Chapter 2

“What did you say?”

I looked at Rebecca’s furious face. I could not believe it.

“Have you lost your mind? The killer is Warren. He killed your parents fifteen years ago. Two murders. Fifteen years on the run. Arrest him now!”

Rebecca slapped me hard across the face.

“The one I’m arresting is you! You ran for fifteen years! Both dismemberment cases were done by you!”

I struggled to sit up. I was breathing hard. Blood from my nose dripped down my chin. I thought I heard things because I pushed myself too hard during the chase.

But the cold metal on my wrists told me this was real.

“You’ve lost your mind! The killer is Warren!”

As if it were still not enough, Rebecca stepped forward again and kicked me hard twice.

“Drop the act! My mom said that you were the killer!”

Warren stood nearby with his hands on his hips. He was out of breath. He looked at us with a strange expression, as if he did not know what to do.

Anger rushed through me, and my eyes turned red. I demanded an answer.

“Your mom has been gone for fifteen years! How did she tell you? In a dream?”

Rebecca’s eyes filled with tears. She raised the mirror in her hand and said with a quiver, “The mirror told me!

“This is the evidence. Listen. My mom used this to identify you as the killer.”

I stared at the mirror in her hand. It was the mirror from the coffee table at the crime scene. The same mirror had been there at the dismemberment case fifteen years ago.

But how could a mirror speak? That sounded even more absurd than a message in a dream!

The major dismemberment case from fifteen years ago shocked the whole of Raventon. Everyone knew about it. After the incident, the residents moved out overnight. The entire street became quiet. No one dared to live there anymore.

After all, the killer was still on the run. He could return to the scene at any time.

I stayed at my parents-in-law’s home for a full month before the killer came back. During the arrest, I held back because I was afraid of hitting bystanders.

When we got close, we fought hand-to-hand. I shot him in the shoulder, but he still got away.

For fifteen years, Rebecca and I searched day and night. We left the Raventon Major Crimes Unit to join the one in Sylvara. I had finally caught the culprit.

But she said that the killer was me. The man I had hunted for fifteen years was me.

How could that be?

Among the officers, my trainee, Jason Lloyd, could not stand it anymore. He stepped forward and tried to stop her.

“Ms. Parker, are you under too much pressure from this case? We all know what happened back then—”

I looked at Jason with hope in my eyes. He was the best recruit I had taken into the special unit. He trained under Rebecca and me and was like a son to us. He followed us on cases and even spent holidays with us.

Jason gave me a reassuring look. He was about to talk her down.

Rebecca handed him the mirror. Jason took it. He seemed to see something terrifying and quickly went silent.

“Mr. Walker, I didn’t expect the killer to be you!”

They looked at me the same way. They wanted to tear me apart to avenge my parents-in-law.

“That’s impossible! How can a mirror show who the killer is?”

I struggled with anger. I tried to get up and see what was in the mirror.

Jason kicked my knee hard and forced me back to the ground.

Rebecca took the mirror back. She called for the team to put me in the police car.

Warren stood there. He looked stunned.

“The killer is him?” he asked.

Rebecca wiped her tears. Her voice was full of grief.

“It’s him. I never thought he could be this cruel. He killed my parents!”

Then she handed the mirror to Warren, who leaned forward with curiosity.

He took the mirror, and his expression immediately changed.