Chapter 9 – The Pit
It wasn’t going well. To say that Cassie was distraught was an understatement. She had read through the contents of the envelope and her face had grown whiter and whiter. When she had finished though, she surprised me by hugging me tightly. She had whispered loving words into my ear and told me that everything was going to be fine.
Then it had gone downhill. Maybe I should have stopped. Maybe I shouldn’t have shown her. It was too late now. Cassie had been compassionate and understanding about the contents of the envelope. She had freaked out when she saw Kumiko in the attic.
“What the hell is that?!”
“That’s Kumiko –“
“You mean like your nanny?”
“Not quite like that.”
“Then what the hell is it like Nelson? Did you…did you fuck that thing?”
“I…”
“Did you?”
“Yes, but only until you and I got together.”
“What, so I was your replacement doll?!”
“No! It wasn’t like that…Kumiko…well…she helped me – “
“You named that thing after your dead nanny? That’s not healthy Nelson!”
“No! You don’t understand!”
“What’s not to understand Nelson? You’ve been fucking a doll!”
“It wasn’t like that! Please, you’ve got to believe me!”
“Ok fine, I believe you. You say that you stopped fucking the doll after you and I hooked up? Then why the hell is it still here? Why have you decorated the attic like its some kind of room for it?”
“She was lonely! I had to take her out of the basement. I hurt her and –“
“Stop talking about it as if it were alive! That’s not a her! It’s an IT!”
“I know she’s not alive…Cassie…please –“
“Oh my God! Nelson, you need help. Oh my God! Nelson, I love you, but you need help. You keep talking like its alive.”
“She’s not…but sometimes it feels like she is! I know I need help. That’s why I’m telling you. Cassie, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and she’s there in bed with me! Then in the morning, she’s back. I have no idea how she’s doing it!”
“Well, I know how to stop it. I’m going to help you right now Nelson. I’m going to get rid of it!”
“Wait –“
Cassie stepped past me and before I knew it she had grabbed Kumiko and picked her up off her stand. Then she half carried, half dragged Kumiko towards the attic entrance in the floor.
“Cassie wait!”
“Wait for what Nelson? Wait for it to come alive for you?”
I stepped forward and that was when it happened. Kumiko’s hand had been in a raised position, as if she were waving. Cassie was dragging Kumiko and Kumiko’s hand was resting on Cassie’s chest. Suddenly, Cassie stumbled backwards. She released Kumiko and wind milled her arms out to the sides in a vain effort to get her balance. She took another step back, but there was suddenly nowhere for her to step on. Her right foot passed through the trapdoor and she fell through. Along the way, her head cracked on the edge of the trapdoor and then she disappeared from my sight.
“CASSIE!”
I dashed for the trapdoor. Along the way, I tripped on Kumiko and fell to the ground. I dragged myself to the edge and peered over it. Cassie’s crumpled form was lying on the floor. “Cassie!” She didn’t respond. Suddenly, there was a flash of pain in the back of my head and I blacked out.
---
Images and sounds... Sounds and images…
I looked at myself in the foggy mirror, cleaned a bit of it off and saw Kumiko behind me…
Thump…thump…screeeeeccchh…thump thump…
Kumiko lay dead at my feet in the basement…
Thump! Thump thump! Thump! The basement door shook from the force of the impacts coming from the basement side.
I slowly pulled back the covers to find Kumiko lying in bed with me…
A soft silky voice calling: “Nelson…Nelson…come here baby…”
I peered over the edge of the trapdoor…Cassie lay in a crumpled unmoving heap…
“CASSIE!”
I sat straight up, completely disoriented. What happened? I looked around frantically. I was alone in the master bedroom.
Cassie! I jumped out of bed and squinted at the bright sunshine streaming from the window. When did it get so bright out? It was dark when Cassie and I were arguing! Cassie!
I ran to the walk in closet. What happened to Cassie? Is she all right? I looked into the closet, half afraid to see Cassie’s dead body in there.
