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“I thought… she said she was going…” Cass frowned. “But that would mean that she would have seen him.”
Cass looked up at the chief. “Did she say anything about seeing anyone come out of the basement?”
“We didn’t ask her what she saw,” he said softly. “It never occurred to us to ask.”
“She’s never said anything to you, all these years, about seeing someone in the yard?” Rick asked Cass.
“No. Not a word.”
“She may have blocked it out. She may not want to remember who-or what-she saw,” Rick told her.
A
“No. No way. You can’t ask her to do that.” Cass shook her head vehemently. “She is in no shape for that. She’s been through a lot this week, her larynx is damaged, she can barely speak… no, we can’t do that to her.”
“Cass, she may remember something, something that might help identify the man who was there that day. There wasn’t anyone else there,” A
Cass shook her head. “Maybe if she wants to, when she gets out of the hospital, but not now.”
“Well, I guess that leaves us back to the yearbooks and at the mercy of Peyton’s computer skills. Excellent though they may be,” A
“Okay. Chief, could you check with Phyl and see if we can have whatever list she’s compiled so far? I think we should at least start with-”
“You’re wrong,” Cass said to A
A
“I was there. Maybe if Lucy’s buried something… well, maybe I have, too. Maybe there’s something I saw… something I don’t remember.” She frowned. “I don’t think I saw him, but I really don’t remember.”
“Are you sure you’re up to it?” A
“Yes.” Cass nodded. “Absolutely. Let’s do it. Right here. Right now.”
“Are you sure? You may remember things you wished you hadn’t.”
“I’m sure,” Cass insisted.
“If you’re sure… first, let’s get you comfortable.” A
“I’m fine,” Cass told her. “I’m okay right here.”
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you both to leave the room.” A
“Okay. We’ll be looking over the list of names that Phyllis has been preparing,” Rick said as he left.
“I’ll call her into my office, we’ll work in there.” The chief paused on his way out of the room. “You sure about this, Cassie? You don’t have to…”
“I really do have to,” she told him. “But thanks.”
Denver nodded and closed the door behind him.
“Okay, what do we do first?”
“I want you to get as comfortable in that chair as you can.” A
“I’m fine. Let’s just do it.”
“All right, then. I want you to close your eyes, and concentrate only on the sound of my voice. Don’t think about anything else. Only the sound of my voice. That’s all you hear, Cassie. All you want to hear…”
A
“Let yourself relax, Cassie. Your mind is going to take you to a place where all is calm. My voice is going to take you there. And once you’re there, nothing will matter, except the sound of my voice…”
Cass closed her eyes, and focused on A
“I want you to start counting backwards from one hundred, very slowly, until you reach twenty-five.”
Cass did.
“You’re there now, Cass. It’s peaceful and you’re safe there. Nothing can hurt you in that place. You can see, but you can’t be seen, do you understand?” A
“I understand.” The words seemed to float from her lips.
“Are you there, then, Cass? Are you feeling peaceful? Are you feeling safe?”
“I am. I’m safe here.”
“Good. Anytime you think you feel anything other than completely safe, you’re to tell me, all right?”
“All right.”
“We’re going to look in on your house, Cass. The house where you and your mother and father and sister lived when you were a little girl. Do you see the house, Cassie?”
She nodded. “I see it.” She did see it.
“What color is the house?”
“It’s brown.”
“Are there shutters at the windows?”
“White ones. With cutouts that look like birds.”
“Can you tell what kind of birds?”
“Seagulls. They’re flying…” She held her hands up, palms together, the fingers pointing outward.
“What else do you see?”
“Flowers. Pink ones by the front door. Mommy made Daddy put something on the wall so they would climb up to the second floor.” Her eyes moved rapidly behind closed lids. “They grew over the door.”
“Are they roses? Pink roses over the door and up the side of the house to the second floor?”
Cass nodded.
“Do you see the roses blooming?”
“Yes.”
“So it must be June, since roses bloom in June.” A
Cass’s eyelids began to flutter.
“Remember, Cass, you can see, but no one can see you. Do you remember? I promise, no one there can see you.”
Cass’s hands gripped the arms of the chair.
“Do you want to hold on to my hand while you visit there?” A
“You can hold on to me anytime you feel you want to, Cass, remember that. I promise that you’re safe. I will keep you safe.”
Cass nodded.
“On that day, that last day, tell me what you remember about the morning.”
Cass related everything as she had earlier. Waking while it was still dark. Getting up for camp and being excited about the party she would be going to later that day. Everything, from following her mother down the steps to coming home after camp, and going into the house.
“What do you hear when you step inside the house?”
Cass shook her head.
“You don’t hear anything?”
“I don’t know what I hear.”
“What does it sound like?”
“Just…” She waved her hands around, her forehead wrinkled in concentration.
“Commotion?”
“But… quiet somehow… I didn’t know what it was, but the sound, it came from upstairs. I ran up the steps…”
“Were you calling anyone? Were you shouting?”
“I was calling my mommy, but she didn’t answer. Then I saw Trish… she was flying through the air. She hit the wall near Mommy’s bedroom. She wasn’t making any noise. I couldn’t figure out how she could fly.”
Sweat broke out on Cass’s upper lip.
“Then what happened?”
“I ran up the steps, I was calling to her. ‘How did you fly?’” A look of confusion came over her face. “But she was there on the floor…”
Cass swallowed hard.
“… and someone grabbed me around the neck, and picked me up…”
“Cass, when he picked you up, what could you see?”
She shook her head.
“Cassie, I’m going to ask you to pretend that you’re looking down on this, looking down from someplace up above as the man is grabbing you and picking you up.” She took Cass’s hand to reassure her. “What can you see? Can you see what he’s wearing?”
“Blue sleeves, rolled up.” She touched one elbow.
“He was wearing a blue shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows?”
“Yes.”
“Can you see his hands?”
Cass nodded slowly.
“Is he wearing any rings? A watch?”
“No.”
“Does he have anything in either of his hands?”
“He has a knife.” She began to shake.
“Don’t look at the knife, Cass. He’s dropped it, there’s no knife. I want you to concentrate on what I’m saying, all right?”