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Defense: What would you say your relationship with Penny Sands was over the last year?
Anne Wilkes: At first, it was professional. She babysat for us. Actually, she was referred to us by Roman and Eliza Tate. I now realize the irony of that.
Defense: You said at first it was professional. What about after that?
Anne Wilkes: We became friends. It was a natural sort of thing. I’d come home and chat with Penny for a bit. Once or twice, we had a drink together or took the kids to the park.
Defense: What sorts of things would you discuss?
Anne Wilkes: Whatever friends talk about. Where we came from, where we’re going. Who we love, who we hate. You know the drill.
Defense: Was there anyone Ms. Sands mentioned hating?
Anne Wilkes: I don’t think Penny is capable of hate. She’s a nice young woman.
Defense: So you didn’t notice anything strange about Ms. Sands?
Anne Wilkes: You’re talking about her little hobby, aren’t you? Yes, I know about it. That doesn’t mean Penny is a bad person. She’s just flawed like the rest of us.
Defense: Please clarify for the court what you mean about Ms. Sands’s little hobby.
Anne Wilkes: She collects things. Little trinkets.
Defense: By collects, do you mean steal?
Anne Wilkes: Sure.
Defense: Did she tell you this?
Anne Wilkes: Of course not. She took things from me, too. It seemed like some sort of odd compulsion. But it never hurt anyone. It wasn’t anything important.
Defense: How did you discover this compulsion of Ms. Sands’s?
Anne Wilkes: I found a photo that belonged to me in her apartment. She’d obviously taken it without asking. And then there were the things she’d taken from Eliza…
Defense: What had she taken from Mrs. Tate?
Anne Wilkes: A serving set I’d given Eliza for her wedding. There was a knife, a little spoon.
Defense: This knife—it had Mr. and Mrs. Tate’s initials engraved on it?
Anne Wilkes: Yes. And their anniversary date.
Defense: Did you confront Ms. Sands when you found it?
Anne Wilkes: No. I didn’t really think twice about it, to be completely honest. I happened to see it when I was moving a bunch of baby things into her apartment. We were reorganizing, and I shuffled some things around.
Defense: You didn’t think it was odd?
Anne Wilkes: I just didn’t connect the dots. The picture I chalked up to an accident. Maybe a copy had gotten tucked in a book I’d loaned her or something. As for the utensils, I assumed…I don’t know, that she’d borrowed them from Eliza for a special dinner or something. We were all friends; we did things like that.
Defense: Did she ever return the knife to Mrs. Tate?
Anne Wilkes: I don’t know.
Defense: I don’t think she did, Mrs. Wilkes. Do you know how I know?
