I neglected to mention one other thing that tipped off Frankie about Marcelo´s dishonesty even before he registered the disappearance of the Tums. Frankie has an old friend in her 70s who has power of attorney to act for him. One day Marcelo came back from the bank and said that someone there had told him that this power of attorney was no good because the woman was too old.
Frankie was positive this was nonsense, and he confirmed that with the attorney he had used to set everything up in the first place. Nevermind the fact that there was no reason for the subject to have even come up between Marcelo and any of the bank personnel. Frankie told me about this and we agreed that Marcelo appeared to be up to something. This was the first time that I had any inkling that Frankie used Marcelo for any activity relating to his bank accounts. Frankie would then occasionally tell me that Marcelo had once again brought up the matter of power of attorney, never directly saying that he wanted to have that power, but always hinting that Frankie needed to make a change. I was never a party to these conversations, by the way, because I avoided Marcelo as best I could. This all happened before we checked the bank balances and found proof that Marcelo was stealing.
Instead of just confronting Marcelo immediately, Frankie had a clever little plan. The first thing he needed to do was get his keys back, so he called Marcelo and told him that he had left his own set of keys in a taxi and that he needed Marcelo´s set. Then he brought up an old subject that had been tabled for several weeks. Marcelo had a DVD player that he had once told Frankie he would sell him for R$100. Frankie verified that Marcelo still had the DVD player, so he asked Marcelo to bring it over, set it up, and let him use it for a few days to see if he liked it. Done.
I don´t recall the exact sequence of things, but Frankie also went to the bank, explained what had happened, cancelled the card and requested a new one. He also verified that the card had never been used as a credit card, that Marcelo hadn´t made any internet purchases.
Frankie wasn´t interested in pressing charges, because he knew that his own laxity was a large part of the problem and that it would come down to his word against Marcelo´s. But, before confronting Marcelo, he wanted to go back to March and see if he could identify other doubtful bank transactions. That proved to be very difficult. A lot of transactions were questionable but, on the other hand, might have been valid. It was just too long ago to remember. Frankie did, however, find one incident that he was sure was more evidence of Marcelo stealing from him. Frankie had received a small settlement from Aida´s estate and Marcelo had deposited it for him, but not quite all of it. The deposit was a few hundred reiais short.
I said that Frankie was indecisive. He wanted to have a confrontation with Marcelo, but he kept putting if off. For one thing, Marcelo had some of his DVDs and CDs that Frankie wanted returned. We finally managed to do that exchange on the street one day. I will never win an acting award because Marcelo afterwards asked Frankie why Gerry didn´t like him. There were other delays, that I don´t remember, except that they were probably unnecessary.
Together we agreed on a few specifics. Frankie would not have a confrontation with Marcelo unless I, or at least someone, was with him. I would have preferred the someone else option, but that wasn´t likely. The confrontation would be in a public place, not the apartment. Under no circumstances would Frankie allow Marcelo or his ex-lover/roommate, José Luiz, into his apartment if either of them were to ring the buzzer. If that happened, Frankie was just to say that he had company or was going to bed early etc. Finally, Frankie would inform the doorman, who was accustomed to seeing Marcelo come and go, that he was no longer, under any circumstances, to admit Marcelo.
In the meanwhile, Marcelo was calling Frank only rarely, and someone at the bank told Frankie that Marcelo had been in and wanted to do something or other related to Frankie´s account and they, the bank people, had all but thrown him out. So Marcelo had to know something was up.
Finally, after several days of delay, we were ready but, for all we knew, Marcelo was already to wary to cooperate. Nevertheless, we had to try. Frankie and I wrote up a receipt for the DVD player. The original price had been R$100, but we wrote it to say the price was R$150. It didn´t matter because, as you have already guessed, Marcelo wasn´t going to get any money for it, and we wanted to take advantage of his greed for an extra R$50. We also got the support of João, of the restaurant "João e Maria´s," where Frankie ate every day. Not so much his support, as his permission to confront Marcelo in the restaurant after the customers were gone. The restaurant is open only for lunches and generally closes about 3:30. Frankie always ate late, after the crowds, and was routinely the last to leave.
So on confrontation day, after eating, Frankie used his cell phone to call Marcelo and tell him to come down to the restaurant so that he, Frankie, could pay for the DVD player. Marcelo arrived, clearly tentative. He was aware that something wasn´t the same as in the past. Frankie got him to sit down in a chair next to him, and I was across the table with "the money" in my hands. Frankie slid the receipt we had written in front of Marcelo and said he wanted it signed, just so everything could be above board and legit. Marcleo hesitated a long time, and I wasn´t sure he was going to sign, but he looked at the money in my hand that was going to be his as soon as he put his name to the receipt, and it was R$50 more than he had originally asked. Finally he said, "ok" and signed the paper.
As soon as he signed, Frankie pocketed the receipt and I put the money back in my pocket. Then Frankie pulled out the bank statements and confronted Marcelo with the evidence of his theft. Frankie told him, I´ve already paid you for the DVD player and more. Marcelo was clearly shocked. Frankie, one by one, accused Marcelo of withdrawing R$200 and pretending he had only withdrawn R$150. Marcelo said "no I didn´t." Then Frankie showed him the other bank statement and accused him of spending x amount in store y. Marcelo said "no I didn´t." And so on down the list of expenditures in the various stores. "No I didn´t." Well how do you explain these charges, all within minutes of each other? Frankie asked. "I can´t explain them," Marcelo responded. Frankie was getting angrier and angrier, and it was clear that Marcelo was not going to admit anything. Finally I said, "Marcelo, you have stolen from Frankie. We have proof and we don´t care if you admit it or not. And what is more, the whole street is going to know that you are a thief. Now go." Mind you my Português is not good in the calmest of situations, so I should say that is what I think I said. Frankie did confirm later that I had indeed told him the whole street would soon know he was a thief. At this point, João, who was standing by, mostly concerned with Frankie´s agitation, and I walked Marcelo to the door and it was over.
Over the next few days, Frankie did make a point of telling a few key people on the street: the owner of the ice cream store, who was a friend of José Luiz, Maria, the woman at the hair salon where Fabio used to work, Annette, the owner of the little store that sold snacks and cold drinks, the owner of the bar next to Marcelo´s apartment. We knew these people were talking and spreading the word because one of the taxi drivers at the stand across the street one day asked Frankie if it was true. "I´ll kill the filho da puta," he said.
Jeez, this is getting too long. One more installment to come. We´ll call it the epilog.
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