• *Prolouge:
    Violet was sitting on the couch tapping her foot impaitently. Violet has no last name. No one knows anything about her except that she is insane and picks violence before any choice. She was left alone in the world with no one to relate to, except one person.
    Mitch came bursting through the door with Anna, his grlfriend, trailing behind.
    "You're late." Violet said. "What is she doing her." Violet said, pointing to the annoyingly preppy blond girl.
    "Well, she wanted to come along but I said no, but she still followed me." He said, out of breath.
    Violet crossd her arms and pouted. She didn't like any other girl to be with Mitch except herself. But they weren't together anymore. They just worked together.
    Violets eyes flickered and she got up and walked slowly to her door, which Mitch forgot to close. She picked up the newspaper and tried to sit down on the couch but missed and fell on the floor. That didn't fase her a bit.
    "There is an orphanage in Germany." She sad quietly.
    "And..." Anna said.
    "I wasn't done." Violet snapped. "Something doesn't seem right about this orphanage. I think these kids are in danger."
    "It always has to be danger with you. Can't you just be normal for one-" Anna started but Mitch cut her off with a quick "shush". He knew how sensitive Violet was to orphans since she turned out to be one.
    "Anna, go get in the car, I'll be right there." He commanded
    Anna turned on the heels of her shoes and quickly walked out, thankful to be out of there.
    Mitch sat next to Violet on the floor. " I know you want to save them but we just can't. We don't have time. We have much more problems on our hands, bigger than this. Besides, what if there isn't anything going on?"
    "I know there is. We can't leave them there, Mitch." She said.
    "This doesn't concern us, V." He said softly.
    "No, No. We leave these kids there, they get put into a system and odds are, they're gonna, they're gonna..." She paused there for a few seconds." They're gonna turn out like me." She said and cleared her voice. Her eyes got bigger and wet, like she was going to cry.
    "Hey, I liked how you turned out." Mitch said softly. He got up and walked to the door. "Do you want to save the orphans or not?" he smiled.
    Violet nodded her head and wiped away the tears with her sleeves and followed Mitch out the door.*


    Chapter 1

    Violet insisted on taking her (newly bought) plant on the plane and alot of water bottles. Once on the plane, everyone pretty much fell asleep. When they were off the plane, they headed to their office-vacation home. Its just like the headquaters except away from home. Once at the Office, evryone settled in and went to sleep for the night. Then, next morning things happened:
    It started with a twenty-million-dollar Van Gogh painting.
    No, wait, back up. That’s not true. Really, it started with a carton of 2% milk.


    “Where’s my milk?” demanded Anna, wandering out of the office kitchen, a bowl clutched in her hand.
    “Huh?” said Mitch, flicking through a magazine, clearly paying no attention.
    “What milk?” asked Violet brightly.
    “My dang milk!” repeated Anna, thrusting her bowl under Mitch’s nose, only to quickly remove it when he actually looked up. “I had a carton in the refrigerator for my Lucky Charms, and now it’s gone!”
    Mitch looked disgusted “Who eats that crap over the age of about six?”
    “Hey!” Violet glared at him. “I like them!”
    “Uh-huh. Course you do.”
    Violet just looked confused. “Why wouldn’t anyone like Lucky Charms? They have marshmallow.”
    “Exactly!”Anna pointed at her triumphantly with her spoon. “Exactly my point!”
    Mitch raised an eyebrow. “I thought milk was your point.”
    Anna turned the spoon on him. “That was also my point.” She looked at them both suspiciously. “Which of you two criminals took my dang milk?”
    ***
    After the 2% milk came Violet’s missing lucky harness.
    “…what you get for hanging out with thieves!”Mitch was heard to mutter.
    “…trust no-one,”Anna was heard to whisper.
    “…and then all the elephants died,” Violet was heard to say. But nobody was really sure what that particular story was about.
    So, the point of the 2% milk, and the missing lucky harness, was that tensions were riding a little high in the S.P.F office.
    And then came the twenty-million-dollar Van Gogh painting. Which, naturally, given the nature of this story, was stolen.
    ****

