Vanessa watched Trisha from 3:30 to 5:30 every day after school. Trisha was in the second grade and was old enough to ride the bus home, but she still needed someone to walk her home from the bus stop, make her a snack, and help her get started with her homework.
That was supposed to be Vanessa's job. Until a few days ago, everything had been fine. Then Marcus had noticed a few problems happening.
First off, the twenty bucks he'd left on his nightstand was gone. That should have been the first warning. He was too trusting, though, and everyone knew it. That had always been one of his problems.
The second sign that she'd been stealing was that his favorite watch had seemingly vanished. At first, he thought he'd simply misplaced it, but now he knew better.
The final straw was that yesterday after Vanessa left, he noticed his wallet was open on the coffee table. He never left his wallet on the coffee table. The only place he ever left his wallet was on the table by the front entrance.
When he'd opened the wallet later, he saw that he was short ten dollars. Seriously? He paid her so much money and now he was out ten dollars on top of her normal wages.
Enough was enough.
Marcus had even gone to the trouble of casually asking Trisha if she'd taken any money from Daddy's wallet. He didn't want to jump to conclusions. After all, if he accused Vanessa of stealing from him, there was no going back.
But Trisha had said it wasn't her.
She claimed that she hadn't taken any money and that she knew her daddy would take care of her.
Well, today was the day. Marcus was going to confront Vanessa. He'd already arranged for his mom to pick up Trisha at 5:25. She would be there around the same time as Marcus. Then he could talk to Vanessa privately before he drove her home.
At least, he'd offer to drive her home.
She might not want it after he fired her.
Because he would have to.
Wouldn't he?
That's what you did when someone stole from you, especially a babysitter. Marcus sighed and stared at the clock. It was almost time to go home. It was time to face the music and talk with the babysitter about her bad behavior. It was time to let her know that naughty girls didn't get rewarded. Not at his home.