Hiding Scars
Chapter 3
Cassandra Cooper sat on her back deck, drinking iced coffee and reading a novel. Her three year old German Shepherd, Cherry, lay curled at her feet, napping. The day was already getting warm. Cassandra was dressed in a ribbed tank top and a knee length skirt, with her long hair swept up into a bun on the top of her head to help keep her neck cool. She went through the same dilemma every year of whether or not to cut her hair in the summer, when she really loved the length of her hair as it was.
Cassandra set her book down and leaned back in her chair and looked up at the clear blue sky. It was promising to be another beautiful day, and warmer than usual The weather was starting to get warmer after the slightly chillier winter, and tourist season was already beginning, with trickles of people arriving and taking up space in vacation homes and hotels near the beach.
"It might be hard to get to the water today, Cherry," Cassandra said, leaning down to pat Cherry on the head. The dog looked up at her with her brown eyes. "I know, those silly tourists," Cassandra said, scratching Cherry behind the ear. Cherry climbed onto her feet and stretched, then wandered off into the back yard to do her business. Cassandra stood up from her chair and went inside. Her cell phone, which sat on the counter in the kitchen, was blinking. She picked it up and saw that she had a text message from her editor.
Quiet release went well. Expecting more sales today after the interviews are aired on tv.
Cassandra smiled. She'd worked on her first novel for about three years before she found someone willing to publish it. And it was finally out in stores. There was a copy of the book sitting on her table. Her editor had sent it over after the print run was finished. Everything about it was beautiful, and exactly how she imagined it would be, except for one detail. Cassandra had mused for a long time about the envelope on the cover. She had really wanted the envelope to be ripped in half, but after a year of discussing it with herself, she finally decided to leave the envelope on the cover intact, and sealed.
Cherry walked back through the door from the deck and curled up on her dog bed in the living room. Cassandra flopped down on the couch. She was avoiding the television, as she didn't really like to see herself on TV. She never had. So she opted to stay away from news outlets and magazines for the rest of the week, until they could figure out how successful her novel would end up being.
Cassandra's doorbell rang. She stood up from the couch and went to open the door. Cherry bounded along behind her. Cassandra opened the door and saw her next door neighbor, Milly, standing on the porch.
"Morning girl! I bought your book and read it last night! It was awesome!" she said with a big smile.
"Aw, thanks Milly. I appreciate that," Cassandra said. Milly nodded and stepped into the house when Cassandra stepped back to allow her in. Cherry sniffed at Milly and sat there in front of her until Milly leaned down and scratched her behind the ears. Cherry then went away happy.
"What are you doing today?" Milly asked. Cassandra shrugged.
"Avoiding the TV and newspapers," Cassandra said. Milly nodded.
"Makes sense. The kids wants to go to the beach today. Do you want to come with us?" Milly asked. Cassandra shrugged her shoulders.
"It'll be pretty busy," she said.
"It's busy every day in the summer. Besides, it'll be worse next week when the festival starts," Milly said. The Second Annual VA Summer Bash would be starting next Sunday at nightfall to kick off tourist season officially, and would involve a week of events, parties, food, entertainment and fireworks, celebrating the summer. It was a huge hit the year before, and, as Milly was one of the directors of the festival, knew that it was going to be even bigger. Hotels in the city were booked up completely for the week, and the booking was spreading out to the cities around Virginia Beach.
"It should be fun though, next week," Cassandra said. "My editor might use that as a way to get some more publicity, by having a book signing or something," Cassandra said.
"That would be great. Tell him to call me if he wants to do that. I'll find a place and time for you," Milly said.
"Thanks!" Cassandra said. "Well, let me grab my things and we can head out there," she said. Milly nodded and left Cassandra's house to go pack up her kids for the short car ride to the beach.
-
Heero finished the book in a matter of hours. When he finished, he closed it and set it on the desk beside him. He was certain it was Relena. He was also certain that he may have been the inspiration for the male character in the story, the one who rips up the invitation given to him from the girl. Heero figured that Duo and Hilde must not know about that incident, otherwise they might have realized sooner and with more certainty that Relena had written the book.
Heero turned on his laptop and began searching for Cassandra Cooper. It took him awhile to wade through the novel announcements and interviews before he found some information about her prior to the book being released. True to what the short biography said in the back, her address was listed in Virginia Beach. And that she had lived there for four years, buying up a broken down vacation home and spending a lot of time and money to renovate the home. There was a newspaper article about it. The article stated that many of the vacation homes were not being taken care of, though they were beautiful old homes. Then along comes Cassandra Cooper, who bought one property and fixed it up to live in, then bought several more properties, fixed then up and began to rent them out to tourists during the summer.
Heero looked up the address of Miss Cooper to see if anyone else was registered as living there. He felt a strange moment of relief when he saw that her name was the only one listed as living there. It meant that at least she had not gotten married or anything and was living with another guy. Heero next pulled up a satellite image of her neighborhood. Her home was there, with a red car parked in the driveway. He stared at the low resolution image of the home for a long time. He tried to imagine her living there. He imagined her drinking tea. His cynical mind then imagined her bringing a guy there with her, someone who was not Heero Yuy. Frustrated, Heero closed all his programs on his computer and closed the lid. He stood up and grabbed the book, then left his apartment.
