house.”
“I was just making a suggestion. It is nothing set in stone.”
I looked at my watch, “I have to go.”
“Cassandra, don’t leave like this; we can talk about it.”
“No, I have to go.”
“Ok, I’ll see you in a few days at our next session.”
“Sure.” I stormed out of the office.
9
“Jimmy did you get a response?” It was 4:30 p.m. and Cassandra hadn’t shown up for her appointment. This was not like her. She never missed a session and was always at least forty-five minutes early.
“No, I keep getting the voicemail.”
This was my fault; I had pushed her too hard last time. “Dial the number,” I said to Jimmy, picking up the phone. It kept ringing until the voicemail picked up. “Hey Cassandra, its Zakiyyah. I just wanted to know what was going on, you haven’t made it to your session yet. Give me a call when you get this, bye.”
I headed towards my office. “Let me know if she calls.” Jimmy nodded and continued working at his desk. I sat at my desk watching the minutes tick by. Before I knew it, it was after five and still no word from Cassandra.
“Knock, knock,” Jimmy said, sticking his head in the door. “Zakiyyah, I don’t think she is coming.”
“I think you are right. I guess we can head out now.” I put Cassandra’s file in my bag and headed out the door. In my car I typed her address into my GPS. I knew I was crossing the line, but there was a chance she may have hurt herself, I needed to be sure she was alright.
I walked up to her apartment. After knocking, I admired her gardening. The porch was lined with beautiful flowers. The door opened, and it was not Cassandra. Maybe it was her roommate. “Hello, can I help you?”
“Yes, my name is Zakiyyah and I’m looking for Cassandra.”
“I’m sorry, you have the wrong address.”
“Is this 1245 Sunshine Blvd. apartment 6?”
“Yes, but there is no Cassandra here.”
“Do you know which apartment she lives in?”
“I’ve lived here for over five years, I know all my neighbors, I’ve never heard of her.” I thanked her and walked away from her door defeated.
I went to Cassandra’s job and pretty much got the same response. I even described her and still nothing. This was confusing, everything she put on this form was wrong.
Once home, I started dinner for my husband, seafood linguine with pesto sauce, his favorite. When I heard his car pull up I silently thanked God. My husband was a police officer. Every day when he walked out of the door, I knew there was a chance he might not come back.
He walked in and kissed my lips. “Hey babe, there was a package for you,” I said, pointing to the envelope on the table.
“Oh, that’s just a case file Mitch sent me. He’s hitting a dead end on a case he is working, and thought some fresh eyes would help.”
He opened the file and I saw a picture. “No, sir, take that in the living room. I don’t need to see any dead bodies.” All I saw was some black pants and red panties, and that was more than enough.
He closed the file and stared at me. “You want to talk about it?”
I stirred the pot of noodles. “Cassandra didn’t come to her session today and I can’t reach her. I’m afraid she may have harmed herself.” I told him about all her contact information being wrong.
“Is there a chance you may be overreacting?”
“Why do you always accuse me of overreacting? I’m afraid that I can’t help her, or worse, made her worse.”
“Most likely not. You said it yourself, she is a troubled woman. However, there is a chance she may need more help than you can offer.”
I got up and went back to the stove. He was right, Cassandra did need more help than I could offer. I have been thinking about committing her for weeks, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. In a way, it felt like I was giving up on her.”
“I can see why this case is stressing Mitch,” Landon yelled from the living room. “This poor woman was beaten, stabbed, and burned alive.”
“That’s terrible,” I mumbled. I took the pot off the stove and drained the noodles in the sink. I went to the refrigerator and grabbed the seafood. I cleaned it before leaving for work this morning, that way it could marinate in the seasoning.
As I walked towards the stove Landon’s words sunk in. Beaten, stabbed, and burned. I remembered the black pants and the red underwear. I didn’t realize I had dropped the bowl, until Landon came running into the kitchen. “Zakiyyah, what’s wrong?”
“Was it choked with a cable cord?”
“It? Zakiyyah this is someone’s daughter and sister. Her name is…”
“Landon, just answer the question. Was it choked with a cable cord?”
He opened the file and flipped through some pages. “How did you know that?”
“It was beaten with a blue hammer and tied to the bed using zip ties?”
“Zakiyyah none of that was released to the public. How do you know that?” Ignoring him I rushed to my briefcase. My hands were trembling so bad I couldn’t get it open. “Zakiyyah how do you know this information?”
“How long ago did this happen?”
“Six months.”
“Right when the dreams started. Oh God, it all makes sense now. Those weren’t dreams they were memories. She couldn’t handle what she had done, and had mental breakdown.”
“Wait a minute, you think Cassandra did this?”
“I never thought her abuser could be a woman. Do you know how rare that is?”
“Cassandra couldn’t have done this.”
“Landon she told me everything.” I handed him the papers where she had written down her dreams. “There is a blood trail from the living room to the bedroom. And a red and black sectional against the far right wall.”
Cassandra really needed my help. How could I not see that she was suffering from a psychotic break. As I flipped through the file I noticed that she had an alternate number listed. Landon was shouting about something as I grabbed my phone and dialed the number.
The phone picked up on the third ring. I was tempted to hang up when a deep voiced man answered the phone. “Hello, my name is Zakiyyah Rogers, is Cassandra Wilkinson in?”
“No.”
“May I leave a message; it is extremely important?”
“I’m sorry, what I meant by that is, there is no one here by that name.”
I hung up without responding. Landon walked over to me and hugged me. “It’s ok Zakiyyah, we’ll find her.”
I burst into tears. “Oh God Cassandra, what did you do? Why didn’t I see it?” I didn’t believe Landon when he said we would find her. Considering her condition, she was lost to herself.