by Don Aldrin
Bridgette gave the money to the waiter.
“Thanks for accepting my invite, Trance.”
“Hey, thank YOU for the nice dinner. And of course, a wonderful time spent with you.”
“Of course. Hope we could do this again sometime.”
“It would be an honor and my pleasure.”
“All right. Here’s my personal number. Don’t hesitate to contact me anytime. Don’t ever give it to anyone, okay?”
“Oh, sure. Thank you. Won’t you be busy? I hate to contact you when you’re busy.”
“No worries. I’ll contact you immediately when I’m not busy. Call me anytime. What’s your number by the way?”
“Oh, sorry. It’s 555-0233.”
“Got it.”
The waiter handed over the change to Bridgette. She gave a generous tip.
“Whoa, ain’t that too much?”
“10 percent? I guess that’s fine.”
“(Gulp) That’s a $400 plus tip. Wow, lucky him.”
They both laughed.
“Well, I guess this is goodbye for now. If you want you can have a ride in one of my cars. My staff can give you a ride home.”
“No, thanks. I’ll be fine. I live nearby any way.”
“Right. Okay, then. Have a good evening. Hope you enjoyed the concert and the dinner. And thank you again for saving my life.”
“I was an honor, Ms. Heart. I’d gladly do it again should I need to. Thanks also for a wonderful time. Have a good night.”
Bridgette left the restaurant, but Trance was still in the restaurant. It was a surreal experience for him as he was able to save his idol’s life and they had a wonderful time together. Soon after, he left the restaurant as well and headed home.
Trance relaxed for a bit and then went off to sleep. He had a dream and it was the same as before. It did so at the beginning, but there was one detail that popped up. All other details were the same. It was still the scene towards the West Gold Tower and then the lady ran up to the roof and the shooter shot the lady while she was standing on the ledge.
The shooter, who turned out to be a cop, pointed the shotgun towards Trance. It was evident with the badge the shooter was wearing even though he/she had a hood. That’s the first one. And the second detail that he observed was that there was a bright star at the horizon near the end of the dream.
Trance woke up the next morning wondering about the new clues he’s had in his dream. The most prominent is that the shooter was a cop, but still unidentifiable because of the hood. He is also having a hard time figuring out the gender of the shooter. And then, there’s a bright star at the horizon near the end. It was also unknown if the shooter shot Trance or not because the dream had always ended abruptly.
The next morning, Trance had done his regular early morning routine. And then, he noticed that were messages on his answering machine.
(Beep)
“Hey, Trance. It’s Bridgette. Are you available today? I’ll be heading back to Hollywood in 2 days. I’d like you to tour me around the city, if you don’t mind. Well, give me a call. See ‘ya!”
Trance was left dumbfounded because the message in his answering machine is from none other than Bridgette Heart herself. He took a moment before dialing much like almost any boy would before calling his crush. He then took a deep breath and a forceful exhale before dialing Bridgette’s number.
“Hello.”
“Hello! Good morning. I’d like to talk to Ms. Bridgette Heart, please.”
“Hahaha! I told you. This is my personal number, silly. Who do think would answer the phone?”
“Oh, hi! Sorry. Hahaha I thought you have somebody else answering your phone.”
“This number? No. This is my personal number and only the people that are close to me have this number. Say, what about that tour?”
“Well, I’ve nothing on my plate today. Sure. It would be my pleasure. I’ll go to your hotel and meet you there at 8:00. Does that sound good?”
“Of course. See you at 8:00 then. Just ask for me at the lobby. See you.”
“All right. See you in a bit.”
Trance made sure that he’s prepped up for his “date” with none other than Bridgette Heart. He wore nice comfortable clothes. He thought of a present for Bridgette, but he can’t come up with something other than flowers.
After preparing for the tour, and listing all the places they could go, he stopped by the flower shop and bought a bouquet of red roses and tulips. He then headed off to the Royal Small Hotel to pick up Bridgette. At the reception desk…
“Hello. Ms. Bridgette Heart, please.”
“Of course, sir. Who should I tell her is asking for her?”
“It’s Trance.”
“Chance?”
“No. Trance.”
“Oh, trans. Like the Transpacific railway.”
“No, no. T-R-A-N-C-E.”
“Got it.”
What an awkward moment.
“Ms. Heart. Yes. Someone by the name of Trance is looking for you. Shall I send him up?”
“Yes, please.”
“Acknowledged, Ms. Heart. Sir, suite 1A. That’ll be on the 15th floor.”
“Okay. Got it. Thanks.”
Trance was obviously nervous, but it’s now the point of no return.
“Hey! How are you? Are those for me?”
“Yes. Of course. They’re as lovely as you are.”
“Oh, thank you. Let me put it in my vase and then let’s head out.”
“Sure, sure. Take your time.”
“All done. Let’s go. Let’s use my limo to go around. Just tell the Rick, the driver, where you’d want us to go.”
