Suspect O (EV 13)

The Ogre and his family had to plan the wedding, as it was taking place in his home town, due to visa restrictions. Therefore, we agreed that they would organise it all and we would pay them what we owe. Now obviously, I couldn’t rely on my father to pay for anything. My mum had saved every year since the day I was born and bought one gold set (consisting of a real gold necklace, bangles and earrings) at a time, so that I had sufficient jewellery and security for my wedding. There were 11 sets in total. Some from Bahrain, some from Dubai, some from India and some from Pakistan. She also managed to get all my beautiful clothes made, with a little assistance from her family. However, in order to pay for the wedding, I took a loan for ten thousand pounds from the bank so it wouldn’t be embarrassing for me or my family at the time of payment.

Anyway, just before we flew, the Ogre called me and said that his mother had bought a gold set for me to wear on the wedding day and had designed the clothes. I explained I already had jewellery and clothes made but he said he couldn’t offend her. He sounded quite embarrassed and said, ‘Let’s not upset Mamma. Just pay her and then when I am in England and working, I will pay your family back.”

I asked him how much this all came to and he said five thousand pounds, which in those days, was a lot of money.

I was shocked. That was half of what I had to pay for the wedding and I couldn’t tell him that I was already bearing the cost of the entire thing. With a heavy heart, I agreed.

So, I took out a credit card and transferred him the money.

On the night we were returning back to the UK, I looked in the suitcase, and instead of the twelve gold sets, there were eleven. As my mum had bought everything, I didn’t really know what each one looked like so when my mother in law said, ‘No, you only bought ten with you,’ I believed her.

It was only after we landed back in the UK, my mum helped me unpack, and asked me where the missing set was. I had no answer. But at least the five grand set was still there…for now…