"Sean, there’s someone downstairs to see you," one of the officers told me the next day. "Thanks." I headed down to the front desk. I froze when I saw who it was and was about to cast a glamour when he turned and saw me. Phil frowned. "Sean?" He was holding Susie. "Phil?" "You’re that elf?" I stiffened at his tone. "I am." "You weren't on Thanksgiving." "Actually, I was. I've been one all my life." "But…" "I was using a glamour so you all wouldn’t cause Lorraine trouble. I guess I need not have bothered." "I'm sorry." "I doubt that, but it's not me you should apologize to. Why did you want to see me?" "It's crazy. Susie thinks Lorraine's missing. She insisted I bring her to talk to you. I figured you could talk to her and tell her Lorraine's fine." "Let's go talk." I led them to one of the conference rooms. “I haven't seen Lorraine in a few days. She’s taken a few days off.” "But you’re her boyfriend." "She needed time alone. Peyton’s been coming into the bar and then your parents’ behavior on Thanksgiving got to her. I respect her enough to give her space." I turned to Susie. "What can you tell me? Why do you think Lorraine's in trouble?" "My tummy tells me." "Susie, we can't waste Sean's time," Phil scolded. "What is it?" "My tummy." "Susie, when you said Lorraine and I weren’t going to get married, was that your tummy?" I asked. She nodded. "And it said you’re nice." "It said that I can help you?" She nodded. "Besides you’re an elf. You can ask Santa to find her." "I'm not a Christmas elf. I don't know Santa. Did your tummy tell you I’m an elf?" She shook her head. "I can see it, like your friend." "Don't tell anyone about my friend. Some people don't like elves." "Like mommy." "Susie, be nice," Phil insisted. "Sorry." "Don't worry about it. I’m not fond of Diane either. But that's not important right now." "We'll stop wasting your time. I'm sorry." Phil started to leave. I stopped him. "You aren't wasting it. We need to listen to your daughter. She has a bit of magic herself. She saw through my glamour, and I think she's empathic." "You're not serious, are you?" "Yes. It's one of the more common forms of magic and one of the easiest to hide. People assume it's tuition, a gut feeling, they're just good at reading people, stuff like that. Not everyone that has gut feelings is an empath, but Susie appears to be. She can also see through glamours." "What should we do?" "For now, nothing. There's not a lot you can do. She may outgrow it, but I think it's unlikely." I turned to Susie. "Now, what can you tell me about Lorraine." "Somebody took her. He followed her home from the bar and took her from there." "She hasn’t been to work. She was on vacation," I told her. Susie shook her head. "He's texting with her phone." "Who?" "The man who took her." "I'll go check on her." "We stopped by her place," Phil said. "Her car’s there, but there was no answer." "I have a key. I'll check her apartment and have her call you." "Yessie, you have to find her," Susie insisted, again channeling my mother. "Did she just call you Jesse?" "Yessie, with a Y. It's short for Yesanith, my actual name." Maybe Susie was psychic rather than empathic. "If I don't find her, I'll call," I promised.