There was nothing.
But…
She fell…
Where is she?
I pulled the rope release and lowered the ladder. I climbed up and opened the trapdoor and pulled myself into the attic. I didn’t see Kumiko right away. I looked around and finally spotted her sitting on the rocking chair by the window. There was no sign of Cassie.
Where was Cassie? Was she all right? I left the attic and began to look around the house. Cassie was nowhere to be found. I even looked in the basement, but Cassie was not there.
Then I looked in the garage. Cassie’s Z4 was not there. Relief mixed with confused concern filled my mind. She’s ok! She went for a drive! But was she mad at me? We were arguing right? She fell down through the trapdoor, right? Right?
The phone rang and I ran to the kitchen. Maybe it was Cassie!
“Cassie?” I asked as I picked up the phone. I pulled out a chair and sat down at the kitchen table.
“Hello Nelson?” asked the voice on the other line. It was a man’s voice.
I frowned. The voice sounded familiar. “Mr. Brown?”
Cassie’s father sounded tired and weary. I could vaguely hear sounds of crying in the background. “Nelson, are you sitting down?”
“Mr. Brown? Is everything alright?”
“No Nelson…” Mr. Brown sniffed loudly. It sounded like he was barely holding back tears. “It’s Cassie, Nelson.”
“Cassie? What about her? I can’t find her anywhere!”
“Nelson…Cassie’s dead.”
“What? But…I was just with her! She can’t be dead!”
“I’m sorry son,” said Mr. Brown softly. “The police just left our house. They came late last night to tell us.”
“But…”
“I know you loved her Nelson. That’s why I had to call you as soon as possible.”
“But…What happened? How? How did she die?”
“The police aren’t sure of all the details. They found her under the Highway 404 overpass. At first they thought she might have jumped, but there’ve been a couple of witnesses who’ve come forth and said that they saw her with someone else. Her car is missing too.”
“But who could she have been with?”
“We don’t know Nelson. I was hoping you might be able to shed some light there.”
“I…I don’t know. She was here with me for a while last night and then she left. She didn’t have any plans to spend the night because she had something to do today.” I rubbed my head, trying hard to remember the details.” Then it really hit me. Cassie was dead!
A fountain of tears sprang from my eyes and my head dropped to the table and the cordless phone dropped from my hands. Cassie was dead!
---
Later, much later, I crawled into my bed. The police had come to my house and they had taken my statement. I told them as much as I could remember. I left out the fight though because now I wasn’t sure if it had happened at all. Was the fight all in my mind? Have I been dreaming?
Cassie was dead! I couldn’t bear the thought. I curled up into a fetal position and cried myself to sleep.
I woke up to the feeling of having someone’s arms wrapped around me. Cassie!
I struggled awake and turned over. Kumiko’s clear blue eyes looked back at me.
“Ahhh!” I jumped out of bed. What the hell was Kumiko doing in my bed? How had she gotten there?
Kumiko looked up at me. She seemed to have a sad expression on her face. Her arms were held up from where she had been hugging me.
“Come back…”
Had Kumiko been trying to comfort me?
“Poor baby…”
All of a sudden, it didn’t matter how Kumiko had gotten into my bed. I didn’t care how she had done it. The important thing was that she was here now, when I needed her the most.
I lay back down and hugged Kumiko tightly. I cried Cassie’s name over and over into Kumiko’s shoulder. Kumiko’s arms held me tightly and never let go.
---
A week later, I dragged myself back into the office. I had to. I needed to be around people that I knew. Cassie’s funeral had been almost too much for me to bear. My parents’ funeral was just a set of hazy images and memories. Cassie’s funeral was crystal clear in my mind. I remembered every heart wrenching moment of it. Cassie looked as if she were only sleeping in the casket. I had managed to present a brave face right up until the moment they lowered her casket into the ground. That was when I had finally broken down.
