I go to an underground academy in New York City. The elite spies get to go snobby private schools “which must remain unnamed” do to their safety. What about our safety? Ugh. The Elite. They even get their own name. Oh you’re probably wondering who we are? Well, we’re the ones who do the dirty work. The killing. No, we aren’t on the bad side. We actually kill the bad ones.
Now, you’re probably wondering how do future assassins get chosen to be taught to kill and not be killed? Well, usually the Scouts observe you without your knowledge and see if you have what it takes. Then you get a letter asking if you want to go to one of the most prestigious schools in America. If you say yes, you go into a meeting, without your parents, and they tell you how they see the potential of a future killer in you. All rainbows and sunshine right? You have to be at least 13 to go into the academy, and at least one person in your family history had to have gone through here when the school first opened in the 1800s. But for me, it was totally different. No one in my family had ever heard of this “academy”. I was in Seattle, I was 12, and I killed my father.
Adele knows she witnessed a murder - what she doesn't know is just how personal it is.
*****
A girl was brutally murdered in the basement of a sorority house in spring 2011. Adele Theroux thinks she saw the killer - and the killer definitely saw her. What she doesn't know is why this all happened and who this guy is. As she tries to solve the mystery from a distance while in witness protection, the connections keep getting weirder and more personal. Might she be able to relate to the killer in a way that no one else can? And what does that mean about her own psyche?
*2019 Watty Award for Mystery/Thriller*
[[word count: 50,000-60,000 words]]
Cover designed by April Alforque