Theresa

Chapter 1

10 Years Ago...

Theresa wasn’t a legend. YET. Back then, she was only eleven years old, and she wasn’t even rich. But soon, in less than ten years, she would become Theresa Verbera, the world’s best woman inspector.

“Theresa? Are you even paying attention?” Theresa’s tutor, Madam asked. During this time, Theresa didn’t find economics useful yet, she was only eleven, after all.
        “Yes, yes” Theresa replied, “Go on, continue, whatever you like.” She looked down at her textbook. Obviously, the only reason her parents had assigned her a tutor was because she was failing economics and math. They said “Two subjects! That is far too many, young lady. As the daughter of a successful businessman, you must not fail in ANY subjects, therefore, with that being said, we are going to hire…A Tutor.”
        Theresa’s friends from school felt bad she had a tutor, but of course she had brushed it off. A tutor was nothing. What really bothered her was that Madam wanted her to act like a young lady during lessons. Sit up straight. Hold your pencil like a brush. Don’t wear jeans. Act like a lady. Stuff like that. The thing was: Theresa didn’t want to be a lady, a damsel in distress, a lady-in-waiting, whatever you wanted to call it. She wanted to be more than that. Yes, Madam said she was rich and deserved to be a proper woman...but Theresa wanted to be known for something practical, like a police officer or a journalist for the newspaper. It was pretty clear that a lady wasn’t what her friends wanted to be, and they didn’t have to...so why couldn’t Theresa be the same? Was it because her family  was just a little teensy bit more wealthy than the average person’s?? Theresa’s dream was to be like the people in comic books, but still have distinguishable differences that maybe made her even better.

10 Years Later...

“Theresa, are you paying attention?”
Theresa jerked her head up. “No” she said, not even feeling guilty. This happened every other day.
She did NOT want to listen to her advisors blabber about paperwork every afternoon. Couldn’t anyone get a break around here?
“Well. You need to listen because this is important.” Jean, her taller advisor advised. You need to sneak onto a boat. Because there is a problem with it.
“Ohhhhh” Theresa thought. “Now this is the kind of advice that I don’t find boring. Go on.” She said. She knew Jean had summarized his lecture so she wouldn’t be bored. This was why he was her favorite - because he wasn’t always boring!
“Right.” Jean cleared his throat and handed Theresa some faded filing folders. “The evidence. Shall I leave you to evaluate the situation before I tell you to sign the paperwork, then?”
“Yes, thanks, Jean.” Theresa replied, sighing, “Leave the door open, though, I’m expecting a Coca-Cola ice cream float.”
Jean left Theresa in the office. First, Theresa put on gloves - in case the folder itself was a clue, and opened the folder. On a little blank business card, Jean had written “2 BOATS GONE MISSING. PASSENGERS MISSING TOO. BOTH WERE CRUISEs TO TAHITI”
Hmmmm...Theresa thought hard, Why Tahiti?
She walked to a coat hanger and absentmindedly checked the pockets of a navy-blue trench coat, her secret weapon. She took out a notebook and pencil, then went back to her desk.
Theresa first dialed a very important number - her best friend Cleopatra, or just Clea for short, who lived in Canada.
“Hello?” A voice answered,
“Hi Clea.” Theresa replied, “Few questions for you: First off, how are you doing? You sound kind-of stressed. Second: Send me a copy of your best news for this month.”
“Ummmm” Clea answered, “I’m fine, and where are you right now?”
Everyone knew Theresa had to travel a lot. But no one knew why. THey just assumed she was trying too hard to find a case, but that wasn’t true. Theresa wasn’t yet a good detective...but that clearly didn’t mean she didn’t have clients. Obviously. And she was young...only 21 years old. So there.
“I am at my house.” Theresa replied, with a “Duh” kind of attitude, “I always call you from my house, you know that by now, don’t you??”
Theresa heard Clea sigh. “Ok it will be there in a few minutes. I can send it over on a messenger.”
Theresa smiled. She could always count on Clea to send in the messages fast. Last year, when Theresa was still in college, she had invented a little teleporting bird. They had only had one...and Theresa didn’t exactly know how to make it teleport. It had happened “by accident”. She still didn’t remember how she did it, even now...but at least Clea still had the original bird, and now used it to help run her press.
Then Theresa said good bye to Clea and moved on to her detective business.
“Twice to Tahiti...and Jean doesn’t have the slightest idea why the boats were missing.” Theresa mumbled to herself. In her mind, there were many ways this could’ve happened. First off, there was the fact that there were terrorist groups that could have easily taken over the ships. Then there was also the possibility of pirates or barbarians, but that one was unlikely. Just as Theresa was about to suggest superstition, two things happened. The waitress came with her coke-flavored float...and Clea’s messenger, whom they had named Athena - because it had swallowed an olive AND was kind-of shaped like an owl - flew through the open window. What happened next was NOT good for Theresa - or her expensive Loloi rug.
Athena, by coming with the message, had startled the waitress, causing her to scootch back, only then Athena flew toward Theresa, and not the waitress, so she relaxed. In the process, she must’ve forgotten she had a float, because it began melting and dribbling on the floor. Then Athena swooped toward her, assuming the waitress was spilling it to get Athena’s attention. The waitress noticed and dropped the whole thing. This caused Athena to teleport right out, with the newspaper dropped on Theresa’s head.
“Ohhh-kayyy” Theresa began, “I guess you can go now.” She motioned for the waitress to leave. Then Theresa called in some people to clean up the mess, and went back to work. Obviously she was NOT getting a new rug, so she would have to use the maids and other staff members her father had given to her to help with work in the mansion she lived in.
“At least I got the newspaper.” Theresa thought to herself, “Even if...it landed on my head.”
She opened the newspaper and began reading. On the very top, the headline screamed:

