Hang on a little longer.

I’m doing everything I can. To a man already convinced his cleaner was a thief, those words sounded like a conspirator reassuring an accomplice, like evidence of a scheme in progress.

He heard we need more and thought: more stolen goods.

He heard I’m doing everything I can and thought: she’s stealing as fast as she dares.

Every word slotted neatly into the story he had already built.

And every word meant the exact opposite of what he thought. We need more was a grandmother telling her frightened daughter that yes, money was tight, yes, she saw it too. Hang on a little longer was a promise that the crisis would pass. I’m doing everything I can was the literal, exhausting truth of a woman working a full shift and running a household rescue on a pension.