Annalise´s lesson was about to begin when Cassy stumbled into the classroom with a suitcase and a duffel bag in her hands. Connor walked by her, eyeing her up and down as she struggled to get forwards.
"Throwing in the towel already?" he mocked her and earned an annoyed eye roll from her.
"No!" Cassy answered once she got her things into a corner and walked down the stairs with the gay man. "I just have to move out of my sorority."
"Why? You´ve been too naughty?" he smirked once they reached her row and he went to his row, still being in earshot.
"Ha ha…very funny." Cassy faked laughing as they sat down and their teacher walked in, starting the lesson immediately. When Annalise turned to the screens behind her to explain something Connor turned around, facing Cassy trying to continue their discussion as quietly as possible.
"So were you? Not good enough for the sorority?" he pressed her to talk but she just shook her head with a frown.
"Pay attention, or Annalise will take your trophy away." Cassy advised him but Connor urged her to tell her what happened.
"Mr. Walsh!" Annalise suddenly tore them out of their conversation and Connor turned to her, clearing his throat. "Being able to hand in the trophy to get out of an exam, doesn´t mean you can chit chat in my class…especially not with people who don´t have that benefit." The professor´s eyes wandered to Cassy who quickly straightened up and took her pen. Once Annalise turned back to the screens Connor faced Cassy again asking her one more question.
"What sorority were you even in?" he wondered and Cassy leaned forward so she would just have to whisper.
"Kappa Kappa Theta." She said and Connor soon realized the reason she had to get out of there.
The previous night
After the girls of Kappa Kappa Theta got the devastating news, that one of their own had died and was in their water tank for several days, they all gathered around, crying and mourning their friend. Cassy got all the candles she owned together and put them in the midst of their circle.
"I have a thing for scented candles." She shrugged when her roommate Kendall gave her a funny look. The girls sat there in silence, trying to ignore the police sirens and different news stations in front of their house as they were pulled away from the group one by one to talk to the police.
"I haven´t seen her in a couple of days." Cassy stated once it was her turn. "Last time I think was when she left for a frat party a few days prior to school begin. She wasn´t really in a good state, locked herself into her room all day and cried and when she came home from the party she looked even worse. Honestly, we weren´t close, so I just thought she might need some space…Can- can I go? I´m really freaked out and honestly I just want to go to bed right now." She tried to shorten the interview and the officer nodded telling her to send the next girl out. Cassy ran upstairs, crying and Kendall followed her swiftly. She watched as the brunette threw her suitcase onto her bed and packed her stuff.
"What are you doing?" Kendall asked but didn´t get more than sobs out of her friend. "Cassy, hey! Look at me!" she grabbed her by her shoulders and made her look into her face.
"I can´t stay here…I can´t.." she explained in between sobs and Kendall pulled her into a hug.
"I know you´re sad about Lila but we need to stick together now." Her roommate cried but Cassy pulled away and shook her head.
"No, you don´t get it I can´t stay here…we were showering in the water our friend´s body was in…we were drinking that water…She was my best friend, god damn it…and I didn´t look out for her…I didn´t check on her because of that stupid fight we had and now she´s dead." Cassy cried and Kendall pulled her in a hug again.
"At least stay the night…We can talk about this tomorrow."
The Keating 6 accompanied Annalise, Bonnie and Frank to their new client Max St. Vincent´s house, where he told them about his wife Marjorie who he allegedly killed. He walked them through the gigantic mansion and Cassy couldn´t help but marvel over it. Eventually he guided them to the master bedroom, where the walls, the mattress, everything was still covered in the victim´s blood. The students gasped at the gruesome sight of it as they walked in and listened to Annalise saying, she asked him to let everything stay as it was.
"Look around, take photos, be the fresh eyes we need to help this case." Annalise ordered and the six spread apart and looked for clues that might help. Cassy inspected the splatters on the wall and furniture when suddenly Max interrupted them.
"Is it time?" he asked and the students paid attention to him once Annalise agreed. "I need a volunteer. Ladies?" He made eye contact with Laurel who turned to Michaela who looked to Cassy.
