Red Velour Sweatshirt

It hurts me a little bit to say this, because I've written four of them myself, but out of the few dozen Encounters stories the St. Petersburg Times has run so far, I'm pretty sure this one, by Colleen Jenkins, is the best:

TAMPA -- This happened on Monday at the Tampa courthouse:

A woman in a pinstripe suit stepped outside the courtroom to talk to someone. She left behind her newspaper, her keys and her cell phone.

When she walked back in, her newspaper was still there, but the other items were gone.

A young woman in a red velour sweatshirt was sitting where she had left her things.

Pinstripe Suit asked Red Velour Sweatshirt if she had seen her keys and her phone. Red Velour Sweatshirt shook her head no.

Let's talk about how this story came together, and what makes it so good.

Colleen?

Encounters editor Mike Wilson?

Chime in if you like.