Mrs. Johnson was a very unhappy woman. She had bid aggressively and very recklessly to get her necklace back, but had done so in vain. With less than two minute left to bid she went to the bathroom, and that was enough time for someone else to jump in and overshoot her maximum bid by a few dollars. She was heartbroken, and sadder than she ever felt since this whole mess had begun. She knew early on there was no use fighting them. They were going to get their way no matter what happened, so it was best to co-operate and get something out of it for yourself and your family. Her husband got a massive million dollar insurance payout from the airlines and government because of what had allegedly happened to her, and she was give a new location, mortgage and bill free as long as she kept quiet and made no efforts to contact anyone she knew before, and live a normal life.

     At this moment Mrs. Johnson didn't seem to care as the anger from losing the necklace was too much for her to bear. In a fit of anger she grabbed a lamp that was beside the computer and flung it against the wall, smashing it into little pieces. It was the kind of anger and frustration she hadn't felt in a while, and low and behold the source of that pain and suffering was her no good, piece of shit husband. She couldn't believe after all this time apart, he was still able to get under her skin and bring out the worst in her. She started to pick up the pieces to the broken lamp, and was almost finished cleaning up when her computer made a distinct chiming sound that so many people love to hear.

     "You have mail." the computer told her.

     She got up from the floor and walked back to the computer, and on the screen was the received email. She clicked on it and read the message. It was from the person she was trying to buy the necklace from:

"It turns out the person who placed the winning bid did so in error. They are unable to make payment and we have allowed them to retract their bid. This makes your bid the highest and we'd like to offer you a chance to purchase the item for your last posted bid. E-mail us with payment information and an address for delivery and the item is yours. If you no longer want the item, we will repost the item with no hard feelings and no negative feedback. Have a good day and we look forward to hearing back from you."

     Mrs. Johnson couldn't believe her luck. The winning bid was retracted and she won her necklace! She used the information that Mr. Carlson and his people gave her for buying stuff, and made the purchase online with the company card. It was a little more than what she expected to pay, but she didn't care. It was the one item she wished she still had, and would have doubled the national deficit to get it back. She eagerly made the purchase and then sent an email back to the person she bought the item from, giving them the address she was asked to use for all deliveries. She was confident that Mr. Smith was going to give her stern look, and maybe even a lecture about spending too much of the taxpayers money. She didn't care, and thought the young agent could stick his self-righteous lectures where the sun don't shine.

     The necklace was originally a gift from her mother, and she wasn't going to let someone from outside her family take it away from her. This was something she wanted to hand down to Jessica, and that bastard used the fact she didn't make a living will to sell her stuff without consulting anyone about it. Jessica would flip out if she knew her father was selling the heirlooms that were supposed to go to her. At least if she gets this one, she might have a chance to one day give it to Jessica like she had originally intended to.

     Mrs. Johnson was excited about getting something from her past back, so excited that she didn't even consider looking at the email address or the way the letter was written. Had she bothered to even look into it, she might have suspected that someone else besides her husband was responsible for the auction. She turned the monitor off and then went back to cleaning up the broken lamp. She was doing all right and the day seemed to be looking a little better already.