“All right. Let’s go.”
Trance and Bridgette went out to enjoy the day together. They’ve been to many places in Small City such as the mall, the park and had lunch at one of the steakhouses near the edge of the town.
They had so much fun together. Evening came and they already finished dinner. They went on a stroll at the park.
“Hey, Trance. I had a great time. Hope we could do this again.”
“Yeah, me too. I didn’t know you eat a lot.”
“You’re bad! Hahaha! I have good metabolism so I burn more food than the regular person.”
“It’s not obvious. Look at you? You’re ravishing.”
“Stop it. It’s getting embarrassing.”
Both of them laughed and they strolled along the beach.
“Bridgette, how about your boyfriend? Will he get mad because you’re with me?”
“Me? Boyfriend? No. That was just a rumor. Don’t believe what they tell you about me.”
“Oh, okay. Whew. So many people have seen me with you today. I couldn’t count how many autographs you’ve given and how many pictures I’ve taken of you and some other people.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ve got a couple of pictures ourselves. How about you? Do you have a wife?”
“I don’t look that old. Well, some say I look older than my age. They always assume I’m 30-ish, but I’m just 27.”
“27? Yikes! I though you’re 29.”
They laughed out so hard. Good thing there was no one there that time.
“How about you? You’re 19, right?”
“Of course not. I’m 23. I look younger than my age. Thanks for the compliment.”
“Really now. My God, you look gorgeous at 23.”
Bridgette blushed.
“Stop it already. You’re not too bad yourself. Hey, I’m gonna miss you when I get back to Hollywood. Call me, okay?”
“Of course, I will. You take care over there. I know you’re quite busy and you’ve got tons of projects. Do the best you can. I’ll always be your number one fan.”
“All right. It’s getting late. Maybe I should get back to the hotel. My flight will be early in the morning. I still need to prepare a bunch of stuff.”
“Sure thing. Let me walk you to your hotel. It’s just 2 blocks away.”
“I’d love to.”
The two headed off to the Royal Small Hotel. He went up with Bridgette to her room.
“This is it. Thanks again for saving me and for showing me around Small City.”
“Don’t mention it. You take care on your flight. Call me when you get to Hollywood.”
“Of course, I will. Good night, Trance.”
“Good night, Bridgette.”
Bridgette kissed Trance good night on his cheek. She closed the door and Trance headed back to his place. The next morning, Bridgette took the 6:00 am flight to California. It was just a three and a half-hour flight and as soon as her plane landed at LAX, she called up Trance to tell him that she had a safe and pleasant flight.
It was still surreal for Trance. They stayed in contact with one another amidst the many projects she has and the cases that Trance has with the department. They grew really close to each other. Trance was invited to several events with Bridgette and national entertainment news agencies have come to notice the couple.
“This is Beverly at Entertainment Weekly. Who’s this man traveling with Bridgette? They’re quite close to each other and we’ve seen Instagram photos showing them hanging out quite often.
Some fans have come to notice the sweet couple too. The question lingering in our minds now is, is he the lucky one?”
Chapter VIII: Finders Keepers
A few weeks have gone by and Trance was able to help in some of the cases in the department where he had experienced a dream about it. There has been no new developments too when it came to his constant dream. The identity of the shooter in his dream is still unknown and if he or she shot him near the end of the dream.
One summer afternoon, Trance had a call from the lieutenant.
“Hello, Trance. How are you? We’ve got something here and we’re lost. Can you come over?”
“Sure thing, Eva. I’ll be there in a jiffy.”
“Silly. I haven’t even told you where we are.”
“Oh, yes. Where are you?”
“I miss the silly old you. You’re too hung up on your superstar girlfriend.”
“Real funny, Eva. Hahaha! Oh, where are you now?”
“We’re here at the mayor’s office. The deputy mayor has been missing since this morning. No one has heard from her since around 8:00 am.”
“Got it. I’ll be there in a few.”
Trance got up from watching television that afternoon and after calling Bridgette, he went to the Small City Hall.
“What have we got here, captain?”
“Yes. Thanks for coming, Trance. Well, the mayor told me that deputy mayor Bischoff last had contact with her husband at around 8:00 am saying that she was stopping by the convenience store along the Interstate 57 gas station near route 36.
We’ve reviewed the surveillance videos and saw her car at Fuel Mart. But for some reason, at around 8:15, the surveillance videos in the area were cut off and we’ve never seen the car since.”
“It’s obviously someone who has access to the videos.”
“No, Trance. We’ve talked to the department who takes care of the city surveillance videos and they were mum about it. All they said was that they were under maintenance at that time.”
“Well, that’s just convenient, lieutenant. We have no leads.”
“Well, not really.”
The mayor approached the trio.
“One of the officers stationed at the surveillance area told me that they were threatened before this happened and that the person told them to turn off the cameras from 8:00 to 9:00 in the morning. The suspect was wearing a hood and had a mask covering his face so they weren’t able to identify him.”
