Chapter 6 - RETRIEVING THE MEMORIES
The following morning, Marcus stood outside ‘Wellington Estate Buyers’ in the downtown district twenty minutes before they opened. He hadn’t slept a single minute. The house was blissfully quiet; the stepmother and her children had vacated the premises just before midnight.
When the store owner finally unlocked the glass doors, Marcus walked in, slapping the yellow carbon receipt onto the glass display case.
“I need these items back,” Marcus said to the startled proprietor. “They were stolen from my home and sold to you without authorization.”
The owner, an older man with spectacles, reviewed the slip. “Sir, I purchased these items legally from a woman who claimed they were hers. I’ve already sent some of the gold to be melted down—”
“Not the locket,” Marcus interrupted, his chest tightening. “Tell me you didn’t melt the locket or the wedding band.”
May you like
The owner sighed, walked to the back safe, and emerged with a small plastic tray. Resting on the velvet were Sarah’s gold locket, the vintage watches, and the diamond band. “These were scheduled to be shipped to an auction house tomorrow. You’re lucky. But to buy them back, I have to charge you retail markup.”
Marcus didn’t care. He pulled out his phone, transferred funds from his emergency savings to his checking account, and swiped his card. He gathered the delicate jewelry into his large hands, feeling the cool metal against his skin. He had lost the photo albums forever to the city dump, an agonizing reality he would have to live with, but he had saved his wife’s most personal treasures.
