2 The Dante Connection Read Online Free PDF

hoping my conversation could not be heard in the other room.
    “Genevieve, you might want to be more polite when you answer your phone.” Phillip Rousseau, my boss and mentor of six years, was speaking in his patient voice. Never a good sign.
    “I don’t like phones,” I said and waited. When Phillip didn’t say anything, I started thinking. He had been the first person in my life to treat me with any kind of respect. The least I could do was return that. I did, after all, hold him in very high esteem. “Good morning, Phillip. How are you today?”
    “Good morning, Genevieve.” There was a smile in his voice. He knew he had won this round. “I’m a little worried. Where are you?”
    “I’m at a hospital.”
    “A what?” The smile disappeared from his tone. “Why are you at a hospital? Are you okay? What happened? You never go to hospitals.”
    Not only was Phillip my highly respected boss, but he had in some way taken on a paternal role in my life. He had also taken on worrying about me. Something I had difficulty growing accustomed to.
    “I’m fine. It’s not me. It’s–” The bathroom door burst open. Colin walked towards me shaking his head. I asked him, “What now?”
    “Who are you talking to, Genevieve?” Phillip asked in my ear.
    “To C–”
    Quicker than I could think to react, Colin snatched my smartphone out of my grip. Thief. He held the phone against his chest. “Who’s this?”
    “Phillip.” Colin had met my boss during that first case. We had all had a common goal, so there hadn’t been time for my boss, the head of an exclusive insurance company, to take exception to Colin, an art thief. I held out my hand. “Give me my phone.”
    “Not yet.” He paused until I raised my eyes to his face. He looked worried. “Jenny, this thing with Francine is serious. Don’t tell Phillip who you’re with. At least not until you’ve heard what Francine has to say.”
    “I will not lie to Phillip.”
    “You don’t have to lie,” he said with a groan. “Just don’t tell him the whole truth.”
    I considered myself to be a rational person, not driven by emotion. Not at all. But this had been a trying morning. And at the utterance of his ridiculous request, I was furious. Again. I schooled my face while considering my next step. On my nod, Colin handed me my phone.
    “Sorry about that, Phillip.” Something in my tone must have alerted Colin because he tilted his head to one side and looked apprehensive. “I am at a health facility with a person of dubious repute that I met a few months ago. We helped a mutual friend, a person with unparalleled technological skills and fashion sense. This person had a similar unfortunate experience as I did that same few months ago.”
    By the time I finished, Colin was scowling, anger pulling the corners of his mouth down.
    “What?” Phillip’s voice tightened with concern. “You’re at the hospital with Colin and Francine was attacked? Is she okay?”
    “I knew you’d get it!” I smiled triumphantly. Colin’s lips compressed with annoyance and he left the bathroom. This petty action gave me unadulterated pleasure. “Francine is badly bruised, but she’ll be okay. She’s arguing with Colin at the moment, because she wants to go home and he insists she stays longer in the hospital.”
    “How did you get involved in this?”
    I gave him the quick version of this morning’s events. Including the part where Francine confessed to murdering two men. I did leave out the part where Colin had been tortured and spent months recuperating.
    “Why have you not phoned the police?”
    I knew this question would lead to other questions. Ones that I didn’t want asked. Not until I had more answers from Colin and was less angry. “Why did you phone me on my phone that I never use for speaking to people?”
    “I was worried. You’re always in your office by eight o’clock. When you didn’t come, I wanted to know why.”
    “Now you know.”
    “Will