Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 24
© Denise Bossarte
Grace pulled up in front of
DL’s apartment, parked her car and headed
toward his place. Grace had received an anxious call from DL not twenty minutes
before, as she was preparing to drive out to meet Billy and Anthony on
location. Despite his warnings to stay away from the site and off the streets,
another homeless girl had gone missing late the previous evening or earlier
that morning. It looked like they all made a grave mistake assuming the Glamour
gave up for the night after they chased him and he got away.
Grace and Danny took the
stairs together, and she was ringing the doorbell when Billy and Anthony joined
her. By the time DL answered the door, they were all crowded together waiting
to get into the apartment. None of them wanted to discuss the situation until
they were inside. DL waved them through to the living room, joining them after
closing the front door.
“What happened?” Grace asked as soon as they were all in the
room.
“Celeste is missing. She’s one of the girls who was tricking,”
DL explained. “I think the Glamour got her.”
“Why on earth would she be out tricking?” Grace asked DL.
“Didn’t you warn them to stay away until we caught this guy?”
“I did,” he said in his own defense. “I tried to get them to
stay at one of the local shelters. But some of the girls, including Celeste,
wouldn’t stay there more than a few days. They couldn’t wait for us to catch
the Glamour. It’s been almost a week and they need the money to survive. Even
with my warnings enough time passed they believe I’m exaggerating about the
danger to them.”
Grace shook her head in irritation at the girls’ behavior, but
let DL continue without interruption.
“Some of the other girls were planning on meeting Celeste early
this morning. When she didn’t show up they came to me. I’ve been out with the
girls all day looking everywhere for Celeste but we can’t find her, and no
one’s seen her since yesterday.”
“Arguing about whether the girls got enough of a warning will
not change the facts,” Billy said, bringing the conversation to a halt. “We
need to figure out how to get to Celeste before the Glamour hurts or kills
her.”
Grace realized Billy was right. She shouldn’t be throwing her
anger and frustration at the situation onto DL. She forced herself to calm down
and focus.
“Billy, did you have time to pick up the city map we were
working on together?”
Billy held up the map he was carrying.
“Yeah, I brought it for us to look at again. It should help us
plan our next move.”
Everyone jumped in to help clear off the table and Billy spread
out the map they had marked with all the sites for the missing women and girls.
They surrounded the table, each reviewing the map and the various locations
shown on it.
Grace pulled out a pen.
“Anthony, would you mark off the pentagram you described to us
earlier? It might help us visualize things better.”
Anthony nodded and took the pen. He drew out the symbol on the
map with the points of the star hitting each of the five areas of overlapping
color. He laid the pen on the table, then stepped back to analyze the results.
“You were spot on about the time and location for the Glamour’s
most recent attack using the pentagram and Dreamspell Calendar. It appears this
symbol is key to what’s going on with the Glamour and what he’s doing with the
girls. What else can you tell us about the pentagram? Anything to help locate
him now?” Grace prompted him.
“Well,” Anthony began. “As I mentioned before, the pentagram is
special to New Ageists and supernaturals. It is special because they considered
it a protective symbol. It works as a focal point and to contain things when
they do their activities and rituals.”
“Contain things?” DL interjected, getting a bit sidetracked.
Anthony waved his hand in the air, brushing away DL’s question.
“The most important thing about the symbol is its center,” Anthony continued, his voice becoming
more animated. “Here, let me show you what I mean,” he offered, picking up the
pen again and circling the center of the star.
Tapping the pen tip in the center of the circle, he declared
“Here is where we should focus our attention.”
“It’s an awful large area to be searching for one girl,” DL
said.
“Maybe not,” Grace said, considering the area within the circle.
“My reading of Sabra’s sweater was of a large, empty, disintegrating room. I
think it was a warehouse. Did you get a similar reading from her sweater,
Anthony?”
“Yes, that is an accurate way to describe what I saw. A sizable
but deteriorated space,” he agreed.
Looking at Billy, she inquired “Are there abandoned warehouses
in the circle?”
Billy peered at the street names and nodded. “We’re on the right
track, Grace. The circle falls right on top of the old linen district. People
abandoned the district at least a decade ago when the market went bust. If I
remember right, there a half a dozen old warehouses inside the circle to match
what you saw.”
