He didn’t answer.
Later that night, I woke up because he was talking on the phone.
I heard him say:
“She doesn’t know.”
I sat up.
He went quiet.
Then:
“No. She found the envelope.”
I got out of bed.
He saw me.
His face changed.
“Who were you talking to?”
He hung up.
“My friend.”
“What does he know that I don’t?”
He stared at me.
Then said:
My sister said she heard the bedroom door close while we were gone.
She assumed it was one of us.
Then she realized nobody was home.
I checked the bedroom.
Nothing seemed missing.
My wife checked her jewelry.
Everything was there.
I told my sister she probably heard something outside.
She nodded, but she didn't look convinced.
The next morning, I noticed something strange.
The spare key we kept inside the kitchen drawer was gone.
I asked my wife if she had taken it.
She said no.
I asked my sister.
She said she had never touched it.
Then she said something that made me stop.
“Your mother has a key, doesn't she?”