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My Mom Called And Said: “Hide A Camera In The Living Room And Get Out Of The House” — Transcript

by Revenge View · 3,449 words · 492 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00On Friday night, the night before my
0:02vacation, my mother called me at 8:40
0:05and didn't even say hello. She said,
0:08"Rachel, hide a camera in the living
0:10room and get out of the house tonight."
0:12I laughed. My suitcase was open on the
0:15bed, half packed for a cruise to Alaska.
0:18"Don't ask me questions on the phone.
0:20Buy a camera. Turn off the sound. Put it
0:23where Craig won't look. Then bring your
0:25suitcase to my house and sleep here." My
0:27mother is 74. For 31 years, she
0:31investigated insurance fraud, and I had
0:34never once heard her sound scared. She
0:36sounded scared now. I thought she was
0:39being dramatic. I did it anyway, and at
0:429:14 on Saturday night, sitting on my
0:44mother's couch with my phone in my hand,
0:47I watched my husband walk into our
0:48living room with his brother and an
0:50empty suitcase. What they put inside
0:53that suitcase left me frozen. If you
0:55enjoy stories like this, take a second
0:58to like and subscribe. My name is Rachel
1:00Dunn. I was 49 years old that fall, and
1:03I had been married to Craig for 20
1:05years. The cruise was supposed to be our
1:07anniversary trip. I'd saved for 3 years
1:10from my salary as a school librarian to
1:12pay for it. 2 weeks before we were
1:15supposed to leave, Craig told me he
1:16couldn't go. He said his boss had
1:19canceled all vacations because of a big
1:21audit. "Go anyway," he said. "Take your
1:23friend Dana in my place. You've waited
1:26for this forever."
1:27Then he smiled and said, "Just do me one
1:30favor. Leave Grandma's ring at home.
1:33You'll lose it on a ship." I thought
1:35that was sweet. My grandmother's
1:37sapphire ring was the most valuable
1:39thing I owned, so I left it in the
1:41jewelry box in our closet. A month
1:43earlier, I'd noticed our savings account
1:45was a few thousand dollars lower than it
1:47should have been. Craig said he'd moved
1:50it to a better account with higher
1:51interest. I believed him. That's the
1:54kind of wife I was. I agreed to things.
1:57Our brick house in Indianapolis was mine
2:00before it was ours. My father helped me
2:03buy it when I was 27. He was a mail
2:05carrier who collected old silver
2:07dollars. He kept them in blue folders
2:09with little round holes, and on Sunday
2:11nights, he'd spread them across the
2:13kitchen table and count them with me.
2:16Count it twice, Rachel, he'd say.
2:18Anybody can count once. When he died 6
2:21years ago, he left me all 212 of them. I
2:25kept them in a fireproof box in the hall
2:27closet. My mother, Peg, lived 10 minutes
2:31away. She had never really liked Craig,
2:33but she never said it. She just watched
2:36him quietly and carefully. When I was a
2:39teenager, she used to tell me, "Don't
2:41listen to what people say, Rachel. Watch
2:44what they do."
2:45After a call, I bought a small camera
2:47the size of a golf ball for $42 and
2:50called her from the parking lot. "Turn
2:52off the microphone," she said. "I don't
2:54want you recording anyone's
2:55conversations. Video only, just to be
2:58careful. And only in the living room,
3:01never the bedroom. Now, go."
3:04Craig was out. I felt like a criminal as
3:06I connected the camera to our Wi-Fi and
3:09turned on cloud recording. Then I stuck
3:11it with double-sided tape to the back
3:13panel of the bookshelf beside the
3:14fireplace, behind my father's old
3:17encyclopedias, with its lens looking out
3:19through a narrow gap between two books.
3:21On my phone, I could see the couch, the
3:24coffee table, the front door, and most
3:26of the living room, including the
3:27entrance to the hall closet where my
3:29father's coins were kept. Craig came
3:31home at 9:30 in a cheerful mood.
3:34I told him my mother wanted me to sleep
3:36at her house because she was driving me
3:38to the airport at 5:00 in the morning.