I got a lot of shocked stares as I walked through the office. I was met at my cubicle by my team.
“Nelson! What’re you doing here!” Lisa came right up to me and gave me a hug.
Dana was right behind Lisa and gave me a hug too. “You shouldn’t be back to so soon Nelson!”
Both Gary and Steve came over as well and they each squeezed my shoulders.
I almost lost it right then and there. “I couldn’t stay cooped up in my house anymore.” That was the truth. Every night, no matter what I did, Kumiko ended up in my bed. It had gotten to the point that I didn’t even try to lock her up anymore. I just left her to her own devices.
Dan Green, the Senor VP of Operations came over to our area. He cleared his throat and said in a serious tone. “I just got off the phone with the detective in charge of the case.”
That got all of our attentions. We waited patiently as Dan tried to focus his thoughts. When he spoke, it was obvious that he was choosing his words carefully. “They are upgrading the case to murder. None of the witnesses got a good look at the person who was with Cassie when she…”
Dan coughed and cleared his throat. “They found Cassie’s car in a bad area of the city. It had been stripped but they found something under the driver seat. It was a gold plated pen with Chad Fong’s name engraved on it.”
“Shit!”
“No way!”
“He wouldn’t!”
I waited patiently until the rest of the team had finished voicing their disbelief. “There’s more, isn’t there?” I was surprised at how level my voice sounded.
Dan looked grim as he said, “The police checked Cassie’s
phone records. She had calls from
“Do the police suspect him?”
“Right now, they would like to question him. They weren’t able to lift complete prints off the pen so it’s not enough to make him a suspect. When they went to his house, there was no one there.”
There was a collective gasp but it was clear to me that Dan wasn’t quite finished. “The detective has asked me to ask all of you to not go out alone, especially at night. I was told that you all should go straight home from work, and try to have someone else with you at all times.”
The team looked worriedly at each other for several
moments. Then, Lisa suddenly turned to
me and said, “Nelson! You live alone
right? Oh no!
I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. I didn’t care if
Dan looked at me with concern written all over his face. “Nelson, do you know anyone that you can stay with for a while? Maybe Cassie’s parents?”
“No Dan. This is a very difficult time for them. I can’t do that to them right now.”
“Want one of us to stay with you?” asked Lisa brightly. She seemed to have a hopeful expression on her face.
I looked into Lisa’s eyes and cursed myself for my blindness. Why hadn’t I seen the attraction before? I had been too preoccupied first with Kumiko and then with Cassie. I gave her a reassuring smile and said, “Thanks for the offer Lisa, but I’ll be fine.”
Lisa looked disappointed but didn’t say anything. Dan cleared his throat again and said, “In light of these developments, I have reassigned the project you were working on to another group. I’m giving you all a few days of paid time off. Go home everyone.”
That got a very positive response from the group. Within a few minutes, they had all grabbed their coats and were headed for the door. I was a little slower than the rest and didn’t miss the look that Lisa directed at me. I sighed. There was no way in hell that I was ready for female companionship. I missed Cassie so much. I grabbed my jacket. Looked like it was going to be another night with Jack Daniels again!
---
I groaned at the splitting pain in my head. I managed to sit up in my bed but almost threw up the contents in my stomach – not that there was anything in there to begin with. A half empty bottle of Jack Daniel whiskey lay on the floor. Damn it! I overdid it again. I had found that in drinking to drown your sorrows, there is a fine line between drinking enough to forget and drinking too much and get sick. Most of the time, I could drink to the point where I became oblivious but not enough to actually throw up. I must have just barely crossed the line last night.
Kumiko was sitting cross legged on the bed. She was looking at me with a disapproving expression. She hated it whenever I drank! I ignored her. That was her problem wasn’t it.? Damn doll can’t even have the decency to stay in the attic!
The doorbell rang and it sounded like church bells going off in my head. Who the hell would be coming at this hour? I looked at the clock and saw that it was 11:36am. Thank goodness I had the rest of the week off?