“Thank you, Mayor. We’ll get right to it. We’ll go to the surveillance room and investigate there. Lieutenant, Trance, let’s go.”
“Actually, captain. I could try to go home and take a short nap.”
“Oh, right. Of course. Lieutenant, let’s go. Trance, hope you have a good sleep.”
“We’ll be able to figure it out soon and get Mrs. Bischoff back, mayor.”
“I’m sure you will. Take care, everyone.”
The captain and the lieutenant, together with several officers, went to the surveillance room. Meanwhile, Trance went home and tried to get a nap and see if he’ll dream about the case. As he was about to doze off, the phone rang.
“Trance! Are you there? I heard about Joanna. Have you seen her? I hope she’s still alive.”
“Hello, Bridgette. Not yet. I’m about to go to sleep and hopefully, I’d dream about it and get clues as to her whereabouts and what happened to her.”
“Oh, of course. Sure thing. She’s a close friend of mine too. Do your best, okay? Thanks. I’m off to another studio for an interview. Take care. Bye.”
“Got it. You take care too. Goodbye.”
Trance dozed off quickly and true enough, he had a dream about the case. In his dream, the deputy mayor was kidnapped and her car was driven by the kidnapper. It happened at the gas station along I-54 near 36. It was a guy. He drove it over to a junkyard and junked it completely. The crushed car was shining in his dream. And then, he woke up and called the captain.
“Captain, I’ve got something.”
“Fire away, Trance. We’re listening. You’re on speaker.”
“Great. Here’s what I got from my dream. The deputy mayor could still be alive. In my dream, I saw her getting kidnapped at the gas station. It was just one guy who did it. He took the car and drove it to a nearby junkyard and he crushed the car completely. It didn’t show anything about the deputy’s location, but the car was shining in my dream. And then, I woke up.”
“Very good, Trance. Now it’s a kidnapping case. At least we know she’s most likely still alive and we’ve an idea how it happened. We’re currently at the gas station and we’ll be heading for the junkyard to find some clues. Thanks. We’ll take it from here.”
“Got it, captain. Good luck. Call me if you need anything.”
“We sure will, Trance. Bye.”
“Okay, captain. Bye.”
At the junkyard…
“Lieutenant, what do we have?”
“Well, Trance’s right. This is the deputy’s car. Nothing shiny about it though.”
“Wait a minute. What’s that? Officer, could you check that out for me, please? There’s something inside.”
One of the officers pulled something out of the car.
“This is a police badge.”
Everyone was quiet.
“Everybody, settle down. Do you know the precinct number? Would you like to know?”
The silence of everyone at the scene was deafening.
“It’s from our department. We’re not sure…”
The phone rang and someone was shouting on the other end.
“Captain! Captain! It was a cop. The shining thingy was actually a badge.”
“Trance, we just got the badge. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that the kidnapper is from our department.”
“Uhm… I hate to break it to you, sir. But yes, it wasn’t from our department.”
“Are you certain about that?”
“Well, no.”
“Trance, I appreciate you calling, but unless you have proof, do call me immediately. For now, we’ll just take it from here again. Okay?”
“Oh, sorry. All right. Bye.”
The captain addressed his staff once again.
“Okay. This badge is from our precinct. We don’t know if it was from the assailant or not. For now, we’ll…”
The captain was interrupted yet again. An officer came running.
“Captain! You need to see this. This was sent to the general email of our precinct.
The officer showed a video. It was from the deputy mayor.
“Hello, everyone. It’s me, Joanna Bischoff, the deputy mayor of Small City. I would like to inform you that I am well. However, I am currently under the care of a Mr. X and he has something to say.”
&nb
sp; “This is Mr. X. I have your deputy mayor and I am not asking for money. All I want is for Ms. Bridgette Heart to take her place. We will release her unharmed, but if Ms. Heart doesn’t show up in the next 12 hours, this will be the last time you’ll see your deputy alive. Have Ms. Heart stay at the restroom on the 2nd floor hallway of the West Gold Tower alone. I hope everything is clear. Your 12 hours starts now.”
Meanwhile, back in Trance’s place, Bridgette immediately calls up Trance.
“Trance! Trance! Have you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“The kidnapper sent a video to the police department and asked for me to take the place of the deputy mayor.”
“What kind of a demand is that? Did the kidnapper ask for something else like money?”
“Yes, but not money. He asked only for me to be in the 2nd floor restroom of the West Gold Tower.”
Trance was shocked to know that it’s the West Gold Tower again.
“What is it with the West Gold Tower? Something always happens in that building. What do you plan to do? Will you come here and give in to the demand of the kidnapper? I can’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know, Trance. Thank you. But I’ve got no choice. They’ll kill the deputy if I’m not there in the next 12 hours.”
“Do you have any idea who would do this to you?”
