LITMIR.BIZ

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more details. Anyway, he had been making regular payments into a Puerto Isla bank account, but no one has made a withdrawal in three years.” As Allison paused, Chesca listened to the quiet air over the telephone wires.

      “Allison? How are you holding up?” While the assignment would become the number one priority for Francesca, she didn’t want to overlook the sensitivity required when discussing Marion’s death with Allison.

      Though rarely emotional, and definitely hard to peg most times, Allison had to be facing unimaginable demons. A person cannot rise above such trauma without feeling conflicted along the way.

      “You know me,” Allison said, and though Chesca wanted to laugh, feeling like she didn’t know Allison half as well as some of her other Athenian sisters, she knew this was not the time to be argumentative. This was Allison’s way of letting her know she’d rather not get into a deep discussion about it. “You know where to find me, if you need help in an official capacity—or otherwise for that matter.”

      A skilled NSA programmer and mathematician, Allison Gracelyn would no doubt come in handy at some point down the road, and despite her mysterious personality she was always upfront about her support for her fellow Athenians.

      “I do, and I’m sure I will,” Chesca said, accepting the conversation as over.

      After their pleasant, but brief, goodbyes Chesca continued to study the files revealing Salvatore Giambi’s activities and began to prepare her mind for taking on the assignment. The request from Delphi was to assemble a profile on the blackmailer Arachne, and to determine whether she was one and the same as the Queen of Hearts assassin.

      Having kept up with the inside investigation of Marion’s death through the Athena Academy Web site, as well as through occasional conversations with former classmates, Chesca had already heard a bit about each of these personas.

      Though she hadn’t personally dived into the investigation until now, she had given a good deal of thought as to why anyone would want to put a stop to the existence of the Athena Academy for the Advancement of Women, and ultimately Marion Gracelyn.

      At the time of the academy’s creation, there was a tremendous outcry from politicians, government forces and pretty much any outlet for power, as there was concern such an institution would cause havoc to so-called traditions and standards of training. Though anyone who knew Marion would have known her intentions were simply to offer keen young women the same advantages, and the same opportunities, as men in what was at the time a male-dominated world.

      Even now, despite every “equal opportunity employer” claiming to level the playing field, Chesca knew all too well the reality that women had to work that much harder to gain the same respect, the same foot in the door, when it came to so-called equality.

      That’s why she’d focused so hard on her academics, fought off youthful urges to socialize when every one of her college classmates were headed out for a night of fun. To get anywhere in this world, Francesca Thorne knew she had to channel her drive, passion and motivation into one focused fusion of settling for nothing less than excellence.

      It was that internal focus which elicited her recruitment by Oracle. It was that passion which would propel her to uncover the truth about Arachne and compile a profile that would lead to solving this bit of tragic Athenian history.

      There was nothing about this profiling assignment that caused worry or concern for Francesca. She knew her skills, recognized her strengths and knew when to let others assist her, and with the personal nature of this case, she knew she’d do whatever it took to get the information Delphi requested of her.

      That included doing something she did not particularly look forward to. Making a trip to Boston.

      Though a beautiful and historic city, and no doubt the best place to start off her investigation, seeing that both Giambi and this Queen of Hearts character hailed from there, the city was also home to a few other unscrupulous individuals.

      The Thorne family.

      Though it made her stomach cry out in knots when thinking of going back to her own hometown—something she hadn’t done in some time, thankfully—Chesca knew she had to do whatever she was called to do. That included accepting that uncomfortable feeling of treading on home turf.

      With her simple style and no-nonsense knack for packing, Chesca did a once-over to make sure she had everything she would need for the next few days. A basic wardrobe, the Oracle case files, and the reservation number for the car rental she had arranged just hours ago.

      Looking at the concise travel ensemble, it all seemed straightforward enough. But Chesca knew there was nothing simple about returning to the blueblood neighborhoods in which she’d been raised prior to Athena Academy. Not when it was that very hometown she was so pleased to outrun in her youth. Thankfully, since this was an investigation into the criminal underbelly, Chesca would likely be trekking around a few locales less than familiar to her family’s grassy estate.

      Not that the Thorne family was innocent when it came to committing social crimes of their own. Infidelities, stock-trading tricks and business activities that sometimes seemed less than level in the eyes of their daughter, Chesca knew her father Dorian and mother Abigail were less than perfect.

      Yet despite their various affairs, sexual and otherwise, the Thorne family had a stellar reputation amongst the silver-platter crowd, one that irked the very soul of Francesca. How is it, she often wondered, that people with such power choose to abuse it and use it for their own personal gain?

      That was often the case, though, she knew. For blueblood parents or high-stakes criminals, the game was always the same. Those who sought out personal power and couldn’t care less about who got in their way. This was the world she was going back to, the one she’d so gratefully left years ago.

      The only thing that triumphed over the sick feeling in her gut was knowing that when it came to solving cases, sometimes the best place to start was the beginning. And, as far as she could tell, for Giambi and the Queen of Hearts, their history began in Boston.

      As she locked her apartment door behind her, Chesca breathed a sigh of anxiety and trepidation. “Then Boston, here I come. Oh, there’s no place like home.”

      Chapter 3

      Despite the ease of travel an air ticket would afford her, Francesca had elected to rent a car for the nine-or ten-hour drive to Boston from Richmond.

      She wanted the maximum freedom and convenience of swift maneuverability, knowing wherever the case led her, she would be able to get moving from one destination to the next in no time, without the hassle created by waiting to board planes.

      She loved driving. The open road, complemented by the ability to process thoughts along the way, offered an opportunity to digest some of the case file information Delphi had sent over, and provided Chesca the chance to think through some of the history of this situation.

      Sitting between strangers on an overly crowded popular flight was no place for her to analyze sensitive information. But the opportunity to travel through a few landmark destinations like Washington, Jersey, and Connecticut in the sporty, bright-red Ford Edge she’d rented, was perfect for letting her mind wrap around the beginnings of this puzzle.

      Or at least of this particular piece of the puzzle.

      Sadly, the Athena Academy and those who supported its existence and purpose were the target of many unfortunate events. For decades, attempts had been made to bring down the Academy, and some of those activities had left bitter results, such as the murder of founder Marion Gracelyn, and that of Rainy Miller Carrington.

      But little could be done to dent the conviction of the Athena Force. Nearly two years ago, three graduates had successfully foiled a plot to assassinate Gabriel Monihan, the current president and also, Chesca mused, the significant other of Athenian Diana Lockworth. Though they kept their relationship out of the limelight, they were an incredible match for one another. Chesca and her fellow Athena sisters were truly pleased for Diana and Gabe.

      Love

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