The "small red dot" was the blinking indicator for the tracking device that had been planted in the sealed copy of Pandora's Box.
Elisa was grateful for whatever bit of magical whammy that Demona had done on her… for once. If she'd been sitting here without it, she'd probably have fallen asleep and who knows what would have happened?
Elisa fidgeted idly with Nayeli's sketch pad, forgetting for a little while that she'd still held it. Now, she looked down at it in her hands, and flipped the pages in it.
Elisa spent some time looking at a few, realizing that Nayeli had a talent for faces. Some were in color, some in just black and white, but they all showed the personality of those she drew.
There was a portrait of Skyler and Brooklyn, with Skyler standing behind, her arms wrapped around Brooklyn's shoulders. Brooklyn's face held that special brand of sarcasm that only Brooklyn could pull off, while Skyler's eyes held a twinkle of her innate kindness with just a hint of mischief.
There was one of Liam, his growing lean body enfolded in a large chair and a thick book in his hand.
Some of the pictures made her chuckle as she turned the pages.
Then she flipped to the last page that held her daughter's work, and froze.
"Nayeli," Elisa called, and her daughter rose to join her. When Nayeli had joined her on the small loveseat, Elisa pointed to the portrait. "This picture. It's amazing, but… who is it?"
Nayeli shrugged and flushed a little under the praise. "It's someone that I see in my dreams sometimes."
"Only sometimes?" Elisa pressed.
"Yeah," Nayeli shrugged.
"How long have you seen her?" Elisa asked slowly.
"I've always seen her, mom."
"Does she ever say anything?" Elisa asked.
"No," Nayeli said with a frown. "She tried once, but she couldn't talk. Her lips moved but I couldn't hear anything. Now she just comes and sits with me when I dream about different places. Like when I dream about our trip to Australia, or in Central Park… Why?" Nayeli asked, her head tilted in curiosity.
"Because this," Elisa said, holding the book up and open to the page in question, "is Pandora."
{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}+{+}
It was one thing to have a… supernatural being, ghost, whatever… messing with her mind, but to know that the same one had been visiting her child was something else entirely.
Elisa just couldn't decide how to feel about it.
As a precautionary move, Elisa asked Demona to work her magic one more time, so neither Elisa nor Nayeli would be sleeping for a while.
Elisa was called away from the group again when her phone rang again.
"Maza," Elisa said shortly. All this waiting was wearing on her nerves.
"Elisa," Matt greeted, "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"
"Good news," Elisa said. "I never understood that whole 'get the bad news out of the way so that the good news is better' thing."
"Fair enough," Matt said. "Alright. Good news is that I got a hold of Mallory's manager at the gallery. Mallory was fired today for not showing up to work. She mentioned that Mallory's loss wasn't going to be that big of a loss, however, as they needed someone with a wider focus on the buying of their pieces."
"Let me guess," Elisa said sarcastically.
"I'll give you three guesses, but you'll probably only need one," Matt said.
"Boxes and jars," Elisa sighed and rolled her head on her neck to relieve some tension she held there. "Or, more specifically, really old boxes and jars."
"Got it in one," Matt confirmed.
"So… what part of that was the good news?" Elisa asked.
"Hey, I got a hold of someone," Matt defended himself. "At this time of night? That's almost miracle territory."
"Alright," Elisa said. "Now hit me with the bad."
"Miss Dolion is in the wind," Matt said irritably. "Nosy landlord says that she hasn't been back for a few days."
"A few days?" Elisa asked. "Do you have a description of the car? We could put out a BOLO on the car, the plates."
"Already done," Matt said. "Officers from the 12th spotted it in a motel parking lot an hour ago, but when they questioned the owner with a copy of Mallory's driver's license picture, they claim to know nothing about her. Hasn't seen her. When the officers pushed, the owner admitted that there'd been some trouble yesterday. Someone stole another guest's car right out of the lot. Of course," Elisa could almost see Matt shrug, "there was a malfunctioning camera with their security system. The only one, as it happens, that covered that area of the parking lot."
"Of course," Elisa replied with a sigh.
"So, the camera stops recording for three minutes, and when it comes back up, the car is gone."
"Did you…"
"Yes," Matt cut her off. "We put out a BOLO on that car, too."
"Thanks, Matt," Elisa said, then her attention was drawn as a commotion broke out among the others. Elisa looked over and watched as the red dot, the flashing beacon that marked the location of the fake Pandora's Box, began to move.
"Matt," Elisa said, "I think I may know where she's at."