Chapter 11 Tess Outsmarts Esther
Chapter 11 Tess Outsmarts Esther
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A crowd of sanitation workers began to gather, surrounding Tess with a mix of sympathy and helplessness. After all, trash had no name, no voice. How could you prove ownership of something like that?
To them, Tess had already lost before this even started.
Moments later, a group of workers followed behind Tess and Esther as they headed toward the street.
The roadside greenery from yesterday was a mess. Cigarette butts, plastic bags, greasy tissues… Wet and dry garbage alike
had piled up in the landscaping, giving off a stench so strong that people covered their noses.
Tess glanced up at Carl, who stood smugly behind Esther with his chest puffed out, showing no hint of guilt. It was as if it had nothing to do with him.
She lowered her eyes.
“I won’t take the blame for this.”
“What did you say? The evidence is right here,” Esther scoffed with her arms crossed, her expression dripping with disdain. “You think just saying you didn’t do it is enough?”
If she wanted to abuse her authority, she could simply declare Tess guilty and hand out punishment right then and there. No one would question it.
But Esther preferred to put on a show–to make it seem like justice was being served.
Tess lifted her head. “I have a witness.”
“A witness?” Esther barked a laugh and looked around mockingly. “Where?”
What witness? One of these workers sweeping the streets? Esther almost burst out laughing.
Tess twisted her fingers nervously. She was anxious too.
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Will that elderly lady show up?
Just then, a luxury SUV rolled to a stop nearby. A woman dressed like a housekeeper stepped out and respectfully helped another woman down from the vehicle.
“Is that the cleaning lady you mentioned, Mrs. Vale?”
“Yes, that’s her,” Jessie replied firmly.
The crowd buzzed in confusion as the two women made their way toward Tess.
Jessie began, her voice clear, “Ms. Ember, I lost a family heirloom here yesterday–a sapphire ring. Now that I’m here, may I have my ring back?”
The surrounding workers gasped.
“Tess really went and got herself into trouble? Is she trying to dig her own grave? Why did she get the ring owner here?”
“Yeah, what an idiot.”
Tess gently patted Layla in her arms. Layla had just woken up from a nap and was blinking her round eyes at the unfamiliar surroundings. Tess lifted her out of the sling and rested her in the crook of her arm.
Then, she looked up at Jessie and said, “Ma’am, you must be mistaken. I didn’t take your ring.”
Jessie stole a glance at Layla. The little one looked uncannily like her grandson.
But as far as she knew, Finn didn’t have a child. Maybe it was just a coincidence.
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Chapter 11 Tess Outsmarts Esther
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When Finn’s mother passed, Jessie returned to Kagan in grief. Word was, Finn had married someone from a prominent family–but beyond that, she knew little.
There were two purposes behind her trip back–she wanted to meet her grandson’s wife and visit her daughter’s grave.
Before Jessie could say anything, Esther stepped in, her voice icy. “Tess, picking something that doesn’t belong to you is theft. That ring is worth over a million dollars. People go to prison for things like that.”
Before Jessie could say a word, Esther cut in coldly, her eyes sharp as ice. “Tess, I may be your supervisor, and sure, I’ve gone easy on you before out of pity. But now that the rightful owner is here, the facts are clear–I can’t cover for you anymore.”
She turned to Jessie, playing the part of the righteous authority. “Ma’am, I’ll make sure she repays what she owes. Once Tess works for two more months and pays back Carl, I’ll see to it that she’s fired. She’ll be held fully responsible for the loss of your property.”
Esther acted like she was doing Jessie a favor, as if Tess had dragged her into a huge mess and she was making the best of a bad situation.
The housekeeper standing beside Jessie muttered, “This supervisor seems like a decent person. Mrs. Vale, maybe we should report the theft to the police? Let them help recover your ring.”
But Jessie placed a hand gently over her housekeeper’s.
She said calmly, her gaze fixed on Esther, “Mrs. Ember, why don’t you just tell us what this whole act of yours is really about?”
