Then There Were Three

"Mom would kill me if she knew where I was right now," Violet Bell whispered, though no one was around to hear her. The words bubbled out of her mouth anyway as she ran across the street to change her hiding place for the zillionth time. The alley was the best place to hide, but then she couldn't see the front of the building without being noticeable. She didn't want to be noticed.

Dashing into the alcove of a parking garage, she pressed against the wall and waited, straining to hear any sound from inside. The garage echoed like a cavern, so she'd hear an approaching car with lots of time to get out of the way before the door opened.

Violet knew the drill by now.

Daring a glance, she shifted her gaze from the locked doorway of the brick condo building across the street—she'd already tried to get in—to the garage entrance.

Nada. Not a soul in sight.

She swallowed a laugh. Hysteria, probably, because she felt really bad. She wouldn't lie. Mom and GigiMarie would be having total cows right now, not knowing for sure where Violet was. Mom was insane about that kind of stuff on a normal day. And GigiMarie, who called herself Violet's honorary grandmother, wasn't much better. They were on a whole different continent today, which was hardly normal.

Or maybe Violet was distracting herself from how badly she needed to pee. She'd been stalking this building ever since the taxi had dropped her off around two o'clock this afternoon. It was after ten now.

The only thing saving her was that she hadn't had anything to drink in forever. On purpose. Earlier there'd been places open with bathrooms. She'd found a bunch of art galleries and a kids' museum in one direction. But she couldn't get in without paying admission and she hated wasting Mom's money on something so stupid. Not on top of everything else she'd been spending.

The tire place a few blocks in the other direction had been p