Page 15 of Immortal Unveiled

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Kim jumped out of the Uber and rushed up the stairs to the police station’s entrance. She’d been here so many times in the last few months that even blind she would know how to get to Detective Emmerson’s desk. He’d left a message on her phone that they’d found something concerning her mother’s case and needed her to come to the station.

Finally, they were moving their lazy asses and doing something. Her hopes were up again, and she needed that because only three days earlier, Manus, the private investigator who she’d met with, had thrown her off her game. He’d played with her, feeding her this idiotic lie about the air conditioning system. How stupid did he think she was? Who in their right mind would believe such a bullshit story? As if she didn’t know the first thing about air pressure systems and air conditioning just because she was a woman. What a jerk!

She was glad she’d told him what she thought of him. It just proved that good-looking guys were full of themselves. Did he think his charming smile would lure her into believing a single word he was saying? And why had he even tried? Was this a way for him to pick up women, by crushing their hopes and then offering a shoulder to cry on? Disgusting!

She was still seething now, despite the fact that she’d let off steam and vented to Jennifer after the incident at the café.

Take a breath!

Slowly, she inhaled and exhaled. There, better. Now she was ready to meet with the detective who’d been working on her mother’s murder from day one. She crossed her fingers that this time he’d found a viable lead, something important. Why else would he call her to come to the station and not just tell her over the phone what he’d found? It had to be something significant.

A few more steps, and she stood in front of Detective Emmerson’s desk. He looked up from his files.

“Oh, Miss Britton, so good of you to come in so quickly.” He motioned to the chair in front of his desk. “Take a seat.”

Kim followed his invitation. “You said you had something important for me to look at, Detective?”

He produced a thick file and opened it, nodding all the while. “Yes, I’d like you to identify something for me.” He pulled out an envelope from the back of the file and emptied it on the table. A piece of gold jewelry.

“You said your mother always wore a bracelet.” He lifted the item up and held it out to her. “Is this your mother’s bracelet?”

Kim took the bracelet from him. She stared at it, examined it longer than she needed to because within the first second, she’d already recognized it. “That’s my mother’s. Where did you find it?”

Emmerson reached for the bracelet again and took it back. “We found it on a murder victim we picked up two nights ago, Clive Mulvaney. We believe that he was the burglar who broke into your mother’s home and killed her.”

She shook her head. “How can you be so sure? What if she lost it and he found it somewhere?”

Emmerson leaned over the desk. “Miss Britton, Mulvaney had a rap sheet longer than my arm: grand theft auto, breaking and entering, drug possession with intent to distribute. You name it, he’s done it. He fits the picture.”

“But that proves nothing.”

“There’s something else.”

She stared at him.

“We found your mother’s address programmed into his cell phone. Looks like he used GPS to find the address. He must have cased the joint. It’s just like we suspected: he broke in, your mother surprised him, and then in a panic, he killed her.” He placed the envelope with the bracelet back in the file and closed it. “I’m sorry, Miss Britton. But at least you have the satisfaction of knowing that the culprit got his just punishment. And you won’t have to go through a lengthy trial where you’ll have to relive everything. Many people don’t get that.” He gave her a kind smile.

Slowly, she nodded. This wasn’t how she’d thought justice would look like. No trial. No sentencing. She couldn’t even look the guy in the face and spit in it. She couldn’t wail at him and tell him how evil he was and what he’d done to her—because the man who’d murdered her mother was already dead.

“Are you sure it was him?” Kim locked eyes with the detective, wanting more than just confirmation. She wanted certainty.

“As sure as we can ever be in a case like this. Short of Mulvaney’s confession, this is as good as it gets. Plenty of circumstantial evidence. Any grand jury would indict him for your mother’s murder.” He sighed. “I’ve been doing this job for over two decades. Believe me when I tell you that we’ve got our man.”

Kim shifted in her seat.

The detective kept talking, saying something about his lieutenant having to sign off on his conclusion so the case could be put to rest, but Kim wasn’t really listening anymore. Was it really over? Was this the end of her quest to get justice for her mother? She’d expected this moment to feel different, more satisfying and not as anticlimactic.

A burglary gone wrong. Everybody had suspected it. But Kim hadn’t wanted to believe it. And the vortex she’d seen? Had that all been a product of her imagination, a result of the shock she’d been dealt? Had she made it all up in her mind, so she could cope with her mother’s senseless death?

Slowly, Kim rose from her chair. “Thank you, Detective.”

Her throat was dry, her voice scratchy. She needed a drink now. Something to dull the grief that suddenly overwhelmed her. She hadn’t allowed it to surface until now, not truly, because she’d had a mission until now, a goal. To find her mother’s murderer. And now that he was found, there was nothing left other than grief.

It was time to face reality. Time to let go of her mother. Time to accept that which couldn’t be reversed.

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