"  A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. "

                                                                                                                            -Christopher Reeve

 --

Cassie was escorted out of the hall by a police officer and was led to the room where she left her personal belongings. Cassie handed the officer in charge of keeping personal belongings the number tag that she needed to retrieve her bag. Once the officer looked at the number on the tag, she frowned and then she handed the tag back to Cassie.

"Your bag in the possession of the head detective," the woman said and then she stood up from her desk and walked over to Cassie. "I'll take you there."

"Why on earth is my bag with the head detective?" Cassie furrowed her eyebrows.

"You'll have to ask him," the woman said curtly, and then she led the way.

She walked into a space that was very familiar to Cassie and then she led Cassie to an office that Cassie knew all too well. It was Brady's old office.

The officer knocked on the door lightly, and then she opened it once the person inside gave her the go ahead. She poked her head into the office  and said, "she's here."

"Perfect!" the man said, and put his hands together.

"You can go in," the officer told Cassie.

Cassie looked at the woman for a while, and when she saw her deadpan face, she decided to surrender herself to the mystery that she was about to uncover.

When Cassie walked in, the first thing that caught her eyes were the dirty soles of some beat up brown boots. Cassie's eyes traveled from the long legs of the person up to the smirk that curled on his thin lips. She scoffed once she saw the face of the man in front of her. It was the smart-mouthed officer that came to her house. Cassie groaned and then she sat in one of the seats in front of him.

She observed the room carefully. "You didn't even have the decency to redecorate," she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Where's my bag?" she asked, and let her eyes travel around the office once more, this time in search of her bag.

He reached under his table and pulled out her bag. He placed it on the table and pushed it to her. Cassie rose up her eyebrows before pulling her bag to her side. Next, he pulled open his desk drawer and pulled out a folder.  Out of the folder, he brought out Cassie's photograph of the ring.

"You know, when I took over from Brady, I was handed some of his files." He tapped on the file in front of him. My mission is to complete the cases he did not get a chance to. There's a case that stood out the most to me, so you can imagine my shock when I saw a photograph of a ring in your bag. A ring that is incredibly essential to this case. Now," he linked his fingers together and placed it on the table. "You might be wondering why I snooped through your bag. The answer to that is that I am naturally a nosy man, and I'm especially nosy when it comes to people I find suspicious."

"Haven't you ever heard of the right to privacy?"

"I must have missed that lesson," he smirked and then he swung his hand over the backrest of his chair and leaned back.

"What do you want?" she asked, while taking the photo she was sent from his table, and putting it into her bag.

"I want to know what you know about this case, I also want to know what your visit to Brady was about."

"Well," she cleared her throat "I don't know anything about this case," she tapped on the files "and as for the latter question, that is none of your business. If you want to solve a case, stop prying into my business, because I can't give you the answers you need."

 She got up and then she dragged her bag off his table.

She walked to the door and as she placed her hand on the handle he said, "I really like your fire," he laughed. "I can tell I'll be seeing you around," he said in an assuring tone.

Cassie pushed open the door and made sure to bang it shut once she was out. She felt like lately, people were being placed in her life to anger her. From the two encounters she had had with the detective, she knew she would always be uncontrollably petulant whenever he was around her. She felt like she was on a chessboard and that pieces were being placed strategically in front of her to hinder her from winning the game.  Luckily for her, she knew a tiny bit about chess. It was a game that required a player to be calculative, reason logically, and have a good strategy, along with many other skills. The only skill she felt she had was the ability to reason logically, and that, she felt was the most necessary. If she could be smart about everything she did then she would be able to dodge the obstacles in her way, namely the detective and the lack of support from her friends and family. Once she is able to overcome those obstacles, she can use that same skill of logical reasoning to crack the meaning behind all those charms, and every other clue that comes her way.

Cassie walked out of the station and then she decided to take a stroll around the area. She paused by a tree for a while to try to gather her mind around everything that happened in the past hour. She opened her purse to check if the officer took anything else. From what she could see, he did not take anything, but he made sure to leave something for her. He left his business card in her bag and she honestly was not surprised that he would do that. She picked up the card and held it by its edges with the index finger and thumb of both her hands.

"Detective Casper Long," she read his name out loud. She flipped the card around, but it was blank. She placed the card back in her bag and then she continued her walk.

Cassie walked slowly and delicately around the area, and then she stopped when she spotted a small café across from where she stood. The road was quite empty and so she crossed without bothering to first of all look left and right. She pushed open the translucent door of the café and walked into the small, and dimly lit room. There were only about ten people in the café, with one of those people on the line, making an order. Cassie looked up at the menu board to decide what to take. By the time she had made her decision, she noticed that there was no line. The barista- a young girl with black hair and a nose piercing, was waiting patiently for her, with a generic worker's smile plastered on her face. Cassie walked forward and looked at the menu board once more.