"A volunteer? What for?" she asked reluctant. Annoyed by their hesitation Connor stepped forward and offered his services for what turned out to be a believable recreation of the murder. After the client was finished with showing on Connor how – according to the reports – he stabbed his wife, the students all shared the same look of doubt and fear.
Annalise invited the six students to her house to continue the work on the case. Frank handed out the murder book and files to them, ordering them to find any evidence leading to a "not guilty". Cassy was last and therefore nothing was left for her to take.
"And what should I do?" she asked Frank who looked at her with a suspicious look. "Frank?"
"What the hell do I care." He cleared his throat, walking away from the desk, leaving Cassy open-mouthed in shock.
"Mr. Gibbins." Annalise suddenly tore Cassy out of her thoughts and she watched as Wes followed Annalise to her office. She stared the closed door for a few more seconds, when Frank startled her by standing behind her and talking.
"You can do the puppy´s work." He ordered and with a soft nod Liv walked away from the uncomfortable situation. There was this weird tension between them and Frank seemed to get tense and thoughtful every time he laid eyes on her. She went to the living room area where her peers were already working their way through the files, talking about Wes.
"We all earned our spot here, right?" Connor explained as everyone listened to him interested. "But Waitlist?"
"Don´t call him that." Laurel sighed, sitting down next to Cassy.
"Maybe he´s her secret baby." Asher laughed much to Michaela´s annoyance, who pointed out how racist his comment was.
"My point is, something´s going on. Otherwise, why would he be here?" Connor asked, taking a seat on the couch.
"Why are any of you here?" Bonnie meant annoyed, interrupting their conversation. "That's the question I keep asking myself."
"She´s right you know." Cassy admitted once Bonnie was out of earshot. "I mean do we really know why we´re here?"
"Yeah why are you here?" Michaela wondered with a bitchy undertone. "I mean, you didn´t help with the case last week, you didn´t even have a good defense strategy, you didn´t get the trophy…like come on…What did you do? Bribe her?"
"Calm down Michaela." Laurel defended the youngest student and Cassy sighed, knowing that she always had to hear comments like that.
"Might be because I skipped a few grades, because I am kind of what you would call a child genius…and I have a photographic memory." She shrugged and Michaela swallowed a bit embarrassed by her witty answer.
"Photographic memory? Nice." Asher held his fist towards her for a fist bump which Cassy gladly did with a soft chuckle. She blushed a bit as everyone got back to their work and glanced over to Asher from the corner of her eyes. But once she saw that he was looking at her too, she quickly turned her focus back on the pages.
Cassy threw herself onto the uncomfortable bed of the motel she rented a room in. Learning about what had happened to her friend Lila and that she had showered with the water her body was found in, really got to her. She felt as though her whole world didn´t make sense anymore. Why would someone do something terrible like that? Lila was a sweet girl who wouldn´t want any harm done to anyone. Cassy stood up from the bed and grabbed her jacket before leaving the room and walking to the nearby gas station. She slowly wandered through the isles and took a pack of chips before getting to a halt in front of the liquor section. Once she decided on what bottle of vodka she wanted, she went to cashier´s and placed the two things in front of him, trying to avoid eye-contact.
"Can I see your I.D.?" the cashier asked bluntly and Cassy froze for a split second.
"Excuse me? I´m going to Middleton University." She tried to come up with a good excuse not to show him her I.D.
"No alcohol without I.D." he simply replied, pointing to a sign behind him where those words were written on.
"Forget it." She huffed and left the store with an angry expression.
Connor, Michaela and Laurel were discussing heavily whether they should take Sam´s body or not, until Wes eventually shut them up.
"It´s two against two, we have no other choice. We flip a coin." He suggested and Michaela and Connor immediately went off on him.
"That is the dumbest thing you´ve ever said." The woman laughed at his stupidity.
"Wait a minute…Why is it two against two?" Laurel suddenly realized.
