Penny's Perfectly-Packed Parcel

-“It was two hours before you’d expect such commotion from the bar-going groups. It was a weekend, on Saturday – and albeit somewhat expected (as-per-usual), it was much louder than normal. That’s what caught my attention.”

-“So, you hadn’t had any drinks that night?”

“No.”

-“I know you’re underage, and I am conducting this interview for any witnesses or potential suspects – but what we’re concerned with, Miss…”

-“I wasn’t in the club. I live across the street.”

-“The BodE&Life Watch by VoLCaLL+ you happened to take possession of property of the victim – Penny Munroe. I need you to be 100% honest with me, Samantha. You sure you hadn’t been in the bar that night?”

-“I…”

-“Sweetheart, this is a serious case; our victim is still missing with no recent leads. She could be in grave danger. The sooner we get as much genuine information – the more likely we can ensure we do our job properly and return her home to her family – safely. I’m not here to charge you with some petty crime today; this may be the difference between saving or losing a young woman’s life.”

-“I had a few coolers. At home.”

-“Samantha,” the Mother pipes in.

-“They were in the fridge. I’m sorry.”

-“Thank you for your honesty. Things can go much smoother if we’re having a nice talk where we both trust each other. Now, please put your hands behind your ba-…”

-“What!?”

-“I’m just kidding. [Laughter].

Let’s talk about what happened and how you ended up with someone else’s belongings. I appreciate you taking the brave step of turning it in—Thanks, Mom—we may end up gaining valuable info because of your honest and brave decision. The detectives are already at work to see if they can get access to the watch.

That device happens to be one of those high-tech, new releases from VoLCaLL+ that has pretty much her entire life on one little screen. People normally wear it secured on their body; just the fact this valuable belonging is out of her possession is a huge red flag. Her heartrate, steps, contacts, phone, work schedule, credit and bank card data… It’s pretty much a personal assistant, cellphone, and wallet all wrapped into one.

So, please know that no matter how this case turns out – you’ve done a great job in helping the investigation by bringing this in with such valuable and personal information, and we really do appreciate your help today.

Back to that night.”

-“Okay, like I said…”

Outside of the interview room two male detectives chat while scanning the device:

“Check out all of this information this darn thing has – it gives a clear picture of what happened just before we lost details of the missing woman’s whereabouts.”

VoLCaLL+: Saturday night – 10:30pm: 135 beats per minute. Blood alcohol levels safe for your weekend bar-outing. Do not forget to pace yourself; 1 drink alcoholic beverage and then 1 H2O equiv.

We have a meeting tomorrow late afternoon, but relaxed and informal; your two closest partners will be in the chatroom.

Mom’s birthday is at the beginning of this week; shopping is scheduled for tomorrow, but we have a fair amount of free time to work with. The night is yours, my dear friend. No serious commitments, so enjoy your time off.

11:05pm: *Vibration*. Don’t forget to stand up. Keep your body active. I’m detecting an increase in your heartrate. Blood alcohol is rising gradually. Sweaty palms. Did you find a nice dance partner per chance? Don’t forget to give me the contact deets!

Have a wonderful night, Penny. Happy Saturday. You deserve it! Congratulations on a successful and fruitful workweek!

11:11pm: Make a wish; I’ve already snapped a few temporary screenshots. You can review the pix I took, and see if you want to keep or share any.

11:20pm: Call coming in from Michael.

*Green screen light activated to pulse setting. Volume increased from minimum to maximum. Vibration and ringtone activated.*

Back to the discussion between the two detectives:

-“This new technology sure helps our line of work out, now, doesn’t it? You think you’d get one?”

-“Wife is looking into it; these body cams, along with our work phone, personal cell, and the patrol truck’s database comp sure is enough for me – thanks anyways, my friend. I’m trying to convince her to just buy herself one, but there’s some couple’s apps she’s interested in. I think she just wants a 24/7 body cam, I reckon. I’m supposed to be the officer for Christ’s sake. Never knew my wife was a detective before we tied the knot.”

-“I hear you. Feel the same. I won’t be getting one anytime soon, that’s for sure.”

-“All right, so it says our girl, Penny M, blocked the call from Michael, made a few outgoing calls – one to her Mother, and one female friend, Sally. Then check this out.”

VoLCaLL+ 11:33pm: WARNING: Blood pressure at unsafe levels. I’m detecting lots of suspicious movements. Hearing raised voices and yelling. Distress detected in voices.

Penny, are you okay? Do I place an emergency call? Sending a message to Mom and housemate now. Please check in.

11:35pm: Due to the lack of response and environment signals I’m detecting, and the body and health index readings, I’m placing a call to the emergency department. I am very sorry if this causes any inconvenience, but better safe than sorry. Remember, you can always change this setting later in the control center.

Penny, are you there?

*Green light, vibration, and ringing activated.*

-“That’s when we enter the scene – the device acknowledges the sirens upon arrival, and did a system shutdown. The watch then gets reactivated at 11:52pm by our young lady being interviewed by Detective Jane. They have been in the interview room now, along with her mother, for quite some time. This information does need to be looked into, but I’ll leave that to you, my friend, and I’ll check in on the ladies.”

-“Sorry to interrupt, ladies, but we’ve just had Penny’s coat brought in from the bar, and there is an odd package that may insinuate she is in much greater danger than first presumed. Jane, I’ll need to have you leave the interview room with me, but Samantha, you mentioned the watch notified you of the missing belongings?”

-“Yes. When I picked up the watch it was flashing and ringing. It was some emergency setting. It had her contact details, and it also requested I pick up missing belongings from the club. I just assumed it was a coat-check, but didn’t go in to claim anything.”

-“Okay, so you’ve never had any contact with the belongings – only the watch?”

-“Only the watch.”

-“Great. Thanks.

Jane, with me, please.”

“We picked up Penny’s coat from check-in, and it has a fully wrapped present inside the breast pocket. Check it out. It is a wallet-sized giftbox, holds some weight, and is wrapped with a pink ribbon and wrapping paper decorated in rainbow confetti, but the strange thing about it is that there is a set of keys as well, including one car key, tied on as the parcel’s ribbon or tag with a furry, pink rabbit-foot keychain holder to boot. What do you make of this?”

-“Well, the only way we find out anything else is to open it. Bring it to the desk, and I’ll come check it out with you. The case is too serious to hold on to it; it could help our case – who knows what the contents might tell us.

I’ll let the family know they’re free to leave.”

-“So, here is the set of keys and ribbon tying together this wrapped present, and inside it is her wallet with all of her credit and bank cards, and all of her shopping cards. Oh, and one 100-dollar bill. And there is a golden ring – looks from the quality to be a wedding band.

Why on Earth would this be wrapped up? Is this a pretty parcel put together by an abductor? Penny’s perfectly-packed parcel with all of what looks to be Penny’s personal belongings, with a set of keys as the ribbon. What an odd…”

-“The watch takes the place of all of these belongings, but not the ring and not so sure about the keys, so maybe she’s wrapped a farewell present to her plastic cards and money, but that’s a stretch. It’s hard to say. This could be some weird game by the abductor, I suppose. Let’s let the Sergeant know, and send out some more patrol cars to be safe – STAT.”