Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 5
© Denise Bossarte
Grace took a deep breath as
she stood outside the main entrance of the hospital. Danny slipped next to her
and wrapped his arms around her waist, giving her a tight hug.
“Don’t worry
Gracie,” he said. His voice was rough in its
seriousness. “This won’t be like before.
You’re healed, now, and you have control over your abilities that you didn’t
last time. I don’t notice you from even a few feet away. No one else will sense
you’re around when we go into the hospital.”
“I guess all the
practice we did to get this thing under control was worth it, huh?” Grace replied her voice tinged with uneasiness.
“You were a slow
learner, but you figured it out,” Danny
said, poking her in her ribs with one finger.
Grace grinned despite
herself, letting Danny’s attempt at humor bolster her for what
was coming. She turned with renewed determination to look down at Danny’s
earnest face. She was careful to focus on the situation and not her underlying
emotions.
“Can you go on up to
Beth’s room and make sure no one but DL’s around?” she asked.
“Sure. I’ll do the
preliminary recon and meet you up there,” Danny agreed, giving her a final
two armed squeeze then moving through the walls into the hospital.
Grace gave him a 5-minute head start before walking through the
sliding doors leading to the interior of the hospital. She breathed through her
nose in an effort to reduce the impact of the multiple nausea inducing smells.
After a few minutes navigating through the maze of floors and nurses’ stations,
Grace found DL standing outside Beth’s room. He was rocking from heel to toe
and back again in his black Converse tennis shoes. He stopped once he saw her
coming up the hallway and moved to meet her a few feet from the door.
“Everything ok?” he asked when he noticed the stiffness of her
face and the tension in her shoulders.
“I’m fine,” she said, gesturing for DL to lead her into the
room.
DL turned and entered the room, approaching the bed where a
small, bandaged form lay, tubes connecting to both her arms. Grace followed
him, stopping at the end of the bed. Danny shifted from the back of the room to
stand near the door. He gave her a quick nod to confirm no one else was around
to interfere with their conversations.
“How’s she looking?”
Grace asked him.
“Good for someone attacked
a few days ago. Her aura is stabilized, but there’s something…”
“What are you seeing?”
she asked, peering at the sleeping figure, wishing she was able to see what
Danny was seeing.
“I see some sort of black
‘stain’ I guess you could say, moving around the edges of her aura. I’ve never
seen anything like it.”
“Do you think it’s from
her attack somehow?” she asked.
“I’m not sure. But be
careful when you touch her. I don’t know what this stain is or what it might do
to you,” he admonished her.
Grace nodded her agreement then turned her full attention to
Beth.
“Beth, honey?” DL whispered, hoping to wake her up but not
startle her.
The girl’s eyes opened sleepily, revealing a pair of brilliant
emerald green irises and large pupils, most likely from the pain killers she
was taking.
“Beth, honey,” DL said again, putting one hand on her head as he
bent close to her. “I’ve brought a friend I’d like you to talk to about what
happened to you.”
Beth’s eyes focused on DL and then moved to take in Grace at the
end of the bed.
“Is she a cop?” Beth asked, her voice husky and dry, and
carrying a note of worry.
“I’m a private eye, not a cop,” Grace responded, noticing how
Beth managed to appear skeptical underneath all the bandages covering her face.
“I was a cop before my accident, but now I’m a PI,” Grace
amended.
“What accident?” Beth asked her voice growing stronger and
taking on some energy.
“I was in a car accident that killed my little brother and put
me in the hospital. Took 6 months and a dozen surgeries to get my arm and leg
working again.” Grace made a point to keep her eyes focused on Beth despite the
urge to glance over to Danny where he was standing. She sensed his eyes on her,
realizing it wasn’t easy on him to hear this part of their story.
Grace stepped to the side of the bed opposite of DL and rolled
up her sleeve for Beth to see the scars covering the skin of her right arm.
Pulling away the collar of her shirt, she pointed to her neck. There was a thin
white line running from behind her ear to her collar bone on the right side.
She was aware of Danny shifting uncomfortably by the door, focusing his gaze on
Beth rather than on Grace’s scars.
“Will my scars look like that?” Beth asked, raising a bandaged
hand to hover near her face, her voice heavy with concern.
Grace shook her head. “From what DL tells me, the doctors say
the wounds will heal well and won’t leave too much scaring. But you will have
some scars to deal with now.”
No sense pulling punches for the kid, Grace thought. She would
need to learn to deal with perceptions of disfigurement in order to move on
with her life. More likely the psychological scars would be more difficult to
handle than the physical ones. Grace understood that from personal experience.
“Beth, I know how scary it feels being hurt and alone in the
hospital. But would it be ok if I asked you a few questions about what happened
to you?”
Beth stared at DL, fear clear in her eyes at the thought of
revisiting the night of the attack.
DL stroked her head a few times. “It’s hard, Beth. But I believe
Grace can help catch the man who did this to you if she can get information
about what happened. I’m hoping she’ll be able to stop him from doing this to
anyone else. Do you think you can help her?”
Beth swallowed then shifted in the bed to get more comfortable.
“Ok,” she said, with a tremor in her voice, not meeting DL’s
eyes, “but can I talk to just her?”
DL removed his hand from her
head and reached down to squeeze her arm once. “Of
course,” he said turning to walk to the door. “I will be right outside if you
need me.”
“Is it ok if I sit down?” Grace asked Beth once DL was out of
the room.
“Oh sure, uh, sorry,” Beth responded a bit embarrassed, the tops
of her checks flushing pink over the bandages.
Grace grabbed a chair from the corner and brought it over to the
edge of the bed.
“Where do you want me to start?” Beth asked, shifting in the
bed, grimacing a bit in pain with the movement in her arms.
