Chapter Two
It had only been a few weeks since Penny had finished remodeling her house. She was ready to move on, but rumors about what happened to her son were starting to spread. She tried to explain that he was staying with grandparents, but she could tell that nobody believed her.
Then, the phone calls from the top True Crime podcast, “Crime Slicers” began to come. She resisted at first, but eventually decided to sit down with Crime Slicer’s host, Debbie Wingerman.
Debbie reached down and pressed record on her computer, and then looked up at Penny. “So, tell me a little about yourself, Penny,” she whispered nonchalantly.
“Well, there isn’t much to tell,” Penny began. “I’ve lived in this town almost my entire life. I work as a librarian down the road, and really just try to live an ordinary life.”
“You’re also excellent at interior decoration,” Debbie proclaimed. “I loved what you’ve done with this room, especially the drapes. But, you already have a living room at the front of the house. What is the purpose of this room?”
“Hmm, well, I like to think of this as my work space. Sometimes I just hang out here to read,” Penny explained.
“It wasn’t previously your son’s nursery?”
“Oh, my, no,” Penny answered, a little startled. “Why do you want to know that?”
Debbie pulled out a plastic baggie which contained a pacifier. “This might be difficult to hear, but our private investigator found this in your trash, alongside a tall stack of receipts from Amazon, all of them referencing furniture that matches the pieces that are in this room.”
“What are you getting at?” Penny exclaimed.
“Where is your son?” Debbie insisted. “Why did he suddenly dissappear?”
“I’m sorry…this interview is over!” Penny shouted. “Get out of my house!” She grabbed Debbie’s equipment and began carrying it out to the front door, but when she opened the door she found herself staring into the eyes of a police officer who was carrying handcuffs.
