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And there’s no way in hell I’m letting this slide.
I just have to figure out what to do about it.
I go back to the cameras and download the clips of her actions from the last few minutes to my phone. I’m pretty sure she has no clue how to mess with the camera system, but I’m not taking any chances here. I’ll still download it all from the server as soon as I get to the store in the morning. She clearly doesn’t realize or remember there’s cameras all around the business.
Hell, I barely remember them. They’re always recording, but I rarely have to use them. A year or so ago, we realized a young man was stealing tools and reselling them around town. I was able to pull up the cameras as far as thirty days back and watch how it happened. When I took the information to the police, the teenager admitted to what he was doing, and as it turned out, he was selling his hocked items to help pay rent for his mom. After finding out her hours were cut to part time and she was struggling to make ends meet, I didn’t press charges against her sixteen-year-old boy. Instead, he spent the summer doing community service, cleaning up our lumberyard and around town. He did a decent job and learned a valuable lesson by the end of his time and turned out to be a good kid.
However, I haven’t really had to use the cameras since. They’re there to protect the business, employees, and patrons, and right now, I’m damn glad I have them. Right now, I have to figure out what I’m going to do about Shay. She snuck into the business in the middle of the night and took money. One of those envelopes is my personal stash, while the other is what I consider petty cash. I’m not sure which envelope she took from, but neither is good for her.
A smile crosses my lips as I lie back, an idea beginning to form.
Finding my ex-wife stealing from me might turn out to be the best thing to happen.
I didn’t sleep a wink after watching what happened at the hardware store, which resulted in me appearing way before my usual 7:00 a.m. arrival. The rest of the crew doesn’t get here until seven thirty, with the exception of Shay. She’ll arrive anywhere between eight thirty and ten thirty, depending on what extra dose of drama she embarks on. Today, I’m looking forward to her arriving later, which gives me time to put my plan in motion.
First thing I do is make a pot of coffee. I’m definitely going to need it. Once I have a travel mug filled, I get comfortable at my desk. My eyes instantly land on the first ultrasound picture that was tossed onto my desk in a fit early this morning. I swipe my finger over the little bean in the image and press it down to try to smooth out the creases she made when she haphazardly threw it aside. I picture Hallie, her swollen belly growing with our child, and the overwhelming urge to talk to her comes over me. Since it’s not even six o’clock, I resort to firing off a text message, hoping it doesn’t wake her.
Me: Just wanted you to know I’m thinking of you and baby. Have a good day.
She doesn’t reply, which brings me a mixture of sadness and relief. Even though I’m not getting the opportunity to talk to her, at least I didn’t wake her.
I pull up the security system and find the videos on the server. I download them to my computer and pull up my email. I compose the document and include the video attachments as planned and hit send. All I can do now is wait, but at least this time, I feel like the end result will be worth it. Either way, I’m holding all the aces in the deck of cards.
My ex-wife isn’t going to know what hit her.
Fortunately for me, my attorney is an early bird too and I have an email reply within thirty minutes. He’s working on my request now from his home office and will have it back to me within the hour. I’m all smiles as I send a quick reply of appreciation. Needing to keep my hands busy, I go out to the small woodworking shop in the lumberyard. When I was younger, I’d spend all sorts of free time out here, building and creating. This room isn’t used nearly as much as it used to be, but it comes in handy when I need to think. I grab a small strip of oak trim and an idea forms.
Over the next thirty minutes, I cut the wood down to four pieces of the size I want and miter the ends. I use a hand sander to make sure the pieces are smooth and router the edges so they’re slightly rounded. Then, I grab the wood glue, pegs, and clamps, and before I know it, I have a perfect picture frame. When it’s finished drying, I’ll be able to touch it up with fine sandpaper and stain it. I can’t wait to see the final product, complete with ultrasound photo tucked inside.
When it’s time to open the business, I head inside. “Hey, boss. You seem awfully happy,” Chip greets, pouring coffee into his mug.
“Gonna be a good day, Chip. Oh, when Shay gets in, will you send her into my office, please?”
“Will do,” he replies, flipping on the lights and grabbing the cash register drawer I set out on the counter earlier.
She finally arrives a few minutes before ten, and my heart rate accelerates. I keep myself busy, making sure I have everything documented and ready to go, and wait for her to be sent in here. Even after I overheard Chip telling her I’d like to see her, it takes another fifteen minutes before she finally shows her face.
“I need to leave early today,” she says as she flounces through my doorway.
“Why?” I ask, even though I don’t really care.
She shrugs and flips her hair. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” she replies with a devious grin on her face.
I lean back in my chair, my thumb tapping on my desk. “Get a new car?” I ask, recalling the brand-new sporty BMW SUV I saw in the video.
She bats her black eyelashes at me. “I did. Rick said it suits me better than the older model I was driving,” she informs me. Her previous one was only two years old and came with every lap of luxury a person could imagine. It also cost more than my house did, which isn’t surprising for someone like Shay. She picks at her fresh manicure and asks, “So what did you need?”
“Yes,” I start, sitting up in my chair and pulling up the video on my computer. “We had an incident very early this morning.”
She pays me no attention. “Oh?”
“Someone broke in.”
That catches her attention.
When she doesn’t say a word, just looks up at the video I’m now playing for her, I continue. “Apparently, someone thought it was a good idea to enter the business around two this morning and open my safe. They took money that doesn’t belong to them.”
She snorts and rolls her eyes. “Whatever. That money is mine too. I own this business,” she replies smugly.
