Mary was in her seventies. She was a very sick woman but sharp like a tack. She was a widow and her only son Guy was autistic. Mary owned a spa and worked most of the time, particularly after her husband passed away.
She was introduced to Erica a few years before when she was looking for a part time housekeeper. Erica made a good impression on her and Mary hired her immediately. Erica was an excellent cook and always made sure to prepare Mary and her son’s favorite meals. In addition to the cooking, Erica cleaned the house, did the laundry, and all the household shopping. Mary really liked Erica and was generous with her. Over time they became like family.
Mary had several credit cards that she used for her business. One day she received a phone call from her credit card company, asking her about an unusual purchase she made for her spa, which Mary denied making. Shortly afterward, she regularly got similar phone calls from credit card companies asking about other purchases. Later on, she realized that a special piece of jewelry she inherited from her mother was missing from the safe she had at home.
Mary’s husband installed security cameras in their house many years before and he checked the videos pretty often. But since he died, nobody looked at them. After her jewelry went missing and she couldn’t find the videos on the computer, Mary asked her nephew to look for them, but he didn’t find anything either. When he checked the cameras, he found they were disconnected…….
Mary decided to install a new home security system. But then she had a severe heart attack and was hospitalized for a while and the installation was postponed. Mary never suspected Erica was responsible for the missing jewelry or for stealing her credit card details. She therefore appreciated her offer to work full time and assist her in her home after she was released from rehab.
Nevertheless, on her doctor’s orders, Mary reduced her working hours. She worked mainly from home and Erica was there whenever she needed her. Mary trusted Erica and would send her to do some banking for her. Erica took advantage of the access she had to Mary’s bank account and cheque books. Along with her boyfriend Julio, they stole a lot of money from her. Eventually, because Mary had a health problem, she couldn’t handle the stress of running a business. As a result, she decided to sell her spa.
However, Mary’s husband had a laptop which he would take with him everywhere. When he died suddenly she couldn’t bring herself to touch his belongings. The laptop was on a bookshelf in their bedroom since he died and nobody moved it. After Mary sold her spa, she had a lot of free time on her hands. She had a dream that one day she would write a book about her life.
When she noticed the computer lying on the shelf she thought the time had come. Mary wanted to use her precious husband’s laptop to start writing her book. With shaking hands, she took the computer and turned it on. She waited for a few moments and suddenly two images appeared on the screen. One of the images was of the living room and the main entrance of her house. The second image was of the hallway outside Bruno’s office, Guy’s bedroom, and the master bedroom.
Mary was surprised as the images were online. Then she remembered that Bruno installed two additional hidden cameras after they installed a safe in his office. She wasn’t prepared for what she saw on the follow up videos a couple of days later. The videos showed that Erica let some man, who Mary learned later on was Julio, into the house several times. They obviously knew each other well according to the affectionate way they greeted one another. While Erica was doing her chores, Julio was walking around exploring the house. He deactivated the security system like a professional.
Mary’s son lived in an institution and used to come home once a week. Guy didn’t speak and when Erica was at Mary’s house, he would follow her around wherever she went. A couple of videos showed Julio aggressively pushing the son to his room and closing the door behind him while Guy was pounding on the door. This was very traumatic for Mary to see as her son was helpless.
Anyway, after Julio mercilessly locked Guy in his room for hours, he went to Bruno’s office. He wasn’t there by himself. He came with another man and both of them attempted to open the safe until they finally succeeded. They took some cheque books, cash, and jewelry. They also took pictures of the business credit cards and put all the cards back in the safe. Those credit cards were canceled later on by the bank. Then a light went on in Mary’s head. She immediately checked the most recent transactions in her chequing account and saw there were some large cheques recently cashed. Mary panicked……
With Experience Comes Wisdom 