Chapter 6 Grace Orson

I can't believe it. I refuse to believe it. Still, the captain is rarely wrong. "Damn it Grace. I hope you aren't involved in all this" I'm pacing at the entrance of the precinct. Waiting for the captain's car to arrive. After a couple more minutes, the captain's red convertible appears around the corner. I run up to the car and take a seat in the back. The captain is clearly in a rush as he starts driving again before I could put my seatbelt on. Tiffany is sitting in the front, next to Captain Gage. "Ok cap. Speak. Why do you suspect my sister?"

"I don't have any solid evidence but I can't shake the feeling that your dad wouldn't go so far to protect anyone besides family"

"Cap. Your theory holds no weight. You know my dad doesn't care about me at all right? What makes you think he cares about my sister? Hell, what makes you

think my sister is the fucking Magpie?"

"It's just a feeling Amanda, but still, I can't help but think I'm right. Or at the very least, if she's not the Magpie, I feel like she's definitely involved somehow"

"Cap. I'll go on this wild goose chase for you because I owe you one. But for the record, I don't see my sister being the Magpie. She's been living in a drug rehab center for years now"

"Oh? And when did you last check?"

Fuck you Gage. Is what I would have said if he wasn't right. God, I feel like a terrible sister right now. "So, where are you taking us?"

"To your apartment. You need a shower and a change of clothes. Then you need to

get yourselves to the rehab center. I'll be going to the prison. Sophie and the others are already on their way there"

We spend the rest of the journey in silence. One thought keeps going through my mind. 'Could Gage be right?' I really hope not.

We arrive at my apartment building. Me and Tiffany get out of the car. "If anything happens, please keep me informed" Gage asks.

"We will, Captain." Tiffany replies for the both of us. I'm already halfway through the front door. Captain Gage leaves and Tiffany follows me inside.

We enter my apartment. "Tiffany, call a cab for us and get the address for Grace's rehab center. I'm going to take a quick

shower then we'll leave as soon as possible"

"Ok boss" Tiffany immediately gets to work and I went into the bathroom.

The rush of the cold water on my face from the shower is refreshing. I wash my body, face then my hair. Once I'm finished, I turn off the shower and step out. I look into the mirror and suddenly my emotions start surfacing. Fear that my sister could be in danger, panic that something bad might happen, curiosity to see if she really is involved and what else I might have missed and sadness. "Fuck, I'm a crap sister"

I head into my bedroom and put on a change of clothes. I grab my favorite leather jacket and step out into the living room, where Tiffany is waiting patiently for me. "Hey boss. Taxi will be here shortly"

She hesitates before speaking again. "Are you OK, boss?"

"No" I pick up some business cards from a drawer in my desk and a pen and notepad. I put everything in a pocket on the inside of my jacket and start to leave. "Come on Tiff, let's wait outside" Tiffany and I leave the apartment and wait for the taxi to arrive. Once it does, we get inside and Tiffany gives the driver the address. The journey takes close to an hour, all the while I research the rehab center and try to come up with what to say to Grace when I see her again.

We finally arrive outside of a grand, seven story building, similar to a hospital. Complete with a large, college campus style courtyard and a security gate. The grounds were surrounded by seven foot tall walls with security cameras placed at

strategic points, facing both inside and outside of the grounds. On the wall, next to the main entrance, was a sign that read New Horizons Medical Centre. We walk up to the gate and immediately get stopped by a tall muscular man wearing a blue jacket with the company name written on the front, and the word security, written on the back. "Can I help you ladies?" The man asks. His voice deep, yet alluring, not gravely like his exterior appearance would suggest.

"Yeah. I'm Missy Orwell. Private investigator. This is my assistant Trisha." I lie to the guard and hand him a fake business card. If he realizes that I'm a patient's sister, he may not let me in. "I'm looking into a case for someone. Their sister is missing and my investigation has led me here. May we come in and speak with whoever is in charge?"

"One moment please" The guard walks into the security booth by the gate and I see him pick up a landline phone. I can't hear what he's saying. Seconds later, the gates open and the man steps out of the booth. "This way please. I'll take you to the chief of staff"

Me and Tiffany walk in. The grounds are very well kept. The grass is green, trees are lush and flowers are blooming. "This is an impressive yard Mr..."

"Rhodes. Lucus Rhodes. Our courtyard is maintained by two dozen gardeners employed by the company"

"Two dozen gardeners alone must mean this facility makes lots of money. Where does it all come from?"

"That's above my pay grade, detective. All I can tell you is we get money from all kinds of different sources. From government deals to patients' families. It helps that we are successful too"

I'm learning a lot more about this facility than I read online. But I better keep my questions to a minimum. If I ask too much about the facility and not Grace, Lucus might get suspicious of my intentions. He may be a security guard, built like a brick wall, but I get a feeling he's smarter than he looks. We reach the front door of the main building and follow Lucus inside. The lobby is vast, with plain white walls and a very strong air conditioner. As soon as I walked in, I felt a chill as if I was in the Arctic. "Nice place. Bit too cold for my liking though"

"I agree with you there detective.

