Throwing it away wasn’t an option—the police would come looking for it.
But it couldn’t stay in her mother’s belongings.
Then she remembered something.
A week earlier, Leticia had come for dinner and accidentally left a large black leather handbag in the hallway closet. She hadn’t come back for it yet.
Valeria ran to the closet, pulled out the bag, and hid the necklace deep inside one of its hidden compartments.
If the police found the jewel, they would discover it among the real criminal’s belongings.
Still, she needed proof that Leticia had been inside the apartment.
Suddenly, she remembered the small hidden security camera installed in the door’s peephole after a robbery in the building months earlier.
Valeria dragged a stool into the hallway, climbed up, and removed the tiny SD card. She inserted it into her mother’s laptop and searched through the recordings.
Her heart leapt.
There it was—1:05 p.m.
The video clearly showed Leticia unlocking the door with a spare key and entering the apartment while holding the velvet bundle.
For the rest of the afternoon, Valeria continued investigating.
Looking through Leticia’s social media, she noticed photos with a new boyfriend named Antonio—a serious-looking man with tattooed arms. From tagged locations and comments, Valeria discovered he worked in abandoned warehouses on the south side of the city.
She saved screenshots of everything.
Photos of the necklace.
The security footage.
Antonio’s information.
Now all she had to do… was wait.
At 6:30 p.m., Carmen returned home exhausted but smiling, carrying gelatin for her “sick” daughter.
Valeria hugged her tightly.
“I feel much better, Mom,” she said.
Leave a Comment