Read Grace for Free Online Page B

responsibility of raising Grace to Nicholas in their will. However, Grace was thrilled.
    It was Nicholas who had finally found her, rescued her from the fate a single child hadn't the strength to overcome on her own.
    The images of that night, the torturous week held captive by the man who killed her parents, would never be erased from her mind. Would she ever heal? Tears filled her eyes and she laid her head back letting the hot water spray over her face.
    When Grace was lonely and overworked, she allowed herself to ponder the negative thoughts. She hoped to one day feel carefree and alive instead of distant and trapped in the shell she created in order to hide her past and save herself from heartache.
    The uneasy sensations began to take control of her and slowly the shower stall decreased in size. Inside her mind, she tried to fight the demons. They ruled her every thought now, and there seemed to be no escape.
    Till this day, she was extremely claustrophobic, afraid of small, dark enclosed spaces. It took her years before she could bring herself to enter an elevator, but she was past that now and the likelihood she would wind up in a small four-by-six-foot wide and three-foot-high box was slim.
    She was a survivor and because of it, she had a special instinct. An ability to understand the thoughts and ideas of men like her captor, but more importantly, she was on a mission to stop them.
    Grace despised the sick perverse minds of people capable of such destruction and hurt and so she focused on her desire to rid the world of as many of them as she possibly could.
    The water from the showerhead now pulsated against her face, her lips parted, and for a moment she embraced the water now filling her mouth. She bowed her head.
    She had been called ‘obsessed’ a number of times, but the label, and all that came with it, would never stop her.
    She embraced the undercover jobs, the missing person's cases and homicide investigation's cases that weaned out serial killers and sex offenders. They were fulfilling, and in some aspects capturing the killers before they could strike again was therapeutic. She was successful in pushing away the feelings of claustrophobia and rinsed the conditioner from her hair.
    Once again, she was triumphant over the demons that at one time consumed her every thought. She turned off the faucet, then surrounded her body in the warmth of the large sage bath towel.
    Celina's image entered Grace's mind and the uneasiness wouldn't go away. Once again, she tried to dismiss it as an old ghost.
    It was still too early in the case to rush judgment, even though the media and her informants in the police department marked Celina off as dead.
    So far, no body was found. Celina was still officially considered missing.
    I'll find you, Celina, keep pointing me in the right direction ... and I will find you. I know you're connected to this case. I just know it.
    Grace sighed, then headed to bed.
* * * *
    Grace did her part testifying in the case and was dismissed from the courtroom early. Well, not quite as early as she hoped but at least before lunch.
    The judge, one she knew, considered her a reliable witness. A nice, older man, he had pulled some strings in the department to have a young female detective go undercover to find his missing, runaway granddaughter. The child was looking for attention and got more than she bargained for when some second-rate pimp tried to sell her off to an under-aged pornography ring. The police department needed a very youthful looking and experienced undercover detective. Grace had just been transferred from Vegas Metro two months before, but she was the best choice. Grace had a young face and fit the body type. She had played similar roles before.
    It was a huge case and an enormous bust for the cops and district attorney.
    That's how Grace and D.A. Johnny Lewis became friends.
    At one of the big parties he threw from his mansion upstate, she became angry with Johnny. He wanted to