Evelyn froze when Mark uttered the words "gambling debts." Her eyes widened in genuine terror.
Evelyn: How... how do you know about that?
Mark: You thought I wouldn't notice fifty thousand dollars missing from our secondary trust account over the last three months? You thought I was stupid, Evelyn?
Evelyn: It was an investment! A private club in Austin! I was going to make it all back!
Mark: It was a high-stakes poker room in North Dallas. My divorce lawyer had a private investigator tailing you for two weeks.
Evelyn stumbled back, her hand clutching her chest as if she had been hit. She looked at Mark with pure hatred.
Evelyn: You hired a private investigator on your own wife?! You bastard!
Mark: I hired an investigator when I noticed my mother's antique silver spoons missing last month. Remember when you blamed Clara for misplacing those too?
Clara stood near the counter, a fresh wave of tears springing to her eyes. She remembered the terrible week when three silver spoons went missing from the dining sideboard. Evelyn had docked two hundred dollars from Clara's pay check and threatened to fire her.
Clara: The silver spoons... you took those too? I cried for three days thinking I threw them in the trash by mistake!
Evelyn: Oh, stop crying, Clara! You got paid back, didn't you?! Mark gave you a bonus at Christmas!
Mark: I gave her a bonus out of my own pocket because I suspected you were lying even then! I just couldn't prove it until I got the pawn shop camera footage this morning.
Mark pulled his cell phone from his pocket and tapped the screen. He turned the display toward Evelyn. On the screen was a clear, high-definition security camera photo of Evelyn standing at a bulletproof glass counter in a dark pawn shop, handing over the diamond ring to an older man in a leather jacket.
Mark: The owner of the shop was more than happy to share his footage when my attorney mentioned police involvement. You sold the ring at 3:14 PM yesterday. Then you came home, hid the cash in your closet, and waited for Clara to come clean the master bathroom so you could scream bloody murder.
Evelyn: Mark, please... please don't do this. We can fix this. I'll go to therapy! I'll get help for the gambling!
Mark: It's too late for therapy, Evelyn. You tried to send an innocent woman to prison just to cover your tracks. That isn't a disease. That's who you are.
Evelyn: And what about Leo?! You're going to tear our family apart right before his ninth birthday?!
Mark: Leo is at school right now. When he comes home, his mother won't be here. He will visit you on weekends under court-ordered supervision once you check into a facility and clear your legal troubles.
Evelyn: Legal troubles?! You're going to press charges against your own wife?!
Mark: I'm not pressing charges for the ring. I bought it back from the pawn shop an hour ago. But Clara? Clara has every right to file a police report against you for false accusation and harassment.
Evelyn whirled around to face Clara, her expression shifting from panic to desperate pleading.
Evelyn: Clara... Clara, look at me. You know me! I've been good to you! I gave you those old designer coats last winter! Please, tell him you won't call the police!
Clara: You gave me those coats because the zippers were broken, Mrs. Sterling. And today you tried to destroy my life.
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