Lauren bit on her ice-cream spoon and nodded.
“Of course! Please have a seat, Auntie Irene.”
As Irene got closer, the fragrance on her body became even stronger.
It even covered the mango smell in Lauren’s ice-cream.
When she saw Irene up close this time, Lauren could not help but be attracted by Irene’s fair and delicate skin.
“Come, let me introduce you. Lauren, this is my daughter Penelope. She’s ten years old this year.”
“Hello, Penelope. My name is Lauren.”
Penelope was a very lively and cheerful girl. When she met Lauren, she could not stop talking. She kept telling Lauren about the interesting things that happened around her.
“Two years ago, my Dad took us skiing in Switzerland. The snowy mountains there are so beautiful!”
“On the twentieth anniversary of my parents’ wedding last year, they even retook their wedding photos!”
Lauren listened attentively. From time to time, she would reveal an envious expression.
Irene and Ben were sitting at the side, unable to interrupt.
Suddenly, Irene’s phone on the table began to vibrate and she picked it up.
“I’m going outside to take a call. Penelope, continue chatting with Lauren. Mommy will be back soon.”
Penelope nodded obediently.
Lauren was not following the stories told by Penelope.
She was not interested in anything like skiing or memorial day.
Looking at Irene’s back as she answered the phone outside, Lauren tried to dig out more information from Penelope .
“Penelope, your parents have such a close relationship. They’ve been married for twenty years and they’re still taking wedding photos.”
Penelope nodded.
“Yeah! My Dad always praises my Mom, he says that she’s beautiful!”
Lauren nodded in agreement.
“That’s right. Your mother is so beautiful. Her skin is very good. What kind of skincare products does she use? I want the people around me to use them as well. Maybe they’ll be as beautiful as your mother!”
Lauren continued to observe Irene. When she saw that Irene did not show any signs of entering, she continued to coax Penelope.
Penelope was quite innocent, she did not try to hide anything.
Although Lauren seemed to have taken advantage of her, she did not feel guilty at all.
When Lauren asked this question, Penelope really thought about it for a moment and then shook her head.
“Mommy did not seem to use anything! She was not so good-looking in the past and my father always quarreled with her. However, in the past two years, she has become prettier and my father liked her again.”
Penelope scooped up the ice-cream in her cup and put it in her mouth.
After eating the delicious ice-cream, she revealed a sweet smile.
Lauren continued to ask, “Then did your Mommy eat bird’s nest or something? I heard that eating those things can make people look good and become younger!”
Penelope shook her head again. “I don’t know what bird’s nest is, but mommy always eats a kind of black thing. That thing stinks, but Mommy still insists on eating it.”
Black medicine?
Just as she was about to continue asking, Irene hung up the phone outside the glass door and walked into the ice cream shop.
Lauren immediately changed the topic. She couldn’t alert the enemy.
“Penelope, other than Switzerland, where else have you been?”
When Irene returned and saw that the two children were still chatting happily, she smiled.
“I’ve never seen Penelope hit it off so well with someone else. What a pity. My husband said that he wants me to accompany him to a cocktail party, so I have to take Penelope to her grandmother’s place.”
“Penelope, say goodbye to Uncle Ben and Lauren.”
After watching the two of them leave, Lauren stopped smiling. Her face was stiff from smiling.
Ben asked in puzzlement, “Miss Torres, why are you asking Penelope these questions? Are you interested in these things?”
“Of course not! I just feel that this Irene have something to do with these missing children cases!”
“But…isn’t she the principal of the kindergarten?”
“So what if she is? You can’t judge a book by its cover!”
George, who had been silent all this while, suddenly spoke up.
“I also feel that this fragrance is very familiar. Every time I bring the children to the warehouse, I can always smell it.”
Lauren swallowed the last piece of ice-cream. She had the basic story of what was happening.
“Miss Torres, what should we do next? Investigate this Irene Pulver?”
“Of course we can’t force it. But as the saying goes, ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’.”
Lauren had already thought of a bold plan.
The next step was to catch the culprit!