The Malhoa Connection by Estelle Ryan

Author:Estelle Ryan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Autism Fiction, Autistic protagonist, European Crime Mystery, International Crime, Kidnapping, women sleuths, Private detective, Strong Female Character
Publisher: Estelle Ryan
Published: 2021-04-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter THIRTEEN

FOR A MOMENT, THERE was complete silence in the living area. This was a lot to process. This was too closely related to be a coincidence.

“So, um, are we now thinking that Wraith is the Collector?” Thierry asked.

“Maybe.” Francine looked at me. “I don’t know?”

I took a moment to consider this. “It would be too presumptive. We don’t have enough yet to be sure the woman you met is the Collector.”

Francine nodded. “She could just be a hacker working for the Collector. Maybe in the same way as everyone else is doing the Collector’s dirty work—by being forced into it.”

“Too much speculation.” And I hated it. I needed more data. “What did Wraith look like?”

“Oh, my.” Francine looked up and left, recalling a visual memory. “Shorter than me. I would guesstimate around a metre sixty or sixty-two. She had dreadlocks that could’ve been her own or could’ve been a wig.” She closed her eyes and frowned. When she opened her eyes, she shook her head. “Nah. It was her own hair. Dark skin, but I can’t say for certain she’s African. Her facial features were sharper. Mixed-race, maybe.”

“Or Northern African,” Bianca said. “I have a friend from Algeria. She could be Italian, Iraqi, Portuguese or Irish. She would disappear in an American or British crowd.”

“True.” Francine blinked a few times. “But no. Wraith’s skin was too dark to be Libyan or Algerian. She could be from Oxford, England, born to parents who came from a melting pot, so this kind of guessing is not helping. Oxford. Huh. You know, she did speak with a slight accent. Her English was British English, but with another accent thrown in.”

“You have an incredible memory,” Bianca said.

“But it might not be useful.” I shook my head slowly, thinking of Colin’s aliases. “If Wraith is the hacker working for the Collector, or if she is the Collector, we still have to keep in mind that we’re dealing with someone exceptional. It’s not far-fetched to consider that the Collector or Wraith would make generous use of disguises.”

“True.” Francine sighed. “But the dreadlocks were real. Of that I’m sure. She was a total goth chick at the conference and that could’ve been a disguise. Her clothes were very baggy and... huh... people even joked about her dying from heat stroke in Las Vegas. She was always dressed in black from head to toe.”

“Do you mean this literally?” I often had to confirm with neurotypicals.

“Yup.” Francine waved her hand from her head to her feet. “She even wore black gloves. Back then, I thought she was being careful not to leave her fingerprints anywhere. But maybe she was hiding something else. The only skin we saw was above her jawline. She always had a black scarf around her neck too. No one thought too much about that. Most people there were really weird.”

“It could be that she had some distinguishing marks on her hands or neck.” Daniel lifted his hand, palm out. “And that’s where I’m going to stop speculating.

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