I shook my head. “She’s lying!”
“Your father believes her.”
“My father is getting laid for the first time in years,” I said,hearing my sister’s voice, and noting the shocked look on both officers’ faces at my outburst.
“Please, officers,” Harrison said. “My wife is understandably upset at these ridiculous accusations.”
“She’s setting me up,” I marveled.
“For what?” Officer Lewis asked.
“Why would she do that?” asked Officer Stankowski.
I had to admit that I didn’t know. “I just know that she’s lying.”
“Look, Mrs. Bishop,” Officer Lewis said. “Like we said, your father has no interest in pressing charges. He just wants the jewelry back.”
I shook my head, as if trying to shake meaning into what I was hearing. To say I felt numb would be wrong. Numb implies a lack of feeling, a lack of pain. Instead it felt as if someone was reaching inside me and ripping out my internal organs, one by one. What I felt was gutted. “Fine,” I said. “I’ll take it back first thing in the morning.”
“Your father would like it returned this evening.”
“This evening,” I repeated. “Sure. Why not? I’ll do it as soon as I get the kids settled.”
“He said you should just ring the bell, then leave the bag on the doorstep.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Look,” Officer Stankowski said. “I’m sure this is all a big misunderstanding, and that in a day or two, you’ll be able to talk this over calmly and work everything out.”
I nodded, understanding there was no point in doing anything else. I thanked the officers for their concern and even commended them on their sensitivity. I watched them pull out of our driveway and disappear down the street.
“Do you believe that?” I asked Harrison.
“You hired her,” he said.