Suspicion June 5, 1985

 

We had a burglary here last Saturday night as I’ve pointed out before.

Suspicion squarely rests on the shoulders of Mary Jane even though there are other options I’ll get into later.

First, we need to lay the ground work as to what Mary Jane’s motivation might have been.

Primarily, she is addicted to cocaine. I’ve seen her go through the same pangs of withdrawal that I saw Fran go through, a slow, strange and painful process in which she moves her jaw as if grinding her teeth. She frequently clenches her fists for no reason.

I know this is not proof of thievery, but it is evidence none the less.

We need to consider the crime as well. If the thief was out for money, he would not have left the change fund, which every store keeps so the morning shift can start with some cash.

The only thing stolen was Kodak film.

Mary Jane has become more and more bitter at the company, complaining a lot about how overworked and underpaid she is, and how management treats her like shit. So, possibly, this crime was about getting revenge of some kind.

She is always complaining about not getting enough hours and not having enough money. She’s been scrambling for cash for as long as I’ve known her.

I met her for the first time at the Rutherford Fotomat, one of the handful of store fronts operating in this neck of woods. She had taken on extra hours by doing inventory of all the stores and booths.

She and Safire worked the Rutherford store together for a time, one working the morning shift, the other the afternoon shift. They even became best of friends for a time.

But even then, the two of them seemed to compete with each other, especially when it came to the male customers, and even Safire’s husband.

Safire believes there is more going on between her husband and Mary Jane than just innocent flirting and over time, Safire has come to suspect Mary Jane of every foul deed. If there is a mistake, she blames Mary Jane,

Bob, the manager, transferred Mary Jane there earlier to reduce the growing friction between the two women. When Safire changed the locks and did not tell Mary Jane, Mary Jane had a fit, enraged not just at Safire, but at manager Bob as well as the company. She kept saying how she was going to get even with everybody.

So, when the break-in at the Clifton store was discovered, Mary Jane’s was the first name that came to Safire’s mind.

Mary Jane is also upset by the fact that she worked only two hours one week and the pay barely covered the cost of the insurance payment. So, the check was practically nothing.  I remember her bitterly talking about this the day of the break-in, but it seemed irrelevant at the time – even though she seemed obsessed by it all.

Safire believes Mary Jane or one of her male friends is responsible, although she also speculates that Bob might have removed the film after some vandal broke the glass but had not stolen anything – a far fetched theory. Safire is unreliable. Two weeks ago, she called the police because she said some guy sat on the wall behind the Quick Chek and stared at her in the booth for hours.

There are so many theories about the break-in I suspect I might even be a suspect in some of them.

The only thing we know is that someone broke the glass, and that film has been taken. Who did it and why is pure speculation?

 

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