Thankfully, the air conditioner is just broken. It's not normally like this. We're getting people to fix it tomorrow morning"

We approach an elevator and all three of us get inside. Lucus presses a button and the elevator rises. It stops at the top floor. The doors open and we walk out to a hallway with many doors, all with different names written on them. They are the doctors' offices. At the end of the hallway is a set of double doors with a plaque on the wall. 'Dr. Henry Young. Chief of Staff'.

"So, this is the bosses office, I assume"

"It is. Please wait here. Take a seat, I'll be right back" Lucus points to a set of chairs next to the doors. Me and Tiffany sit down and wait for Lucus to return.

"What do you make of this place, Trisha?"

Tiffany looks at me with an expression on her face that causes me unease. Worry. "Somethings not right here. This place is too perfect. I'm worried for the patients"

"I know what you mean. This place screams 'don't judge a book by its cover'. Don't worry, we'll figure this out" I rest my hand on Tiffany's shoulder and give her a reassuring smile.

Lucus returns. "Alright ladies. Dr. Young will see you now" We get up and follow Lucus into Dr. Young's office.

The first thing I notice about the office is how tidy it is. It's just as well kept as the rest of the building. Three white walls surround the room and a large, wall sized, glass window at the far end with a view of the city. One side of the room there's a vast bookshelf, filled with books of many sizes

and knick-knacks to give the room some character. On the other side of the room, the wall is covered in certificates and documents of merit. All awarded to either the facility or Dr. Young himself. Sitting by the large window, at a tidy wooden desk, is a man, with no distinguishing features. An average Joe with short brown hair, average build and sporting a black suit and tie, covered by a white lab coat. The man stops typing on his computer and looks up at us as we approach him. His eyes stare at us as if he's studying us.

We reach the desk and the man stands up and reaches out for a handshake. "Welcome ladies. I'm Dr. Young. The head of New Horizons"

I reach out and shake his hand. His hand is soft, as if the man has never worked hard in his life. "Hi there. I'm detective Missy

Orwell. I'm a private investigator. This is my assistant, Trisha" Tiffany reluctantly shakes Dr. Young's hand.

"Please take a seat. Would you like something to drink?"

"No thanks. If it's all the same to you, I'd like to get straight to business"

"Very well. How may I help you today, detective?"

"I've been hired by a client to look for a missing family member. My investigation has led me here. Perhaps the person I'm looking for is a patient here"

"Ok then. Could I get a name, please?"

"Grace Orson"

Dr. Young doesn't react to the name. He types on his computer, then looks up at me. "Sorry. No Grace Orson here"

"Hey boss?" Tiffany says. "What if she's using her adoptive family's last name?"

"Oh that's brilliant" Great job Tiffany. If I could give you a raise, I would. "Dr. Young. Try Grace Meridian"

I swear, for less than a fraction of a second, Dr. Young reacted to that name. I pass it off as a sign that she is here. After typing on his computer again, Dr. Young looks up at me. "I'm sorry detective. Grace Meridian was here once, but she left our care over two years ago now"

"What? Two years ago? What happened?"

"You need to understand, detective, that

we aren't a prison. Our patients are allowed to leave at their own volition, under the right circumstances. I remember seeing Grace off. Never heard from her since"

"Wouldn't a doctor want to stay in touch with their patients, even after they leave?"

"Normally, yes. However, Grace had no phone number, so I had no way of contacting her"

"What about an address? She didn't just leave and suddenly become poor and homeless"

"She did say she's going back to her home, but legally, I'm not allowed to give you her address without a warrant. I'm sorry"

"Who said I needed her address? I know exactly where she lived" I get up off my

seat. "Thank you Dr. Young. You've been a big help. If there's anything you think of that may help my investigation, please don't hesitate to call me. Come on Trisha, we're done here"

"Ok boss"

"Alright then. It was nice meeting with you detective" Dr. Young escorts us out of his office. "Lucus? Could you escort them off the property please?"

"Certainly, sir. Follow me please"

Me and Tiffany follow Lucus out of the building. We cross the road and turn a corner before I stop in my tracks. "He's hiding something, Tiff. I don't know what, but I don't trust the man. Or this facility, for that matter"

"Is that why you used the fake names?"

