The Luxury Card Scandal

After receiving the report, the police arrived quickly.

Less than ten minutes after the call ended, two officers pushed open the door and walked in.

Ms. Waltz, who had been glaring at me the entire time, instantly lost the aggressive expression she'd been wearing the moment she saw the police. Her face changed immediately into a smile as she hurried over to greet them.

"Hello, officers. I'm the lobby manager of Sensilk Beauty Salon. This is all just a misunderstanding, really, just a misunderstanding!"

Watching her deliberately stall them with pointless chatter was almost laughable.

Did she really think the police could not see through such an obvious trick?

Sure enough, the next second, the two officers walked straight past her and stopped in front of me.

"Are you the one who made the report?"

I nodded and calmly explained everything that had happened from beginning to end, leaving out nothing and exaggerating nothing.

"I called the police to protect my legal rights.

"There was one hundred thousand dollars in that card. Today's treatment only cost three thousand, but somehow more than eighty thousand disappeared from my account.

"That's a huge amount of money. I'm allowed to report that, aren't I?

"And according to Ms. Waltz and the staff here, they used my card without my knowledge because they claimed my mother came in and spent the money."

I let out a cold laugh.

"Officer, my mother died of illness ten years ago. Doesn't that sound completely ridiculous?"

I handed over the receipt from the transaction along with my bank card, then pointed toward the register, whose screen was still lit up.

Those were all solid pieces of evidence.

The reason I had stayed here watching them the entire time was because I was afraid they might panic and try to delete or destroy something. If that happened, I really would have nowhere left to argue my case.

The two officers followed my explanation and carefully checked the machine and the receipts before finally turning toward Rita, whose face had already gone pale.

"Well? Explain this.

"You used someone else's card without the cardholder's knowledge. Did your store fulfill its obligation to verify the transaction?"

Cold sweat instantly broke out across Rita's forehead.

By now, after hearing my full explanation, everyone in the room could sense that something was seriously wrong.

"No... no, that's not what happened... We... that customer showed us a photo as proof!

"The woman in the picture was clearly Ms. Pearson!

"Officers, we're innocent too! We only agreed to process the card after seeing the photo!

"Otherwise... otherwise we wouldn't dare even if you gave us ten times the courage!"

The explanation sounded weak even to her own ears. As she spoke, her voice gradually shrank lower and lower.

Just as the situation reached a deadlock, the staff member behind the register suddenly spoke up in a small voice.

"I... I kept that customer's contact information...

"It should still be in the client registration book... We might be able to contact her..."

The moment those words came out, everyone's eyes turned toward the thin registration notebook sitting on the counter.

A sneer rose in my chest.

Got you.

I was finally going to find out who this rat hiding in the shadows really was.

At the officers' instruction, the staff member flipped through the registration book and dialed the number listed inside.

Everyone waited anxiously.

The next second, after a sharp beep, a woman's shrill voice came through the speaker.

"Who is this?!"

Following the police officer's signals, the staff member nervously stumbled through her words.

"I-Is this Ms. Pearson?

"This is Sensilk Beauty Salon. We're doing a loyalty rewards event for longtime customers and need to confirm your information before sending out gifts...

"If you could leave us your address, we'll arrange delivery shortly..."

I listened carefully to the woman's voice, trying to catch even the slightest hint of familiarity.

However, no matter how hard I searched my memory, I could not place her at all.

The woman on the other end trusted the excuse surprisingly easily and immediately gave a detailed address.

But the moment I heard it, my eyes widened in shock.

Wait... wasn't that...?