A dire sin

The wailing sound of sirens from the cops and an ambulance caused a stampede on the streets. People hurriedly crossed lanes so cars wouldn't run into them. As soon as the hospital gate opened, one of the cop's car screeched to a stop and a female officer rushed out and ran to the ambulance. A woman was strapped to a stretcher and the doctors ran into the hospital carrying her to the emergency room. Some of the nurses held back the female officer from running into the OR as well.
Some hours later, a doctor came out with a sullen look on his face. The officer who had been waiting ran to him and held his coat.

"I'm sorry, Lily, we lost your mother." The doctor quietly said to her and her fingers slid down from his coat and she wailed.

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Lily has always been good at her work. She was a no-nonsense officer and in a few years, she had made it to a detective. She lived with her mom whom she adored very much, but it was a tragedy that her mom had been a victim of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and this had resulted in a gunshot which had caused her death.
After Lily had laid her mother to rest, she returned to work and this raised the concerns of her fellow officers, including her partner.

"Lily, the chief didn't know how to tell you this but I gotta say it to you." James, Lily's partner said to her.

"And what could that be?" Lily asked him.

"We all think you should take a break. For chrissakes, you're grieving, you can't bottle it all up and act tough. You can take a few weeks from work, heck, you can even take months off..."James was saying but Lily hastily cut him off.

"I won't grieve or take any day off until I find the bastard who shot my mother. I'll give him a dose of his own medicine." Lily interrupted and walked out on him.

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Months passed and Lily's mom's killer wasn't found, thus, the case was closed as the police had other cases to solve. Lily was hurt beyond words and for the first time since she had buried her mother, Lily broke down in tears but James was there to console her.

"James, I have to find the killer. I've solved more cases than I can count, so why is this one hard for me?" Lily sobbed in his arms.

"Lily, there are some things we can't do no matter how hard we try. Why don't we just move on with our lives? You never know, nemesis might catch up with the person someday." James advised.

Lily sniffled and wiped her tears with her palms, then she raised her face so her eyes could meet with his.
"Even if it's the last thing I do as a cop, I'll find him and I'll make him pay for his crimes." She said with a tone of finality.

The year went by slowly and Lily gave up on finding her mother's killer. It was a pain to her but she had done all she could and she had also participated as a homicide crime detective to see that she put the bad guys behind bars, but none of the criminals she caught had been her mother's killer.
One day, it suddenly struck her that the bracelet she had gifted her mom was not among the evidence that was picked up at the crime scene. She jolted up from bed and dialed James phone but he didn't pick up, so she drove to his apartment to plead with him to reinvestigate the case again, but when she got to his place, he wasn't home and since she had a spare key to his house, she let herself in.

It's been a long time since James gave her one of the keys to his apartment but she had never used it, as she hadn't needed to visit without his prior notice. She paced the room, still dialing his number until her eyes caught a box, safely tucked away behind his counter. Curiosity got the better part of her and she opened it and a gasp escaped her lungs. Inside the box, was her mother's bracelet, a bullet and a gun, which was probably the murder weapon. Lily froze in shock and at that moment, James walked through the front door to meet a gun pointed at his face.

"Lily, what are you doing? Put the gun away." James said to her.

"Was it you? Did you kill my mom?" Lily asked him, the gun still pointed at him.
James gave a loud sigh of frustration. He stared pleadingly at her but she didn't budge. Instead, there was a cold look in her eyes.

"It was a mistake, Lily and I swear to God, I was going to tell you..." James tried to speak but Lily slapped him hard in the face.

"You snake, you shot my mom and after all this time, you deceived me and pretended to be on my side." Lily yelled at him.

"Let me explain myself. I know it wouldn't help but please hear me out. I would never have knowingly shot your mom. I was running after a robber who had shot the owner of a store, he shot at me and his bullet grazed my flesh, I drew my weapon and fired at him but your mom was in the way and I was too late. It went through her and shot the guy in the leg but he still got away. I tried my best to keep her alive and I called 911 with a burner phone. I should have waited till you came but I was scared of how you would react to it." James confessed to Lily and she got furious.

"All these years, you made me look weak. You must've been proud of yourself for being a smart man. You shot my mom and ripped her dress off her. How could you?" Lily kept yelling and she pulled the gun and brought it closer to his head.

"I'm sorry, Lily. I tried to stop the bleeding and I got my prints on her clothes, I had to take them off. I'm so sorry. I took the bracelet as a reminder of my sin and I made sure to track down the guy who had caused all these ruckus." James pleaded.

"What happened to the guy? Where is he?" Lily asked.
His response was as clear as crystal. He had killed the man in a bid to make him pay for what had happened.

"You are a supposed officer of the law and without clearance, you killed a civilian who happened to be my mother and then you killed a man who you claim to be a robber. I would've loved to shoot you in the head but I won't do that. You have until six in the morning, to turn yourself in and confess your crimes or the next time I see you, I'll put a bullet in your head." Lily sternly said to him and walked out of his apartment.

Once she was back at her house, she broke down in tears. James' confession was beyond her wildest imagination. Who could've thought that her partner had been the killer she had sought for all this time?

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