"I didn't want him to figure out that I'm Grace's sister. It's too risky" I take a deep breath and focus my attention towards our next step. "Alright, time to meet the parents. Come along Tiff, we're heading to suburbia"

Me and Tiffany get in a taxi and drive to the suburbs on the outskirts of the city. We arrive at a fancy neighborhood, with the most beautiful and expensive houses I've ever seen. "Welcome to rich country Tiff. This is where people with more money than a bank come to live'' Tiffany looks out at the houses in awe. Each house is like a small mansion. Complete with security gates, expensive cars in giant driveways, stunning gardens and houses with an unnecessary amount of rooms.

The taxi stops outside our destination.

Grace's adoptive home. It's no wonder the parents could afford to put Grace in rehab for so many years. We approach a large gate with an intercom attached to the side. I press a red button and shortly after, a woman answers.

"Yes? Who is it?"

"Hi there, Miss Meridian. I'm Missy Orwell. I'm a private investigator. I'm looking to speak with you about your daughter, Grace. Could you spare a moment?"

No response. Before I reach for the button again, the gates start opening. We walk in, passing through a tremendous garden, with a rainbow of flowers on one side and clean cut grass on the other. The house itself is huge. Four stories tall, with a pure white paint job and clean glass windows. No doubt this building also has a

basement. The word grand is an understatement for this...hell, I can't even call it a house. "Fuck me, I need a house like this"

"With the money we make, you'll need a few thousand years before you reach that goal, boss"

"A girl can dream, Tiff" We reach the front door and knock.

A woman of Spanish descent answers the door. She's short, with braided brown hair and wearing a maids uniform. "Welcome detective. My name is Christina. Miss Meridian will be with you shortly. Please follow me"

Even the inside of the house is extravagant. Clean marble floors, as shiny as if they were brand new. Old wood

furniture, each adorned with an expensive looking vase and a beautiful flower. My guess, it was picked from the garden. Photos hang from the walls. Family pictures of the Meridians. The mum, the dad and a young teenage girl. "Grace"

Tiffany stops and looks at me with sadness. "Are you going to be OK, boss? Will you be able to focus?"

"Yeah Trisha, I'll be fine" I purposefully say her fake name as a way to assure her of my focus.

We arrive in a large room in the back of the house. Same as the rest of the house, it's covered in clean marble flooring, large windows, on the unblemished white walls, peer out to the backyard. Another beautiful landscape of stone and marble. With flowers around the fence and a swimming

pool in the center of the yard. "Please take a seat. Miss Meridian will be with you shortly" Christina guides us to a large sofa and we sit down, facing the backyard and admiring the view. Christina leaves the room, probably to find Miss Meridian.

Mere seconds later, a woman appears through a different set of doors. She's tall, blonde, slim and absolutely beautiful. Her pale face is that of a model, her features are perfect, not a blemish in sight. Her blue eyes shine in the light of the room. I could stare at her for hours. "Welcome ladies. I'm Charlotte Meridian. How may I help you today?" She sits down on a chair a couple feet away from us and immediately as she sits down, Christina returns with a champagne glass and an unopened bottle of champagne. "May I offer you a drink?"

Some people may say she's trying too

hard, however, I get the feeling she was born with little money and she's making the most of her success. "No thanks. We're on the job" It takes a lot of willpower to refuse the drink, however, I can't find my sister if I'm drunk. "We're here looking for a young lady named Grace Orson. We've been hired by her biological sister to find her"

"I see" Charlotte takes a sip of her champagne. "You've definitely come to the right place. Me and my husband adopted Grace many years ago. She was a lovely girl. Very talented"

A part of me starts to worry. "What do you mean 'was'?"

"She had an incident when she was twenty. Drug overdose" Charlotte takes another sip of her drink. She seems unfazed by what happened to Grace. "I'm guessing you

already know that"

"We do." I respond. "We visited the facility, though they claimed that Grace wasn't there anymore. That she left about two years ago"

"Yes, that's true. She decided to check herself out on her twenty-fifth birthday. We haven't seen or heard from her since"

"Did you search for her? Call the police? Or did you just let her go?"

"I don't like your tone, young lady. We did try to find her, we called the cops. Nothing worked out" Charlotte starts tearing up. "We tried. She's dead, as far as I know"

No. I refuse to believe that. "Do you have any idea where she could be? A place she feels safe? A close friend who might know

something?" Wait a minute...

"No. I'm sorry. If you find her and she's ok, could you bring her back to us? Please?"

"I'll do my best"

"Thank you" Charlotte finishes her drink and gets up. "Christina will escort you out" She says in an unemotional tone. Without another word, Charlotte leaves the room.

"What just happened?" Tiffany asks, confused by Charlotte's actions.

"The drink was a timer. She ended things so suddenly. She had full control of the whole conversation"

"Why? I don't quite understand what her intentions were"

"Me either Tiff. All I can say is that it seemed rehearsed. Although, I did come up with a theory as to where Grace is"

"What? How'd you do that?"