“Beth, I know about you and Chris and why you were on the street
that night. We don’t need to talk about it, as I don’t think it is relevant to
the case,” Grace began. She hoped to put Beth at ease by moving past that
point. “I want to learn as much as I can about the man who attacked you and why
he did it.”
Beth hesitated for a minute, digesting what Grace said.
“Ok, well, I was on the street, doing this ‘favor’ for Chris,”
Beth started, her eyes begging Grace to accept this version of the truth.
“You were searching for a man who’d help you get the money Chris
needed,” Grace filled in for her, prompting Beth to continue.
“Yeah, right,” Beth said moving. “I saw a car cruising along,
checking each of us out, like they all do. The weird thing was when he’d stop
the car, someone would go over to chat with him and he wouldn’t even roll down
the windows to speak to them. He would pull back into the road and continue
checking us out. It was creepy, but you get all kinds down there.”
Grace nodded, encouraging Beth to continue with the story but
making a mental note of the deviation of behavior Beth noticed. Danny would pay
particular attention to what Beth was saying and would be able to repeat
everything back later when they got home.
“He had a sweet car, one of those fancy sports ones. I figured
he’d have a bunch of money to spend,” Beth continued. “When he came to my spot
I went right up to the curb to meet him and this time he rolled down the
window.
‘What beautiful eyes,’ he said and gave me this huge smile. But
something felt off, ya know? I don’t know what it was but the guy was
definitely giving off a major creep vibe.”
Beth’s face crinkling in distaste at the memory, making her
wince when the movement tweaked her wounds.
“I started to back off then it felt like something grabbed ahold
of me. It was pushing me towards his car and I couldn’t do anything to fight
it, no matter how hard I tried. That’s when I got scared. I wanted to yell for
Chris to come stop this guy, but I couldn’t even open my mouth.” Beth began
crying, heavy sobs racking her body as she relived the encounter.
“I don’t remember anything more,” she said between sobs. “I woke
up here looking like this and I don’t want to remember any more about how it
happened!”
Grace reached out to grasp Beth’s hand in both of hers, stroking
the back of the palm to calm Beth again. She brought her awareness to her hands
and visualized a dark material sliding away from her fingers and palms and up
her arms, leaving her hands in direct contact with Beth’s small one. Once she
finished, the vision came quickly.
Grace felt the fear that filled Beth’s body as she moved with
her towards the man in the car. She concentrated on finding distinguishing
physical features she could memorize. The man appeared to be in his
mid-fifties; somewhat distinguished in appearance with gelled and styled salt
and pepper hair of medium length. A strong jaw accented his broad smile filled
with capped teeth. His high cheekbones were topped by intelligent gray eyes
that stared at Beth, the smile not reaching them at all. It was a handsome face
but something lurked there beneath the surface giving rise to the “creep vibe”
Beth described.
The broad smile broke when Chris distracted Beth’s attention by
grabbing her arm and attempting to pull her away. Grace was aware of the
pressure on Beth’s arm, but it was nothing compared to the pressure she felt
pushing her to go with the man in the car.
Without warning, the man’s eyes morphed to a dark shade of brown
and his features contorted into a mask of rage. Without taking his gaze from
Beth, he reached over to the seat next to him. Then he pulled out a long knife,
lunging out of the car to strike cat quick at Beth’s face, arms, and torso.
Grace heard gunshots right next to her body. But Beth did not even shift as the
man struck her, the bullets never getting close to either of them.
When Chris rushed in to attack the man with the pistol, the man
jumped back into his car and slammed it into gear. He drove away with a screech
of tires as he sped down the road. Beth collapsed like a puppet with cut
strings, blacking out as the pain in her face and arms flared to agony.
Grace came back to herself, feeling Danny’s hand resting on her
shoulder as she struggled to pull herself together and separate herself from
Beth’s memories. Working past a fatigue that weighed down her whole body, she
visualize the dark material sliding back down her wrists and hands, cutting off
her connection to Beth.
“Are you ok?” Danny
asked.
“Yeah, I will be in a sec,”
she sighed, turning her focus on the Beth present in front of her in the
hospital bed.
Beth’s tears were slowing and her breath was more regular, not
having relived the parts of the night Grace had accessed in her memories.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember anything else,” she said, the
disappointment evident in her voice.
“That’s ok, Beth,” Grace said, letting her sympathy show in her
tone. “You’ve been through a lot and what you shared with me will help with the
case.”
“Are you sure?” Beth asked with hope lighting her eyes. “Will
you catch him?”
“I will do my best, I promise,” Grace said.
“Great!” Beth said before settling back deeper into the bed.
“I’m really tired though. Is it ok if I rest for a bit?”
“Yeah, sure thing,” Grace said, letting go of Beth’s hand and
standing to leave.
“Will you come back and see me, again?” Beth asked as her voice
slurred with sleepiness.
“Yes, I’ll come back to see you,” Grace said as she moved to the
door. “Sleep tight, Beth.”
“Umhmm’,” was the answer from the bed, Beth already slipping
into sleep.
Grace found DL outside the room waiting anxiously.
“Any luck?” DL asked his tone hesitant but his face hopeful.
“Not much, but it’s a start,” Grace assured him. “I’ll reach out
to Officer Winiarksi with what Beth was able to remember and see if it matches
up to anything he’s found on his end. I’ll call you once I find out more.”
DL nodded his thanks and turned to reenter Beth’s room. Danny
joined Grace as she started back through the maze, happy to be heading out of
the hospital.
“Did you read anything
from her?” Danny asked, knowing how much the readings drained her.
“Yes, I did. It looks like we’re going need
outside help on this one,” she said, remembering the inescapable pull she
felt from the man with changing eyes.
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