I managed to stumble down the stairs without actually falling. The doorbell rang again and I muttered, “Alright, alright, I’m coming!”
I opened the door and immediately squinted at the harsh sunlight.
“Hi Nelson!”
“Good morning Nelson!”
I blinked. Lisa Wilson and Dana Hartley were standing on my doorstep. “May we come in?” asked Lisa brightly just before she pushed her way into my house. “Wow, your house is beautiful! Just like how Cassie described it!”
“Lisa! Hush!” exclaimed Dana.
Lisa looked chagrinned and apologetic. I gave her a small smile and said, “What are you guys doing here?”
“We thought that you might need some company so we came to cheer you up!” Lisa held up a large plastic bag and said, “We even brought you some lunch!”
I shook my head in amazement. Although I hadn’t felt quite ready for company, I had to admit that having the two women in my house, chattering away amiably, was kind of nice. I excused myself and let them do as they wished in the kitchen. In the master bedroom, I pushed Kumiko up through the trapdoor and into the attic before taking a brief hot shower.
When I went back downstairs, Lisa and Dana had the table set. Lunch was lasagna with a tangy meat sauce and Caesar salad. It was nice. It had been a long time since I saw any of my team in a social atmosphere. I found that I actually enjoyed talking and reminiscing with Lisa and Dana. At one point, we all broke down crying as we remembered Cassie. But it was better than crying alone.
At one point, Lisa presented me with a hand braided bracelet. She had taken the time to braid blue, green and red into a single bracelet. I took it from her and looked at her inquisitively.
“It’s a friendship bracelet!” she said. “Look!” She lifted up her left wrist and showed me a similar bracelet. Her bracelet was yellow, red and blue.
Dana lifted her left wrist up too and said, “See! Lisa made me one too!” Dana’s bracelet was orange green and purple.
I was touched. I wrapped my new bracelet around my left wrist and clipped it. “Thank you Lisa.”
After several hours, both Lisa and Dana had to leave. They invited me to go to a club with them that night but I declined. “I’m sorry ladies,” I said. “I’m just not up to that yet.”
“Well, if you change your mind, we’re at the Socialite Club
in
I nodded and said my good-byes to the girls. I was grateful for their visit, but I really wasn’t ready to tackle a social atmosphere as energetically charged as a dance club. After I closed the door, I went back into my kitchen to look for another Jack Daniels bottle.
---
The clanging of church bells woke me from my alcohol induced slumber. What the fuck! Who is it now? I glanced at the clock and immediately wished I hadn’t. I just barely saw the time as 5:30pm before I threw up. Most of the vomit landed on the bed. Kumiko was sitting cross legged on my bed again. This time, she had her hands up to her mouth as if she were shocked at my behavior. I snorted and turned away from her. Didn’t like my drinking eh? Well fuck her! I almost laughed at that thought. Despite our history, I doubted very much that I would ever fuck Kumiko ever again. Once I had the love of a real flesh and blood woman, it was very hard to go back to silicone and plastic.
As with yesterday (was it only yesterday?), I stumbled down the stairs and opened the front door. I was confronted with two policemen. “Can I help you?” I managed to croak.
The policemen tried to hide their disgusted expressions. I guess I wasn’t exactly presentable but who gave a fuck?
“Mr. Doskins?”
I nodded and immediately wished I hadn’t.
“We’d like to ask you a couple of questions please.”
“What’s this about?” I asked.
The policeman on the right was taller than his companion. He was recovered from his disgust first. “Where were you last night?”
Last night? Huh?
“Well, my friends from work, Lisa and Dana dropped by around noon and they left…oh shortly after five…I think. I’m sorry, I haven’t been very good with time lately.”
The shorter policeman spoke next, “So, you would say that you last saw Ms Lisa Wilson around five in the afternoon yesterday afternoon?”