    “Did you steal the Van Gogh?” demanded Mitch, waving a newspaper in front of Violet’s face.
    She looked partly offended and partly confused. “No. I’m not supposed to work on my own any more.”
    “It’s your style,” he said, and Violet’s eyes narrowed as she grabbed at the paper.
    “You’re right,” she said eventually, and scowled.
    Mitch gaped at her. “You’re admitting it?”
    “No! I mean, it’s my style.” She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Almost as if someone wanted people to think it was me. That’s sneaky.”
    Anna looked up from whatever she’d been doing on the computer.
    “It was worth twenty mill,” she offered, and Violet’s face took on a sad glow.
    “I know. I wish it had been me.”
    ***

    And that was the twenty-million dollar (stolen) Van Gogh painting. Things settled down, though Mitch still cast suspicious glances at Violet when he thought no-one was watching, and Anna installed four surveillance cameras in the kitchen.(For his milk, of course) And then came the Painted Ruby. Also stolen. Of course.
    ****

    “Anna!” shouted Mitch, storming into the office, so angry he was practically fuming.Anna poked her head round the doorway as the others looked on, fascinated.
    “Yeah?”
    “Anna!”
    “Still here.” Wisely, however, she didn’t come completely into the room.Girl wasn’t a fool, and that was one riled up dude.
    “What did you do with it? Hmm?” he had his arms folded across his chest, which was a good sign because it meant he probably didn’t have a knife. Or a gun.
    “Uh, what did I do with what?”
    Mitch shook his finger at him. “Oh, don’t you try that with me, Anna! I had a call from a very old friend of mine. He’s been working a con for weeks to get that ruby, and then you swoop in at the last minute! Giving him, I might add, a very nasty headache in the process.”
    Violet raised a hand. “Uh, Mitch? Mind giving the rest of us the short and sweet version here?”
    “She,” said Mitch, pointing at Anna, “has stolen – no, sorry, Anna, you ‘retrieve’, don’t you? – the Painted Ruby.”
    “Yeah,” said Violet. “I don’t know what that is.”
    “You and me both,” muttered Anna.
    “The Painted Ruby,” explainedMitch to Violet, ignoringAnna altogether, “is a giant - giant! - ruby that was commissioned from Fabergé by Edward VII as a gift for a some rajah or other in India. It’s in a gold case and is decorated with gold and diamonds and other lovely little things like that.” he paid no attention to the little whimper Violet made. “It’s priceless. And Anna’s got it.”
    “I DON’T HAVE THE DANG RUBY!”Anna strode fully into the room, her face flushed with anger. “I didn’t even know it existed! I certainly didn’t steal it! And unless it was already in the state, I don’t know how I was supposed to, given that we were all here till past midnight.”
    There was a pause.
    It lasted a little while.
    “Well,” Mitch said eventually.“That’s true,” he said, after another moment.
    “Where was the ruby stolen?” asked Violet curiously.
    Mitch shrugged. “Bordeaux,” he said reluctantly.Anna waved an expressive hand in the air, turned on his heel, and walked out. “Maybe I should apologise?”
    “Well, that might be a little bit of a plan,” said Violet.
    “What the heck?” Mitch said coming back in the room, looking at his laptop.
    “What is it?” asked Violet, kneeling up on the sofa to lean over his shoulder.
    "Someone is stealing all this money and killing more orphans."
    "So, is anything effecting us?" Anna said, coming back in the room.
    “No. I don’t think for a moment it’s got anything to do with you. Or the Van Gogh with Violet…”
    “Twenty million,” sighed Violet.
    “…or that ruby with Anna. I think…”
    "Well, we have to hurry before more kids die."
    "Lets discuss the plan." Said Mitch. Then he told everyone the plan.
    *****
    "Its a pretty good plan, but that wont stop the killer."Anna said.
    “I liked the part with the monkeys,” said Violet happily, swinging her legs against the side of the building.
    “Now, why would you like the part with the monkeys?” demanded Mitch. “Freaky, creepy little dudes. There wasn't even any monkeys in the plan!”
    Violet’s face was stern. “The monkeys were cute,” she said angrily.Mitch held up his hands in defeat.
    “Fine, whatever.”

    “We’ve all learnt a lesson,” announced Violet.
    Mitch looked at her.Anna raised a quizzical eyebrow, refusing to look over the side of the building.
    “Uh, what lesson?”
    “We’re a team, and we should trust each other, and not shout.” She smiled, oblivious to the looks she was getting. “And that together we can take out nasty little people like whoever is killing the orphans.”
    “God bless us all, every one!” shouted Violet, throwing her arms up in the air.
    The others looked at her again.
    “Muppet Christmas Carol,” said Mitch, shaking his head.
    *Yor almost getting to the actiony part*