Jodi Ann, Page 5

CHAPTER THREE

  Cat and mouse, everyday the same, Jodi became locked in a time capsule, wherever she went men in tweed suits followed her. Her husband would appear from nowhere and what she assumed to be protagonists would scamper away. She remained sain by doing what she had always done, immersing herself in work, she traced the life of a one Hedley Pike and found a little more than she bargained for.

  Pike was schooled in political science the son of a government minister, destined for supremacy in the world of journalism his education along the lines of politics began to make sense to Jodi. Once educated Pikes father a media mogul thrust him into mainstream Fleet Street and he became a pawn on a very big chess board. Hedley Pikes friends were all derived of Whitehall and he seldom if ever mixed in journalistic circles although he had been placed in a position of power and trust by his influential father.

  As Jodi pieced together the jigsaw, puzzle pieces conveniently dropped from the sky and although she tried she could not trace the source but could smell the tainted sweet perfume of Bella Elizabeth every time a jigsaw piece locked in.

  Then came the sickening blow, her own red haired side kick Jasmine Jackal was put firmly on the radar being linked to Hedley Pike. It began to make so much sense now, Jasmine elevated to stardom for no real apparent reason by Pike apart from revealing cleavage, long legs and late nights at the office.

  Jodi pried open the festering cauldron that was Jasmines past but could find nothing. Then as per standard application an email from unknown verification locked in a name change that would turn Fleet Street on its ear, Maria Verona Sabbotini, alias Jasmine Jackal. A red haired Sicilian holding British, Italian and French passports, Jodi’s heart sank to a low ebb.

  The more she pried the worse things looked, her perception of the journalistic realms of Fleet Street trashed as she built a resume of Pike and Jackal’s dealings. Quotations often used by her husband came to mind, things are not always as they seem. For the first time Jodi did something she would have never considered, she accessed Jasmines employment record, a no no set deep in Jodi’s conscience and noted information from Jasmines birth certificate. Her fathers name listed as Giuseppe Romulus Sabbotini, and her birth name confirmed to be Maria Verona Sabbotini, birthplace, Messina Sicily. Her mother French, Giselle LeGrande, for some unknown reason this rang a bell, Jodi had heard the name LeGrande before, she shook her head for recall but failed.

  Jodi pounded away in her on line search engine, names went direct to data bases, she took her hands from the keys squinting at the screen, deeply bound in thought and puzzlement. She shook her head slightly, but took the lead handed by some divine keeper of providence and read a dossier sourced from deep within MI6 memory banks. Giuseppe Romulus Sabbotini, chairman of the Mediterranean branch committee of the Sicilian Mafia families, sitting member of the world Mafia committee. Jodi put her hand over her mouth as she drew a quick breath, “Oh my god,” she whispered.

  She tapped the keys, Maria Verona Sabbotini, her computer was immediately given access to data bases of the French Secret Service. Maiden name LeGrande, musician, singer, alias Jasmine Jackal, Sain record company, Paris France, listed as enemy of the state by French authorities. Jodi then found the link from the back of her mind, sister, Louise LeGrande, operative French Secret Service, file classified. Jodi remembered her husband talking to a Louise in front of her on the phone at times speaking French, all made sense.

  She tapped in her own name, a cheeky smile filled her face. Jodi Ann Stanton, maiden name Simpson. Drop dead gorgeous wife of John Stanton, have a grand day princess, the screen went blank. Jodi put her hand on the top of her head wide eyed whispering under her breath. “Bloody hell John.”

  Jodi was reminded many times by her husband information is on a need to know basis, she now had to work out what to do with it. Pike was part of the ministerial government corridors of Whitehall and Jasmine was Mafia family, Pike had voluntarily stood down after being confronted by her husband John Stanton. Jasmine was a close friend and talking to her would be painful, she contemplated a feasible approach. And what of the names that currently meant nothing featured as part of the incoming information fallen from the sky, Joel Renoir, Hans Reichmann, with a footnote remember these.