re'

r by the time I lef

affic crawling along the Expressway. Illinois never truly slept. Even at this

eeth and woun

ould already be somewhere else, o

dn't stop thinking

elf as I turned into the dri

pretty enough to distract a man f

ically; my security team

ept for the distant hum

By this time, most people

en I entered my study, my private inv

the kind of person who trusted nobo

He greeted me, bowi

me?" I asked. There was

hick black fi

ing the bottom of my lip. I

d me. "I started looking into Miss Ame

fted. "Well,

nted me to be fa

hotographs on the first page-photographs of Amelia smiling be

dened. "Well, well, wel

nt." The investi

uld only pay attention to beau

you say that

he targets

ho looked familiar. Senator Briggs, a property deve

s below. He was an oil contractor; this one

port businessman; the only differenc

d ordinary men; she hunted strategically, and she hunted

in my chair.

igator nod

ion. "These are gifts

s, jewellery, and vacations she had taken. Ther

t enough to make her rich; it was o

disappearances. The inv

ship follows a

ttentively t

e turned a page. "The man be

e. "She receives signifi

e. "Then sh

op it. This was very artistic; her

ressed charge

ink so. No,

" I a

ere too embarra

ed to publicly admit he had been played, espe

stories, the contradictions, the half-truths and the

advertised was largely fabricated. She rented a lot of items

ed his arms. "My prof

up at him

a profe

eaction. Most men would have felt disappointed with

lse entirely; I fe

ag; she wasn't an amateur; she was skilled, calculated and p

ed me carefully. "You

shook my he

ehearsed. I noticed everything about her

e to end surveill

otograph, the one where she

eplied and clo

igator fro

you to c

she's targetin

ftly. "Of co

t I was making a mistake; maybe

ers; we studied them, exposed the

t my family one. The thought of

terday; she was beautiful from

ing my father slowly destroy himsel

by draining all his accounts, manipulating contracts, an

tually healed, but the em

ng alone in his office after

nobody would ever do

ything, including my relatio

s what they w

men they dated, then I beat them at their own game be

Amelia. A knowing smile crossed my lips as

Thanks for

tor noticed,

, "She's work

. I genuinely wasn't sure, because when

d it bothered me more t

ograph. "Ami, let's see wh