Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 11
© Denise Bossarte
Grace ran the delivery doorbell at the back entrance to Dhamma Ink, DL’s tattoo parlor. The back
door opened to reveal a shyly smiling Zack. His gelled platinum blond hair
stuck up in a series of spikes that followed the line of his skull like a
rooster’s comb. The ensemble of black t-shirt, jeans and unlaced biker books
highlighted his pale skin.
“Good morning, Zack,” Grace greeted him with a broad smile,
careful not to brush up against him as he moved aside to let her into the back
storage area. Zack was sensitive to physical contact after suffering severe
beatings at the hands of his step-father. He was now free from his biological
family and under the supervision of DL and Jennifer. Grace has seen him blossom
over the past two years of living with them.
“Heya, Zach buddy. Good to
see ya,” Danny whispered, almost to himself, as he followed Grace in
through the door, a wistful smile passing across his face.
Grace knew Danny missed Zack. The boys became close friends
after Zack came to live with DL and Jennifer. Despite the five years difference
in age, Danny and Zack hit it off right away. Their main activity was spending
hours together co-designing and printing a fantasy comic book for local sale.
They considered themselves the dynamic duo: Zack was the graphic
artist and Danny was the dialog writer. The comic had quite a following up
until Danny’s death, and Grace knew Danny missed the time he used to spend
putting it together with Zack. That was one of the painful outcomes of not
sharing Danny’s situation with anyone, losing his closest friend. Another thing
Grace tried not to feel guilty about.
“DL’s getting everything ready!” Zack said, his excitement
evident as he led them into the main area of the store. “I can’t wait for you
to see the design I did; it turned out great!”
“I can’t believe you are
getting a tattoo!” Danny said, shaking his head in disbelief. “My big sister’s getting inked!” he
teased her, the usual mischievous smile creeping onto his face.
“The only reason I’m doing
this is because of what it means to Zack. He promised something small and
tasteful. I couldn’t turn him down when he said he wanted to do it as a
birthday present to you,” Grace reminded him.
“I know, but it’s
just too cool!” Danny crowed.
Grace made her way to where
DL was setting up his equipment next to a reclining chair.
He looked up and raised his
eyebrows at her. “Ready to adorn your body with beautiful
art?” he asked.
“I think I am,” Grace said looking between Zack and DL. “At
least I am in the right hands to get it done.”
“Alrighty then, take a seat,” DL said motioning Grace toward the
chair.
Grace settled in the chair with Danny standing curiously on the
side opposite of DL and Zack.
“Do you want me to hold
your hand while they do it?” he asked, his eyes searching hers.
“I’ll be ok, kiddo,” she
replied with a chuckle. She flashed back to all the grueling physical
challenges she made it through during the police academy and the post-accident
rehabs. This couldn’t be as hard as those, she told herself.
“Zack came up with the design all by himself. I’ll let him tell
you about it,” DL said, catching her attention.
Zack stepped up beside her, a piece of drawing paper in his
hands. “I understand it hasn’t been easy since Danny died, and I wanted to give
you something to help you feel connected to him.” He unrolled the paper to
reveal the tattoo design.
Grace leaned over to see a beautiful, detailed rendering of a
raven in flight with a scroll cradled in its claws.
“Ravens mean a number of things in mythology. But the thing I
like best is they can be messengers between us and the beyond and allow us to
communicate with the dead. I thought it might make you feel like you could stay
in touch with Danny wherever he has gone.”
Grace felt tears gathering in her eyes as she looked at the
drawing. She was touched at Zack’s idea of the raven tattoo for her and Danny.
The irony didn’t escape her Zack didn’t know she and Danny were in full
communication on a day to day basis. But his intention was born of honest
friendship for her and her brother.
“What does the scroll say?” she asked, peering at the drawing.
“It says ‘Knight of the Light,’” Zack said. “That part’s for
you, ‘cause you’re out there fighting the good fight.”
Grace raised her gaze to Zack’s earnest face. “And where did you
come up with this phrase?” she asked, having an idea she might already know.
