The Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford

list of prospective patrons as his main defense against getting away.
    "What's the rush?" Antony had asked. "It's not like the dead are going anywhere in the next week." Schell almost lost his temper one morning in the face of the constant barrage and then threw his hands up and agreed to two days in New York. Antony knew to take what he could get, and even said okay when Schell insisted that I be allowed to come along. The butterflies would survive on their own for forty-eight hours. Once it had been decided we were going, we had to move quickly before he changed his mind. I'd dressed in my Indian traveling garb—high-collared shirt, mystical medallion of the many-armed Shiva, baggy pantaloons, and sandals. I gave the turban a rest.
    Schell sat next to me on the aisle, dozing, and Antony took up his own seat directly facing us, reading an old newspaper someone had left behind on an earlier journey.
    With a sudden start, Schell roused and sat forward, as if waking from a nightmare. He shook his head and then slowly eased back into the seat, rubbing his eyes. "What else is in there?" he asked Antony. "I haven't bothered with a newspaper in days."
    Antony kept scanning whatever it was that had his attention and at the same time said, "Looks like we're headed for a Yankees/Cubs series. Otherwise, the usual bullshit." Then he looked up and said, "Let's go see the Marx Brothers' new one while we're in town."
    "What's the name of it?" I asked.
    " Horse Feathers ," said Antony.
    "Sounds enlightening," said Schell.
    "I know, Boss, you're holding out for Marlene Dietrich."
    Schell gave a weak smile.
    "I want to go see Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ," I said.
    "Fredric March downs the giggle juice and turns into me," said Antony. "Forget that." Schell turned to me. "Did you cancel your tutoring appointments?" he asked. I nodded. "All but Mrs. Hendrickson, she doesn't have a phone."
    "That should be good for a half hour of admonition next week," he said.
    "Mrs. Hyde," said Antony and grimaced. He turned the paper over, folded it, and went back to his reading.
    I was about to fill Schell in on the work she'd been having me do, Chaucer in Middle English, when he lunged forward and snatched the paper out of Antony's hands and brought it up close to his face.
    "What gives, Boss?" said Antony.
    Schell shook his head and held one hand up to silence us. It was obvious he was heatedly reading some article. Antony looked at me with a quizzical expression. All I could do was shrug. Eventually Schell turned the paper around and held it out to show us. He pointed at a photograph on the side of the page he'd been reading. He was as pale as when he'd go under in his medium trance, and his hand trembled slightly.
    "There she is," he said.
    It was a bright day, and the light coming in the train window obscured my view with its glare. Both Antony and I leaned forward, almost touching heads.
    "The girl," said Schell, tapping his finger against the paper. "The girl in the glass." I only caught a brief glimpse of the child he'd described seeing at Parks's place—the dark, curly hair, the floral design of the dress—before he turned the paper around again and began reading aloud to us in an urgent whisper.
    "The serene North Shore borough of Wellman's Cove has been devastated by the recent disappearance of seven-year-old Charlotte Barnes, daughter of that town's most distinguished couple, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Barnes.
    "On Wednesday, September twenty-first, the child was last seen some time after one P.M. in the afternoon, playing in the garden of the family estate. She did not respond when called in for dinner at four P.M. It was soon determined that she was missing. Local police were called and the grounds and house were thoroughly searched to no avail. On the following day, a party of concerned citizens continued to comb the nearby woods and shoreline for signs of young Charlotte.
    "At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing a yellow dress, black