Molly Maltese

Molly Maltese (born 21 May 1914) is an American private detective and ex-socialite in New York City.

==Early Life==

Maltese was born Amelia de Maltesse in upstate New York City to a pair of wealthy socialites. The de Maltesse name evoked immediate respect in every corner of the state, and Amelia grew up well-accustomed to a life of luxury. She was the

belle of every social event for years, always seen on the arm of this senator or that actor until her seventeenth birthday. On this portentous day, her parents gave permission for her to wed Jack Billings, a young handsome politician who worked closely with her father.

Marriage and Death
Amelia grew easily accustomed to the married life, decorating and running their penthouse apartment with both style and grace. Jack played the attentive husband for two years, doting on his wife with gifts and wine-soaked nights. Little did Amelia Billings know that her husband was actually the leader of a ruthless cutthroat underground organization, and had been bleeding her dry of her inheritance to fund their political machinations. Reality finally hit when Amelia awoke one morning, woozy and disoriented (suffering from the effects she now recognizes as chloroform) to find Billings and all his possessions gone from their apartment as well as most of the valuables they owned. A fire had been set in the front room and was dangerously close to the bedroom door, giving the woman only enough time to grab a few possessions money, and pieces of jewelry and flee down the fire escape. A female body was later found charred beyond recognition in the front room, and although Amelia could have told anyone that it was the unfortunate corpse of the maid, Hilda, she let it be assumed that she had died and instead took on an alternate name for herself, that of Molly Maltese.

Career
Molly Maltese hawked her jewelry, changed her appearance and used the proceeds to set up a modest private investigations agency, a front for her to discover more about her husbands organization, purportedly the London and New York-based Hellfire club. To her surprise she found herself quite good at investigations, and settled into the lifestyle of a private dick happily. She ran the agency for 4 years before chance had her fall in with the group of investigators that would become her closest friends and cohorts.

Cases
In Disillusioned Detectives, Molly encounters Marc Lacrimosa, Vulkie, Nellie McKinzey,Charlie Cain ,Heimlich VonVictor, Riza Hawkeye,and Brian Flannigan,. She assists the group of friends in a case detailing the hot pursuit of a notorious murderer of the name Charles Craig. The group is stunned when it appears that their close friend Vulkie betrays them, but it is discovered that she is working with the FBI on the case. Molly's husband Jack Billings makes a brief but violent appearance, starting a chain of events in which Molly must face him as a nemesis or die in the attempt. Charles Craig is captured, but not without some lingering damage to the group, both physical and mental. Molly is dealt a slim, hook-shaped scar extending from her eyebrow down to her cheek, pointing in to her nose.

In the case of Reformed Burglars Never Rest, Molly and her bodyguard Pierce Evans Malone join up with Marc Lacrimosa as he takes on the job of protecting the young woman Elizabeth March, a reformed burglar from an unknown threat. In the hotel, Molly bumps into Charlie Cain and they sit to have breakfast. Vulkie soon joins in the case, and Molly is introduced to Detective Joseph Zeo for the first time. Molly slips away from the others and heads to a London orphanage, where the reader is apprised of the fact that Molly has had a daughter by Jack Billings by the name of Annabelle Christie Mahler who has been kidnapped by her father. Molly has a confrontation with Billings, in which he shoots Pierce fatally, and puts a bullet in Molly's left shoulder before escaping. After Pierce dies in the hospital, Molly has Annabelle taken out of the country for her own safety. A confrontation ensues in which Elizabeth discovers that Tim O'Leary is the culprit responsible. At Pierce's funeral, Joseph Zeo lets on that he knows who Molly really is and is engaged in finding and bringing down her husband.

In The J. Harlequin Debacle (an RP short removed from the normal progression of the RP stage), Molly invites the creme de la creme of New Yorks crime-fighting society to her country home. The guests in attendance feature Joseph Zeo, Heimlich VonVictor, Marc Lacrimosa, Vulkie, Charlie Cain, Elizabeth March, Elsie the Maid and John Harlequin. The dinner party turns sour when John Harlequin is murdered at dinner, and the guests are snowed in away from the interference and protection of the police.

In The Darkness Of Today (1941), Marc Lacrimosa snaps one night in a bar and kills a wanted con artist. Molly sees the crime committed, and it comes to light that the man killed was her brother. Marc does not remember a thing from the previous night, but Molly threatens to kill him. Confused, Marc throws her out and proceeds on a rampage, not remembering his action. Riza Hawkeye joins the story to find Marc in a safe house. Friend to the detectives Grace Dowd becomes a casualty at a shootout at Jack Billings house. Molly is taken to the hospital, but when he returns to his safe house he is ambushed by Riza and Molly, and Doctor Carmike Falcone. Marc seeks help in the form of Father Manfred Gesling, and ultimately leaves to undertake soul-searching.