Glamorous: A Grace Bishop Novel (Grace Bishop Novels)

by Denise Bossarte

  Grace was surprised Billy and Anthony managed to get along, being cooped up in a car together for several days in a row. It could be challenging for partners who had been working together a while and knew each other’s routines and personality quirks, let alone two strangers from different worlds.

  When she asked Billy how it was going with Anthony after the first night, he had told her Anthony’s ego had been a pain to deal with at first, but he was getting used to it. After the third night, Billy seemed to think Anthony was a decent enough guy. For Billy, that was a glowing compliment.

  She was happy, for Billy’s sake, that Anthony was behaving himself, but she was skeptical this version of Anthony would continue to show up if they needed to work the case much longer. Regardless of how Billy felt about Anthony, now that they knew that Paranorms were immune to the Glamour’s powers, he had even more reason to keep Anthony close by.

  “Keeping your eyes open, kiddo?” she asked Danny. “I know it’s been a long few days, but the Glamour might show up at any time.”

  “Yeah. We need some better gadgets, Gracie. More than just a lousy ear microphone.”

  “That’s for the backup, in case things get out of hand.”

  Danny sighed and returned to his “surveillance,” his eyes moving from one prostitute to another.

  Grace smiled at his clear captivation with the ladies.

  “Yes, Anthony said the best bet is if we can spot evidence of the Glamour using his ability on the people or maybe one of the girls. Anything that’s out of place.”

  “Like that car?” Danny pointed to a car down the street.

  Grace focused her attention on the beat-up, blue Toyota Camry Danny pointed to, which was parked between the street lights in a darker section of the street. People were ignoring the car completely, going by without a second glance, or swerving at the last minute to avoid without seeming to register what they were doing.

  Grace spoke quietly, maintaining an intense focus on the car. “Billy, check on this license plate number.” She read him the number and letter sequence. “I think we may have something here.”

  Billy’s voice came back over the ear piece. “What do you see, Grace?”

  Grace filled him in on the behavior around the car.

  “Okay. I’ll call this in to dispatch. Don’t do anything for a minute until we can find out more on who we’re dealing with here.”

  Grace was about to confirm when a tall blond prostitute in a short red dress walked up to the Camry.

  “That’s strange,” she said.

  “What’s strange?” Billy asked.

  “There’s a woman going for the car. She sees it while everyone else is oblivious.”

  Anthony’s cracked over the radio. “It’s the Glamour. He’s luring her in to kidnap her.”

  “Dammit!” Grace flung her door open. “Not tonight, buddy!” She jumped out of her car and hurried down the street, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, Danny at her side.

  “Grace, god dammit! I told you to wait until we know more about this guy,” Billy shouted in her ear.

  “I don’t think we’ve got time for that. He’s going after her now! I’m going to intercept. Be ready on your end in case he makes a break for it.”

  Grace moved through the crowd on the sidewalk, trying to head to the car without giving herself away. The blonde was now only a few feet away from it, hesitant to cover the last feet to the open window.

  “Gracie, be careful. I can see his aura, and it’s bad, really bad!”

  Grace slowed her pace a bit at the warning, trying to decide the best move forward. Nicco had told her the Glamour couldn’t use his ability on other Paranorms. But she was not another Paranorm. She hadn’t confirmed with Nicco that Paranorms’ abilities wouldn’t work on Aperto Rottos.

  Great time to be thinking of the details. She would need to trust Nicco wasn’t setting her up, and she was as immune to the Glamour’s powers.

  The prostitute was still hesitating, not yet engaged with the man in the car. Despite herself, Grace was impressed by the sheer power the Glamour possessed over the Norms. He was able to keep the car hidden until he was ready to entice a victim. He was capable of mesmerizing whichever woman he pleased. This called for bravado and quick action.

  Grace sauntered up to the car, keeping her eye on the prostitute. This is your lucky night, honey. “This one’s mine, Bitch. Go take your skanky ass on down the line.”

  The woman’s unfocused eyes turned to Grace, but she seemed to have a hard time registering her presence. Grace froze. The prostitute’s eyes were the same bright green shade of Beth’s. The woman shook her head groggily and turned back to the car.

  She stared at it, perplexed. “What the fuck? Where’s my Lexus?”

  She moved backward from the car and jumped when she realized Grace was standing near her.

  “Shit! Who the fuck are you?”

  Before Grace could reply, the woman turned and dashed away, checking over her shoulder, her face full of fear.

  “Her lucky night for sure.” Danny watched the woman as she rushed away.

  “Yep. Now let’s see if it’s ours, too.”

  Grace turned her attention to the man in the driver’s seat of the Camry. She was not surprised to recognize the man from Beth’s reading—the gelled and styled salt-and-pepper hair, strong jaw, and high cheekbones. She thought he might use a glamour to cover his appearance, but Beth had seen the real Glamour. She suspected he didn’t need to worry about changing his features. The girls who saw him weren’t going to live long enough to tell anyone.

  The gray eyes from the reading looked her up and down, seeming to appreciate what he saw. He met her eyes and smiled a broad, confident smile full of those capped teeth. After a moment, his gaze intensified, and then his smile faded to an angry scowl. Grace had a happy suspicion things weren’t going as planned for him. For once, his Glamour wasn’t having the usual effect.

