She sighed as she relaxed on her couch with a nice cup of warm chamomile tea.  Her husband was at work and wouldn’t be home for hours and most of the chores she set for herself were finished for the day.  She had just picked up the remote control to turn on the television when the doorbell rang.

Sighing, she pushed herself up to her feet and padded towards the door.  Her husband had wanted one of those doorbell cameras, but she had been adamantly against it.  Now she wondered if she should have let him get one after all.

She hadn’t even gotten to the door yet when she made out the shape of someone with their face pressed against the window beside the front door, their hands cupped around their eyes as they tried to peer through the curtain.

Sighing, she put her eye up to the peephole in the door and was greeted by the sight of a woman who looked to be in her sixties.  She was dressed in a short sleeved blouse and yoga pants that looked at least one size too small for her.  She had large, dark sunglasses on and a pair of massive, sparkling earrings.  Her short hair was swept to one side and an annoyed expression just seemed to rest on her face.  She rang the doorbell again before also knocking impatiently.

She pulled the door open and looked at the woman through the storm door.  She let out a gasp and stepped quickly away from the door, almost falling backwards off of the porch before she pulled herself together and put a familiar saccharine sweet smile on her face.

She lifted her hand, looking annoyed at the older woman and blurted out, “Just say what you want.”

The smile fading quickly from her face, her lips pursed into what is often referred to as a “catt-butt face”.  “Well, no need to be so rude.  I saw online that this house was for sale and I came by to take a look at it.”

Now it was the younger woman’s turn to look confused.  “For sale?  This house isn’t for sale.  We just moved in here a little over a year ago.”

“Are you sure that your husband didn’t put it on the market without you knowing?”

She opened her mouth to say just how stupid that idea was, when she had a thought.  “Hang on one moment.  I’ll be right back.”

Closing the door behind her, she walked over to her laptop sitting on a desk off to one side.  She logged into the real estate website that they had bought their home from, only to see that it was still listed as for sale.  She gave a grin and nodded to herself.  She would have to fix that with the agency soon, but in the meantime.

Heading back to the front door, she was now all smiles as she opened the storm door wide.  “It turns out you were right.  He wanted it to be a surprise.  Please, come in, let me show you around.”

“Hmph, it’s about time.”  Her eyes darted around, searching for anything and everything she could complain about, obviously aiming to drop the value of the house.  She just rolled her eyes and took the woman’s abuse with a smile for a few moments before she finally chimed in.

“You know, this house is a bit of a rarity.  It’s one of the only homes in this entire area with a fully finished basement!”

The older woman’s eyes lit up with greed at that. “Oh really?  Well, that’s not really so unusual, I doubt it adds any real value to the home,” she lied.

“Well, why don’t you come down and take a look for yourself.  See what you think?”

Opening the door onto the darkened staircase heading down, she reached in and flicked on the basement lights before leading the way down.

A few hours later, she let herself into the garage, sipping at a fresh cup of her tea.  Setting the mug down on the workbench in the gloom, she crouched down and pulled a battered cardboard box from its hiding spot in the darkness.  Reaching into that box, she pulled out a small lock box and set it on the bench before producing the key and opening it wide.

There inside of the smaller box were dozens and dozens of identification bracelets from a few different hospitals across the country.  She ran her fingers lovingly over them, shivering a little as she let herself remember each and every one of them.  Finally, she reached down into her pocket and pulled out a pair of huge, gaudy earrings, small droplets of blood marred the fake diamonds that crusted the pinchbeck that was already threatening to turn her fingers green.  She tossed them into the box with a soft chuckle and locked it back up, stowing it away safely.

She needed to get in touch with the real estate agency about getting the false listing corrected, but maybe she could wait a few more weeks.