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She swallowed and took another bite of the bagel. "I had a problem. If I tried to buy a plane ticket, it would show up on my credit card, and whoever goes over those things–you, I assume–would tell my father. I tried to buy a ticket with cash, but you can't do that, at least not if you're a teenager. So, I was talking to Carly about this, and she said she'd buy me a ticket. She said nobody ever looked at her credit card, they just paid it.

"But they check ID on planes these days, so I had to travel as Carly Stein. I had my hair cut like hers, and I figured they wouldn't look that closely if I had the right ID and the right attitude and the platinum card. And I was right.

"When I got here, I just kept on being her because I didn't want my father to find out I'd come home."

Susan nodded slowly, then she bit thoughtfully into a bagel. "And you didn't wonder why Carly Stein would go to all this bother for you? And maybe get in trouble herself if her father ever found out?"

"No," Micki said, smiling. "I had a pretty good idea. I figure she wanted to run away herself, and this way I'd leave a great big trail pointing here, and meanwhile she's gone somewhere else."

"Why was she running away?"

"She never mentioned it, but let's just say that Little Miss Virtue was starting to show."

Susan failed to smother a giggle, then she shook her head. "I was about to imagine her father's reaction to that, but . . ." she waved a hand at the folded newspaper between them.

Micki nodded. "Maybe he'll spin in his grave."

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