Chapter 3: What Else Was Missing
Dad put the call on speaker.
The buyer's voice filled the dining room.
“He offered me a watch first.””
My father didn't move.
“What kind of watch?””
Tyler rushed toward him.
“Dad, he's lying!””
Dad lifted one hand.
Tyler stopped.
The man continued.
“Silver. Dark blue face. Nice-looking thing. He wanted eight hundred dollars for it.””
Dad's eyes slowly turned toward the hallway.
I knew exactly what he was thinking.
Grandpa's watch.
Dad's father had died three years earlier.
The watch was one of the few things Dad had kept.
He stored it inside a wooden box in the top drawer of his bedroom dresser.
Dad ended the call without another word.
Then he walked upstairs.
“Daniel,” Melissa called.
He didn't answer.
We followed him.
Dad entered the bedroom, opened the dresser, and pulled out the wooden box.
Empty.
His face changed.
Not dramatically.
That somehow made it worse.
He ran his thumb across the velvet where the watch should have been.
Then he looked at Tyler.
“Where is it?””
Tyler stood in the doorway.
“I don't know.””
Dad took one step toward him.
“Where is my father's watch?””
“I didn't take it.””
“The buyer says you tried to sell it.””
“He's lying!””
“Why would a stranger know I own a silver watch with a blue face?””
Tyler looked at Melissa.
“Mom.””
Melissa immediately stepped forward.
“Daniel, stop interrogating him.””
Dad stared at her.
“My father's watch is missing.””
“We don't know that Tyler took it.””
“I didn't!”” Tyler shouted.
Dad walked downstairs again.
This time we followed silently.
He picked up Tyler's old phone and returned to the marketplace conversation.
There were other chats.
Lots of them.
Dad opened the first.
Game console.
Second.
Wireless headphones.
Third.
A camera.
I recognized it instantly.
“That’s mine.””
Everyone turned toward me.
“What?”” Dad asked.
“My camera.””
It wasn't expensive, but I'd gotten it for my sixteenth birthday.
I ran upstairs.
My closet shelf was empty.
I came back down.
“Gone.””
Dad closed his eyes.
Melissa finally looked shaken.
“Tyler?””
“I borrowed it.””
“To sell?”” I snapped.
“I was going to replace it!””
“With what money?””
He had no answer.
Dad kept scrolling.
Then he found the watch conversation.
The buyer had refused because Tyler couldn't prove it was authentic.
Dad looked up.
“So where is it?””
Tyler's eyes filled with tears.
“I don't know.””
“Tyler.””
“I swear!””
Melissa wrapped an arm around him.
“Can't you see he's terrified?””
Dad's voice remained quiet.
“He should be.””
“Daniel!””
“No, Melissa. He should be terrified of what he's becoming.””
Tyler started crying.
That might have worked on Melissa.
It didn't work on Dad.
Dad placed the phone on the table.
“Empty your pockets.””
“What?””
“Everything.””
Tyler looked at his mother.
Melissa shook her head.
“You don't have to—”
“Yes,” Dad said, “he does.””
Tyler slowly emptied his pockets.
Wallet.
Keys.
Earbuds.
Thirty-two dollars.
A folded receipt.
Dad picked it up.
It was from a pawn shop.
Yesterday.
Dad read it.
His expression hardened.
“What's this?””
Tyler reached for it.
Dad pulled it away.
“Give it back!””
Dad unfolded the paper completely.
Then he looked at Tyler.
“You pawned my father's watch for four hundred and fifty dollars.””
Melissa covered her mouth.
Tyler burst into tears.
“I was going to get it back!””
“With what money?””
“I don't know!””
Dad slammed the receipt onto the table.
Not hard enough to break anything.
Hard enough to make everyone jump.
“You stole from your sister. You stole from me. You lied repeatedly. And every time someone confronted you, your mother protected you.””
Melissa's face tightened.
“Don't drag me into this.””
Dad turned toward her.
“You were already in it.””
“I didn't know about the watch.””
“But you knew about the laptop.””
“That was different.””
“How?””
Melissa had no answer.
Dad pointed toward me.
“She worked all summer for that laptop.””
“I know.””
“And when your son stole it, what did you tell her?””
Melissa looked away.
Dad's voice sharpened.
“What did you tell her?””
“I said she could save for another.””
The silence afterward was brutal.
Dad nodded slowly.
“Okay.””
That one word frightened Melissa more than shouting would have.
“What does that mean?””
Dad picked up his keys.
“We're going to the pawn shop.””
“It might be closed.””
“Then we'll be standing outside when it opens.””
Tyler wiped his face.
“What about my phone?””
Dad looked toward the dead device beside the aquarium.
“Consider it gone.””
“You owe me a new one!””
Dad almost laughed.
“No, son. You owe this family considerably more than a phone.””
Then he pointed upstairs.
“Get your shoes.””
Tyler didn't move.
Dad turned to me.
“You're coming too.””
“Why?””
“Because we're recovering your property first.””
He called the laptop buyer again and arranged to meet him at a police substation parking lot.
Melissa's eyes widened.
“You're involving the police?””
“The buyer requested somewhere safe. I agreed.””
“Daniel, think about Tyler's future.””
Dad stopped at the front door.
“I am.””
Melissa grabbed his arm.
“One stupid decision shouldn't ruin his life.””
Dad looked down at her hand until she released him.
“One?””
He held up Tyler's old phone.
“There are twelve sales conversations here.””
My stomach tightened.
Twelve.
Dad opened another conversation.
Then another.
His expression suddenly changed.
“What is it?”” I asked.
He didn't answer.
He clicked on a photograph Tyler had sent to someone three days earlier.
Dad enlarged it.
I stepped closer.
It wasn't a laptop.
It wasn't a camera.
It wasn't Grandpa's watch.
It was a photograph of a gold necklace lying on Tyler's bed.
Melissa went completely white.
Dad noticed.
“Whose necklace is that?””
Melissa backed away.
“Daniel…”
He stared at her.
“You recognize it.””
“No.””
“Melissa.””
She swallowed.
Tyler stopped crying.
And suddenly I understood something far worse was happening.
Because Tyler wasn't looking at Dad anymore.
He was looking at his mother.
Dad slowly turned the phone toward her.
“Why does Tyler have a picture of the necklace you told me was stolen from your jewelry box six months ago?””
Melissa said nothing.
Dad looked from her to Tyler.
Then back again.
May you like
And Tyler whispered the four words that changed the entire room.
“Mom told me to.””
