Twenty-Seven
Gideon
I sat across from Jonathon going over every file we had on the Division. We had been compiling this file for years and nowhere in our investigation did my mother’s name ever pop up.
I didn’t want to believe it.
I couldn’t.
Lorenzo was sure she was a part of this. How did I not know? My mother was nothing but a widowed housewife who spent her days at various charities, trying to make the world a better place for children. When she realized that the charities were not living up to their end of the bargain, she exposed them and started her own, Sunshine Child. She did this along with other notable and financially well-off families, the Valentinetti’s included.
Sunshine Child was a world charity that catered to any child around the world in need. From placement with other vetted families, to those kids who had nowhere else to go. My mother’s charity would step in, offer them a home, education, anything they needed. Children who graduated from Sunshine Child went on to be hardworking members of their communities.
My mother was well known in many social and political arenas. She was well-liked and respected. Nothing Lorenzo said made sense but he was adamant and I couldn’t overlook that. Not with what happened at my family compound.
“Anything yet?” I asked, looking over at Jonathon who had his nose in his computer. We were both sitting at the dining room table and had been at it for hours.
“I see where Nicoletta Valentinetti was a trustee member of Sunshine Child but nothing linking her to the subsidiary Sunshine Kids.”
“That’s impossible. I know for sure Nicoletta was part of that subsidiary. Antonio even said as much.”
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you. Nicoletta is nowhere in any of the documents I’ve found.”
“Keep looking,” I said, as my computer dinged, alerting me that an unknown caller was trying to video call me. Clicking the green icon, I stared at a picture of a pair of handcuffs attached to a machine gun with a serpent winding itself around the weapon's stock.
Well…well…well, this was interesting.
There were no words, just the picture.
“Next time you want to speak with me, call me yourself asshole.”
Leaning back in my chair I crossed my arms, my eyes narrowing. “You called me lady. Speaking of which, how did you get this IP Address?”
“Where’s Lorenzo?” she asked, ignoring my question. Grinning, the woman had skills, I would give her that but so did I as I began running a back-trace.
“And who may I tell him is calling?” I asked, typing fast, as I motioned to Jonathon to do the same.
“Your worst nightmare. Put the Italian on the phone.”
Sighing, I got to my feet to find Lorenzo walking towards me. “Is that her?”
“Yeah, it’s me. What do you want? Kind of busy here.”
“Sunshine Child.”
“Yeah, yeah. The charity your mom was part of. What about it?”
“It’s linked to Sunshine Kids. Run by Sylvia St. James.”
The woman sighed, as the sound of her clicking away on a keyboard could be heard through the line. “Give me a sec.”
Moving over towards Jonathon, I said nothing while Lorenzo and this mystery woman talked. Watching Jonathon run his trace, the signal was bouncing all over the place, from China to Alaska. The woman was using a multi-person filtering program that pinged her location all over the world. It was a sophisticated piece of equipment and when Jonathon went to search for the signal, his computer shut down.
We both heard laughter as we looked up at a grinning Lorenzo. “Woman’s got skills.”
“Yeah assholes. Don’t forget that.”
What. The. Fuck!