Dana’s smile dropped a little when Grandma answered her.
Not loud. Not dramatic.
Just calm enough that everybody stopped moving for a second.
Grandma said, “That’s interesting, because I remember exactly who took my pearl necklace.”
Nobody touched their food after that.
Dana gave this nervous little laugh. “Grandma, come on—”
“No,” Grandma said. “You came upstairs while I was sleeping. You and Eric opened the blue velvet boxes first because you thought the expensive pieces would be there.”
My cousin Eric actually went pale.
The whole table stayed dead quiet except for the ceiling fan rattling over the dining room.
Then Grandma looked at Dana again and said, “You dropped one of my earrings on the hardwood floor. That’s what woke me up.”
Dana started talking fast after that. “We were trying to help you.”
“By splitting my jewelry between your apartments?”
Nobody answered her.
My aunt suddenly got very interested in cutting her ham.
Grandma reached beside her chair then and pulled out this little yellow notebook she keeps near the phone in her kitchen.
She opened it slowly and said, “After your grandfather died, I started writing down every piece I owned and where it was kept.”
Dana’s face completely changed.
Grandma flipped a page toward the middle.
“I also wrote down which pieces disappeared first.”
You could actually hear my cousin Eric whisper “Oh my God” under his breath.
Then Grandma looked around the table and said, “Tomorrow morning, everybody who took something can bring it back before I decide whether I call the sheriff or not.”
Nobody even tried arguing after that.
Not one person asked for dessert.