"It's something I said. She could be hiding somewhere with a friend. When we were young, Grace used to spend time with dad at his office. They were very nice about it. Grace loved dad. You couldn't separate them. One day, there was a fire drill and the bell terrified Grace. She ran so far away, she ended up at an abandoned factory, three blocks over. When we finally found her, she said her imaginary friend told her to hide there because it's safe"

"So you think she's there?"

"Two years is a long time, but after breaking dad out of prison, it's worth

checking out sooner rather than later"
Christina returns and escorts us out. The taxi is still waiting for us, thankfully, so we get in. We head straight to the factory.

By the time we arrive, it's getting late in the day. The sun is setting and the taxi driver leaves us. He says his shift is almost over and simply drives away. The factory is just how I remember it, all those years ago. A rusty, old, three story building with broken windows, two large smoke stacks and painted in graffiti.

I take my phone out of my pocket and make a call. "Hey Emily. How'd it go at the prison?" I turn on the speaker so Tiffany can join in on the conversation.

"No leads. Dead ends and dead electronics"

"What do you mean?"

"The whole prison was a black spot. Cameras, doors, even the back up generator. All dead. The prison is frantic with people trying to repair the equipment"

"The whole prison's electronics are fried? How? What could do that?" I ask.

"My theory, an E.M.P."

"A what?" Tiffany asks, confused.

"An E.M.P. or electromagnetic pulse, is a device that emits a pulse of energy that shuts down all electronics within range. It's commonly used by the military on missiles and stuff"

"I'm guessing a missile didn't hit the prison?" I joke. Emily doesn't respond. She was never fond of my jokes. "Well then, if it really was an E.M.P. then we'd know right?

It's not exactly something you can just hide away. It's a powerful device that requires lots of energy. How could the Magpie get their hands on something like that?"

"London" Tiffany states as if that's the right answer.

"That's what we thought too, Tiffany. Sophie's on the phone right now with her brother and Gage is busy contacting the commissioner. We're trying to finally get some answers from London about the theft. If we're right, the Magpie has a very powerful weapon on their hands"

"So Emily. What are you doing right now?" Tiffany asks.

"I'm trying to track the E.M.P. device. Though it's nearly impossible without knowing exactly what I'm trying to find.

What about you two? Did you find your sister, Mandy?"

"Not yet but I have a lead. We're at the abandoned factory at West 57th Street. We believe she's here. Hiding. Could you do me a favor? Send some patrol cars here in case of trouble"

"Sure. I'll send a couple of cars right away"

"Great. Also, one more thing. Could you see if you can find a missing persons report for Grace Meridian? Grace's adoptive mother said she tried using cops to help find her"

"Sure. I'll look into it"

"Thanks Em" I hang up. "Ok Tiff. This could get dangerous. Please stay here and let me know if anyone arrives"

"You think someone is following us?"

"I know that Grace is missing for a reason and I don't trust the people in her life. I need answers and only she can provide. I'll be right back I swear" I pull out my gun and enter the abandoned building.

It's dark. There are cobwebs and graffiti everywhere. Empty boxes and all sorts of trash litter the building. I pull out my flashlight but it doesn't seem to help much. I look around, trying to remember exactly where Grace was found that day. If I remember correctly, she was hiding in a small office near the back of the ground floor. I carefully walk through the building, watching my steps and checking my corners. Nothing so far aside from bugs and a rat. I reach the back wall and find a door. I shine my flashlight on the door and

I immediately know I'm in the right place. The door has writing on a glass panel in the middle. It says 'Amanda Orson Private Investigator'. If that's not a sign, I don't know what is. The door is unlocked so I open it and walk inside.

The room is so dark. I can hardly see my own hands. Even the flashlight isn't helping much. A machine sound occurs and the lights in the room suddenly turn on. In the room is a single chair and a TV screen hanging on the wall. The TV appears to turn itself on and is showing a person sitting at a grand piano. The sound is clear, I can hear the person playing as if they are in the room. I don't recognise the song they are playing, however the meaning behind the words the person is playing is all too clear.

Save me from the void that

You have left here, when you're gone Take me to oblivion I'll be with you on and on

"Grace. What are you trying to tell me? Do you need help? Are you in danger? Please, tell me so I can help you" I say to the screen. Not expecting a response. Yet to my surprise, the person stops playing and gets off their seat. They walk up to the camera and I can clearly see them. An identical match to the person in the security footage from the art gallery. The Magpie.

"Hello detective. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. After two long years, I figured it's time we finally met"

"You can hear me, can't you?"

"Yep. See you too"

"So you have microphones and cameras in this room. OK then Magpie, let's chat. But first, do me a favor and take dad's costume off, Grace"

The Magpie removes the cloth covering their head and face. A young lady with pitch black hair looks directly at me. Her face, completely recognisable. How could I ever forget my sister's face?

"Hello Mandy. Long time no see. How've you been?"