Chapter 13 #4
“Good afternoon, DCI Townsend,” Helen responded, and then with a Transylvanian accent she added, “Step into my laboratory.”
Oliver appreciated Helen’s wit. He supposed one would need a good deal of it in her line of work.
She motioned for him to step in front of a portable desk with a large computer screen.
She clicked on a few keys. “This first slide is the unknown fingerprint from the councilor’s shooting.
” Then she slowly superimposed another one on top of it.
It was a match. “And this is the dishonorable Judge Stephen Gilmore’s. ”
“Helen, I could kiss you!” Oliver was thrilled. The day of reckoning had finally arrived.
“Maybe later. Right now, I’m on the clock.” She gave him a sideways glance. She turned around and leaned against the desk. “This is what I am thinking. If you take it to your super he’ll start asking a lot of questions.”
“Good point.” Oliver agreed.
“We’ve been working on cold cases with unknown prints to see if they are now in the system. I’ll bring it to my super and tell her I got a hit on a cold case print. And Bob’s your uncle.”
“You think it’s going to fly?”
“I don’t see why not. This print would eventually get tagged. I’m just moving it to the head of the queue.”
“This is the best news I’ve had in a decade.” Oliver really wanted to kiss her now. “So, when’s dinner?”
“Let me see if I can see my super before she leaves for holiday. Now scram.” She patted him on the tush.
Oliver saluted and happily strolled down the hall. He would kick up his heels if he could.
Emily went into action and made a pot of tea while Ashley explained she just recently discovered she was adopted and how Jessica encouraged her to try to locate her birth mother.
The first part of the story seemed completely normal.
It was the bizarre circumstances and happenstance that caused Kathleen to stare into space.
She blinked and quickly interrupted Ashley.
“Sorry, love, but you met in Cambridge because you were visiting?” Kathleen was dubious.
“Correct. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. The rivalry and all,” Ashley explained.
“And Emily’s friend Blair was riding his bicycle.
” Kathleen nodded. She was beginning to grasp the story, as outlandish as it sounded.
Ashley continued. “He thought I was Emily but my hair was different. He could tell we were Americans, and the map on the table was a surefire sign we were visiting. We had a brief conversation, then he pedaled away.”
Emily took her turn to add more details. “Blair called me and said he’d met someone who looked exactly like me—from the States. I know it sounds strange, but I actually got chills thinking it might be Ashley, almost as if I imagined her into existence.” Emily laughed.
“Aye. You and yer spooky thing.” Kathleen seemed to finally be relaxing.
Ashley gasped and looked at Jessica. “I do it too!” Jessica nodded in agreement. “Seriously. A lot,” Ashley said confidently.
Jessica added, “I can attest to that. It’s the same old ‘I was just about to call you’ kind of thing.”
Kathleen sat upright and pointed at herself and then to Emily. “Us too!”
“It seems like this is another thing we have in common,” Ashley said. “So you really think you conjured me?” She snickered.
“Manifestation, my dear sister. I was teetering on obsession about finding you,” Emily said. “The universe answered.”
“I truly think this happens to me, and when it does I always think, ‘What are the odds?’” Ashley commented.
“For example, I could be watching something on television and they start talking about paper towels, and I am opening a package at the same time. It was happening almost every day, so I began to keep a spiral notebook, jotting down the date and the thing that happened.”
Emily bounced up from her chair. “Crikey! Hang on.” She fetched her messenger bag and pulled out a spiral notebook.
“It’s not exactly the same, but similar.
” She handed it over to Ashley. “It’s more like a journal.
But Mum was the one who suggested I write down my thoughts.
Most were on the spooky side, as she likes to describe it. I prefer a more spiritual adjective.”
The sisters began to laugh uncontrollably. “I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had to defend my woo-woo stuff.” Emily took a deep inhale. “People were either suspicious, or scared pants-less.”
The laughter was contagious. The tea had gotten cold.
It was time for some good whiskey to celebrate the reunion.
If only Henry was here, Kathleen thought to herself.
Emily turned toward her mother. “Let’s have another round of manifestation.
” She raised her glass, “Here’s to Henry Evans’s return!
” Emily softly closed her eyes and made the same wish and prayer she had every day.
“Please, God, bring my pop home, safe and sound, and soon.” She hadn’t realized she had whispered the words out loud.
“Here! Here!” the other women shouted, and clinked their glasses.