Secrets and Truths

"Morning," Harrison greeted Cassie with an uneasy smile as she opened the door.

"Did we have plans today?" she replied as she stepped aside to let him in.

"Not exactly," Harrison replied, wondering how to explain that he knew she would be spending the day with him because they already had.

"Are you okay?" Cassie asked in a concerned voice as they walked through to the kitchen and she poured them each a coffee. Harrison accepted the mug with gratitude and took a drink of the hot beverage as he wondered what to say again.

Cassie sipped at her own coffee without saying a word. Harrison eventually finished off his mug and turned to pour himself another. He was reaching across the counter when Cassie pulled his mug aside and placed it out of his reach.

"You're stalling," she said bluntly.

"Well it's…" Harrison started before his voice faded out into a hushed mumble that he could barely hear himself and knew Cassie would not be able to understand. This was much harder than he thought it would be.

Tru had been insistent that he tell her the truth but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Cassie with the secret. He knew that she could keep a secret. She had certainly kept their own "pretending to date" scam a secret, even in the face of Tru throwing soup over her when she had thought she caught her cheating.

He still didn't know why he hadn't told Cassie the whole truth that night after Tru's warning about danger had come true. A part of him wondered if it was because the look on her face as she had thrown himself and his sister out of her apartment was still fresh in his mind. But that had been a few weeks ago now and although he knew that Cassie was waiting for him to come forth with the explanation for Tru's warning he had managed to skilfully avoid the whole issue. At least he had until now.

Looking up from the counter he saw that whilst he had been reflecting on whether to tell Cassie what was going on, she had in the meantime drawn her own conclusions. A look of resigned sadness was on her face as she turned away from his gaze and busied herself at the sink.

"There are a couple of your CDs over by the hi-fi," Cassie said with forced brightness. "I don't think there's anything else of yours over here but I'll let you know if I find anything."

"What?" Harrison asked. "You think I've come over here to break up with you?"

"Haven't you?" Cassie asked, her voice betraying the fact that she had clearly thought exactly that.

"God no," Harrison explained as he moved round the counter and took Cassie into his arms. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Dumb huh?" Cassie mumbled into his chest. "I thought maybe you were getting bored now that you don't have to pretend to date me."

"Bored?" Harrison asked with a laugh as he led her over to the couch. "Never."

"So if you didn't come over here for that, why are you here and what is it you can't seem to tell me?" Cassie asked as she chewed her lip in nerves.

Harrison leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes. He was still no nearer to telling her the truth than he had been before.

"Well?" she pressed on, as he remained silent.

"Damn this is hard," Harrison muttered as he leaned forward and dropped his head into his hands.

"Am I that difficult to talk to?" Cassie asked quietly.

"About this, anyone would be difficult to talk to," Harrison consoled her. "The problem is you won't believe what I tell you and I don't know how to tell you this without you thinking I'm completely crazy and…"

"Would it help if I said I already thought you were mad?" Cassie asked with a wicked grin that brought a smile to Harrison's worried face.

"Not really," Harrison grinned. "What I'm supposed to tell you would just confirm it for you."

"Is it that bad?"

"Not bad so much as unusual and strange."

"Unusual?" Cassie asked and Harrison watched as something seemed to register in her eyes. "That's what you said about your sister knowing things. You said she knows unusual things."

Harrison cast his mind back to that day and realised that she was right. It was exactly what he had said that day too. He automatically looked towards the door and recalled again the look on Cassie's face as she had called him insane and thrown him out.

"This has something to do with your sister doesn't it?" Cassie asked quietly.

Harrison nodded in response.

"Has she had some sort of premonition about me again? Is that it?"

"No, it's not that exactly," Harrison said before he suddenly recalled Tru's voice as she had made her odd request that he tell Cassie the truth. Now he thought about it she hadn't sounded entirely like herself. She had said it was a multiple rewind day and the vase was the only connection between the victims. Cassie's client was one of the victims and Cassie had bought the vase for him.

It couldn't be, he told himself. Tru would've told him. She wouldn't have kept something like that from him. Or would she? She hadn't told him who the other victim or victims was. Would she have deliberately kept it from him if one of the victims was Cassie?

"What is it?" he heard Cassie ask though her voice seemed to come from a distance.

"I've got to go," Harrison blurted as he jumped up from the couch. A feeling of uneasiness had come over him as he realised that Tru may have lied to him. Assuming she had, he knew why she had done it. She had done it for the same reason she did anything else as far as he was concerned. She had done it to help him and protect him. A part of him could understand that but another part of him was furious that in her efforts to protect him she was happy to put his girlfriend's life into danger.

"Harrison?" Cassie called after him as he bolted for the door.

"I'll call you later," he yelled back as she stood at the apartment doorway as he sprinted down the stairs and headed to the auction house alone.

He walked into the auction house and searched for the vase Tru had told him about. After half an hour he was tempted to call Cassie and get her to come and help him out but the thought of her ending up in the morgue stopped him from reaching for his phone.

Eventually he found the vase he was sure was the right one. It was as ugly as Tru had said and was one of only two vases marked at two hundred dollars. The other was painted blue and white and was clearly not the one he was looking for.

His joy at finding the vase was short lived however when he realised he had no idea how he was going to pay for the thing. It might be a bargain at two hundred dollars but he didn't have even half of that to pay for the thing.

Pulling out his phone he sought out Cassie's number but hesitated to dial it. The only other option was to phone the morgue and hope that Davis was there.

Harrison stood next to the display of vases as he contemplated who he should phone. He stepped aside for one of the auctioneers to get passed him and watched as they picked up the vase and took it away to be bid on. Time was running out if he was going to get the vase for Tru.

"Oh hell," Harrison muttered as he dialled and listened to the ringing as he waited for the phone to be answered.