Page 9 of Immortal Unveiled

“Does it ever get easier?” she asked.

He felt the connection, the shared pain, and shook his head. “No, but you learn to live with it.” Then he pulled his hand away and broke eye contact. He couldn’t get drawn into whatever this connection between them was. Because if she kept looking at him like this, he wouldn’t be able to lie.

Quickly, Manus cleared his throat. “On the forum you said that you saw a storm-like phenomenon on the night of your mother’s murder,” he prompted her to bring her back on target.

Kim straightened in her chair as if to steel herself to withstand the painful memory. “I heard some noise from downstairs.” She motioned with her hand to explain. “I was upstairs taking a shower when I heard sounds. You know, as if stuff was falling on the floor, furniture being turned over. So, I called out for my mother and ran downstairs.”

Her breathing was accelerating.

“I reached the living room, and that’s when I saw it.” She spread her arms, making a circular motion. “It was massive. Like a tornado, only it wasn’t vertical. And it was right inside the house. A swirling mass of dark air and wind. Like a black hole that would suck you into its depth if you got too close.”

“Hmm.” Kim was describing the demon vortex perfectly, only it wasn’t a black hole but an entrance into the Underworld. “What else did you see?”

“A leg.”

“A leg?”

She nodded, her expression serious. “Somebody was stepping into that thing, that vortex, you know, but I’d just missed him, so all I saw was his shin and foot as he disappeared. And then that phenomenon closed. It got smaller and smaller and just vanished.” She swallowed. “That’s when I saw my mother on the floor. The vortex had obstructed my view of her. She was already dead when I got to her.” A wet sheen covered Kim’s eyes now, and she sniffled, then pulled herself together. “I couldn’t do anything to help her.”

He nodded. He understood helplessness. “What did the police think happened?”

She shrugged. “They believe it was a burglar. But how can it be a burglar? Nothing was stolen.”

“Nothing at all? But didn’t you say that furniture was turned over? Was somebody looking for something?”

She gave him an odd look. “Why does that matter?”

Manus sighed. “Everything matters. As an investigator, I have to look at everything to see what’s important.”

“Investigator? You’re an investigator? You didn’t mention that.”

He quickly gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry, I meant to introduce myself properly, but somehow we got right onto the subject matter, and I didn’t get a chance.” When she nodded, he continued, “Yes, I’m a private investigator, and I deal with all kinds of weird occurrences. That’s why I replied to your thread. Because I’ve dealt with something like your case before.”

Kim leaned forward. “So, you know what this is?”

“I think I do.” He hesitated. “But I need to confirm a few more things. So, would you mind answering a few more questions, just so I can be sure?”

“Fine.”

“Thank you. Does your mother’s house have air conditioning?”

Kim nodded, looking perplexed.

“And nothing at all was stolen then?”

She shook her head, then stopped herself. “Actually, just one thing. My mother always wore a gold bracelet. It’s gone. It wasn’t on her, and I can’t find it anywhere. But it wasn’t really worth much, certainly not worth enough to kill her for it.”

“I understand.” Demons liked shiny things. And it wasn’t unusual that a demon took a little memento with him, particularly one made of gold. “But could it be that your mother interrupted a burglar before he could take anything of greater value?”

“And take what? My mother didn’t own anything worth stealing. Besides, there were no signs of a break-in.”

“Could your mother have let the person in?”

“Sure, but if he got interrupted, then do you really think he’d close the front door on his way out?” She tossed him a combative look. When he said nothing, she added, “Exactly. Besides, it still doesn’t explain the vortex. What burglar can do something like that? No, it has to have a different explanation. A supernatural one.”

He sighed. Time to deliver his bogus explanation. “You’re not the only one who thought that after what you’ve seen. I was hired by a family a while ago, a wife who’d seen what you’ve seen, some kind of vortex appearing in her house, leaving her husband dead.”

Kim’s eyes widened, and he noticed her chest rising in anticipation. “What did you find?”