"Because we´re four, you dumbass." Michaela retorted while Laurel continued looking around.
"Wes, where is she?" the woman asked and Connor and Michaela looked at each other in confusion.
"He brought her to a motel. He told us!" Connor whispered angrily but Laurel continued to look at Wes who seemed to now also realize what she was talking about.
"No not her…Cassy." Wes suddenly said.
"I knew it. I knew she was too calm." Connor huffed looking around. "That bitch is with the police and ratting us out."
"How could you guys be so dumb and let her out of your eyes?" Michaela asked and everyone shouted, that it wasn´t their fault.
"We don´t have time to fight, we need to make a decision and commit to it." Wes interrupted the discussion. "So if someone has a better idea, say it now." The others went quiet, suggesting that their perfect brains have shut down in this stressful time. "Heads, we get the body, Tails, we leave it where it is." Wes meant before flipping the coin and telling them that they were going to get the body.
The group of students found themselves back at Annalise´s place, sorting through files, while in the background a news anchor on the TV told information the police released about Lila Stangard´s murder. Cassy tried to ignore it as good as possible, while the others listened carefully.
"Wanna know the best part about that?" Asher asked but answered without waiting for his peers to say yes. "Cause corpses crap themselves. So, the sorority girls were all drinking their friend´s poop"
"Hush." Conner shushed him with a warning look before looking to Cassy, who was sitting on the floor, trying to hold back the tears.
"What? You knew her?" Asher asked Cassy who looked up to him with glassy eyes, getting the other´s attention as well.
"I was in Kappa Kappa Theta." Cassy mumbled, causing Laurel and Michaela to look at each other and Asher to feel guilty about his statement.
"Was in Kappa Kappa Theta?" Asher wondered as Cassy stood up with a file in her hand.
"Yeah. I left after deciding I didn´t wanna drink my friend´s poop anymore." She retorted with a lump in her throat, leaving the room.
"Well done, dude." Connor meant sarcastically when Wes rushed into the living room asking if Annalise was home but was quickly silenced by Michaela´s shush and looked to the TV, where the news anchor continued talking about possible suspects. Suddenly Annalise came out of her office and walked up to Wes and asked him about the file he got her. Cassy came back to the room, a tissue in her hand and some smeared mascara indicating that she had dried her tears.
"I´m sorry." Asher whispered to her regarding his earlier statement but Cassy brushed it off.
"Don´t bother. You didn´t know." She replied, not looking at him.
The next day Annalise and her employees including the students were at the court questioning a police officer who was listed as the one who found the murder weapon in the prosecution´s murder book, while the initial arrest report had another name on it. She handed the officer on the stand the report to have him agreeing that it wasn´t his name.
"An officer who I recently found out is under investigation for drinking on the job, which explains why your boss might want to keep his name off of the official arrest report, maybe even change his for yours." Annalise told the court while the students all shared interested looks. Given all this information the prosecution asked for a recess and the group around Keating met at her house again.
"After we get the knife thrown out, we attack the motive. Any thoughts?" Annalise asked the group of students and Laurel immediately spoke up.
"I had one-" she started but Michaela cut her off, making Cassy roll her eyes.
"The prosecution is going to take Marjorie´s best friend to say that she wanted to divorce Max, which would have eliminated his inheritance per the prenup and thereby giving him the motive to kill." The smart woman explained while the others except Laurel and Cassy all looked impressed by her. "I looked into discrediting the friend, but I couldn´t find anything yet."
"I can make that happen. Why don´t I help?" Connor quickly blurted out thinking of the I.T. guy he´s been screwing.
The next day everyone gathered at the courthouse again as it was time to talk to the friend Mrs. Taylor. Connor had successfully delivered vital information to Annalise which she used in court. It was a copy of the toast she wrote for the anniversary party of Max and Marjorie.
"I haven´t seen two people more in love since the Captain and Maria performed their first dance in front of the von Trapp children." Annalise slayed another hearing and the judge ordered to take a break, giving everyone the opportunity to work on their strategies.
