Chapter 4
The man called me before anything even happened, claiming I'd run someone over.
It could prove this whole thing was a setup.
Someone was out to frame me.
I waited nervously, my heart pounding in my chest.
Every second felt like an eternity.
Twenty minutes passed.
The officer finally came back.
He walked over to Wyatt and whispered something in his ear.
Wyatt's expression turned grim.
He lifted his gaze to meet mine.
My heart kept sinking, bit by bit.
"How's the investigation going?" I asked, my voice trembling.
Wyatt didn't answer me.
He stared at me, asking slowly, his eyes fixed on mine. "Cassandra, do you know whose number this is?"
My mind was racing.
It was a number I'd never seen before.
I swear I'd never seen it in my life.
"I don't recognize it," I said.
I shook my head firmly, my voice steady. "I'm certain I don't know who this number belongs to."
Wyatt looked at me, without a hint of doubt in his eyes.
He was like a lie detector in human form.
He studied every detail of my face, every subtle movement.
"Is that so?" He shot back, his voice calm.
Then he pushed the paper with the phone number on it right in front of me.
He tapped it with his finger.
"This number was registered using your ID," he said.
My heart dropped again, and my eyes widened in shock.
"What?" I must've heard him wrong.
"That's impossible," I shouted, unable to control myself. "I've always had my ID on me. I've never lost it, not once. And I swear, I've never used my ID to register that number."
My emotions flared up again.
This was beyond absurd.
It was impossible to believe.
Wyatt's expression remained calm as ever.
"The number was registered last Wednesday," he said.
"It was registered in Nordica service center," Wyatt continued. "The store's high-def security footage shows it was you who set up the account."
I felt like I'd just been struck by lightning.
I was completely frozen.
Last Wednesday? A Nordica service center?
My mind buzzed, then went completely blank.
I did go to Nordica last Wednesday.
I went to a mall there to buy my mom a birthday present.
Now that I thought about it, there really was a cell phone store right next to the mall.
But I never even went in.
I never went in to get a SIM card or anything like that.
"Did you check the security footage?" I asked.
My voice was practically shaking. "Am I the one in the footage?"
"Yes." Wyatt nodded. "Your features, your build, your clothes—they all match how you looked this afternoon."
He paused for a moment, then added,
"Even the red string on your wrist looks exactly the same," Wyatt said.
I glanced down at my wrist without thinking.
It was just a plain red string with a tiny silver bell attached to it.
My mom picked it up for me at a temple, hoping it would keep me safe.
I had been wearing it for almost ten years.
Could it be someone out there who looked exactly like me?
And she even dressed just like me?
And she was even wearing the same red bracelet I always have on?
She registered a phone number with my ID?
And then, right after I got into trouble, she called me using that number?
She was pulling the classic blame-shifting trick, pretending to be innocent while framing me?
This wasn't a movie.
This was real life.
This was a trap custom-made for me.
From start to finish, it was seamless.
A chill ran from the soles of my feet all the way up to the top of my head.
It felt like all the blood in my body was turning to ice.
Who could it be?
Who would go this far just to set me up?
I was just a regular girl, nothing special, nothing remarkable.
I was such a mess. I couldn't even pass the driving test.
Who did I ever offend to end up like this?
"I didn't..." My lips trembled, and all I could say were those helpless words.
"I really didn't," I choked out.
Tears welled up in my eyes again, spilling over before I could stop them.
But I bit back my tears, refusing to let them fall.
I knew crying now wouldn't help me at all.
To the cops, it would just make me look guilty or like I was faking it.
Wyatt just kept quiet, watching me for a long time.
Then he stood up.
"Cassandra," Wyatt said. "From this moment on, you're the main suspect in this case. We're taking you into custody.
"We'll go over all the evidence in the next forty-eight hours. You should use this time to really think things through. Figure out if you've forgotten anything important, or if you've pissed someone off."