Taking the first steps

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No! Not again. I had taken my time locking up. I was sure the place was secure. And yet, for the third time this month, the alarm failed to stop someone from entering my store.

I closed my eyes and counted to five. Yelp reviews had been dropping lately. I needed good reviews. Most of my business was walk-in traffic from people who saw the sign by the road. I couldn't believe it when they lifted the camera's SD card. I was going to be in serious trouble! Looking around, I tried to figure out what they'd stolen. The two smaller jewelry cases had only cheap costume jewelry. No loss there.

Walking toward the checkout counter, I realized a larger jewelry case was missing. I sighed with relief. My aunt had given me the ring, and I knew there was no purpose in locking it up. The ring was fine. Same with the four larger cases. It was something cheap -- another book light? -- that was missing. As I was talking to my uncle, I realized how much I liked him. It had been five years since my parents died in a car accident. He'd taken me in and raised me when I was eighteen years old.

"Where"s Katie?" he asked, standing before me.

"I don't know," I said. "When I left, she was sitting in the car. We're supposed to meet right here."

We walked to the door. Katie was sitting in the car, looking like she had just been caught with the stolen book light. She'd have to have it pilfered the last time I left her alone in the car.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Katie said, almost in tears. She was twenty years old, but looked eighteen. "I just couldn't handle the wait anymore. Please don't be angry with me!"

"It's okay," I told her. "I know I keep waiting a long time, sometimes. Maybe I can find a way to pick you up from school so there's not so much of a wait."

"But I like sitting in the car," Katie said. "Sometimes, I just sit there and imagine things. It's fun. Please don't make me leave now."

I laughed. "I don't want to rush you out of the car, but I am getting pretty tired. What do you say we head out of here and go to the movies?"

"Okay!" Katie said, putting on her seatbelt.

"Are you sure you're okay to go see a movie?" Uncle Greg asked as he slid into the backseat.

I nodded. "I'm a big fan of hot coffee and snacks, so we can pick some up at Starbucks while we're on the way to the movie."

We gathered up all of our bags, then we were out of there.

As I sat in traffic, my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and frowned. The caller was Bert, one of the senior staff at The Spiked Hammer.

"They want to know who's in charge," Bert said. "Are you okay, Ms. Weaver?"

I was quiet for a minute. "Listen, Bert," I said, "I know that I am way too old to be in charge of anything. But I'm also not stupid. I'm not going to throw myself on their mercy."

Bert didn't say anything.

"I'm calling some of the other members of the staff and telling them to meet me at the coffee shop. We'll go from there."

"Okay," Bert said. "They're not planning to arrest you, are they?"

"I don't know," I said. "We'll have to see."

"I have to hand it to you," Uncle Greg said. "You said you've been able to make it work for several years on your own. I'm sure a few more won't be a problem."

"Thanks Uncle Greg," I said.

After I hung up with Bert, I called the other staff members. If I was going to gather any support, I would need them.

"So what's going on?" Andrew asked as we sat around the coffee table at Starbucks. I sipped my coffee and scratched my chin.

I nodded. "I'll tell you what I know. I was just called by The Spiked Hammer, letting me know that one of my connections was arrested."

The other staff nodded.

"Go on," Andrew said.

"The last time that happened, we lost a great deal of merchandise. It wasn't much, some of the cheap stuff, but it was a lot of money. We're talking tens of thousands of dollars in ring."

"The Spiked Hammer isn't planning to make that same mistake, are they?" Andrew asked.

"I don't know. We can talk to them tomorrow."

"What I don't understand is," Andrew said, "why would they arrest you?"

"They didn't," I said. "I invited them over here. We have a long conversation and I let them know I was going to try to meet with other staff members. I invited them to come and arrest me."

Everyone at the table laughed. "Wow," Jessica said. "And what happened?"

"The Spiked Hammer arrived and questioned me. They saw me alone, and I figured it was better to let them try to intimidate me as a group. Plus, I was hoping for some support. I didn't want to go in there alone and assume I'd be arrested."

"I'm glad you weren't," Jessica said. She turned to Bert, who was the senior staff member. "I can't believe you reached out."

"The Spiked Hammer gave me the ultimatum," Bert said. "Fire Ms. Weaver or face the consequences. I'm telling them we're going to take the day off and meet with the owner tomorrow."