When Vernon proposed to Dolores, he promised they would stay together for the rest of their lives — even saying they would leave this world hand in hand, heading toward their eternal home.
But life had other plans. One day, out of the blue, Vernon suffered a fatal heart attack, leaving Dolores to face the world alone.
Vernon had been a respected antiques dealer in town, running a small but successful antique shop. Some of his most valuable pieces were stored at home, something everyone in the neighborhood knew. That curiosity eventually attracted trouble: a series of attempted break-ins at both the shop and the house.
One evening, as Dolores returned from the market, she saw her 31-year-old neighbor, Bob, standing by the front gate and peering into her house. As soon as he noticed she had seen him, he turned and walked away, pretending not to notice her.
Rumor had it that Bob was unemployed, drank heavily, and had been abandoned by his wife, who had moved back in with her parents. His unsettling stare stayed in Dolores’s mind. She locked up tightly and closed the balcony door. Later, she peeked out the window to see if he was still there, but Bob had vanished.
A few days later, while preparing tea in the kitchen, Dolores heard a strange noise in the backyard. Grabbing a frying pan for protection, she opened the back door and saw Bob and another man jumping over the fence.
That night, she couldn’t sleep, imagining what might have happened if they had entered. The next morning, she hired a handyman to replace all the locks and install security cameras inside and outside the house.
For a few days, nothing happened. But on a rainy night, just after midnight, a loud thud woke her up. Rushing to the monitor, she saw that the backyard cameras had been sabotaged. Peeking out of the kitchen window, she spotted two masked men dressed in black prowling around her property. She couldn’t see their faces, but their conversation made it clear — they were planning a break-in.
Acting quickly, Dolores called the police. Then, loud enough for the intruders to hear, she began speaking as if Vernon were still alive:
“Oh, Vernon! I miss you so much! Why did you have to leave me like this? I haven’t even touched the antiques you kept in the garage… Your grandfather’s gold watch and that silver flute from your great-grandfather are still safe there!”
She saw the men’s shadows shift toward the garage — exactly as she had hoped. Minutes later, the garage camera feed went dark. The trap had been set.
The police arrived just in time, catching the intruders red-handed and arresting them on the spot.
Following Officer Robinson’s advice, Dolores called her son, Todd, and told him everything. Concerned for her safety, he urged her to move in with him. But Dolores couldn’t bring herself to leave the home filled with memories of Vernon.
Instead, Todd requested a work transfer and moved his family to her town.
Now, Dolores and her daughter-in-law, Claire, run Vernon’s former antique shop together, giving it a fresh start under a new name: Dolores and Vernon’s Treasure House.
