For years I have wandered about searching out adventure in all its forms and yet I cannot say I have ever experienced life as The Thief of Hearts had. I suppose if I am to tell this story correctly you should understand it's origins. Today is April 6/2235 but my story started about 3 months ago. I came across an old dusty diary while searching out treasures in an antique store, and although it was locked I still managed to open it. The following excerpt is directly from those pages, although I am unsure as to their veracity.
"I know that on occasion I am want to stretch the truth, but still for the sake of posterity I would like to relate the history of The Thief of Hearts. I write this knowing full well that perhaps some of it may not have happened exactly as depicted, but still I will try to do my best recalling both impressions and feelings as I remember them. Some of the details will also come from comments others have related, particularly those which pertain to myself, and the events in question.
Amanda Trueheart "
From all the information I have gathered Amanda Trueheart was indeed a sweet, sexy, talented woman, who lived at the top of a high bluff overlooking the city far below. Her home had 18 rooms, but she rarely spent much time in most of them, as her work required her elsewhere. In fact with the exception of the bedroom, pool, and gym the only time she spent in the other rooms was on evenings like that night.
On the night in question, Amanda was hosting a fancy dress party for the cream de la cream in the art world. Although it is true her individual specialty was fine jewelry, she still had a passion for the finer works of art as well. It is also true that even there she was bound to be questioned about some piece of interest, a fact which as it turns out did not go unnoticed.
Miss Trueheart was perhaps the finest authority on gems and jewelry in North America and thus, on a regular basis people came to her for opinions, evaluations, and yes sometimes even looking for a buyer. She well knew that some of these were, shall we say liberated pieces, but she also had a reputation of being quite discrete and accepted each query in the spirt in which it came. All this having now been said let us turn our attention to the facts as related.
Amanda was dressed in a long floor length sleeveless velvet evening gown, which had a silver fox fur collar, and provocative slit up her right leg. A bit too high perhaps, but it always made her feel sexy, and she finished the outfit off with the sheerest of black pantyhose, (no panties though; the lines would ruin this dress), 4 inch stiletto heels and of course her charismatic smile. Due to the sheer number of guests and their companions she was unsure as to who half these people were, but those she did know kept her fairly busy with idle conversation.
As she passed from room to room chatting with the various guests, she would occasionally notice a tall greying gentleman lurking in the distance. He seemed to be watching her, and although he was not displeasing to look at, it was still getting on her nerves. Amanda was sure she did not know him, but strangely enough he also seemed to be alone, and so she decided she would question him. This proved to be harder than she thought though, for each time she tried, she was stopped by one of the other guests. Then as she excused herself, the man would always have disappeared. Again and again it occurred and each time she tried to seek him out, she would be again stopped by a guest, and each time she engaged in conversation, he would suddenly appear again.
After about two hours of playing this untouching tag Amanda finally decided that the next time she wouldn't stop no matter what until she knew, and then suddenly there he was again. As nonchalantly as she could, she excused herself, and the chase was on. Taking her from room to room, each time just barely catching a glimpse of him as he passed into the next. Finally as Amanda came to the back quarter of the house she knew she had him, for now his only choices were to the pool, to the gym, to her bedroom or back towards herself. Of the three rooms only her bedroom had another exit but it was doubtful that he knew that, and so it was merely a matter of choice and for her follow. He chose the pool which by all accounts was the worst of the three for there was no place to hide, and no place to go, but as she entered she was surprised to find she was there alone.
Looking about there were no waves in the pool, no ropes, no windows open, just an empty pool room ... with a table, flowers, champagne and a candle. Curious she went to the table and there saw an envelope wrapped in a black ribbon and a jewelry box. The envelope was written in flowering calligraphy, but merely said "Thanks". Once again Amanda looked around before picking up the envelope, then she removed the ribbon and opened it. There she found a key and an address but nothing else. The address much like the face of the envelope is written in flowery calligraphy and held no clue as to the sender. It is located in the mountains far off in the countryside a place oddly enough close to where she grew up.
Next she picked up the jewelry box and open it. Inside sat the Pearls of Gala a set of 4 jumbo black pearls carved in the image of a dragon and strung together to form a living necklace. She knew this piece very well, for she valued it over 5 years ago, and in fact tried to steal it only six months ago, for in addition to her profession in the gem world she was also one of the best thieves ever to have lived.
Amanda had always prided herself on finding a target piece usually through an evaluation process and then years later liberating it under the owners very nose. As most of the finest pieces were either already stolen or so highly insured there was never a great deal of publicity, Amanda quickly learned that once in her possession the target piece held very little baggage. She would then would use her professional talents to alter the piece for a custom design requirement or hold it for her own collection, and this particular piece was slotted for the latter purpose. Thus it came as quite a shock when she attempted to steal it only to find the piece was not in any of the owner's places of residence, nor in his "private" vaults. She had assumed that it was sold or was being carried, and she had not had the opportunity to explore this further. She knew only too well that asking the owner a direct question about a peace she had seen once only five years ago would to say the least raise some suspicion, and thus she considered the piece lost for the time being.
Back to the problem at hand though, who was this man? How did he know she wanted this piece? And perhaps even more importantly, where the heck did he go? What was the thank you for? What was the key for? And for that matter what was at that address? Her head was beginning to spin with all the unanswered questions, and yet she could not be seen with this piece and had no time to put it away. She knew she could not leave it out here in the open, dared not risk carrying the bulky jewelry box around, and so she removed it from the box only to find it had a tiny silver cylinder attached. The cylinder was about three inches long and a quarter inch in diameter, affixed in such a way to the necklace that it would require cutting off otherwise the necklace would be broken. It was smooth with no openings, but still she didn't like the looks of it. Damn! She thought, what to do.
Suddenly the door to the pool room opened and the original owner of that very necklace entered. With no time Amanda turned briefly so that the slit in her dress was away from the advancing gentleman, and deftly slipped the piece into the top of her pantyhose. In the same fluid motion she then picked up the champagne, and turned back to greet him. She was acutely aware though that since she was unable to use both hands the piece had slid down over the soft fur of her mound, and she thanked God her hands had warmed it first.
Hello Serge, Amanda began, its so nice to see you
Oh no, he replied, the pleasure is all mine.
Surprised to see him at all Amanda continues; I thought you were out of the country Serge.
Oh I was, he replied, but when I got your email that someone wanted a discrete buyer for the Star of Shiba I had to come back, and see it for myself.
My email???? Amanda repeats questioningly. She knew she didn't send an email for that piece, as it was in her private collection, but now someone was obviously playing with her.
Unfazed Serge replies, yes under our private account. You sent me an email telling me that the Star of Shiba was shining for the right planet.
Mind now racing; Amanda tried to consider all the possibilities. Someone knew of her possession of the Star of Shiba. They knew who the owner of the Pearls of Gala was. They knew he was not above buying stolen merchandise, and they knew of her private account system. Adding to this was the fact that this unknown perpetrator(s) accessed her account and used it to combine all these things here now. Her life seemed to be instantly unraveling, what to do? Beneath her calm exterior Amanda's heart was racing along with her mind, there must be a way out... think...
Unable to think of anything else she tells Serge... Oh yes, well I don't actually have the Star of Shiiiiba... (Suddenly she felt a warmth spread over the pearls, and this was accompanied by a slight vibration)... continuing Amanda says the "owner" wanted to feel out the market fffffirst...(again the pearls became warm and vibrated within her pantyhose).
