Girl with Pencil Drawing
by
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Turning to me, eyes dark with trouble, she asked, "Can you do me a favor when class is over, Annie?" Francesca was twisting an oily rag around her fingers, anxiety apparent in every fiber of her body. I thought, what could I say. "Sure, If I can," I replied, wondering if I would regret it. "When class is over, I want to leave with you. I mean, you know, we can go out the front door together. I'll put my coat near your things, and we'll just go. Okay?" She waited for a response. "Are you afraid of that guy who was trying to break your arm?" I asked, thinking it all too obvious. "Yeah. That's Mr. D. We had a dispure about what's business and what isn't, and I'm getting a little bored with his way of proving a point.' - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -- - - -- - - - -- - -- - - - - - The class ended, my knees shaking with the prospect of leaving this beautiful place in escape mode. We left the gallery fast, so fast that we were still slipping on coats as we fled down the steps. We headed for the subway station at a trot. As we passed a small alley, two men emerged and stepped out after us. "Are they following us?" I inclined my head in their direction. "You can count on it," came Francesca's stiff reply. "Look, I know the subways real well, Francesca. If we can get on that platform I can lose them." "Let's go!" she said, face grim, pushing forward. The men followed. We pulled out Metro Cards and squeezed through the turnstile, racing for the stairs and the platform for the uptown train. The station began to rumble. "That's our train," I yelled. We ran, catching sight of our two pursuers coming through the turnstile as we ducked down the steps. The car doors slid open just as we got to the platform. We pushed into the train. The doors didn't move for a heart-stopping minute as we watched feet, legs, torsos, and finally the heads of those sinister forms appear on the stairway. We're trapped, I thought. The men were on the platform heading for our car.
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About the Book
Seventeen-year-old amateur detective Annie Tillery is at it again. After she wins a series of art lessons at a prestigious art gallery, Annie shows up for her first lesson to find her instructor, Francesca Gabrielli, in a volatile argument with John DiCristiani, the art gallery’s director, over his incessant requests for her to illegally copy art masterpieces. Unwittingly, Annie is about to be drawn into the illicit, treacherous, and unpredictable world of art forgery.
When the gallery director is found murdered in cold blood, Francesca becomes the prime suspect and calls upon Annie to help solve the crime. As Annie and her NYPD detective aunt, Jill Tillery, brave the dangers of an international art fraud ring in an attempt to clear Francesca’s name, they soon realize that the key to solving the case revolves around a mysterious brownstone in Brooklyn whose inhabitants present tantalizing and elusive clues.
As Annie and company attempt to stay one step ahead of DiCristiani’s murderer, they manage to escape one deadly trap after another. The stakes are high in the glamorous yet dangerous world of illegal artwork trafficking. Annie must solve the crime before it is too late.
About the Author
Linda Maria Frank has enjoyed a lifelong career teaching science at both the high school and university levels, enabling her to convert case studies into credible mysteries for young readers. She resides on Long Island, New York. This is the second book in the Annie Tillery mystery series.