Near the University of Washington waterfront, Lake Washington, Seattle
Eva had watched her I.D. card slide into the ATM and walked a few steps to the next store, out of earshot of the woman in line yelling at her to stop playing with the machine. Uncle Alec had been very clear about how to put the card in, but he had been less clear about what to do afterwards. A chill wind whipped the leaves on the ground until they danced. It was October, after all, and the long rains of the Seattle winter were just around the corner. Still, there were a few dry days left and the local merchants still put their wares out on tables on the sidewalks, hoping that passersby might be tempted by the odd mixture of bright summer clothes, coats, candles and knick-knacks for sale. Reaching out to touch the soft dresses, Eva studied the round rack full of long dresses and coats, next to the wall.
"Where is that kid?" muttered the woman who had been waiting for the ATM. "I should have reported her to the bank manager."
The woman glanced up and down the sidewalk, but the little girl in the yellow jacket had vanished. Shrugging, she hitched her purse higher onto her shoulder and turned to walk back to the bus stop.
Standing inside the round clothes rack, with the dresses and long wool coats forming the walls of her makeshift hideout, Eva breathed a sigh of relief. Reaching up on tiptoe, she carefully pulled one of the long wool coats off the hanger. Eva did her best to brush off a neat circle of sidewalk before laying the long tail of the coat down. After all, it wouldn't be right to make the coat dirty if she was only borrowing it. Eva pulled the collar of the coat up over her head, wrapping the rest around her body. Leaning against the wall, she sat down carefully to wait. Inside the warm coat, the chill slowly left Eva's body and she fell asleep at last.
An hour later, a white van drove slowly toward the bank and stopped in front of it. A tall man stepped out of the van. He strolled slowly past the ATM, glancing nervously up and down the block as if he were looking for something, then doubled back heading right for the racks of clothes on the sidewalk.