“Yeah. Is everything alright?”
The policemen looked at each other and checked their notes. Then the taller one said, “Ms Lisa Wilson was murdered last night.”
“What?!” The world spun and I had the distinct sensation of falling. The floor hit my butt and drove the air out of me.
“May we come in Mr. Doskins?”
I nodded numbly. Dead? It couldn’t be! She was so alive yesterday afternoon!
The two policemen let themselves into my house. We sat down in the living room and for the next fifteen minutes or so; they asked me all sorts of questions. Most of them dealt with what I knew of Lisa: Her family, her friends, and her mood yesterday. Towards the end, I finally said, “Look, officers, I’m sorry, but I really didn’t know her all that well. She was my co-worker. She was on my team and she was a very hard worker. I know that she was fairly close to Dana Hartley.”
The taller policeman – they had given me their names but I had forgotten them right away – said, “We’ve already spoken to Ms Hartley. In fact, she was there when it happened.”
“How did it happen?”
The policemen looked at each other and came to an unspoken agreement. “You’ll probably be hearing this in the media anyway. At around midnight last night, Ms Hartley and Ms Wilson were at the Socialite club.”
My blood went cold. Oh no! Could I have saved her if I had been there?
“Ms Wilson went into the ladies bathroom while Ms Hartley waited for her outside. Ms Hartley says that she was distracted for several minutes by some ‘hot guys’ but then realized that her friend had been in the bathroom for a long time. She went into the bathroom and found her friend in one of the stalls. Ms Wilson’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed multiple times.”
I almost threw up again. I clapped my hand to my mouth until the feeling passed. “Do you have any leads?”
“The young men who were talking with Ms Hartley claim that they saw several women enter the washroom while Ms Hartley had her back to the washroom.” The shorter policeman consulted his notes and said, “There was one woman who seemed out of place to the men. They described her as having dark hair and wearing what looked like a bathrobe or a tight fitting dress of some sort.
Bathrobe? Tight fitting dress?
The taller policeman took up the narrative. “We’re checking into all possible leads but no one else remembers seeing this woman. One of the young men said that the woman seemed out of place because, and I quote, “She walked like a man.”
As if the policemen could read my thoughts, the shorter one said, “Have you seen your former co-worker Chad Fong lately?”
I shook my head slowly. “No I haven’t. Is he linked to this somehow?”
The taller policeman leaned forward and there was a look of concern on his face. “Two members of your company have been murdered. The only one with the remotest of motives has now been declared missing.” He didn’t say more than that, but his tone basically implied yes.
After that, the policemen politely excused themselves and
left. I downed a couple of Tylenols and
a tall glass of water. Poor Lisa! What happened? I started to feel guilty. I should have been there! I might have been able to do something.
Or would he?
Am I next on his list? First Cassie and now Lisa. What about the rest of the team?
I slowly climbed the stairs.
Random thoughts kept swirling around in my head. I kept seeing Lisa smiling brightly at me,
along with Cassie giving me loving looks.
Damn it! Tears streamed down my
face. I’m going to miss them. Damn that
I was about to flop into my bed when I heard a thump. Not again! Then there was a screeching sound right above my head. That bitch! She was at it again!
I stormed into the walk-in closet and pulled sharply on the rope. The ladder came down and I climbed up. Kumiko was on her stand. Her posture though, looked as if she was in the process of walking across the attic. Both of her feet were on the floor and the stand was inclined and dragging behind her. Her left hand was held up in front of her as if she were running in slow motion. She had a look of surprise on her face.
“What, you didn’t think I would catch you red handed?” I walked angrily over to her and grabbed her leading hand. “What the hell are you doing? Can’t you stay in one place?”
I shook her arm and something on her wrist flashed in my peripheral vision. I focused on it and gasped. It was a bracelet! It was a hand braided friendship bracelet. The colors were yellow, red and blue. My God! This was Lisa’s bracelet!