3:40"Perfect," he said a little too fast.
3:43"Your mom will love that." He carried my
3:45suitcase to the car himself. "Text me
3:48when you board," he said. "Don't worry
3:50about anything here." My mother opened
3:52her front door before I could knock. If
3:55I tell you what I think, she said,
3:57you'll find an excuse for him. So, I'll
3:59give you facts.
4:01Fact one, 3 weeks earlier, she'd seen
4:04Craig at the coffee shop near the
4:05library at 10:00 on a Tuesday morning
4:08wearing a t-shirt reading job listings
4:10on his laptop. She had seen him there
4:13twice more since. I don't think that man
4:15is going to an office anymore, she said.
4:17Fact two, Craig had asked her at Sunday
4:20dinner whether planned to check on her
4:22house while I was gone. When she offered
4:24to water my plants, he told her not to
4:26bother. Fact three was the one that made
4:29her pick up the phone. That afternoon,
4:31she'd had lunch with her old friend
4:33Linda, who works at the insurance agency
4:35that sold us our policy. Linda mentioned
4:38that Craig had called 2 weeks earlier,
4:40raised our coverage, and added my
4:42father's coins and my jewelry to the
4:44policy as scheduled valuables, worth up
4:47to $75,000.
4:49That didn't mean the company would pay
4:50that much, but it meant he could claim
4:52it. He had also asked exactly how much
4:55the deductible was for a burglary. I
4:57stared at my mother. Lots of people
4:59update their insurance. They do, she
5:01said. And lots of people who are about
5:04to fake a burglary update it first. The
5:06first thing I always checked was what
5:08changed right before the loss.
5:10I told her she was being paranoid. She
5:13adjusted my phone against the sugar bowl
5:15and said, then we'll watch nothing
5:17happen. That first night, nothing
5:19happened. At 5:00 in the morning, my
5:21mother drove me to the airport anyway,
5:23just in case anyone was watching. I
5:26walked into the terminal, never went
5:27near security, and walked out a
5:29different door to where she waited in
5:31the pickup lane. The cruise line had
5:33already approved the passenger change,
5:35replacing Craig's name with Dana's. His
5:38fare covered her place, so no extra
5:40ticket was needed. When I told her
5:42everything, she said, go. I'll take
5:45pictures of the whales for you.
5:47She sailed alone and my ticket went
5:50unused. Only when we were back on the
5:52highway did I text Greg, "Boarding now.
5:54Love you."
5:56He replied in less than a minute, "Have
5:58fun. Phone service will be terrible on
6:01the ship, so don't worry if I don't hear
6:03from you." At 9:14 that Saturday night,
6:06my front door opened. Craig walked in
6:09first. Behind him came his younger
6:11brother, Wade, carrying a large empty
6:14suitcase. They didn't sit down. They
6:17went straight to the hall closet. Craig
6:19took down my father's fireproof box,
6:22opened it on the coffee table, and I
6:23watched my husband take my father's
6:25silver dollars out of their little round
6:27holes and drop them into plastic bags
6:29like loose change from a car seat. Then,
6:32he disappeared down the hallway toward
6:33our bedroom, out of the camera's view. A
6:36minute later, he walked back into the
6:38living room carrying my jewelry box. He
6:41opened it under the lamp, took out my
6:43grandmother's ring, and held it up to
6:45the light before handing it to Wade. And
6:47Wade put it in his shirt pocket. My
6:49mother didn't say a word. She reached
6:51over and put her hand on my knee. They
6:54took everything. My wedding pearls, the
6:57gold bracelet my mother gave me when I
6:59graduated, my father's coins. They
7:01packed it all into Wade's suitcase and
7:04zipped it shut. Before they left, Craig
7:06walked to the glass door that leads to
7:08our patio and stood there studying it.
7:10He crouched down, looked at the lock,
7:12and took pictures of it with his phone.
7:14He's planning to break in. My mother
7:16said quietly, "He's deciding which glass
7:18to smash."
