A Taste of Magic by Tracy Madison

Apartments on Edmonton, number 4521.”
    “We’ll send a car over. Stay on the line with me until the officers get there.”
    “But I’m safe. No one is here. I have a friend who’s on the police force. I don’t know if this is his jurisdiction or not, or even if he’s on duty today, but can you contact him? His name is Nate Sutherland. Please have him come.”
    “One moment. I am not putting you on hold. Do not hang up.”
    I paced the living room, my heart pounding like crazy, my feet crunching on bits of glass. “Where are you, Alice?” I murmured.
    “Elizabeth? Did you say something to me?”
    “No. I’m sorry. Is Nate coming? Please tell me Nate is coming,” I blubbered.
    “I don’t know. I’ll try to get a hold of him for you, but I can’t promise anything. The important thing is for you to stay calm until the officers arrive.”
    Stay calm? I inhaled deeply and tried to stop trembling. “It’s not working.”
    “As soon as the officers get there, they’ll need you to be calm enough to take your statement so they can find your sister. What is your sister’s name?”
    “Alice. Alice Raymond.”
    “That’s a nice name. Is she younger than you?”
    “Look, I know you’re trying to make me feel better, and I appreciate it, but I don’t need to have a conversation right now. I need to find my sister. But there’s no one here, so there’s no reason to stay on the phone. I’m going to disconnect and wait for the police.” I clicked the end button and set my sister’s phone back down on the bric-a-brac shelf.
    Both sick at heart and sick to my stomach, I closed the door to the apartment and then retraced my steps through each room. This time, I opened every closet and cupboard door. I looked behind the shower curtain and under the bed. I even opened her bedroom window to make sure she wasn’t on the fire escape. Silly, because obviously if Alice had been anywhere near, she’d have heard me by that point, but that didn’t stop me. I had to be one hundred percent positive. And I really wanted her to be there.
    I was still in Alice’s bedroom when I heard the knocking on the door. I ran at top speed—well, as quickly as I could amid the glass and clutter. Of course, it couldn’t be Alice, she’d just let herself in. But it might be Nate.
    My heart dropped when I opened the door to two strangers.
    “Hi, I’m Officer Thomas,” said the older, gray-haired man with a slight paunch. “And this is Officer Neuman.” He nodded to the tall, slender, black-haired female cop next to him. “We’re responding to a 911 call. Are you Elizabeth Stevens?”
    “Yes. I am. Please come in.” I stepped back to give them room to enter. I shuddered. Seeing the police made the situation all too real.
    They followed me in, and the woman, Officer Neuman, took charge. “Let’s you and I talk while my partner checks the apartment out,” she said softly, with a reassuring smile.
    We went into the living room, and I sat down. I was beginning to comprehend how serious this could be. I looked at the door again, willing Alice to come through it with her goofy grin.
    Officer Neuman flipped open a note pad. “Can you tell me what happened? All the way through. I’ll probably ask you to repeat things.”
    I related the events to her the best I could. As I did, my eyes kept drifting back to that damn door. My intuition didn’t tell me anything. You’d think if my sister was hurt in some way, I would know. That somewhere inside, I’d feel it. While I wanted to hang on to that, I couldn’t quite allow myself. After all, I didn’t have a history in ESP or precognition.
    Gypsy magic, yeah. Freaky see-into-the-future stuff? Nope. Officer Thomas returned. He tried to walk around the glass, which was nice of him. “Does anything appear to be missing?”
    “I don’t know. I’m honestly not here enough to answer that. Alice keeps to herself, mostly.”
    “Does she have a husband or a boyfriend? There are some