SHIPS DELIVERING PEOPLE TO TAHITI GONE MISSING! NO SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY FOUND! IS IT SUPERSTITION?

Theresa shook her head. “No, not superstition.” She drummed her fingers on the table - a pretty bad habit of hers, according to her childhood tutor, Madam - and skimmed through the newspaper.
“So many possibilities,” Theresa thought, “If there is a next time, I wonder where it could be going…”
“JEAN! LUDWIG!” Theresa hollered. Jean and Ludwig - a shorter advisor - came in to see Theresa.
“What do you guys think of this?” Theresa demanded, “Is the next incident going to happen in Tahiti?”
Jean cleared his throat. “Clearly, Theresa. Next time it will occur when a boat full of passengers goes to Tahiti. That can be concluded due to the evidence we have already.”
Ludwig stepped forward, “I beg to differ.” He said, “Twice they have happened with Tahiti, so the source - if it has a brain - will assume we go looking in Tahiti. So I think if it were a smart criminal or someone like that, they would surely choose somewhere else now that the detectives are on the trail.”
Theresa nodded. Both were good thoughts. Which should she go with?
This was the one problem Theresa had with multiple advisors. She sighed, “Daddy said that more advisors meant more smart decisions..but how can I make any decisions if they can’t even agree on anything?”
Theresa missed her dad, but she was already 21. “Get yourself together.” She scolded herself. She dismissed her advisors and then thought some more about what she could do.
Theresa picked up the phone and called her agent. “Thetis, I need a ticket for a luxury cruise to Tahiti. The sooner the better.” Theresa knew almost all the cruise liners to Tahiti traveled about the same routes, so she could at least find out what would happen to future cruise liners. She was aware that if this was the wrong move, it would cost her dearly, but if she was right...well, then, she wouldn’t know what would happen anyway.
“Roger, Theresa.” Thetis’s voice came through the line, “The next cruise leaves in a week. Get ready to go to Tahiti.”
“A week!” Theresa demanded, “And what am I supposed to do during that time?” Theresa did want to be different from comic book detectives, but this was one element of the comics that never went wrong - they never had to wait.
“It’s not my fault.” Thetis complained, “Don’t get all huffy with me.”
“I know, I know.” Theresa replied, “Thanks, Thetis. I’ll see you in a week. Bye.”
Thetis and Theresa hung up and went back to doing their own business.