Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 25
© Denise Bossarte
Grace pulled into the
concrete lot near of one of the abandoned warehouses. She and DL made it to the
south side of the old linen district within half an hour after leaving his
apartment. Billy and Anthony were pulling in on the north side. With some luck,
they would soon find the right building and could gather there for the next
phase of planning.
Grace parked the car in the weeds next to one building, trying
to avoid most of the broken bottles. She made a mental note of the graffiti on
the walls of the surrounding buildings to orient herself. She reached across
DL’s knees to open the glove compartment and pulled out the Glock she kept
there while they were hunting the Glamour the past week.
Grace turned to DL and tried to hand the pistol to him.
“Take it. It’s one of my backups.”
DL held up his hands and shook his head in refusal.
“Grace, you know I can’t take the gun. I can’t shoot anyone.
That’s against everything I stand for.”
“DL, there’s a serial killer on the loose who can make you
forget he’s there long enough for him to sneak up and bash your brains in.
Don’t you want to protect yourself? Don’t you want to take him out and get
revenge for the girls he’s killed if you get the chance?”
“I want justice for them,” DL said, settling his hands on his
lap. “Not more violence.”
Grace shook her head as she slipped the pistol back into the
glove box. She searched around a moment before pulling out a can of Police
Magnum OC Pepper spray.
“How about this? Is this non-violent enough?” she asked.
“Yes,” DL said with a grim smile. “I can use this if the Glamour
shows up here.”
“Fine. Go for the face and with luck you’ll blind him long
enough to get away.”
“Will it make a difference
if the Glamour comes after him?” Danny asked.
“No, but it’s the best we
can do given the circumstances and DL’s stubbornness,” she admitted.
“Ok, DL. You agreed to do what I said once we got here. I want
you to stay in the car and keep alert. If anything crazy happens, honk the horn
hard and dial 911 as fast as you can, then get the hell out of here.”
“But what about you and the guys?” DL asked.
“Don’t worry about us; we’ll be ready for him. You need to take
care of yourself at this point. Agreed?”
“Yes, agreed.”
Stepping out of the car, she motioned DL over to the driver seat
to take her place. She adjusted her pistol in the holster on her hip while she
waited for him to shift in behind the wheel. No need for a concealed carry
tonight. Slamming the door behind her, she waited for DL to lock it and turned
to survey the warehouses.
“Can you sense anything,
yet? Getting hints of the Glamour’s aura?” she asked.
“Not yet,” Danny said,
turning to gaze at each of the nearby buildings.
He stopped and twisted his head to grin at Grace. “But it looks like I won’t play bloodhound
today.”
“Why not?” asked
Grace, following his gaze back to the building nearest them.
“Because here comes ‘Plan
B!’” Danny said in a satisfied voice.
Grace saw what Danny meant as the ghost of a girl walked between
the buildings, heading toward the car. She walked past Grace and Danny to stand
outside DL’s window where he was sitting looking out through her body. He was
waiting for Grace to enter one the warehouses to begin the search.
Grace recognized the pink sweater the girl was wearing as the
one she had read.
“Sabra?” Grace called.
“Sabra, can you hear me?”
Sabra turned her head to look at Grace then returned to staring
at DL.
“Sabra,” she tried
again. “We need your help. We’re trying
to find the man who hurt you. He’s got
Celeste and if we can find him fast enough we might save her.”
Sabra continued to ignore Grace while she stood outside DL’s
window, a mixture of grief and anger playing across her face.
“Danny, can you get her to
talk to you?” Grace asked.
“I don’t think she wants
to talk to us, Gracie. I think she wants to talk with DL though.”
Grace looked between Sabra and DL, considering what Danny said.
“Let’s give it a try,”
Grace said, turning back to DL’s side of the car and motioning for him to roll
down the window.
“What’s happening?” he asked. “You hardly went anywhere and now
you’re back.”
“Plan B,” Grace responded.
“Plan B?” DL asked, his eyes widening as he rotated around in
his seat to check out the front, sides, and back of the car. “A ghost? One of
the girls? Where?”
“Outside your window,” Grace directed him in a low voice, to
which DL responded by pulling back from the window as far as the driver’s seat
would allow.