“I found it on the Internet one day. It popped up when I was
playing around on the computer with more design ideas.”
Grace kept her eyes on Zack but her attention went back to
Danny. “Am I right you might have
something to do with this?” she asked, realizing Zack was never the “word”
person in their relationship.
“Maybe a little,”
Danny said, showing no guilt about it. “I
wanted to make the tattoo more about us both. To put something in there about
you, too.”
“We’ll talk about your
unauthorized escapades when we get home, Mister,” she said in mock anger,
not annoyed since the design came out striking.
“Do you like it?” Zack asked, trying not to look nervous at her
lack of response to the design.
“It’s fabulous,” Grace answered, letting her own enthusiasm show
in her response. “Where is it going to go?”
“We should put it on your left shoulder, near your heart,” DL
answered for Zack. “That’s for several reasons,” he said ticking them off on
his fingers one by one.
“One, symbolically, it will be near the source of the messages
you want to share with Danny; your heart. Two, it will be in a place where you
can it keep covered, and it won’t impact your professional image. And three,
for practical reasons, we’ll use the left shoulder to avoid all the scar tissue
on the right shoulder.”
Grace grimaced at the mention of her injured arm, but the
reasoning made sense to her.
“How long will this take?” she asked.
“All in all, about three to four hours to get all the details
Zack put into the design.” DL said. “Are you ready to do it all in one sitting
this morning?”
“Yes I am,” Grace responded, preparing to turn over onto her
stomach on the chair. “I guess I need to strip down to give you access to my
shoulder?”
“Yep,” DL said, “down to the bare naked for this one.”
Zack turned red as he fumbled to set the design down on the
table for DL to use as a reference. “Um, I’ll go work on more designs while DL
does the tattoo.”
“Great idea,” DL said, already turning his attention to finish
preparing the inks. “Jason is coming in this afternoon for the final session on
his tattoo. I want you to compare the designs you made against the in-progress
pictures to make sure we are on track there.”
“On it,” Zack said backing out of the room, relief obvious on
his face.
“Great kid and fantastic designer,” DL said as Zack left. “But
still a bit shy about bodies.”
Grace laughed as she started to unbutton her shirt, giving a “go
on” motion to Danny with her head to follow Zack.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said,
as he left the room. “Personal space and
all that.”
“Thanks. I’ll catch
up with you in a few hours.”
As Grace got settled on her stomach, she stated
matter-of-factly, “I’ve decided to take the case to find out what is happening
to the girls.”
She sensed DL stop moving for a moment, before he said “Thank
you, Grace. What can I do to help?”
“Can you get me something from one of the girls who was taken?”
“Like what?” DL asked as he put on a pair of latex gloves.
“A favorite piece of clothing, a brush or comb, a favorite
knickknack, anything personal.”
“Ok, sure, I will see what I can get from their friends. But how
is this going to help with the case?”
“If you can make it on Tuesday I’ll show you. Billy will meet me
then with the investigation results for the prostitutes. We can all work
together to figure out the next steps. Bring your list of girls and dates. And
found out the last place they were seen tricking if you can. That might help as
well. We can compare that information to what he’s found.”
“He’s your cop friend?” DL asked as he cleaned and disinfected
Grace’s shoulder.
“Yes. Friend first, cop second. But an upstanding guy who wants
to help. He knows you’re the one asking me to look into the disappearances.
He’s happy to help however he can.”
DL was silent as he continued his prep work. Grace was about to
say something else when he spoke again.
“Ok, Grace, I trust your judgment on this. Stopping this guy is
more important than anything I have against cops. I’ll be there.”
“Great,” Grace said, relieved DL was not taking too much
persuading.
“Now hold still and try to relax. The first thing I’m doing is
the outline and it has to go in deep. That will be the roughest part; the rest
will be easy.”
Grace took a deep breath and tried not to focus on the sensation
of the needle as DL drew the tattoo. She focused instead on how she was going
to explain her abilities to DL when he came over that week.
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