Rozena felt a hand on her shoulder and she jerked in fright, but it was only Trevor.

“Here!” he said, slipping something into her hand. She looked down to see the slim shape of a very expensive smartphone.

“There’s a bathroom just over here,” said Trevor, pushing her around a corner, where there weren’t quite so many people. “Be quick as you can.”

Heart beating, breath racing, Rozena slipped inside the small bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind her. Her hands trembling, she unpacked the laptop and started it up.

Outside, she could hear the sounds of the party continuing, although somebody had turned the music down.

Loading the app onto Devon’s phone took only a few seconds, but it felt like hours. At last, she was able to disconnect the phone, pack up the laptop, and slip out into the party again.

Zazi was waiting for her just outside the door, bouncing on her toes. “Oh, good,” she said. “You done? You got the app onto his phone?”

Rozena nodded.

“Bad news,” said Zazi. “Change of plan. Devon noticed when he bumped into Trevor, and he figured out that Trev must have taken his phone, so now everyone’s hunting for Trev. No,” she said, putting a reassuring hand on Rozena’s arm. “Don’t worry about Trev. He’s got away already. But this means that you’ll have to find a way to get Devon’s phone back to him yourself. Can you do that?”

Rozena stared at Zazi. She wanted to shake her head, to push the phone into the girl’s hands and back away. Instead, she found herself nodding. “Sure thing.”

“Good.”

The next moment, Zazi had disappeared into the crowd.

The music had been turned down, but that had not made much difference to the noise level. Everyone was shouting at everyone else.

“What’s going on?”

“Devon’s phone’s been stolen!”

“It’s that guy from school, you know, that hot one with the sexy eyes! That tall one, what’s his name …”

Rozena listened with growing fear. How long would it be before somebody remembered that she’d come in with Trevor?

A skinny girl stood near Rozena, talking to her friend. “You think Devon will call the cops?”

Her friend laughed and shook her head. “Devon’s guards are hard core, way more than cops,” she said. “Bad news for anyone they catch. Those guys don’t play around. They are bad, bad news. If they catch whoever stole Devon’s phone, they’ll probably kill them.”

A wave of icy fear travelled down Rozena’s spine. What had she gotten herself into? Then she saw Devon, standing in a ring of friends. He looked angry, still patting his pockets as if he couldn’t believe his phone was gone.

Rozena gulped. She had to move quickly, before things got worse. Taking a deep breath, she held up Devon’s phone.

“Hey!” she called. “Devon! Is this yours? I found it on the floor near the toilet!”

Everyone turned. Devon swung round and stared at her, his face tight with anger. For a horrible moment, everything was silent.

Then Devon laughed. “By the toilet?” He strode over to where Rozena stood. “Let me see – yes!” He took the phone, and held it up so everyone could see. “Sorry guys! I’m an idiot. Here it is! My phone’s been found. Hey, thanks–”

He turned to where Rozena had been standing, but she was gone already, walking as fast as she could on her high heels, clasping the laptop in its bag and pushing among the people towards the front door.

Outside, Trevor and Zazi were waiting for her.

“Did you do it?” Zazi asked as they hurried towards the car, which Colin was already backing out of its parking space. “Has Devon got his phone back? With the app loaded?”

“Yes.” Rozena eased into the car. She slid her feet out of the too-tight, high heeled shoes and lay back against the seat, heaving a sigh of relief. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Trevor, who was in the front with Colin, was watching her in the rear-view mirror. As she caught his eye, he gave her a nod, and the faintest of approving smiles.

Tell us what you think: Is Rozena revealing the right character to develop into a great crime fighter? If so, in what ways?

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