Read The Girl in the Glass for Free Online Page B

mother."
    "I hope so," said Antony. "Hey, how's the boss?"
    "He's in the bug room doing his card thing. He'll probably be at it all night." The next morning, Antony and I had already eaten breakfast and washed the dishes by the time Schell appeared. He poured himself a cup of coffee and joined us at the table.
    "Get much sleep?" asked Antony.
    Schell shook his head.
    "I guess we really mucked it up yesterday, huh?" asked the strongman.
    "On the contrary," said Schell, "I think we improvised like true pros. Your downing Parks was actually a stroke of genius. Diego and I set it right with him, and all's well that ends well. Don't worry, you'll not get out of reprising your role as his mother."
    "Christ," said Antony.
    "Why were you so silent last night?" I asked.
    Schell took a sip of his coffee and then reached across the table to steal one of Antony's cigarettes. It was a rare happenstance when the boss smoked and usually signaled something was awry. He lifted the lighter, used it, and returned it to the table. After taking a long drag, he seemed to compose himself before answering. "You two have to be honest with me," he said. Antony and I both nodded.
    "Were you playing a game with me last night?"
    "What do you mean?" asked Antony.
    "Don't get defensive," said Schell. "I simply need to discount that possibility. Yes or no: were you two up to some scam last night?"
    "No," I said, and Antony said, "Never on a job, Boss."
    "As I thought," said Schell.
    "Why do you ask?" I said.
    "Because I saw something last night I can't explain," said Schell. "I've gone over it and over it in my mind, but there's just no explanation, unless of course Parks was playing us, which I hardly would believe possible."
    There was a silence during which Schell took another drag of the cigarette.
    "Well," said Antony, "are you gonna tell us or do we have to guess?"
    "After Diego and I ran the levitation with the bear, and Mrs. Parks stopped by to gently tongue-lash her son a bit," said Schell, "we got up and moved toward the glass doors to watch your command performance amid the hedges. Diego was to the front and left of Parks as we approached, and I was behind and to the right. As we came up to the doors, I distinctly saw, on the right-hand panel of glass, the image of a child. It was as if she was inside the glass. About six or seven, somewhere around that age, curly, chestnut hair, large eyes, wearing a simple dress with a flower pattern." He stubbed out the cigarette and rubbed his forehead with his opposite hand.
    "What was she doing?" asked Antony.
    "Just standing there, looking at me," said Schell, a vacant look in his eyes.
    "Eerie," I said.
    "She remained there until Parks finally flung open the doors and took off after Antony. How do I explain that?" he asked.
    "Now I know why you didn't react," I said.
    "It's really no excuse," said Schell, shaking his head. "I should have stayed with the job at hand, no matter what."
    "So what do you think it was?" asked Antony.
    Schell shrugged.
    "Maybe with all of our séance business we actually called over a ghost," I said.
    "It's almost too easy to believe that," said Schell, "but I don't buy it. There are no such things as ghosts. Houdini may have been someone who could have made life very difficult for us if he'd ever caught wind of our operation. But I have to say I had the utmost respect for him, because he was right: the spiritualist phenomenon is all sleight of hand, relying one hundred percent upon gullibility. I dare say it doesn't end there, but you can throw in religion, romantic love, and luck as well. No, this was something else." I was timid about bringing it up, but I offered, "Maybe your mind played a trick on you." Schell turned, and I thought at first he was going to rebuke my suggestion, but instead he said, "I've considered that. It seems the only thing possible."
    "Look," said Antony, "we've done a dozen jobs in the last two months. That's an awful lot."
    "True," said Schell.
    "Hows