Chapter 7

Mary’s, not so merry day back, maybe

First thing back after a Holiday and John was busy. When Mary told him she had to leave early, he did not question her.

Mary and her Dad had always been close, even when her Mom was still alive she went whenever she could with him as she got older, she saw how her dad helped, and stuck by her dying mom, never complaining, she idolized him. Keeping the decision to move out and her new relationship(s) were eating away on her all morning.

When she was free, she went on-line. Tiffany’s did have a store in Miami; they even said they dealt in an assortment of unique and special ‘adult’ adornments. She was able to find pretty much what she wanted, she bought a half dozen sets of collars with a leash and waist chain, a diamond on another for ‘Mistress Mandy’ as she decided to call her and a wrist chain for the Master with space for a dozen birthstones, and Mandy’s was already on it. Belle had given her two debit cards, saying she was sure Steve set a limit on each grouping, not just one for everything. For an order this size and the location of the house, they would deliver everything today. The cost of the diamond in Mandy’s collar and Steve’s wrist chain far exceeded all the other costs combined. She was proud too; she was still under-budget. She thought of what kind of car(s) to get. Lunch first, then the cars. She was excited to get home to tell Steve what she had done. Her new home. She would call Jennifer see how Sheila made out, maybe even one or both of them would do lunch and help pick out cars. One thing she forgot was how they needed to be titled and where to call for the insurance.

No answer at Jennifer’s line. She would ask her dad, maybe he already had a place or an agent, he had transferred Mary Water’s cars on over to Steve after-all.

Mary’s first mistake of the day was to spend so much money. Tiffany’s called the number she had put on her order, which was the office. They called, she was on the phone trying to call Jennifer so the receptionist transferred to call to, guess who, John J. Tiffany’s prided itself on security and confidentiality. When John identified himself as Mary’s father he got to step two, which was the validity of an order placed, from a Mary Jonas using a numbered cash/debit card. John J had set a number of cards up through his brother-in-law at the bank. He referred them there. They confirmed that the bank name matched but John said he would ask Mary to call since he really did not know if she had placed an order or not. He or they did not discuss the items ordered nor the amount put on the card other than to say it was a 6-digit amount.

Obviously being on the phone when they called was mistake two. Mistake three was seeing her dad, kissing him and asking if they had an insurance agent already, she was going out early to buy some cars. Red, Amber and Orange flags were waving now. He told her that Tiffany’s had called to confirm a rather large charge she had made using one of Steve’s debit cards. In baseball, three strikes and your usually out, but this was not baseball.

Mary took a deep breath, placed her hand on her father’s shoulder looked him straight in the eye and asked him if she had ever lied to him, or if he felt that she ever would. With that confirmed, she took him by the hand, marched into his office, closed the door and in the record time of 11 minutes, 23 seconds related the last few days of her life to him.