Page 88 of Immortal Unveiled

Kim pointed to the stairs. “The handbag is upstairs.” She took the stairs two at a time, anxious to get to her mother’s bedroom quickly. The fear that a demon could have gotten there before her seemed suddenly very real.

Inside the bedroom, everything was just as she’d left it. The handbag lay on the floor, some of its contents spilled. Kim crouched down next to it. She opened the bag and emptied it out completely, then went through the contents: wallet, pens, makeup, keys. Everything a woman needed. Where were the receipts she’d seen the day Winter had been here? She glanced around and suddenly felt a gust of air accompanied by the closing of a door. She looked over her shoulder and saw Grayson come toward the room from the other end of the hallway.

“Sorry, had to use the John. Have you found it?”

She shook her head. But the gust of air that had accompanied Grayson’s closing the bathroom door told her that the receipt she was looking for couldn’t be far. She bent down and peered under the bed.

“There!”

She reached for the two pieces of paper. The first one she examined was a shopping list. She tossed it, then looked at the second piece of paper. Exhaling slowly, she read it. It was from a mailboxes business and showed the sender’s name, her mother’s, as well as the recipient’s name, also her mother’s. Only the addresses differed. The sender’s address was her mother’s home address; the recipient’s address was one she wouldn’t have immediately recognized hadn’t the field for company been filled in: ABC Storage.

“She sent it to the storage facility.” She looked up at Grayson. “She sent it to herself, care of ABC Storage.”

Grayson nodded. “That way the storage facility wouldn’t open it. They’d just hold it for her. Brilliant.”

“We’ve gotta call the manager.” She rose, receipt in hand, and headed for the door. “I’ve still got their invoice downstairs. The telephone number was on there.”

The invoice was indeed still sitting on the sideboard where the mail was kept. Kim grabbed it and reached into her pocket to take her cell phone out. But the pocket was empty.

“Oh, crap, I left my cell at the compound.”

“Use mine,” Grayson offered, unlocked his cell phone, and handed it to her.

“Thanks.” She was already punching in the number and letting it ring.

A click on the other end, and then a male voice. “ABC Storage, Rick speaking.”

“Yeah, hi, may I speak to the manager, Mr. Songhurst, please?”

“This is him. Who’s this?”

“I’m Kim Britton. My mother has a storage unit with you. I was there the other—”

“Oh, yeah, the break-in. I’m sorry we won’t be able to compensate you for anything that was lost. We advise all customers to carry insurance—”

“That’s not why I’m calling.”

“It’s not?”

“I just found out that my mother sent a small package to your office about three months ago, right before her death. And it wasn’t in the storage unit when I looked through it.”

There was a short pause during which Kim instinctively held her breath.

“Ah, yeah, that’s ‘cause we don’t enter the storage units.” There was some rustling in the background. “But I remember something arriving for her. I was holding it until the next time she was visiting. Hmm. Where did I put it?”

“Could you look, please? It’s very important.” Kim exchanged a tense look with Grayson.

“Ah, yeah, now I remember. It’s in the back office. Hold on a second.” It went silent, and all Kim could hear was the faint sound of footsteps and a door opening.

“He’s looking,” she said to Grayson.

The hybrid nodded.

The seconds stretched to minutes, until Mr. Songhurst was finally back. “Yeah, I was right. It’s still in the back office. Do you want me to mail it to you? I’d have to charge you postage though.”

“No, no,” Kim said quickly. “I’ll come by in the next hour to pick it up. Could you please hold it for me until then?”

“Sure, I can do that.”