5
Mom shot up from her seat, her face deathly pale as she muttered, “Impossible. This can’t be happening.”
She recognized that one–of–a–kind necklace.
The others looked on, baffled by her reaction. Mom pulled out her phone again and dialed my number, waiting much longer this time.
She bit her lip nearly to the point of drawing blood, only to be met again by a busy signal.
“Captain Cooper, what’s going on? Do you know the victim?” someone asked.
With lips pressed tightly together, Mom strode over to Warren and demanded, “When are we getting the DNA results?”
Her voice trembled, and her legs shook as if she might collapse. “How could it possibly be her? This has to be some kind of sick joke.”
“Yes, it has to be a lie!” she exclaimed, her voice rising. Her frantic behavior started to scare everyone around.
“Mom, I’ve always been honest with you,” I thought.
Suddenly, Officer Anna burst into the room, announcing, “We’ve got the results!”
Gripping Mom’s hand tightly, Anna announced, “Captain Cooper, we’ve got the DNA results. The victim is a young woman named Yasmin. Cooper.”
While cheers broke out among the officers, Mom fell to the floor with a heavy thud.
Her uniform was disheveled, her cap fell to the ground, and her lips quivered uncontrollably. “How can this be? No. You’re lying, right?”
Snatching the DNA report from Anna, she shouted, “Are you lying to me? Are you and Yasmin trying to trick me? Really, you’re playing with
fire.”
“Why would I lie to you, Captain Cooper?” Anna looked utterly
1/2
bewildered. “This is the latest DNA report, straight from the lab. I’ve been there waiting for it.
Captain Cooper, you knew Yasmin, didn’t you?”
Charlie, who had heard my name before, was the first to realize something was off.
He took a deep breath and hesitantly asked Mom, “Yasmin was your daughter, wasn’t she?”
The office fell silent, filled only with my mom’s rapid breathing and her muttered curses.
Mom spat out, “My daughter? I wouldn’t shed a tear if she were dead. Without her, I’d have been promoted and not stuck working my ass off in the field.
Plus, she killed my mother!”
Hearing my mom say those words made it painfully clear why she had turned so cold toward me.
I clenched my fists, wanting to cry but unable to, nearly passing out from the overwhelming emotion.
“But Mom, why can’t you believe me? Grandma jumped off the building on her own. It wasn’t my fault,” I thought.
