THE THIRTEENTH DAY - BOOK 1

Two lies in one night

When Cassie stepped into the house she was welcomed by an empty living room, although she could hear the clanking of what she believed were pots and pans coming from the kitchen. She walked to the source of the noise to find her mother cooking, quite a rare sight to behold.

"Hey mum," she cheerfully greeted and hugged her from the side while peeking into the pot. It looked like some sort of soup, it had too many vegetables for Cassie's taste.

"Hello, my darling, where have you been? you never some home at this time," she glanced at the clock in the kitchen.

"I'll explain that later," she bit her top lip. "I wanna to ask you and dad something, it's something very important and I know you and dad will not be too pleased, but I can explain." Her mother's facial expression suddenly turned serious.

"Cassie darling," her lips quivered. "I know I got married early at twenty-one and I had your brother at twenty and had you at twenty-two, but please honey I don't want that for you, you're only seventeen, if you're pregnant I will support you but I don't think--" she blabbed continuously until Cassie interrupted her

"No, no mum, eww I'm not pregnant," she squeezed her face tight.

"Are you sure honey, you know you can tell me anything," she peered into Cassie's eyes and gently grabbed her by the shoulder. 

"I'm pretty sure I would know if I'm pregnant or not, and I'm not getting married either, so you can calm down" she rolled her eyes.

Her mother rested her hand on her chest and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, I almost had a heart attack. I'm sorry but I had a nightmare last night where you were pregnant and Caleb got someone pregnant, and I just thought--" she said her half-sentence and leaned on the table for support. "So what did you want to talk to us about?"

"I'll tell you when dad gets here, I was planning on telling just you and have you tell dad, but when I saw his car outside I decided it's best if you guys hear it at the same time," she said. " So what's the occasion mum?" she asked quickly trying to change the topic. "Why are you cooking, you never cook unless you're in a good mood."

"Yes, that's true but I'm not exactly in a good mood today, I was watching a cooking show and I got inspired to try one of the meals the chef made," she glanced at the food and shook her head "but I'm realizing that this isn't my calling," she laughed.

Cassie's expression got sullen as she listened to her mothers words. She had hoped that she was in a good mood because that would give her higher chances of her parents agreeing to the idea of her helping with such a dangerous  case.

"Oh, okay," Cassie said crestfallen. "And dad? Why is he home early today, didn't he have that huge case the he was sure to win? He should be out celebrating."

"Yeah he did, but things didn't go well in court, the prosecutor was a devil."

It was one disappointing news after another, and after the most recent one she decided that it would not be wise to tell her parents about her plan to work alongside the detective. She would keep it a secret and her parents would never find out because they were busy people. Her father worked long hours and her mother simply did not care to monitor her movement, as long as her children were alive and not in trouble then she did not care what they did with their spare time.

"And about what I wanted to tell you and dad," she paused for a moment, "My friends and I are planning a huge trip to Greece so I wanted to ask if that's okay," she lied.

Her mother looked at her confused, "When did you ever need our permission? go ahead, Greece sounds fun."

"Cook," she said and ran to her room. She plopped down on her bed and  pulled Brady's card from her bag. She stared down at and caressed its edges before inputting his number onto her phone and dialing. it rang only three times before he picked up the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey, is this Brady?"

"Who wants to know?"

"It's me, Cassie," she breathed heavily. 

"Cassie," there was excitement in his tone. "How are you? You sound different over the phone."

"I get that a lot," she chuckled "I'm calling to tell you that my parents were super cool with the whole thing. They were skeptical at first but they later saw things from my perspective and finally agreed. They even said they will write you an email to confirm," she was disappointed in herself at how easy it was for her to lie but she felt like that was the only way.

"That's great news. Let me also give you some great news, I need someone young and determined to help me with this case, someone with fresh eyes and that's you, so you've got the job." 

"That's amazing news, but how do you think Peter will take the news?" 

"Don't worry about him, I'm in charge here and what I say goes, no matter how unconventional."

"Thank you so much, Brady. I promise I won't let you down."

"I know you won't." she imagined him winking after saying that. 

"Why do you believe in me so much though?" her curiosity took over.

"It's because I was just like you when I was your age, maybe even younger, and someone gave me a chance, so maybe someday you'll give someone a chance too and we'll keep this thing going," he laughed. She smiled.

"I sure will, so when do I start?"

"Anytime you want to."

"Is tomorrow alright?"

"If it's convenient for you then it is for me too".

"In that case see you tomorrow" and with that, she hung up the phone with a wide smile on her face.

                                                                                            *

The next day passed by quickly unlike the day before, classes were quicker and livelier and as the last bell rang Cassie was the first to jump out of her seat.

"Hey Cass," someone called from behind her, she rolled her eyes at the person for slowing her down and turned around to see that it was Danny

"Hey Dan," she said tapping her hand on her legs impatiently

"Where are you running off to, you ran out like you were late for your own wedding," he laughed. 

"I'm going to the station, remember I told you last night that I got the job?"

"Yeah, but you said he said you could start anytime right?"

"Yeah, and that would be now for me."

"Tonight is Tyler's big game against Easton High, that school from out of town, you can't miss it." 

she slapped her hand on forehead because she had completely forgotten about the game, and it was all the guys could talk about. All the guys were playing, and Tyler would be really upset if she didn't make it. He called her his good luck charm, she had never missed any of his games and she wasn't planning on starting now.

"I promise I'll make it, can I go now Dan?  I'm really eager to get there."

"I've never seen anyone so eager to got to a police station, most people would flinch at the mention of the word police let alone, the actual station" he teased

"Yeah, yeah," she said rolling her eyes. "It's not like I'm getting arrested or anything, so I have no reason to be worried."

"See you at seven," he reminded her

"Bye Dan," she said as she continued running out the door. 

The game was an important one because scouts from various prestigious universities would be present to look out for future stars and so it was an important game for all the players.  She knew that if she missed the game the guys would have her head, especially Tyler, she looked down at her  watch it was already 3:45 pm and it would probably take her about 15 minutes to get to the station and to see Brady and she had to go back home for a quick shower before going to the game which meant she could only spend about two hours at the station.

"Two hours I can do this," she encouraged herself as she ran out to her car.