Counterfeit

Ava says the detective has the footage and can see how Winnie put her to work. Ava would adopt a different persona for each store and describes Nordstrom as having the most generous return policy. Envying their sense of entitlement, she would watch people pull return scams that made her “feel comparatively virtuous” (117).

In the narrative, Winnie explains to Ava that return policies were one of the things about America that amazed her, along with portion size and water wastage. Ava says Winnie convinced her theirs was a victimless crime. Ava oversees an expanding operation, making the salary she earned at her firm in half the hours.

Ava insists to the detective that Maria, the nanny, didn’t know about her operation, though Ava hated lying to Maria and felt distance growing between them. She then describes previously meeting with her friends, Carla and Joanne, who are stunned by Ava’s amethyst Kelly bag: She doesn’t feel she can confide in them and so puts up a front. Ava’s friends gossip about how Winnie got her green card by marrying her dead aunt’s husband and conclude she will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Ava reflects that she admires Winnie for being able to say, “To hell with the haters, I’m going to do what I have to do.