7:20I found myself standing with my car keys
7:22in my hand. My mother stood up, too, and
7:24put herself between me and the front
7:26door. She is 5 ft 1. "Sit down," she
7:29said. "He's already taken your property,
7:32and that may be a crime. But if you
7:34confront him tonight, he'll say he was
7:36moving your things somewhere safe, and
7:38then he'll get rid of everything. We
7:40save what we've recorded, we get the
7:42right people involved, and we let him
7:44keep going. He'll wait for a night when
7:46he can say he wasn't home, and then
7:48he'll stage the break-in. If he files a
7:51false claim, he hands investigators the
7:53last piece themselves.
7:55I sat down. Then I went into her
7:57bathroom and was sick. Later that night,
8:01part of me still wanted to call Craig
8:03and give him one chance to explain. 20
8:05years is a long time. I picked up my
8:08phone twice. Both times I saw my
8:11father's coins falling into that plastic
8:13bag, and I put it down. On Sunday
8:15afternoon, a man in a gray sweater came
8:18to my house. He looked at my father's
8:20silver dollars one at a time, and after
8:22an hour, he counted out a stack of cash
8:25and handed it to Craig. Craig counted it
8:27twice. That was the moment I cried. Not
8:31when they took the coins. When my
8:33husband counted the money twice, the way
8:35my father taught me to count the coins.
8:37My mother saved every clip. That night,
8:40she called Frank Russo, a man she had
8:43trained years ago. He still worked in
8:45the fake claims unit at her old company,
8:47the same company that insured our house.
8:50On Monday morning, he watched every clip
8:52without a word, then said, "Peg, you
8:56always did bring me the good ones."
8:58That afternoon, he opened a file and
9:00called Detective Angela Morris from the
9:02police fraud unit. She watched the clips
9:05the same day and started building her
9:07own case. Frank looked at me. "You have
9:09to stay invisible. If he finds out you
9:12never got on that ship, he'll put
9:13everything back and we'll have nothing."
9:16On Monday night, I watched my husband
9:18break into his own house. It happened at
9:2111:50, two nights after the theft, so it
9:24would look like a separate burglary.
9:26Craig's plan was to say he'd spent that
9:28night at Wade's apartment and come home
9:30the next morning to find the damage.
9:32Wade pulled on a pair of work gloves,
9:34picked up the heavy flower pot I planted
9:36tomatoes in every summer and smashed it
9:39through the glass of our back door. Then
9:41they dumped drawers, threw cushions, and
9:43knocked over the lamp. Wade pulled books
9:46off the shelf right below the camera,
9:48and for one terrible second, his hand
9:51came within inches of the lens. But
9:53behind that row of books, all he could
9:55see was shadow. He turned and walked
9:58away. The camera kept recording. When
10:00they were done, Craig nodded at the mess
10:03and they left. At 8:15 on Tuesday, a
10:06police car pulled into my driveway. I
10:09watched Craig show two officers the
10:11empty closet and the broken glass, his
10:13head down. He looked like the most
10:15heartbroken man in Indiana. At 10:30, my
10:18phone rang. It was Craig. He thought he
10:21was calling a wife somewhere off the
10:23coast of Alaska. "Rachel, babe, sit
10:26down," he said. His voice was shaking.
10:28"Someone broke into the house last
10:30night. They took your dad's coins, your
10:33grandma's ring, all your jewelry. I'm so
10:36sorry." I couldn't speak. He took that
10:39as shock. Then he lowered his voice.
10:41"Babe, I hate to ask this, but does your
10:44mom still have a key? I'm not saying she
10:46did anything, but she's getting older.
10:49Maybe she came by to water the plants
10:51anyway and left the back door unlocked."
10:53I looked at my mother sitting next to me
10:55with her reading glasses on her nose,
10:57writing every word he said in a
10:59notebook. "Maybe," I said. It was the
11:02hardest word I have ever said. "Don't
11:05come home early," he said. "There's
11:07nothing you can do. I'll handle the
11:09insurance. Just enjoy your trip." When I
11:12hung up, my mother closed her notebook.
11:14"He tried to put it on me," she said
11:16calmly. "That's his second mistake."
