Chapter 5
Wyatt's words landed like a sledgehammer, leaving my heart aching.
As the main suspect, I was taken into custody.
Everything in my life went off the rails that day.
Two female officers walked in, their faces set in stone.
"Cassandra, come with us," one of them said.
I stood up, my legs feeling like jelly.
It felt like I was walking on cotton.
I was led out of the interrogation room.
We walked down the cold, empty hallway.
I glanced back over my shoulder.
Wyatt was still standing there.
Through the glass, his eyes were unreadable, giving nothing away.
I had no clue if Wyatt believed me at all.
Or maybe he didn't believe a single word I said.
I was led into a small room, just a bed, a table, and a toilet.
This was my whole world for the next forty-eight hours.
The iron door clanged shut behind me.
That sound made it feel like I'd been sealed away from the rest of the world.
I leaned against the cold wall and slowly sank to the floor.
My mind felt like mush, thoughts tangled and chaotic.
I went over every detail from my trip to Nordica last Wednesday.
But nothing came to mind.
There was nothing out of the ordinary.
Nobody approached me, and nobody tried to strike up a conversation.
My ID had always stayed in the wallet's compartment, untouched.
It never left my possession.
Did someone leak my personal info?
My gaze suddenly locked onto the driving school registration form.
When I registered, I made a photocopy of my ID.
I handed the original over to the clerk for verification.
They took it away for a few minutes.
Was that when it happened?
Once that thought took root, it started spreading like wildfire in my mind, growing more intense with every passing second.
Rashad's attitude toward me this afternoon was downright hostile.
Could Rashad have set me up?
But what would make Rashad do something like this?
Was it really just because I suck at driving?
That was such a lame excuse.
Why would a driving coach go to such lengths to frame a student?
What could he possibly gain from this? Money?
My family was just a regular working-class family. We didn't have much money.
We had no bad blood at all.
I just couldn't wrap my head around it.
I couldn't see the logic behind any of this, no matter how hard I tried.
Time crawled by while my mind was all over the place, tangled up in confusion.
I had no idea how much time had passed.
The little window in the iron door slid open.
A young face appeared in the opening.
It was the young officer who had been with Wyatt earlier.
"Cassandra," he called out. "You can call your family. You can also contact a lawyer."
Family? Lawyer? Those two words pierced her heart like needles, sharp and unforgiving.
How am I supposed to break this to my parents?
How do I tell them their daughter is a suspect, locked up in a holding cell?
My mom had a heart condition. This kind of news would be way too much for her to bear.
But if I didn't tell them, what was I supposed to do?
I was completely lost.
I took the phone the officer handed me.
My fingers trembled as I dialed the number I knew by heart.
After three rings, the call connected.
"Hello? Cassie? Why are you still not home so late?" It was my mom's voice.
The tears just started pouring out, and I couldn't stop them.
All the toughness, all the act I'd been putting on. Everything fell apart all at once.
"Mom..." I barely managed to say it before I lost it, crying my heart out. "I... I..."
"Cassie? What's wrong? Are you crying?" My mom freaked out right away on the other end.
She asked, "Did you fail your driving test again? Did the coach yell at you? It's okay. We can just forget about it. It's just a dumb license—no big deal.
"Come home soon, Cassie. Mom made your favorite soup, the one you love most."
Listening to her soothing voice, I felt my heart ache even more.
I couldn't hold back anymore; the tears just kept coming.
"Mom, I... I can't come home," I sobbed.
It took every ounce of strength I had just to get those words out.
"I... I'm at the police station," I said.
On the other end, everything went dead silent.
A few seconds ticked by.
Then my dad's voice broke through, grave and frantic in a way I'd never heard before.
"Cassie, what's going on? Don't be scared, just tell me exactly what happened," Dad said.
I choked out what happened, stumbling through the story in bits and pieces.
My thoughts were a mess, but my dad understood.
"Hang in there, Cassie!" His voice was calm and strong, steady as a rock. "Don't worry, sweetheart. Mom and Dad are on our way! We'll get you the best lawyer there is!
"You haven't done anything wrong. No one's going to let you take the fall for this!"
After I hung up, my hands were still trembling as I handed the phone back to the young officer.
Deep down, I knew the real storm was only just beginning.