Judy and her family get into the habit of saving money in a “family stash jar,” which is used for emergencies or family outings.
But soon, she starts noticing that someone in the family has sticky fingers, helping themselves to the money.
Judy has to figure out who it is and what is the reason for such dishonesty.
I’m sure that it’s the same for most families. But in our family, honesty is the foundation of everything. I’ve always trusted my husband, Ethan, my 24-year-old son, Josh, and my 17-year-old daughter, Emma, implicitly.
So, when money started disappearing from our family stash, it felt like a punch to the gut.
We’d always kept a communal jar of cash for emergencies or spontaneous outings, but lately, large sums had been vanishing without explanation.
“I must be losing my mind,” I said out loud to myself when I noticed that the jar looked a little different from when I had last put in some money.
At first, I thought that it was a simple miscalculation.
But as the missing amounts grew from a $50 here, $100 there, and eventually $300 in one go, I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
“Who has sticky hands?” I asked the empty kitchen.
It gnawed at me, the uncertainty and suspicion creeping into my thoughts. I hated feeling this way about my family.
“Are you sure that it’s someone from the house?” my best friend, Misha, asked me when we met for cheesecake and wine.
“It has to be,” I said. “We don’t have a helper, and the gardener does come, but he only works outside.
I don’t think he’s ever seen the inside of the house. If someone is stealing from the jar, then it has to be family.”
Misha nodded.
“Then you should install a hidden camera. Do it as close to the jar as possible,” she said.
Which is exactly what I did.
I took the uncomfortable step of installing a hidden camera in the living room where we kept the stash.
Two days after setting the camera, I noticed that another $300 was missing!
“Seriously, Misha,” I said. “It’s just gone. Vanished.
Disappeared. But there were some of Emma’s hairpins left next to the jar. I hope it was a coincidence and that my daughter isn’t a thief!”
“Did you install the camera like we spoke about?” she asked on the phone.
“Yeah,” I said.
“I’m sitting at my laptop and waiting for it to load. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”
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