11:19"What was the first?" "Marrying a woman
11:21whose mother reads claims for a living."
11:23Craig filed his claim that afternoon.
11:26Because of the new coverage, the high
11:27value, and the timing, it was flagged
11:29and sent to Frank's unit. As a normal
11:32part of any claim, an adjuster would
11:34visit the house on Thursday at 2:00 to
11:36take Craig's statement. Frank handled
11:39the insurance side and shared what he
11:41found with Detective Morris. Any arrest
11:43would be her decision. After reviewing
11:45the footage, Detective Morris decided to
11:48make the arrest during that meeting
11:50while Craig and the evidence were in the
11:52same room. Craig had no idea that she
11:55and a uniformed officer would be waiting
11:57just outside. On Thursday, my mother and
12:00I sat on folding chairs in my own garage
12:03listening through the door to the
12:04kitchen. Frank had told us to wait until
12:06he knocked on the table twice. I heard
12:09Craig describe coming home to find his
12:11house destroyed. Then he read his list
12:13of stolen items from a typed page with
12:16copies of old appraisals. 212 silver
12:19dollars, my late father-in-law's
12:21collection appraised at about 38,000.
12:24A sapphire and diamond ring for my
12:26wife's grandmother, about 12,000. A
12:29pearl necklace. A gold bracelet. He even
12:33listed things that had never existed. A
12:35diamond tennis bracelet I never owned. A
12:38gold watch my father never wore. The
12:41total came to 74,000 dollars. Mr. Dunn,
12:44the adjuster, said, "I need you to read
12:47this statement carefully and sign it
12:49confirming that everything you've told
12:51me is complete and accurate." There was
12:53a short pause. Then I heard the pen. I
12:56heard Frank's knuckles knock twice on my
12:59kitchen table. My mother opened the door
13:01and we walked into the kitchen. Craig
13:03was sitting at the table with the pen
13:05still in his hand. When he saw my
13:07mother, his face went pale. When he saw
13:10me behind her, he stood up so fast his
13:12chair fell over. "Rachel," he said,
13:15"you're you're supposed to be in
13:16Alaska." "I never left, Craig," I said.
13:20"I've been at my mother's house all
13:22week." "Watching."
13:24Then he did what he always did when he
13:26got caught. He smiled. "Babe, I don't
13:29know what your mom told you, but she's
13:30confused. She's been confused for a
13:33while. Whatever you think happened,
13:36I put my phone on the kitchen table in
13:37front of him and press play. On the
13:39screen, my husband was dropping my
13:42father's silver dollars into a plastic
13:44bag.
13:45I pressed the next clip. Wade was
13:47putting my grandmother's ring in his
13:49shirt pocket. The next one, Wade was
13:52smashing my tomato pot through our back
13:53door while Craig watched with his hands
13:55in his pockets. Craig stared at the
13:57screen.
13:59"That's not what it looks like," he
14:00said. "We were moving your things to
14:02Wade's to keep them safe. The break-in
14:04happened after."
14:06"After you smashed the door yourself?"
14:08my mother said quietly. For the first
14:10time in 20 years, he had no words at
14:13all. The front door opened and Detective
14:15Morris walked in with a uniformed
14:17officer. "Craig Dunn," she said, "I
14:20already had enough to arrest you before
14:22you walked in here today. Video of the
14:24theft, video of the staged break-in, and
14:27the false police report you made on
14:29Tuesday. That signed claim only makes
14:31the case stronger. You're under arrest."
14:34As the officer put the handcuffs on him,
14:36Craig turned to me. "Rachel, please. I
14:39lost my job in March. I didn't know how
14:42to tell you. I had debts, credit cards.
14:45I just needed time to fix it." Standing
14:48there, I thought about the savings
14:50account that was a few thousand dollars
14:51short and the better account he'd never
14:53shown me. It had all been part of the
14:56same lie. "You could have told me," I
14:58said. "I would have helped you. Instead,
15:01you sold my father's coins and tried to
15:04blame my mother."