“It’s Sabra. She won’t talk to me, but she might talk to you.
I’m hoping you can get her to show us where to find Celeste.”
DL looked uncertain, but settled back into the seat next to the
window. Sabra’s ghost leaned in close, peering through the open window.
“Why ya bringin’ ‘em ‘ere,
motha fucka?” she asked DL. “Dey da
ones doin’ dis to us!”
Grace translated for DL.
“Sabra’s angry because you’re here with me. She knows I have
supernatural abilities since I tried to talk with her, and she thinks I am a
carbon copy to the Glamour. You need to tell her why we’re here, in your own
words.”
“Shudup, bitch!” Sabra
snarled at her.
DL gazed out the window, trying to focus on the area he imagined
Sabra was standing.
“Sabra, I’m here to stop this man from hurting Celeste or more
girls. You know me. You know I’ve always tried to do my best to help you kids
however I could. I help in whatever way you’ll let me. If I had the chance to
stop this guy before he hurt you, I would have in a heartbeat.
Grace is my friend. I need her help to stop this man because I
can’t do it on my own. She is NOT like him. She doesn’t use her abilities to
hurt people. She uses them to help people, like Celeste. Grace will stop him
from hurting anyone else if she can find him.
I failed you, Sabra, but please don’t let me fail Celeste. You
don’t need to trust Grace, simply watch her take him down. We need you to show
her where he is. Can you do that?”
Sabra studied DL as tears streaked down her cheeks. After a long
moment, she turned to Grace and Danny.
“Fine. ‘Cause DL vouch for
ya, I go with ya. If I find ya lyin’ ta me, I fuckin’ haunt ya for life!”
“Got it,” Grace said.
“Definitely,” Danny
agreed.
“He startin’ on Celeste.
We bedda fuckin’ move.”
Grace checked her watch, noting the time and the GPS
coordinates.
“DL, I need to go,” she said, leaning in toward the window.
“Sabra says she can show me where Celeste is, but I’ve got to go right now
because she is in real danger.”
DL nodded, his face grim.
Grace straightened and motioned for DL to raise the window.
“Don’t forget. Call 911 if things get weird or out of hand.”
DL shook his head, muttering “Weirder than it already is?” as he
pushed the button and raised the window.
“Let’s go,” Grace said
to Sabra and Danny.
Sabra darted away from the car and toward an alley way between
two of the warehouses.
Grace spoke into her mike as she hurried after the retreating
ghost.
“We’ve contacted a ghost of one of the girls. She’s taking Danny
and me to the Glamour. I will relay the coordinates once I am at the location.”
“Gotcha,” Billy said. “We’re parked and are heading into the
first building on our side. Are we in time?”
“Sabra says he’s started on Celeste. We’ve got to hurry,” Grace
answered.
Grace broke into a run to
keep up with Sabra as the ghost hurried through the maze of streets and alleys.
Sabra stopped at the edge of one of the buildings, motioning Grace to hurry
over to where she was standing.
“Der a hole right ‘ere,”
she said pointing to a few loose boards, “ya
gots to sneak in ‘ere.”
Grace examined the spot Sabra pointed to, seeing there was space
for her to squeeze between the boards of the wall. She hoped to do it with
minimal noise to avoid alerting the Glamour they were coming.
She spoke in her mike again in a whisper.
“We’re here. I’m getting ready to enter the building at a hidden
opening. Here come the coordinates.”
Grace read the coordinates off her smart watch and asked, “How
soon can you get here?”
“In less than 10 minutes,” Billy answered. “Anthony and I are on
our way.”
“Roger. Here’s the plan.” Grace said, improvising. “You and
Anthony will provide a bit of a diversion. Try to be quiet getting in, but then
make some noise. I’ll come in the back way and take advantage of the
distraction to get Celeste out of there. My primary objective is to rescue Celeste.
You focus on getting the Glamour contained.”
“Roger,” Billy said.
“Keep Anthony with you at all times Billy,” Grace cautioned. “I
don’t want the Glamour to surprise you.”
“Got it already, Grace,” Billy said. “Let’s get this done.”
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