Killer Love

CHAPTER 2

She needed to find her sister before these people did. Her sister wasn't that kind of person and she was going to prove it to them.

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Two days had gone since Cassidy had been to the station and those detectives had told her their ridiculous story. In those two days she had tried every possible way she could think about to find her sister but she hadn't gotten anything. She knew she needed to find Rose before the police did. She had to find her and prove her innocence.

If the police found Rose, they would lock her up. And Cassidy knew her sister wasn't a murderer. She couldn't be. Her sister had been the one who had wiped away her tears when she was younger. Rose had combed her hair for her and helped her get dressed in the morning.

Sure twelve years had gone by and Rose had experienced some traumatic things in that time, but that didn't justify her being a murderer. Being friends with some of the victims didn't justify it. And so what she was caught on some CCTV footage? She may have just been in the area at the same time.

Rose was not a murderer. That was the only thought Cassidy allowed herself to have. If she thought about the fact that it was too coincidental that Rose was always caught on CCTV or that she was friends with some of the victims, her mind started wandering off to places Cassidy didn't want it to go.

So she kept the thought that Rose was not a murderer at the forefront of her mind. She was going to find Rose somehow and prove it.

However at the end of the second day with no clues on where her sister was or even where to look, Cassidy sat on her couch dejected.

Her cat, Meow, jumped up on the couch and curled next to her.

"Hey sweet girl."

Cassidy absentmindedly stroked the grey and black cat making her purr.

"We haven't had a quiet moment in a few days."

Aside from trying to find her sister, Cassidy had been working at the bakery. She had been working for Sweet Treats Bakery for over a year now. The owner, Lacy, had taken a chance and hired Cassidy after tasting one of her cakes. Cassidy loved to bake. She loved trying new recipes and coming up with different styles. She had taken various decorating courses at the community college and was pretty good.

"What do you think we should do tonight?" she mused.

Her plan had been to catch up on some reality TV but she didn't think she could sit and watch TV while her sister was being pursued. She felt as though she should be doing something.

Her laptop beckoned to her from on the coffee table. She resisted the urge to grab it. She needed to be strong. She really did. But, she caved like a cheap tent and grabbed her laptop. She wanted more information on the murders. She had resisted reading articles about them for as long as she could.

She loaded the search engine and typed in Family Killer. That was the name the media was going with. A flood of articles filled her screen. She took her time as she went through and began reading.

As the detectives had said it was always families of three; a mother, father and a child. The child was always thirteen. The sex of the child varied boy to girl then boy to girl again. And they were always killed on the twenty-seventh of each month. The twenty-seventh of May was Rose's birthday. She was sure the detectives knew that.

If Rose was the killer, why was she killing people on her birthday? Why was her birthday the date she had chosen? Cassidy knew from when they were younger their birthdays had not been pleasant. There was no cake and ice cream. No celebration. They were lucky if they were even given pie for dessert. Their father had hated celebrating anything that wasn't about him. Everything always had to be about him and what he needed and wanted.

Cassidy had cried for cake once when she had turned six. She knew children got cake for their birthday. The children in her class always got cake but she never got. She'd never forget her father's reaction to her crying. It made her shudder to think about it to this day.

Her phone rang bringing her out of her past.

She looked at the screen and saw her mother was calling.

"Hi mum," she answered as cheerfully as she could.

She could still feel the dark chill of her previous thoughts. Her past always made her want to curl up in a ball and cry.

"Is everything okay?" her mother asked instantly.

Martha Freemont always knew when something was bothering her daughter. Her tone of voice could sound as happy as could be, but Martha always knew when something was wrong.

"Everything's fine. I just got a little lost in some thoughts," Cassidy answered honestly.

She didn't like lying to her mother. She had never lied to Martha since the day she had been adopted. Even when she had snuck out as a teenager to go to parties. She had been so thankful to the Freemonts for adopting her and giving her a wonderful environment to grow up in that she had felt horrible anytime she thought about lying to them.

"Oh honey. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No it's okay. I'm fine, honestly."

"Okay if you're sure."

She could hear the hesitation to drop the topic in her mother's voice.

"I'm sure."

"Well alright. Your father and I went out to dinner tonight and ran into Janet Hastings. You know her right dear? Her daughter Stacy was in your senior class."

"I think so," Cassidy said trying to recall a Stacy.

There had been so many students and Cassidy had been an awkward outsider except for a few close friends. She didn't know how to interact much with people for those few years. She was shy in high school. A mould she had broken in college.

"Janet was telling us that Stacy is going to UC Penn. I never thought the girl had the grades to be honest. She asked what you were doing and I mentioned you were working at a bakery. You could practically see the thoughts that were going on inside her brain. I told her where you worked and she was surprised. She didn't know you were so good. She said she might call you about baking a cake for some party."

Cassidy listened as her mother droned on about Janet and Stacy and then other people they had encountered on their dinner date last night and all their small talk as well. She barely heard anything about her father.

"Did dad not mind all the interruptions?" she asked suddenly laughing.

She could already imagine her father's face without even listening to her mother's reply. He would look defeated and say, 'This is why I don't carry your mother out to eat'.

"He seemed fine. He made some small talk as well. But you know how he is. He prefers eating in silence," her mother said with a laugh.

"Are you coming home for dinner next week?"

She looked at the calendar on the coffee table. It was already the twenty second. Soon enough November would start. They had a family tradition of dinner at the beginning of every month.

She had dinner with her parents occasionally but for this event, everyone had to be present. It was the one family event her mother was adamant that everyone was there. Seth, her younger brother, hated family dinners. He liked eating in his room staring at whatever game he was playing on his computer screen.

"I'll be there for sure. Message me the menu. I'll bring dessert."

Her mother laughed.

She spent the next hour listening to her mother talk about her brother Seth and his new crush. Her mother loved talking and listening to her voice was the soothing touch Cassidy needed to end this night.