Chapter Thirty-One

Bella 

“You go use the restroom,” Daphne ordered, “I’ll go get the food.”  I still had a reflex reaction, when someone spoke to me like that, as though they were issuing an order, I felt compelled to obey.

“I--okay,” I felt uneasy about going to the bathroom myself, but I didn’t want to act like a baby, so I adjusted my purse over my shoulder and headed purposely toward the sign for the women’s bathroom.  I kept glancing back over my shoulder, scanning the faces of all the other shoppers that were seated in the food court, or walking casually around the mall.  No one paid me any attention.  I was the only one acting suspiciously.   

The bathroom was located down a narrow hall that led to the mall offices, and eventually, to an outsi……