Your Guise Is Slipping, Miss Pearl

When Pearl and Richard got home, they were greeted by a lively scene in the living room. The Waldorfs, including Susan, were seated together. There was also a woman who was about Pearl’s age sitting on the sofa. She wore a suit dress and looked like a wealthy young lady. “You’re home, Rick. Come, sit. Abby just got back from abroad. She came right after getting off the plane.” The woman stood up and greeted Richard, but she looked evidently disappointed when she received only a nonchalant reply. She then looked at Pearl and smiled broadly. “Pearl, right? I’m Abby Flores, and I grew up with Rick and his brothers. We’ll be friends from now on and can hang out if you get bored.” Abby had learned from the conversation earlier that Pearl was very pretty, but she was not expecting her to be this beautiful. Pearl’s makeup-free face was flawless, eliciting jealousy from many women. Pearl, having long discerned Abby’s thought, answered half-heartedly, “Sure.” At this time, Dustan got home too. The Floreses and the Waldorfs had been family friends for decades, so he treated Abby warmly. Pearl went off to the side to wait for dinner as everyone chatted away cheerfully. Susan piped up, “By the way, Abby, I bought some things for you since I knew you were coming home. Hang on. I’ll go get them.” She went upstairs, but when she came back down, she asked Dustan unhappily, “Where’s the jewelry I recently bought that I placed in the drawer?” “How would I know?” Dustan asked back. Susan looked at her five sons. “Did you guys take it?” They shook their heads. “That’s strange. Where did they go?” Abby asked cautiously, “Missus Susan, did someone steal them perhaps?” “Who would dare? Give them back to me now and get out of this house! If not, I’ll put you in jail!” Since no one admitted to taking the jewelry, Susan instructed, “Alex, check all the rooms.” Pearl, who was scrolling through her phone, became interested when she heard this. An hour later, the housekeeper failed to find the lost jewelry even after searching all the rooms with the helpers. Alex reported, “Ma’am, we’ve searched all the rooms aside from Miss Pearl’s and the staff quarters.” One of the helpers then stepped forward and said, “Madam, Miss Pearl did walk past us when we were discussing the broken surveillance camera yesterday, and I also saw her come out of your room later that afternoon.” This statement claimed that Pearl had gone into Dustan and Susan’s room since she knew that the surveillance camera was broken. This made her highly suspicious. Hearing this, Susan was enraged. “I wondered why you refused to take Dustan’s card yesterday. So you pretended to be all upright but did such a heinous thing in secret. Alex, search her room.” Dustan stepped forward and said, “Nonsense! Pea isn’t that kind of person.” “And why not, Dustan? How much do you know about her? She came from the countryside. Of course, she’d do something like that. She was alone at home yesterday, and she’s the most suspicious person here.” Pearl appeared calm as she said, “It’s fine. Mister Dustan. Let them search my room.” She had noticed that this was a scheme targeted at her the moment it happened, and she would soon figure out who the mastermind was. Alex went to Pearl’s room with the helpers. The others remained on the sofa. Pearl looked at the helper who had bad-mouthed her and asked coldly, “What’s your name?” She never went into Dustan and Susan’s room, so why did this helper slander her?