"The alibi´s next." Annalise announced once they returned to the house. "Max claims he was out for a walk when the murder occurred, so we need a neighbor who saw him. Frank! Take who you need."
"You two…prom queen and doucheface." He pointed at Michaela and Asher before nodding towards the door.
"I want to join." Cassy stood up, making the chosen ones stop in their tracks and Frank´s expression change.
"We´re covered." He walked towards to door with a grunt but Annalise´s voice held him back.
"Take her with you. Another set of eyes might help." She walked up to him and leaned in making the others wonder what was going on. "Might jog your memory." Cassy stared at them confused as Frank met her gaze. A nod from Annalise was enough confirmation for her to join them and so she quickly grabbed her coat and they left for a neighbor´s house.
It was already dark outside when the four of them where hiding by a neighbor´s trash cans and Frank ordered Asher to go through it and find something to blackmail the neighbor.
"This is you hazing us, right?" Michaela asked disgusted.
"You want a desk job, go to corporate firm." Frank replied almost mockingly. Cassy leaned over to the tall man so the others couldn´t hear what she was saying.
"What did Annalise mean?" she wanted to know but Frank didn´t show any interest in answering. "Why would you need to jog your memory?"
"Boo-Yah!" Asher suddenly pulled a receipt out of the trash can and triumphally waved it in front of Michaela´s disgusted face. "This is a receipt from Risqué business. That is a strip club, and it´s down on-"
"Caster Ave, Yeah." Frank interrupted Asher pulling the receipt away. "This is good. I doubt Dad will want Mom to find out where he´s spending their kids´ tuition." The man put the piece of paper into his jacket and walked to the car, Michaela and Asher following swiftly as Cassy stayed back a bit. She didn´t know what was going on with Frank and why he was so weird around her but she had to get it out of her system. It was distracting her and affecting her work.
Next day the neighbor was on the stand and gave Max an alibi. The prosecution decided to rest and Annalise met her students outside of the courtroom.
"The first witness to take the stand will be Max´ daughter. I need someone to write up the prep questions." She ordered and Laurel pushed herself forwards offering she´d do it. "Frank´s girl. Good. Have them on my desk by midnight." The sassy lawyer walked away, followed by Michaela and Connor who scoffed at her comment. Cassy stayed back with Laurel, placing a hand on her shoulder for comfort but the woman quickly pulled away and walked to her car.
Michaela, Laurel and Cassy were sitting in the back of Connor´s car with the latter sitting in the trunk next to Sam´s body rolled in a carpet. The car parked at a gas station where Wes bought all the needed materials for burning the body while the rest remained in the car. Connor, who was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown sang to silent night which was playing on the radio. Laurel looked to the other women in the back, her eyes clearly asking what to do about the creeped-out man in the driver´s seat. As if on cue Connor turned around and looked at all the of their disturbed faces.
"Why the sad faces?" he asked with a smile which didn´t fit the situation at all. Michaela just turned her head to the window and Laurel and Cassy shared a short, worried look. "You´re not having fun with our buddy here?" Connor asked jolly, slapping the carpet next to him, making Cassy shiver as she could feel the vibration of it next her.
"Connor, do you want me to drive?" Cassy offered with the slight hope he´d say yes and she could leave the uncomfortable position.
"Are you insane?" the gay man asked, his happy expression suddenly changing to a frown. "Do you even have a driver´s license?" he mocked her for her young looks and Cassy rolled her eyes in annoyance.
The following day Max brought his daughter Eloise to the house for her pretrial prep. They started asking the questions Laurel prepared and mimicking how questioning could look like in court. Eloise mastered every single question and they all soon found themselves in the courtroom again where she kept up with the great way of answering questions. That was, until they explained that Eloise´s mother didn´t die in a car crash like she believed her whole life, but rather that her father had killed her. The court ordered a recess in which Annalise walked down the hallway angrily, her students following her and Bonnie reading out what the report said and that Max was found not guilty of the murder of his first wife. Suddenly, they came across Max and Eloise arguing in front of them and her wishing that the jury would find him guilty.
