‘Do you mean you stole them?’ she asked, mortifyingly loudly.
‘Well . . . I didn’t pay for them,’ Tully said quietly, turning to glance at the woman who’d just lined up behind her, holding a four-pack of tea towels and a cheese board in her arms.
‘You mean you forgot?’
Tully wanted to nod. Yes, yes I forgot. Here you go, I’ll pay now. Do you take Visa? But that was not part of the deal. When Dr Shearer first raised the idea, Tully had suggested leaving the goods out the front of the shops in the middle of the night, or returning them by post, but neither of those ideas equated to ‘taking responsibility’， which the psychologist insisted was the point of the exercise.
‘No, I didn’t forget,’ Tully said quietly. ‘I made a decision to take them without paying.’
‘So you stole them?’ Judy said, impatient now.
Tully looked at Rachel. So far her sister hadn’t had to speak at all, but she had come into each shop with Tully and stood beside her as she made her confession. It had been surprisingly fortifying, having her there.
‘Yes,’ Tully said. ‘I stole them.’
‘I’m going to have to speak to the manager,’ Judy said, before picking up the phone and explaining the situation loud enough for most people in the vicinity to hear. When she’d hung up she said, ‘My manager is calling the police. Can you please wait over there?’
Tully and Rachel stepped to the side, and Judy gestured to the woman with the tea towels to step forward and began scanning her items.
Tully felt a panicky feeling start in her chest. She’d known this was a possibility. ‘Some people might not be forgiving,’ Dr Shearer had said. ‘They might decide to take legal action against you, which they are within their rights to do. You have to accept that. That’s part of taking responsibility too.’
Tully tried to imagine going home and telling Sonny that she had been charged. It would be a disaster for him. For one thing, they couldn’t afford a fine or legal representation. For another, having a wife with a criminal record would look very bad for a criminal lawyer. And she couldn’t even bring herself to think about jail time. She’d done some googling and found out that, given the value of the items she’d taken, she could be imprisoned for a maximum of two years. Even though it was warranted and she deserved it, what would she say to Locky and Miles? How could she bear to be parted from them?
‘Is that really necessary?’ Rachel said, stepping forward. ‘She has the items here, they are undamaged. She has brought them back of her own accord.’
‘My manager said this is the procedure,’ Judy said.
‘Look,’ Rachel said, lowering her voice, ‘my sister isn’t well, okay? She’s a kleptomaniac. She doesn’t mean to steal. She doesn’t need these items. Even if she did, she had the money to pay for them!’
‘I’m sorry,’ Judy said, not looking sorry. ‘There’s nothing I can do.’
Another customer approached and Judy began to serve her.
Tully looked at Rachel.
‘Let’s make a run for it,’ Rachel said, deadpan.
It was one of those bizarre moments when they both started to laugh. It bubbled up from within, a little at first, and then more, until suddenly they were both roaring. At that moment, the manager appeared. She looked to be all of nineteen, with skin-tight black pants and a white shirt tied in a knot at the front. According to her nametag, she was Jazmin.
Judy nodded at them. They’re the guilty ones, her nod said.
Jazmin, who had been looking quite authoritative, appeared a little less sure of herself.
‘Uh . . . follow me, please.’
Tully and Rachel nodded solemnly and followed Jazmin down a narrow corridor to a small windowless office. It was funny how far she’d fallen. Normally, Tully felt right at home in Myer. The marketing was tailored to people like her. The clothes – for both adults and children – were aimed at people like her. The salespeople smiled at her when they saw her, confident that she belonged. Now she was in a back room. She felt like one of those people on Border Security who’d been detained for trying to enter the country without a visa.
‘Does this remind you of Border Security?’ Rachel asked.
‘That’s exactly what I was thinking,’ Tully replied.
They waited in the windowless room for what felt like an eternity. It must have been part of the process: trying to ‘sweat them out’。
‘Do you think someone’s going to come in with a spotlight and a glass of water?’ Tully asked her sister. But Rachel’s gaze was faraway, her mind somewhere else.