Page 28 of Immortal Unveiled

11

A half hour later, arrived at the storage facility on the outskirts of town, Manus let Kim deal with the facility’s employee to gain access to her mother’s unit.

“I don’t think anybody notified us that Mrs. Britton passed,” the bored college-age man with the nametag that identified him as Brian said. He shrugged. “Maybe the manager knew, but Mr. Songhurst isn’t here today.”

“I didn’t realize she kept a unit here,” Kim said. “Do you know when she was last here?”

Brian shook his head. “The units are self-serve; the renters have their own keys. We don’t keep tabs on their comings and goings. Maybe the manager knows. But as I said…”

“…he’s not here. I guess we’d better check out what’s in the unit then.”

“You’ll still have to pay the overdue fee.”

Kim reached into her handbag and pulled out her wallet. “Do you take credit card?”

Brian nodded, and Kim handed him her card. While he processed the transaction, he said, “This will give you until the end of next month to clear out everything that’s in there. After that, we’ll have to re-rent it.”

“I understand,” Kim replied. “That’ll be enough time, won’t it?”

Manus nodded. “Well, let’s see what she kept in there.” Maybe the storage unit would provide clues as to why a demon had killed her.

“Oh, and the office closes in half an hour. Please drop the key back in the lockbox outside the office before you leave, since that’s the office’s key,” Brian added.

“Will do,” Kim promised.

“Oh, and if you can’t find your mother’s key, we’re going to have to keep the key deposit,” he added.

Key in hand, Kim walked next to Manus, following the directions the kid had provided. By Manus’s estimate, the lot held approximately four hundred storage units. They looked like garages with wide walkways in between the rows so a van could drive up to each unit to load and unload. The property was surrounded by mature trees and bushes.

Kim’s mother’s unit was an end-unit in the third row. Kim stopped in front of it and turned to Manus. “I can’t imagine why she didn’t tell me about this.”

“Maybe she didn’t think it was important.”

“What if she was hiding this from me on purpose?”

“Why would she do that?” Manus asked. “I thought you two were close.”

“We were. But what if there was something in her life she didn’t want me to know about? What if she had a secret?”

Kim had no idea how close to the truth she was getting. Manus put his hand on her forearm to calm and comfort her. He regretted it immediately. Touching her, even in this platonic fashion, brought back memories of the kiss from the night before. Of the way he’d pressed her body to his, of the way he’d reacted to her. He wanted to tell her why he’d stopped so abruptly, but what good would it do? He could never tell her the truth about himself, about who he was, about what her mother had done for his race and who’d killed her. And if he couldn’t tell her the truth, then he didn’t deserve what he was craving.

“Don’t speculate. You’re just driving yourself crazy.” He let go of her arm and motioned to the lock. “Let’s get this over with.”

Finally, Kim unlocked the padlock and removed it from the door. Manus reached for the handle and lifted, rolling the wide steel door up toward the low ceiling of the unit. Several shelving units with banker’s boxes lined one side, furniture was stacked up against the back wall, a stack of paintings and an antique-looking mirror were leaned against the other wall, and more boxes and smaller items were littering the center of the unit.

“Grandma’s rocker,” Kim exclaimed and pointed to a wooden rocking chair covered in dust. “I thought she’d sold it after Grandma’s death.” She walked toward it, then veered toward the left. “And that mirror is from Grandma’s house too.” She looked over her shoulder. “When Grandma died, Mom cleaned out her house. She said she didn’t want to keep any of Grandma’s things.”

“Why not?”

“They had a difficult relationship. They fought a lot. I assume it was because Mom was a single mother, and my grandmother was very conservative, staunchly Catholic and all. You know, the whole no-sex-before-marriage thing. Guess Mom didn’t have the heart to get rid of Grandma’s favorite things after all and wanted to look at them occasionally to remind herself of her.”

Manus shook his head. “My guess is she was keeping your grandmother’s things for you.”

For an instant, Kim fell silent. A wet sheen drew over her eyes, and she sniffled. “She knew how much I loved her. No matter how much the two fought, Grandma loved me unconditionally, and I her.” Kim sighed. “Oh, Mom, if you can hear me, thank you.”

Manus looked away and moved toward the banker’s boxes, feeling himself get nostalgic and wanting to squash the feeling. “I wonder what’s in those boxes.”

Kim cleared her throat and sniffled once more, then said, “Let’s look.”