Chapter 3 - Thayer’s explanation
He said he had taken the ring for safekeeping.
Because too many people were around.
That was his first version.
Gwendolyn stared at him.
“You took my ring without telling me?”
“Your borrowed ring.”
“Don’t.”
He corrected.
“The family ring.”
“Why put it in your pocket?”
“I was going to give it to Estelle.”
My mother said nothing.
I noticed.
“Did Estelle ask you to?”
“No.”
“Did Gwendolyn?”
“No.”
“Did anyone?”
“No.”
Then I asked:
“Why didn’t you say so when everyone was looking for it?”
Thayer hesitated.
“I didn’t realize they were.”
A lie.
Guests had been searching for almost ten minutes.
Estelle had shouted:
“The ring is gone.”
Half the bridal party heard her.
Then my mother slapped Percival.
Thayer was fifteen feet away.
He had watched.
If he had the ring for safekeeping, he could have prevented a child from being accused.
May you like
He did not.
That changed the moral facts even if his initial taking had somehow been innocent.