"I kinda agree with her, yo." Asher mumbled and Cassy gave him an agreeing side-eye. Annalise went up to Max and confronted him about his past, however, stating that she likes a challenge.
"Frank find out how the prosecution knew about Max´ first trial." Annalise ordered before turning to the rest of the group. "The rest of you…prove I wasn´t wrong to hire you." The Keating 6 quickly drove back to the office and tried to look for anything that could get them a not guilty. Connor got a call soon after they started working and apologized for forgetting about a date.
"Boyfriend drama?" Michaela asked fake-worried and looked over to Cassy who – like the others – chuckled over her comment.
"I don´t do boyfriends." Connor simply replied, not bothering to look at her.
"Wait…You´re gay?" Asher suddenly asked with a shocked expression and both Michaela and Connor looked at him annoyed. Suddenly Sam came home and walked straight towards Annalise´s office, but being stopped by Bonnie who payed her respects for Lila who was one of his students. It didn´t take long to hear the married pair fighting after he entered her office.
"Do your work." Bonnie ordered when she noticed the students all listened interested to their discussion.
"Can you imagine being in such a relationship?" Cassy whispered to Wes who was sitting next to her but he didn´t give much of a reply, just an expression which seemed to indicate that he agreed. Cassy looked through the files and got to a picture of a moose head hanging on the wall of the master bedroom in the mansion.
"This reminds me of when my dad used to take me hunting." She showed it to the group who all didn´t respond much to it.
"You´re dad took you hunting?" Laurel asked and Cassy nodded.
"Yeah. I hated it but he made me go with him. Showed me how to aim and how to kill the animal properly…hold on." Cassy immediately got to her feet and made her way to Annalise´s office before she was cut off by Frank arriving there first and going in.
"What´s going on?" Laurel came to her and whispered so the others couldn´t hear them.
"I know how to win this case. Max is a hunter. He knows how to kill, he wouldn´t have just stabbed her aimlessly…unless of course he´s a sadistic ass." Cassy whispered even quieter when suddenly her phone rang and interrupted their conversation. "Hello?" Cassy answered it and her optimistic expression quickly changed to blank horror. "What! No, no, no, no wait! I´ll come." She hung up and looked at Laurel. "I need to leave. I need to go right now, can you tell Annalise I had an emergency?" the girl asked and her friend nodded watching the younger one leave the house quickly and driving away.
"What the hell happened?" Cassy asked when she arrived at her room from the motel she was staying at. Her stuff was spread all over the room, the safe broken open and the TV gone. The owner was standing in the middle of the room writing down everything that was stolen.
"Someone broke in. Look through your stuff and see if anything is missing. I´ll write down the sum for what has been stolen and will give it to you later so you can repay me." The old, bald man explained in a monotone voice.
"Wait, hold on…Why do I have to pay for what´s been stolen?" Cassy suddenly realized what he was saying and thought it would break every kind of law for the safety of consumers.
"Well, it ain´t my fault you can´t lock the door, Missy." The grim man answered walking towards the door when her voice stopped him.
"And it´s my fault you have those crap locks anyone can break easily? I am not paying for the damage that´s been done!" she retorted in an angry, loud voice and the owner of the motel crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Well, then get your ass out of that room!" he ordered in a shouting voice and Cassy scoffed furiously, packing all her belongings back into the suitcase, pressing a hundred dollars in his hand for the nights she´s been staying there and packing everything into her car before hopping into it herself. It didn´t take long that the tears started to run down her cheeks and she looked at her phone. To her shock she had three missed calls from Laurel and a few text messages from her and Wes, saying that they were at the St. Vincent´s mansion and Annalise was furious. She drove there as quickly as possible but was too late. Annalise, the group of five and Bonnie and Frank were standing in front of the house discussing how to proceed further.
"I´m sorry…I´m sorry." Cassy panted when she ran over to them and got an annoyed look from her boss.
