The Society

Chapter 8: The Hometown Part I

The Hometown - Cassie Cassadaga

I stretched out, my arms locked above my head and my toes pointed as a ballerina, the bedlinnen  crunched underneath my body as I rolled over and crawled out of bed. The air was icy and the morning light held the blank cold shine that precedes sunrise, which I did my best to ignore as I stumbled towards the kitchen. Breakfast was taking form as my being slowly started to accept the state of being awake. I need to go through all of my notes from my consultant session yesterday. I can't believe that Ian took me out for drinks. We actually get on really well... I wonder if we are going to stay friends once this case is over? How will the case do when it goes to trial? We only have those Baltimore murders left now...

Walking down the stairs, I bumped in to Mr. Duchan. She was wearing her usual dressing gown with the unfashionable addition of an old, quilted overcoat thrown across her shoulders as protection against the increasingly cold weather. Her newspaper peeped up from inside the folds of the overcoat, squeezed firmly underneath her arm. I had grown to learn that seeing her in the mornings was as certain as the sun rising again. She flashed me a look, which clearly portrayed that our paths crossing was just a coincidence, something we both knew wasn't true but that we both choose to ignore.

"So Cassie dearest, how are you this morning?" Her brown eyes was filled with love and concern. It's almost as she can sense that I have no family in this city and she has decided to take on the calling to fill the void.

"I'm good. How about you?"

She smiled and tapped her paper, as a sign that everything in the world was running on its normal routines, "So you're not a little bit tired Cassie dearest? You came in quite late last night?

I can’t believe this old lady, she just has the whole building entirely sussed out. There doesn't seem to be anything that passes her by unnoticed. Or maybe she is just keeping tabs on me?

"Oh, I went out with a friend last night for drinks," I could feel an involuntary smile spread across my face.

"I see..." Mrs. Duchan clucked, "A friend that you work with, I assume? One of those lawyers?" She said ‘lawyers’ with some suspicion, like this was a group of people one would do best to distrust by default.

"Yes and no actually. We are working together on this case. But he is not a lawyer, he's a detective."

"Oh my, a detective you say?" Mrs. Duchan sounded pleased. She examined the smile that still lingered on my lips, "And this friend, he makes you happy, yes?" She clearly thinks that she has it all figured out...maybe she does?

"Yes, we are getting on rather well…" I glanced down at my phone, "Oh, I really have to rush to work now."

Mrs. Duchan waved at me gently and as I trotted down the stairs, I heard her shout, "If you need anything Cassie dearest..."

I was staring at my notes, my enthusiasm had been hollowed out gradually throughout the morning. All I really cared about now was lunch. It's still a little bit early, but maybe a snack and some coffee will help me muster up some energy. I stood up, my legs pushing back the chair as I did so and walked quickly across the office area heading down the corridor towards the staff-room.

My fingers arranged the little crackers in a half circle on the small blue plate and the coffee pot next to me was pushing out big whiffs of steam and its lingering coffee smell enclosed the small kitchen. As my hand reached over to grab an orange, I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I turned around and met Joe's blue eyes. His tall body leant against the frame of the door.