  At her lack of response, his face became distorted by rage, and his eyes shifted to brown, like Beth saw when she was attacked. Grace prepared herself. But instead of leaving the car, he turned away, throwing it into gear and squealing the tires as he peeled away from the curb.

  “Dammit, he didn’t take the bait. He’s coming your way,” Grace said into her microphone as the car careened away and turned into an alley. “He went into the alley by the bakery,” she shouted as she ran after the car.

  “Hurry, Gracie. He’s getting away!” Danny raced along with her.

  “Fuck!” Billy’s voice was loud in her ear as his car turned into the alley right as she reached the corner.

  “What?” she barked, a bit out of breath.

  “He’s heading for the highway,” Billy said, his voice sounding distracted.

  “Christ!” she heard, followed by the squealing of brakes and a series of thumping noises.

  “Are you all right?” She ran down the alley toward the red taillights of Billy’s car.

  “We are okay,” Anthony’s voice came over the radio. “Billy is taking vengeance on the steering wheel because some—”

  “Asshole!” Billy yelled over Anthony’s voice.

  “Some ‘asshole,’” Anthony continued, “pulled his car into the end of the alley right before we were able to get out.”

  “The Glamour got away?” Grace slowed down to a walk.

  “Yes,” Anthony replied. “He did.”

  Grace shared her own series of thumping noises over the microphone as she began smashing trashcans in the alley.

  “And the best news of the night,” Billy said in exasperation, “is I heard back from dispatch. That plate is for a car reported stolen right off the rental car lot last week. We’ve got nothing.”

  Chapter 27

  Grace and Danny 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 locati
on. 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 had made a grave mistake assuming the Glamour gave up for the night after he got away.

  Grace and Danny took the stairs together, and she was ringing the doorbell when Billy and Anthony joined her. As they all crowded together in front of the door, there was no trace of the previous tension between the two men. Before she had time to consider it further, DL answered the door. He waved them through to the living room, and closed the front door.

  “What happened?” Grace asked as soon as they were all in the room.

  “I think the Glamour got Celeste while she was tricking,” DL explained.

  “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, they need the money to survive, and their pimps are not going to let them stay off the streets any longer. Even with my warnings, enough time passed that they think I’m exaggerating about the danger.”

  Grace shook her head, 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 them all day, looking everywhere for her, but we can’t find her, and no one’s seen her since yesterday.”

  “Arguing about whether the girls got enough of a warning won’t 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.”

  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?”

  Billy held up the map. “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. Each reviewed the map and the various locations shown on it.

  “You were spot on about the time and location for the Glamour’s next 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 rubbed his chin. “As I mentioned before, the pentagram is special to New Ageists and supernaturals. 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 asked.

  Anthony waved his hand in the air, brushing away DL’s question.

  “The most important thing about the symbol is its center.” He picked up a pen and circled the center of the star. “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 considered the area. “In my reading of Sabra’s sweater, I saw a large, empty, run-down room. I think it was a warehouse. Did you get a similar reading, Anthony?”

  “Yes, that is an accurate way to describe what I saw. A sizable but deteriorated space.” He looked at Billy. “Are there any abandoned warehouses in the circle?”

  Billy peered at the street names and nodded. “You’re on the right track. 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 are about a half-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 at that location.

  “Okay,” DL said. “But the question is which one. How are we going to find Celeste in time to save her?”

  “I think I know how,” Danny’s voice was quiet but steady. “If I get close enough to the Glamour, I can sense his aura.”

  “You can do that?” Grace worked to keep her surprise from showing to the others in the room.

  “I’ve never tried to do it that way, but I think it’ll work. Sophie and I have been practicing on my aura readings. I should be able to do it.”

  “Practicing, huh?” Grace remarked. “That explains what you and Sophie were up to these past few days. It also explains why I need to keep recharging all the crystals.”

  “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.”

  “Okay. It’s worth a shot. How close is ‘close enough’ though?”

  “I don’t know for sure. 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.”

  “I have a ‘Plan B,’” he offered.

  “‘Plan B’?”

  “Yeah, between the two of us, we should be able to 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.”

  “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 ghosts, too?” DL asked.

  Grace grinned and shrugged.

  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 Glamour took Sabra. If we can get inside the buildings, we should find where he has Celeste.”

  Anthony nodded at Grace. “Nice idea. 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 won’t sit on the sidelines again while you go to rescue Celeste. She’s one of my girls. I have to do everything I can to save her.”

  “You’re 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.

  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, 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 whoever’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,” Billy reminded her while checking his watch. “We don’t have time to argue about who’s going. We need to move.”

  “Okay,” Grace relented. “But you have to promise me you’ll do what I say when we get there.”

&nb
sp; “Like keeping his butt in the car?” Danny suggested.

  “Done,” DL said. “I’ll text Jennifer as soon as we’re on the road to let her know I’m going with you.”

  “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.”

  Chapter 28

  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 radioed that they were already in place on the North side as 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. Reaching across DL’s knees to open the glove compartment, she pulled out the Glock she kept there while they were hunting the Glamour the past week.

  Grace held the pistol out to DL. “Take it. It’s one of my backups.”

  DL held up his hands and shook his head. “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 in his lap. “Not more violence.”

  Grace’s lips formed a thin line 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?”

  “Yes,” DL said with a grim smile. “I can use this if the Glamour shows up here.”