“You really are adamant you’ve been robbed.”
“Ok, come with me…”
The Manager leads Vanessa to the back of the store, through a narrow corridor of what looked like offices and a cleaning locker. She tapped a code into a keypad and they stepped into a room with a large screen showing all the cameras around the store.
“This is Loss-Prevention Officer Mandalay.”
“Mike, this young lady insists you can prove she isn’t a thief.
I’ll leave it up to you. If she’s telling the truth you can let her keep the dress.”
With that the Manager left the room and the door swung shut with a click. Vanessa was locked in.
‘Mike’ looked to be about 10 years older than Vanessa, he was well kept, but you could see the beginnings of a belly growing under his shirt. ‘Probably from sitting behind the screens all day…’ Vanessa was determined they would find whoever had stolen her things, and cautiously optimistic that she’d score a new dress out of the ordeal.
“You know we see this all the time. Several times every week.”
“Y’all think you’re just taking one small thing from the big, rich, evil empire.”
“But it adds up y’know. And it comes out of my pocket. My bonus, Manager’s bonus, it’s all affected by you little brats who think you’re above the law…”
“Just confirm that is you.” Mike said pointing at the screen.
All the smaller cameras had disappeared from the screen, to be replaced with one full size image of Vanessa walking into the changing area, wearing her jeans and white top.
“Yes, that’s me…” Vanessa replied.
The screen fast forwards a few minutes…
“And this is you walking back out?”
“Yes…” Vanessa confirmed it was her wearing the pretty dress.
“As you can see, not a single person has entered or left the changing rooms the entire time you were in there… So I guess it’s time for you to give back what you’ve stolen?”
It was more of a statement than a question as Mike signals with his hand for Vanessa's dress to come off.
A chill sweeps over Vanessa as she realises she has lost. Reluctantly her hands reach behind her back as she fidgets with the knot. It comes undone and she lifts the dress up over her head and lays it down on the desk. Standing there in her underwear she suddenly notices the air conditioning set to keep all the computer equipment cool...
“Well?” Mike asks.
“Well….?” Vanessa repeats back, confused.
“Well as soon as you give back all the item’s you’ve stolen you can be on your way.”
Vanessa’s hand goes to her new necklace. ‘He can’t think I’ve stolen this?’
‘No…’ She reminds herself it’s an antique and there’s no way anyone would think it was from this store.
“What items could I possibly conceal dressed like this?”
Then it hits her as she looks past the necklace to her pale blue bra…
“My underwear?! But I bought them here months ago!”
Vanessa was already embarrassed about Mike seeing her as she was; and didn’t know how she was going to cope once everyone else saw her in the mall; but at least her cotton bra and briefs were modest enough that they didn’t reveal any more than if she was at the beach.
“But you admit they are from this store?”
Mike must have noticed they were one of the stores’ own brands…
“Yes… But I paid for them! You can see…. They aren’t even new!”
Vanessa had started stammering. She couldn’t handle the idea that she was about to be seen naked by Mike, or by all the people she’d have to pass on her way out.
“Well if you can just show me the proof-of-purchase.” Mike replied with a wry smile.
“Look, the way I see it, there’s two ways we can do this…”
“You can take ‘em off now and be on your way.”
“Or I can get the police involved; and if I have to do that you can be damn sure they’ll be cuffing you behind the back and taking you out the long way."
"I’ll make sure of it!"
What does Vanessa do?
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