15:05The officer walked him out past our
15:07neighbors standing on their porches. My
15:09mother stood beside me in the kitchen.
15:11She didn't hug me. She just stood close
15:14enough that our shoulders touched.
15:16"Watch what people do," she said
15:18quietly. "I know, Mom. I watched." Wade
15:21was arrested that evening. The police
15:24found my wedding pearls and the gold
15:25bracelet in his kitchen drawer and my
15:27grandmother's ring in a sock in his
15:29dresser. Every piece of my real jewelry
15:32came back. The extra items on Craig's
15:34list had never existed. He told the
15:37detective it was all Craig's idea and
15:39within a week his lawyer was using the
15:41word cooperation. The coin dealer in the
15:44gray sweater had kept a record of the
15:46purchase. When investigators traced the
15:48sale to his shop, they learned he had
15:50already sold 40 of the coins, including
15:53some of the rarest and most valuable
15:55ones. The police recovered the rest and
15:58172 silver dollars came home in their
16:01blue folders. The other 40 are gone. I
16:04still search for them online sometimes
16:06late at night looking for an 1889 silver
16:09dollar with a tiny scratch across the
16:11eagle's wing. My father put that scratch
16:13there by accident when I was nine. He
16:16said it made that coin ours. Craig had
16:18hidden his unemployment for 7 months
16:20leaving every morning in a shirt and tie
16:23and spending his days in coffee shops.
16:25My mother had only noticed the pattern a
16:27few weeks before my trip. His credit
16:29card debt had grown to almost $60,000
16:32and bank records showed our missing
16:34savings had gone to those cards in small
16:36transfers. The insurance company denied
16:39the claim. A charge isn't a conviction
16:42and the case will take time, but I'll be
16:44at every hearing.
16:46I filed for divorce 2 weeks later. I
16:49bought the house before we married with
16:51my father's help and it was still in my
16:53name. My lawyer said those facts
16:56mattered, but the court would decide how
16:58our property was divided. The police had
17:00taken the little camera as evidence, but
17:03there was still a narrow gap between my
17:04father's encyclopedias where its lens
17:06had looked out. I left it there. That
17:09night I put my father's folders on the
17:11kitchen table the way he used to and I
17:14counted the silver dollars. 172.
17:18Then I counted them again. My mother sat
17:21across from me with a cup of coffee and
17:23watched. "Anybody can count once." she
17:26said. I looked up at her. I had always
17:29thought that was my father's saying, a
17:31private thing between him and me at the
17:33kitchen table. "Who do you think taught
17:35him?" she said. Once the police had
17:37photographed everything for evidence,
17:40they returned my grandmother's ring and
17:42the rest of my jewelry. The following
17:44summer, after the case had moved forward
17:46and I began rebuilding my life, I
17:49finally took the Alaska trip I'd
17:51postponed. This time I took my mother.
17:54She spent the week at the railing in two
17:56coats watching for whales through my
17:58father's old binoculars. On the fifth
18:01morning, a huge section of the glacier
18:03broke away and crashed into the sea with
18:06a sound like thunder. My mother just
18:08squeezed my hand. "Your father would
18:11have loved this." she said. On the last
18:13night I let my mother my grandmother's
18:15ring to wear to dinner. She kept turning
18:18her hand under the lights to watch the
18:20sapphire shine. People ask me how my
18:22mother knew. She knew because she was
18:24watching. Not what Craig said to me at
18:26the dinner table, but what he did. The
18:28coffee shop on a Tuesday, the question
18:31about the deductible, the way he told me
18:33to leave my grandmother's ring at home.
18:36I listened to my husband for 20 years.
18:38My mother watched him and in the end the
18:41only thing that saved me was a little
18:43camera with no sound showing me exactly
18:46what he did. If your mother or someone
18:48in your family ever saw the truth before
18:50you did, tell me in the comments. I read
18:53everyone. And if this story meant
18:55something to you, like the video and
18:57subscribe for more stories about
18:58betrayal, family, and the people who
19:01quietly protect us when we can't see the
19:04danger ourselves.
19:39>> Mhm.

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