She didn’t bother to check if anyone else was in the store. She marched, with Bing in tow, to the back of the store where Annabeth’s stool stood empty. Ellie banged on the counter. “Annabeth? Are you here? It’s Ellie Cauley.” Bing put his hand on her shoulder to quiet her, but she glared at him and he drew back. “I need to talk with you.” The curtains parted and Annabeth stepped through. “Ellie? And Bing? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, Bing. I didn’t expect to see you here. What’s going on?” Ellie gripped the counter, struggling to find the words to express the enormity of what she was feeling. Before she could utter a sound, the curtain parted again. “Rachel.” Ellie could hardly say the word. “Oh my gosh, Ellie, are you okay?” She could feel Bing move in more closely behind her. “Okay is probably not the word I would use,” she said. “Did you know our room was bugged?” Rachel said nothing. “Yeah, they have a recording of you and me talking about the stolen files and yet, oddly, Bing and I got arrested.