“Great,” Grace said. “That’s progress. It looks like we can
narrow down the search to a handful of buildings in that spot.”
“Ok,” said DL. “But the question is which one? How are we going
to find Celeste in time to save her?”
“I think I know how,”
Danny said in a quiet but steady voice. “If
I get close enough to the Glamour, I can sense his aura.”
“You can do that?”
Grace asked.
“I’ve never tried to do it
that way, but I think it’ll work. Sophie and I’ve been practicing on my aura
readings. I should be able do it.”
“Practicing, huh?”
Grace remarked. “That explains what you
and Sophie were up to these past few days. Explains why I need to keep
recharging all the crystals, too!”
“Once I found out
her ability was aura reading I convinced her I’d be more help to you if I could
do a better job at reading them myself.”
“Ok. It’s worth a shot.
How close is ‘close enough’ though?”
“I don’t know for sure,
Gracie. I can see auras on people if they’re under a block away. I guess at
least a similar distance for sensing them?”
“No offense, kiddo, but
that’s a huge guess for us to rely on with a girl’s life at stake.”
“And I have a ‘Plan B,’”
he offered.
“’Plan B?’”
“Yeah, between the two of
us, we should find one of the ghosts of the victims, right? I bet there’s one
of them still there if it’s where he’s been killing them,” Danny said.
“True. Anthony and I both
saw the warehouse in our readings. It shouldn’t take us too long to identify
the right one.”
Grace said to the room, “The ghosts of the victims will most
likely be at the place where the Glamour took Celeste. If I can find a ghost,
they could lead us right to him.”
“You can see ghost, too?” DL asked.
Grace grinned and shrugged. The number of people learning about
her abilities kept growing. But she didn’t see how she could keep this ability
from DL. Not without making things more complicated than necessary. Especially
if the ghosts turned out to be key to finding the Glamour as fast as possible.
Billy shook his head. “I don’t like having to rely on the chance
the ghosts will be hanging around the place. It’s an awfully flimsy strategy to
bet this girl’s life on.”
“Anthony and I both saw the warehouse where the Glamor took
Sabra. If we can get inside the buildings, we should find where the Glamour has
Celeste.”
Anthony nodded at Grace, saying, “Nice idea Grace. It is the
best chance we have on short notice. There is no time to do anything more. It
would take too long to convince regular law enforcement we are not crazy and
this is a real life threatening situation for Celeste.”
“I’m in,” DL said, his voice firm.
“Now wait a minute,” Grace said. “We’re not all going after the
Glamour.”
“Why not?” DL demanded. “I may not have special abilities like
you and Anthony, but I will not sit on the sidelines while you go rescue
Celeste. She’s one of my girls. I’m going to do everything I can to save her
from getting hurt.”
“DL, you are not trained for this sort of thing,” Grace
countered.
“And you do not possess protection from the Glamour’s mind
manipulating ability, either,” Anthony said, not without sympathy.
DL hesitated a moment before turning back to Grace.
“Even if you make me stay in the car, I don’t care. Let me come.
I might make a difference.”
Grace shook her head. But before she could say no again, DL took
her hand and held it in both of his.
“Grace,” he said, “this is one of my kids. I understood having
me stay away when you were trying to trap the Glamour earlier. That was before
he took another one of my girls. Before Celeste’s life was in danger. I want to
be with you to help catch who’s been doing this!”
Grace looked into DL’s eyes, seeing the determination
there.
“Don’t worry, Gracie. I
can help look after DL. We can keep him out of harm’s way.” Danny reassured
her.
“Like Anthony said, Grace,” Billy reminded her while checking
his watch. “We don’t have time to argue about who’s going. We need to move.”
“Ok,” Grace relented. “But you must promise me you’ll do what I
say when we get there.”
“Like keeping his ass in
the car while we take care of the Glamour?” Danny suggested.
“Done,” DL said.
“That settles it,” Billy announced. “Anthony and I will go
together. DL, you go with Grace. We’ll start here on the north side of the
area, while Grace works in from the south side. Keep in touch at all times by
radio. Let each other know once you eliminate a building or if you find the
right one.”
“Got it,” Grace said. “Let’s roll.”
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