Tess finally turned to face Esther. “I told you–I have a witness. And that witness is this lady.”
She then looked at Jessie and asked evenly, “Yesterday, when you came to find me, what was I doing?”
Jessie recalled without hesitation, “You were sweeping the street. I saw you dump all the garbage into a garbage truck that happened to be driving by.”
Tess continued, “So, all these dead leaves, cigarette butts, plastic bags, and tissues–none of them came from my section of the street?”
“Of course not!” Jessie arched a brow. “It’s obvious this trash came from whoever was supposed to be cleaning this side. They clearly slacked off. What’s that got to do with you?”
Jessie’s housekeeper mumbled again under her breath, “But this doesn’t really explain the missing ring, does it?” She was starting to get the feeling that Jessie and this cleaner weren’t strangers, after all.
Tess turned back to Esther. “So, Ms. Frost, can we now agree that I’ve cleared my name?”
Esther’s expression changed dramatically.
“Fine!” she snapped. “But don’t start celebrating just yet. Even if Carl was the one slacking and the trash wasn’t yours, what about the ring? That still doesn’t explain where it is. Until we get to the bottom of this, I’m not letting you walk away.”
Someone in the crowd shouted, “Yeah! You’re not leaving until that ring turns up!”
Tess, however, just smiled. She continued calmly, “Ma’am, your ring is currently in the bushes–right at Carl’s feet. I wasn’t sure before whether he was carrying it with him or if he had stashed it somewhere. But just now, when you accused me of stealing your sapphire ring, he panicked and tried to move it.”
The reason she’d let Esther go on for so long was simple–she had been buying time, waiting for Carl to mess up. Yesterday, she’d seen him pick something up, but she hadn’t been sure what it was. Even if she had told Jessie right away, there was no guarantee he’d still have it on him by the time she arrived.
Tess had guessed Carl didn’t know the ring’s true value and wouldn’t risk selling it too soon.
And sure enough, after a night with no one asking questions, he thought he was in the clear. He carried it with him, planning to keep it hidden until the fuss died down. But the second he heard Jessie accuse Tess of theft, fear kicked in–and he made
his move.
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Chapter 11 Tess Outsmarts Esther
Carl had likely planned to wait until the dust settled, then quietly sell the ring and make a fortune off it. Who would ever suspect him?
What he didn’t count on was the surveillance camera silently recording everything.
As Tess calmly laid out the entire sequence of events, Carl’s face turned beet red. He snapped, “You’re lying! The cameras on this street have been broken for months. Are you trying to set me up?”
Tess exchanged a knowing look with Jessie.
That was when Jessie’s housekeeper suddenly gasped. “Oh! So that’s why you asked me to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles last night and rush the request to repair the cameras!”
The truth came out–and the crowd finally understood everything.
Esther, realizing what was happening, immediately tried to wash her hands of the mess. “I–I didn’t know anything about this! I’m not involved with him!”
One of the sanitation workers blinked. “Isn’t Carl your nephew? How could you not know?”
Another chimed in, “Exactly! You were practically demanding Tess give her hard–earned wages to your precious nephew. Funny how you didn’t say anything about not being involved back then.”
Jessie’s housekeeper turned to the officers, who had just arrived. “Officers, these two are definitely in on it together.”
One of the officers said, stepping forward, “Both of you are coming with us.”
Due to the high value of the stolen item and the public nature of the case, both Carl and Esther were handcuffed and taken into custody.
As she was led away, Esther couldn’t stop glancing back at Tess, still trying to figure out how a broke, baby–toting cleaning woman had played her so perfectly.
She hadn’t even realized she had walked straight into Tess’s trap.
The sapphire ring, retrieved from the bushes and sparkling like it had never been touched, was bagged as evidence. It would be photographed, cataloged, and returned to its rightful owner in due course.
Tess watched it all unfold and let a small smile tug at the corner of her lips.
It should’ve ended there.
But Tess wasn’t finished.
Stepping forward, she said, “Excuse me, officers. I’d like to file a report of my own.”
