The apartment was quiet and dimly lit. Cassie was in a dreamless sleep on the couch, until she moved and fell to the floor with a thud. She narrowly missed the coffee table. Opening her eyes, she used the table to help herself off of the floor. Everything from the night before felt like a terrible nightmare. Her life was not real; it could not be real. For Cassie, the only real life that existed was one where Christian was still alive. She would rather have him walking around seething mad at her, than know he would never lean on her buzzer waking her up in the middle of the night.

As she looked around, Cassie discovered the light in the apartment was coming from the window through the curtains. It was morning. Day one with out Christian and there were so many things that needed to be done. Before she went down to the department to meet with the detectives, Cassie had to inform Richie and Jade of the change in plans. No recording for the day, maybe not the next day either. Perhaps she could never help Jade finish recording the songs she wrote.

Shaking her head trying to dislodge the unwanted thoughts from her head, Cassie reached for the phone and called Jade. She would be happy Cassie was not forcing her to sing one verse ten different ways.

“Hello?” Jade asked from the other line.

Cassie could not say anything.

“Who is this?”

Cassie still did not respond.

“Look if this is some lame ass joke, it’s not funny. Do you know what time it is?” Jade asked getting frustrated.

“Jade,” Cassie said.

Cassie’s friend could tell something was not right. It had been a long time since Jade had heard Cassie sound so disenchanted with life.

“Cassie what’s wrong are you alright?”

“Yes… no, I… He’s gone,”

“Who’s gone, Christian?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, I told you he was a no good son-of-a…”

“He’s dead Jade,” Cassie interrupted.

Jade promptly shut up and tried to comprehend what Cassie said. She had never been Christian’s number one fan. In fact, Jade always begged Cassie to get rid of the man. Sure he could be somewhat charming when he wanted. But Jade could always see what Cassie tried to hide. For Jade, Christian was a no good piece of shit who hurt her friend and colleague on multiple occasions. That being said, she still would never wish him dead.

“Cassie, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, of course you are.” Cassie laughed coldly. She knew how Jade felt. The woman voiced her opinion at every opportunity. She always told Cassie that a relationship with Christian was not worth the amount of effort she put into it.

“I may not have liked the man, but I didn’t want him dead Cassie. I never understood why, but you loved him. Do you need me to come over?”

“No, thanks Jade. Can you call Richie and let him know I can’t come into the studio, so we’ll have to halt recording for a day or so.”

“Well, obviously Cassie. But I can still come over. I can bring food or something. Anything, I’ll do anything to help you out. You’re my best friend.”

“Unless you know how to bring the dead back to life, there’s nothing you can do. I have to get dressed. The detectives working on Christian’s murder need to talk to me. I have to go.”

“Wait, he was murdered?! Why would anyone want to murder him? He was a security specialist.” Jade asked in disbelief. Cassie never told anyone about Christian’s line of work. No one ever really asked.

“Yeah. Jade, I really have to go now. I’ll call you later.”

About an hour after her conversation with Jade, Cassie found herself standing in the hallway of the bustling police station. She was not lost; she just did not know where she was supposed to be. Looking around, she tried to find the detectives she spoke with the day before.

“Ms. Mitchell.”

Cassie turned her head at the sound of her name. She saw one of the detectives waving her over.

“Hi, I don’t remember your name Detective…” Cassie said.

“It’s Parker, Detective Parker. Why don’t you sit down in here where we can talk?” He held the door open and ushered Cassie into the room.

“Ms. Mitchell, how did you know Christian?” Detective Parker asked. The night before, he and his partner ran Christian’s name through the system, and nothing came up.

“He’s, he was, my boyfriend.”

“How long have you known him?”

“Eight years.”

“Did the two of you ever have any problems?”

“What couple doesn’t?” Cassie asked.

“When was the last time you saw Christian?”

“The night before he was killed. He came over to my apartment and we argued. I told him he either needed to stop lying to me or it was over, we were over.”

“What did he say to that?”

“He agreed. Then I left him standing in my living room and I went to bed. I never saw him after that,” Cassie began to break down.

“Ms. Mitchell, where were you yesterday?”

“What?” Cassie asked in disbelief. “You think I killed him?”

“Ms. Mitchell, please answer the question.”

“I was in the studio all day, from eight in the morning until around five.”

“Okay. Do you know why anyone would want to hurt Christian?”

“There are plenty of people who would want to hurt him. He knows too much.”

“What do you mean?”

Cassie was confused. She did not know whether or not she should tell the police or not. It would not hurt anything it could only help. But on the other hand, Cassie felt like she was betraying Christian. But can you betray a dead man?

“Ms. Mitchell, what do you mean he know too much?”

Cassie opened her mouth to speak. Instead of looking at the detective, she stared at the wall. “He never told me exactly what he did. Christian always had money; he always wanted to buy me expensive gifts. At first, I thought nothing of it. But I started to get suspicious. I started refusing his gifts. I didn’t know where he was getting them from and I didn’t ask. I never asked, about anything. The last time I saw him he was covered in blood… I didn’t know what he wanted me to do.”

“The night before he was killed he had blood on him?”

“Yeah, I thought he was hurt at first. But he wasn’t. I told him to keep that world out of mine.”

“What world?”

Cassie snapped out of her trance-like state and looked at the detective. “He was a hit man, killed people for money.”

Detective Parker was not expecting that. From what she described, he was thinking drug dealer; defiantly not a hit man. “Did he tell you this?”

Cassie shook her head, “but he never denied it either. He told me he stopped, he swore to me he stopped. Then he showed up at my apartment covered in someone else’s blood.”

“Why didn’t you call the police?”

“I don’t know.  He wouldn’t tell me what happened, so I told him it was over.”

“Did he ever mention anything about his employers?” Detective Parker asked hoping Cassie could give him a lead that would break the case.

“Never. I didn’t want to know.”

“Why did you stay with him?”

“I couldn’t leave; I couldn’t end it.”

“Did he threaten you?”

“No.”

“Did you feel like your life was in danger?”

“Christian would never hurt me.”

“Then why didn’t you leave?”

“I loved him, and I thought if he knew that he’d change. Get a normal job and live a normal life. I thought I could fix him, make everything better. But he wasn’t broken; that’s just who he was.”

Could we fix you if you broke?