"Ms. Robinson…how nice of you to show up as well." Annalise said sarcastically as she walked past her.
"Wait!" Cassy cried out and the attorney turned around. "I know how to win the case…Max is a hunter, he has knowledge of killing. Marjorie was killed by someone without any knowledge of anatomy." She blurted out and her peers looked at Laurel who swallowed, her eyes wandering around. Annalise went back up to be closer to Cassy, however, to her shock, she didn´t look happy, but rather still furious.
"Not only do you leave work without saying anything, you show up late and use the defense strategy of another student. I really wanted to give you a chance Ms. Robinson but you have proven to not be worth my time." The black woman meant harshly and Cassy looked around confused.
"Wh- Wh- What are you saying? I´m off the case?" Cassy whimpered, feeling a lump form in her throat.
"No, what I´m saying is, you´re off the team. I´ll see you in class." Annalise turned on her heel and walked to her car followed by Bonnie and Frank. Cassy couldn´t believe what just happened as she turned around just to face her group of so-called "friends" who weren´t less surprised.
"Guess being a genius isn´t enough." Michaela mumbled as she walked to her car, followed by Connor who also said he´d see her in class. Asher walked away eyeing her up and down once more and then there was only Wes and Laurel. And suddenly Cassy understood what Annalise meant and she stared Laurel down, who had regret written all over her face.
"I´ll wait for you by the car." Wes said to Laurel before leaving the two alone.
"I´m sorry…I am so sorry. Cassy…you have to believe me I didn´t mean to steal your defense I just…I needed this…so Annalise wouldn´t see me as Frank´s girl." Laurel apologized. Cassy opened her mouth, wanting to yell at her, but she knew it wouldn´t make any difference.
"You know what? Forget it." She scoffed, faking a smile and walked back to her car.
Cassy wanted to know how the case continued and if her theory had proven right, which is why she decided to go to court the next day and sit in the back. Her head was pounding from all the crying and she had immense backpain from sleeping in her car. However, she managed to sit there, not being noticed by her former employer and listening to the story unravel. Annalise allowed Max to show on Bonnie how to kill an animal in a humane way, before he admitted that´s what he did to kill his first wife. The next witness Annalise brought to the stand was a medical examiner, who again proved that Cassy´s theory was right and Max´ first wife and Marjorie were not killed by the same person. After a short recess in which Cassy tried to avoid the group as good as possible, the jury reached a verdict and found the defendant not guilty. Cassy walked out of the courthouse and saw the now Keating 5 stand by the entrance. She decided to walk over and congratulate them on the win.
"What are you doing here?" Michaela wondered and Cassy simply shrugged.
"Wanted to see how the case ended. If the theory played out." She replied with a glance to Laurel and then looked back to the others.
"So what are you gonna do now?" Connor asked curiously and the girl smiled.
"Enjoying my free time, I guess." She said turning around to walk to her car. On the way she saw Frank getting into his and quickly decided to join him.
"What the hell?" he asked when he saw her sitting on the passenger seat. "Get out!"
"I need to talk to you." Cassy insisted on staying, but his expression didn´t change. "You find people, right?"
"I´m not gonna find some stupid ex-boyfriend for you if that´s what you wanna ask." He rolled his eyes as he slowly relaxed.
"No, that´s not what I want. I want you to find my family." She said and got his attention. "I´m adopted…and I came here to Philadelphia to find my biological family. Can you help me?" Frank´s eyes widened. He had a suspicious look on but tried to cover it up with a soft nod as he started the engine and drove them to a place they could talk.
Cassy left the public restroom, her hair, which she had just washed in the sink, wrapped in a towel. She sat down in her car and fished her phone out of her pocket before dialing up Frank´s number.
"Come on, pick up…" she sniffed. It was already daylight and she was tired and exhausted from the night. Everything hurt and she couldn´t get the picture of Sam´s body out of her mind. "Hi Frank it´s me…Cassy…I want to talk about…about what you told me earlier tonight…I need you to tell me everything. Please call me back when you get this."