Heero wandered around for a long time, passing by cafes and stores. He began to notice that there were many women reading The Invitation. He even saw several men reading it. He passed by a magazine and newspaper stand, and saw that there was a picture of Cassandra Cooper on the front of a magazine entitled "The Block." Heero picked it up and thumbed through. It looked to be a literary magazine of some kind. He stopped on the page that boasted an "exclusive interview" with debut novelist Cassandra Cooper. Heero paid the young guy at the stand and took his magazine with him to a coffee shop. He ordered a coffee black and sat down to read the interview.
-
Cassandra smoothed her towel out over the white sand and sat down on it. Cherry stood nearby, digging in the sand. Milly and her two children, Riley and Maria, were setting up their own towels next to hers. All around them were tourists. The whole beach area was loud with screams and laughter and talking. Cassandra had exposed Cherry to this type of environment at a young age, so Cherry simply ignored everyone as she dug around in the sand, searching for some treasure.
Cassandra laid down on the towel and spread her arms and legs apart to catch some sunlight. Already, after a few years of living in the area, her skin had taken on a darker color, though not after getting sunburnt first.
"Those guys are staring at you, darling," Milly said, propping herself up on her elbow. Cassandra sat up as well and followed Milly's gaze.
"Oh please, they're like seventeen years old," Cassandra laughed. Milly shrugged her shoulders.
"Honestly girl, when was the last time you had some adult fun?" Milly asked with a wink. Cassandra didn't answer. "Oh Cass," Milly said, trailing off.
"What? I didn't say anything," Cassandra said. Milly lowered her voice.
"Are you a virgin still?" Milly asked.
"It never came up," Cassandra replied with a shrug.
"You poor thing," Milly said. "Well, maybe we can find someone for you at the festival this year. Heaven knows you deserve a good lay," Milly said with a laugh. Cassandra playfully slapped her friend on the arm.
"Oh come on. Don't be so dirty," Cassandra said. Luckily, Riley called out to his mother and Milly turned away from Cassandra. Cherry returned to Cassandra's side and laid down beside her.
"We don't need a man, do we Cherry?" Cassandra asked the dog, who simply stared at her, head tilted. Cherry licked Cassandra's face, then laid her head down to take a nap.
-
Heero had returned to his apartment after an informative read of the interview in "The Block." He was now searching for a place to stay in Virginia Beach, but because of some festival, the whole city seemed to be booked up completely. He was just at the point of frustration when he came upon a house that had freed up. And to Heero's surprise, it was only a few streets away from Cassandra's house. Heero called Lady Une.
"I need money for some Preventer business," Heero said.
"I wasn't aware that you were on any assignments at the moment," Lady Une said.
"It's not an official assignment," Heero said.
"Then I can't officially give you money, can I?" Lady Une asked, laughing a little.
"I might have found a lead regarding Relena Peacecraft-Darlian," Heero said.
"Excuse me?"
"I think I know where she is," Heero said.
"What do you know for sure?" Lady Une asked.
"Well, nothing actually. But there was a book that was just published and," Lady Une cut him off.
"You are basing this off a book?" she asked.
"You don't understand. The story- it's based on something that happened between Relena and I seven years ago. I think it might have been written by her under another identity," Heero said.
"Sounds like you are grasping at straws," Lady Une said. "I wish I could help you out Heero, but we closed that case about Relena a long time ago." Heero hung up on Lady Une. He immediately called Quatre.
"Heero! It's good to hear from you!" his friend said when he answered the phone.
"And you," Heero said, trying to sound pleasant. "Has Duo told you about that book that he thinks Relena wrote?"
"Oh yes. I read it already. I have strong feelings that she is behind that book," Quatre said.
"You do?"
"Yes, of course. It sounds just like her, and even that picture, well, under the hair color and the fake eye color and the make-up, I think our Relena is hiding under there," Quatre said. "I even watched a couple of interviews with this Cassandra Cooper today on TV. Miss Relena was never very good at disguising her natural movement of her hands and head when she speaks."
"I should have called you before I tried to get money out of Une," Heero mumbled.
"What are you talking about?" Quatre asked.
"I'm going there. I'm going to find her," Heero said. Quatre was silent for a moment.
"I want to come with you," he said at last. "You were looking for money for the expense of traveling and staying there, correct?"
"Yes," Heero said. "I found a place near where she lives, but it's expensive because vacation homes are in high demand right now. There's some kind of festival going on next week," Heero said.
"That's perfect. We'll go for vacation. Invite Duo and Hilde too. It'll be the perfect cover," Quatre said. Heero thought about it for a moment. "Of course, I'll pay," Quatre added, laughing.
"Well that's what I wanted to hear," Heero said. He smiled. An actual smile. "I'll email you this information for the house. You should call right away before someone else gets to it," Heero said.
"Got it. I'll talk to you soon," Quatre said. They hung up the phone. After he sent an email to Quatre containing the information about the vacation house, Heero stood up from his desk and walked into his bedroom. Beside his bed was a picture in a frame, one of the pictures of Relena he couldn't bring himself to hide after her disappearance. The picture showed him standing with Relena in the snow. There were both covered in snow from head to toe, after an intense snowball fight.
"I'm going to find you, Relena," he said to the picture.