"I'll like a small lemonade and a err," she looked down at the selection of treats on display and pointed to a chocolate chip cookie "and a cookie, please," she smiled.

"Will that be all?" the girl asked while putting in Cassie's order.

"Yeah," Cassie smiled and waited to hear the price.

"That will be $3.89," the girl said. Cassie handed her a $5.00 bill which she pulled out of her purse. The girl took the money and gave Cassie her change. She picked the cookie with a tong and placed it in a small paper bag. She handed it to Cassie and walked to the frozen lemonade machine. She picked up a small cup and pulled down the lever of the lemonade machine until the cup was filled with the yellow liquid. She placed the cap on the cup and turned around to hand Cassie her drink.

'Thank you," Cassie said while picking up a straw, and then she turned around only to slightly bump into someone. Luckily she had quick reflexes and was able to lift her drink before it could spill. "I'm so sorry," she looked up, and then she twisted her mouth to the side and shook her head once she saw that it was Tate standing before her.

He smiled a very wide smile. She took a step back and eyed him from head to toe. He had on black baggy shorts and a shirt with cartoons all over. He wore brown sandals and had a fanny pack around his waist. "My goodness, Cassandra," he spread his arms wide and pulled her in for a hug. "I feel like I have not set my hazel eyes on you in a lustrum," he said, and then he pulled himself away. "What brings you into this small shop?"

"I was close by and I decided to grab something to drink," she said while lifting up her cup.

"We think alike, I knew we were perfectly compatible,' he smiled.

"Eww, no," she said, deadpan, with a slight shudder. "Can I go drink my lemonade now?" she pleaded and then she looked at some seats pushed to the window, behind him.

"Of course, it is your right. I shall grab a coffee and then I shall rest my buttocks on the seat across from you," he nodded, and then he walked to the cashier.

Cassie rolled her eyes, but a small smile curled up on her lips once he was out of sight. She found him incredibly amusing. She also worried about him sometimes because he seemed to get stranger, and further away from being a normal human every time she saw him.

Cassie settled her drink and cookie on a table close to the door, and then she took a seat. She tore the straw out of its little paper casing and pushed it into the big space on the cap of the drink. She lifted the straw up to her lips and sucked out the chilled,  sweet liquid from it. She tried crossing her legs, but the space between the table and her laps did not allow for that to happen.

Tate walked to her and took the metal chair in front of Cassie. He placed his large cup on the table and settled in the chair. He placed two papers bags on the table beside the coffee.

"What'd you get?" she asked.

"A hot coffee beverage, and two blueberry fruit muffin snacks," he smiled.

"So... a coffee, and two muffins," she shook her head and took another sip from her coffee.

"So how have you been experiencing your day to day living since I last set my eyes on your glorious face?" he asked with a mouth full of muffins.

Cassie took in a deep breath and a small bite from her cookie before answering. "Still investigating my best friend's death. Not really getting anywhere," she sighed, and then she dusted crumbs from the side of her mouth. "I have clues, but they're too obscure. It's like someone enjoys seeing me suffer."

Before Tate could reply, his phone rang loudly. His ringtone was very embarrassing, it was the sound of some kids singing out of tune. Cassie subtly looked around to make sure that no one sent them glares.

Everyone sent them glares.

Cassie slightly tilted her head down and kicked Tate on his knees. "My goodness, you embarrass me so much," she groaned.

"Oh Cassandra, I am only making us famous by constantly drawing attention to ourselves. You're welcome," he smiled and took a triumphant bow. Tate picked up his phone and put it up to his ears.

"Who has graced my phone with a call?" he asked. He waited for a while, and then he frowned. He pulled the phone away from his ears and then he frowned when the call was cut.

He dropped his phone on the table and slumped his shoulders, but his joy soon came back when his phone buzzed. He picked it up with eager hands.

"Sad," Cassie said "you must not receive any calls, not that I am shocked,'' she giggled.

Tate read his text message, and then he froze. He looked out the window and then at Cassie. He shoved his phone into her hands and urged her to read it.

Cassie looked down at the phone in her hand and read the message:

TELL YOUR FRIEND, CASSIE, THAT I AM READY TO MEET HER. I SHALL TEXT HER THE DETAILS AT A LATER TIME. SHE ONLY HAS ONE CHANCE TO ASK ME ALL THE QUESTIONS SHE HAS BEEN DYING TO ASK. OH, AND NEXT TIME TELL HER TO TRY THE SMOOTHIE INSTEAD OF THE LEMONADE. IT'S MUCH MORE DELICIOUS! 

---

Please vote and tell me what you think.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas <3