Dark Visions by Jonas Saul

He
pointed at Mary. "But they won't tell me where she is."
    The guard stepped forward, halfway between
Caleb and the two girls.
    "I'm sure there's an explanation. Why don't
we go in the office and sit down. We can all talk about it
there."
    "No. I want to know where Sarah is now."
    Esmerelda stepped forward. "I already told
you, I have no idea. No one here does."
    "You sound like a lawyer. Don't worry, I
won't sue. Just tell me where she is before I lose my fucking
temper," Caleb said.
    "Okay, mister. Let's go."
    Both guards tried to manhandle him. Caleb
wasn't as agile as he used to be, but he managed to get out of the
vice grip of the guy on the left.
    He swung his weight, planted his foot and
used his shoulder to knock the guard on his right off balance.
Then, staying low, he whirled around and knocked the other guy off
his feet. He hit him square in the stomach. Caleb heard the wind
rushing out of his mouth.
    "Leave me the fuck alone. I came here to
find my daughter. I will not lose another daughter."
    The one guard was trying to catch his breath
while the other had both hands in the air, chest high. He was
nodding his head. "Okay, okay, take it easy," he said.
    "What seems to be all the fuss here?"
    "Who're you," Caleb snapped at a tall man
approaching from behind Esmerelda.
    "My name is Dolan Ryan. I run this
fair."
    "Then you're the one I want to talk to,"
Caleb said. He pointed at Esmerelda. "Your psychic here is somehow
involved in the disappearance of my daughter and so are you. She
wrote your name down in her notebook. The same notebook the police
have in their possession. That's why I'm here."
    "Why don't we go to my office and talk this
out."
    Caleb looked around. People were everywhere,
standing, watching, listening. He nodded his head.
    Dolan turned and walked away. Caleb followed
him to an office in the back. They all filed into the small room.
One of the two guards came inside and shut the door behind him.
    Caleb filled Dolan in on the warning from
Esmerelda and the text he received from Mary. Esmerelda told them
about Sarah being on the news and Mary explained why she sent the
text and how she knew Sarah.
    After everything was out, Caleb was
dumbfounded. He'd had no idea who Sarah was or had become. He knew
Amelia would have no idea that Sarah was out saving strangers from
trouble. He told them about the police coming to his door this
morning looking for Sarah.
    "How do you explain your name in her
notebook?"
    "We kind of bumped into each other. I saw my
name in her book too. I asked Esmerelda about it, but we couldn't
come up with any reason why."
    "If my daughter writes down some kind of
prophecies and then acts on them, it would make sense that you are
involved in some way. Your name was circled."
    Everyone was silent for a few heartbeats. He
realized he didn't even know his daughter. He wondered if it had
anything to do with Vivian. Maybe he closed down emotionally after
she was murdered and he hadn't been available for Sarah. He felt
that he had let her down, which motivated him even more to find
her.
    "Sarah sent Mary to tell me that Denise, my
daughter, was going to be shot," Esmerelda said. "I want to call
and warn her but I don't know where she lives."
    While everyone talked, Caleb couldn't help
but think about where he was. His daughter was missing and he was
in a room with self-professed psychics.
    He turned to Dolan. "Why don't you help?
You've done this sort of thing before. There has to be a reason she
wrote your name down so prominently. Maybe it was a cry for help.
Can't you use some psychic power to conjure up an image of where
Sarah might be?"
    Dolan was shaking his head. "It's not that
simple. Besides, I'm retired. I know it's not what you want to
hear, but I stopped helping the police about a year ago."
    "Why would you do that? It seems to me if
you've got a God given talent, you should use it."
    Dolan stood. "If you must know, I'm sick of
the notoriety. I'm old and I not only can't handle