I LEFT MY LAPTOP IN THE CAR FOR TEN MINUTES—AND LOST WAY MORE THAN THAT
I parked right in front of the coffee shop. Broad daylight, busy street, people walking by nonstop. I figured, Ten minutes. I’ll be in and out.
My laptop bag was on the passenger seat. I usually throw a jacket over it, but this time… I didn’t.
By the time I came out, the driver-side window was shattered. Glass everywhere. On the seat, on the floor, inside the damn cup holders. I just stood there, heart pounding, holding my iced coffee like an idiot.
The laptop was gone.
At first, I was just mad—like furious, sweaty, curse-out-loud mad. Then it hit me: that laptop wasn’t just work.
It had everything.
Old journals. Personal notes. A scanned folder labeled “Taxes & Custody.” A half-written email draft to my lawyer that I hadn’t sent yet.
And something else—something I shouldn’t have saved, but did.
A PDF of court transcripts. From a case I wasn’t even supposed to have access to.
The same case involving someone I thought I’d left behind years ago.
I looked around, hoping maybe someone had seen something. But the people nearby just kept walking. A few glanced over, but no one stopped.
Then a woman in scrubs passed by, did a double take, and froze.
“You drive a white Kia?” she asked slowly.
I nodded.
Her face changed. “I think… I saw the guy who took it.”
Before I could ask anything else, she added—
