her car, with her wallet and cell phone inside, although her license was missing. Her car keys were in the ignition and the driverâs door was ajar.â
âThe door was a jar? But how can that be?â Josh jokes this pathetic joke weâve made a million times before, at the absurdity of anyone using the word ajar . I only now used it because the cop did, and itâs pissing me off that Josh is being so goofy about all of this.
âIâm just reporting what the officer said. The police officer ? Who called me on my phone?â I emphasize the words to drill it into his brain that police are now calling me to ask where Penny is.
âWaitâthe police called you about Penny. So that means that they thinkâ¦What, exactly?â Josh is more serious, as if he finally recognizes the possible weight of the situation.
âI donât know if they think anything. He said he was calling to let me know that Penny is missing and that if I have any information I should call him.â
âBut why you? Whyâd he call you ?â
âBecause I was the last phone number that Penny called from her cell phone at four thirty in the morning.â I sigh at the idiocy of it all. Not only did Penny seriously make it look like she may have been kidnappedâabducted? I donât know what to call it, since sheâs not technically a kidâby leaving her car, purse, and phone, but sheâs implicated me by calling.
âSo how do we know she didnât actually get taken somehow? Like, if you were going to run away, wouldnât you take your purse? Or at least your phone?â Josh doesnât seem to get the illogical way Pennyâs brain works. Or doesnât work.
âThe whole mad scheme was because she didnât want people to know where she was going. And, I gotta say, Iâm sort of impressed. Leaving her purse, the door open. Very believable. But her license was missing, so isnât that like a dead giveaway that she took it out? Who kidnaps someone and is, like, âI better take their ID in case we need to rent a DVD or somethingâ?â Iâm wavering between kind of annoyed and kind of in awe. Annoyed that Iâm the keeper of secrets and awed by her follow-through, albeit a shady one. âSheâs usually so passive.â
âIf sheâs truly faking her own kidnapping just so she can get away from her life, Iâd have to label that one as passive- aggressive . Itâs like the wussiest thing on earth to not have the balls to say, âLook, Iâm leaving town. Donât follow me, donât try to stop me. Iâll call when I feel like it.â But sheââhe stutters, incredulousââshe canât even leave a note? Instead, she puts you in the middle of some sort of elaborate kidnapping plot, just so she can get a little love, and sheâs off roaming the country. How do we know the cops arenât calling you because her parents tipped them off or something? Maybe they think you kidnapped her! And youâre holding her for ransom and wonât take less than an olive tree in exchange for her life,â Josh pontificates animatedly.
I know heâs kidding, but itâs kind of weird that the police called me. Like, maybe they do think I know something? Because I do. But they donât know that. Or do they?
My cell phone rings again, and I jump. Thank god itâs my momâs number that appears on the caller ID.
âHi, Ma,â I answer, relieved.
âHi, honey. Everything OK?â Mom sounds concerned but like sheâs trying not to.
âSure. Yeah. Why?â
âUm, Iâm sorry to have to tell you this, sweetheart, but a policeman came by the house looking for information about your friend Penny. It seems, well, she may have been abducted.â My mom sounds devastated, like this is the worst news a mom could tell her daughter. I want to give it up, right now, to end
John B. Garvey, Mary Lou Widmer