Part Fifteen
She walked him through her home, through each room.
Cattrell inspected the bedrooms, pulled away furniture from the walls. A small bottle of Chanel No. 5 slipped from a small table and rolled onto the carpet, spilling out it’s golden perfume.
The master bedroom contained a lighted mirror towering over numerous make-up kits, and hairpieces and beauty products. They entered the master bedroom walk-in closet. In the close quarters, he could smell a light jasmine fragrance emanating from Cassandra. But there was not the smell of aluminum and rubber anywhere in the house. An antique fortune-teller machine stood in one of the smaller bedrooms, but the mannequin inside was not the droid he was looking for.
The droid was nowhere to be found.
“I don’t have anything hidden here,” Cassandra pleaded.
“I’m looking for the truth.”
Cassandra was silent. Cattrell traced the contours of her nose and face with his eyes. Something was different. There was a loss of … symmetry in her face. She caught him staring and mistook it for anger.
“Please, I’ll tell you. Come with me and let me gather my thoughts, first.” Cassandra returned to the sitting room, taking a seat on the Victorian sofa. Cattrell stood beside her. She avoided his eyes.
Cassandra kneeled and touched the pendulum. It began to slice through the sand. She studied it, as it made boxy arcs, not unlike the shape of a doorway.
“Whenever you’re ready.” Cattrell sat on the arm of a chair.
“For the last few decades, there was a man that I was with. He taught me everything about what it means to love and be loved. But I was never in love with him.” She stood up. “He always treated me with such tenderness, and respect.”
“Until?”
“Until the day I said no to him. He changed -- he forced himself upon me.” Cassandra’s eyelids grew smaller, as if she would cry. But no tear ever came.
“So you ran away.”
She nodded quickly.
“And faked your death?”
She finally made eye contact with him.
“Is Cassandra your real name?”
She shook her head. “What are you going to do with me?”
Cattrell averted his eyes. A slight blush escaped his cheeks and traveled down the sides of his neck. He thought of the failed search, his ransacking of her home. The violation. And that fucking Boone.
Cassandra kneeled again and tapped the pendulum. It swept away the designs before and made a simple arc, left to right, then right to left.
Cattrell eyed her, and peered back at the pendulum’s swing. The only image in the sand was a flat line. From left to right. Then right to left. Then left to right…
Cattrell looked up.
Cassandra wasn’t there.
He heard a pit-patter outside, which brought him to his feet. Rushing to the door, he walked out into the night air.
From every direction the smoky tendrils of fog greeted him, along with the eternal sound of silence.
Read from the beginning:
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven | Part Eight | Part Nine | Part Ten | Part Eleven | Part Twelve | Part Thirteen | Part Fourteen
Read the next chapter:
Part Sixteen
"The Girl and the Pendulum" is an 18-part future-noir science fiction story about a a private investigator's search for a missing android. How can a man who searches for missing women find lost artificial intelligence? I welcome feedback on this story about a man and his difficult case in a post-war, post collapse world. Stay tuned, as I also will begin publishing my 300,000 word epic novel "The Messiah" on Steemit in 2017.
Facebook page: (https://facebook.com/michaeladamparis/)
My Blog: (http://www.michaeladamparis.com)
Thank you all for your support and encouragement.
All images used with their respective creative commons licensing.
Image Credits: 422694 | taz123 | DavidShankbone (CC BY-2.0 w/mods) | Louis Blythe | Antranias | Fabio
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You had me right there. I don't know if you meant for that to foreshadow the hypnosis, but it surely did, in a really clever way. Well done. I'm following.
That's the line that got me too! Curse these nerdish leanings! Lol
Great catch! Kind of a foreshadowing + an Easter egg! :)
Seriously, you did that on purpose? Man. I'm even more impressed.
It's the way of the Jedi... LOL
definitely an under-rewarded post. I agree with @cristof - you have created reader interest, and I'm following too
Thanks, I agree! ;) After "Girl" my next story will be more of a psychological story set in Korea... stay tuned!
I think I caught one of the earlier installments of this. I need to go back and read it all from the beginning. Excellent story! I like your style of writing. Great descriptions while keeping the story moving at the same time. Upvoted and already Followed!
I agree, I have a very quick pacing of storytelling! My beast of a novel "Messiah" is the same, and clocks in around 300k words. I call it "Economy of Words" style of writing.
@michaeladamparis This is an amazing story! I love how much effort and thought you put into it :) The name The Girl and the Pendulum is great too! If you get the chance, can you upvote my newest post where I teach you how to become a millionaire with crypto? :) Thanks! https://steemit.com/money/@parkermorris/become-a-millionaire-in-the-next-5-years-with-these-5-simple-steps
Liked your article... best advice I could give is to post your new articles on SteemitChat if you haven't learned about it yet: https://steemit.chat/home
Also, you can try discord and the trails on there: https://discordapp.com/channels/237494690100936704
Good luck!