The Bathtub

Epilogue: The Letter

The following letter was found in the home of Cassie Lingle at the time of her death on October 12, 2004. Cassie Lingle addressed the letter to me for some unknown reason. The letter was placed in the file of one Lucy Reaf and closed her case.

April 22, 2004

Dear Justine,

I write this knowing I am dying of colon cancer. The doctor has given me only about six months at this time. I thought it best to leave with things tidied up.

As you probably suspect I am responsible for the death of Lucy Reaf. I am not sorry for my hand in her death. As you will see she openly pursued my husband fully knowing he was married.

I suspected his infidelity for about a year. But it was confirmed in the most peculiar and opportune manner. I was shopping at Belk's one day and happened to be in the dressing room when I overheard two young ladies gossiping. One of those young ladies happened to be Lucy Reaf. I heard her brag about sleeping with my husband behind my back. She described things about him"¦intimate things. These were things only I was suppose to know about. I almost confronted her there, but my better judgment kept me from doing that.

I went home and acted like nothing ever transpired in front of Sean. He never suspected that I knew about his sad little tryst. After a while, I thought that he seemed more pathetic than anything else. I started spying on them on occasion just so I knew what they were doing on a regular basis. Frankly they didn't do anything really exciting considering they were conducting an illicit affair.

But, one day I was at the dentist and I noticed that he and his assistants used these rubber gloves; you know to keep things sanitary. I took several pair them without anyone noticing. I kept them hidden in my makeup drawer. Sean never looked in there anyway.

He was leaving me. Not literally, but emotionally he was leaving our marriage. He had already broken our contract with that little slut. But now he didn't even pretend. Sean went out every night to be with her. Most nights he didn't even come home anymore. And he stopped bothering to make excuses from his absences. He was starting to rub it in my face. What was he going to do next"¦introduce her to all of our friends? Or had he already done it? The rage that came over me from this treatment burned through me slowly over the course of six months.

I thought that surely she would just give up. Sean wasn't going to marry her. If he divorced me I would take him for everything. I knew she had money, but what woman what's to support a man financially.
Then after the first six months came another six months. I didn't know how much more of this embarrassment I could take. I mean they had been at it for two years with no sign of stopping.

And one I watched a movie about Lizzie Bordon. The movie went into a theory about how she killed her father and stepmother in the nude. That way there was no evidence. The more a thought about killing Lucy, the better it sounded at the time. Her death became an obsession for me. I have to admit that subconsciously I had to have thought about it for a while.

So I began to formulate various scenarios over the next few months until I came one I liked. Lucy didn't to my knowledge know what I looked like, so that would play to my advantage. The route to Lucy's house was etched into my brain. I could get to on foot, which would not attach too much attention in our area of town. My plan was quite simple. I would walk over to Lucy's house with the gloves I had purloined from my dentist in my pocket. I would knock on her door and solicit her from some charity that is always in need of funds and gain access to the house. Once inside the house I would somehow retrieve one her knives from the kitchen, by using the ruse of needing to go to the bathroom. Once in the bathroom with the knife, I would disrobe, put one the gloves, and kill her. Then I would cleanup. Wipe any fingerprints I left and leave with the gloves. I would then dispose of the gloves on the way to my home.

My plan worked amazingly well. She was unprepared for any sort attack. I arrived at her door in record time. There was nobody around at that time of day other than her, because she didn't work. I knocked on her door and told her I was collecting money for the Firefighters Annual School Fund. It was something I had made up. She was more than happy to let me in and get me some ice tea. We sat and chatted. I was so calm. Like this was meant to be. I asked her if I could use her powder room. She was more than happy to let me use it. Then the telephone rang and that was enough to distract her while I went into the kitchen and carefully obtained one of her steak knives. I went to her powder room and took off my clothing. I used one of her towels to wipe the knife clean. Then I put on a pair of the gloves and walked into the living room. She was standing with her back to me talking on the phone. When she finished her conversation, she hung up the phone and turned around to fact me.

The look of shock on her face was amazing. I can honestly say I have never felt I rush like I felt when I confronted her. I politely inquired if she liked fucking my husband. My nudity completely stunned her. She was standing there with her mouth open like a fish when I walked up and punched her. She didn't fall. Lucy turned, ran and started screaming. I started chasing her through out the house. I was like a demon possessed. This had to be finished. Lucy made to her bedroom and tried to shut the door, but I was pumped up and pushed my through. I can still hear her screams. She ran into her bathroom from cover. But nowhere was safe from me. In a last ditch effort she tried to get behind her tub. However, I had her corned and I kept stabbing and stabbing. There was some much screaming. When I stopped stabbing I realized it was I screaming.

I stood back to look at my work and I drove the knife into her chest. I took off the gloves I had on and dropped them at my feet. I went over to the sink and began to wash all over her blood off me. I made sure none of her blood was on my body. I dried myself off with toilet paper and flushed it down the toilet. I then took some toilet paper and wipe off every surface in the bathroom I had touched. Once that was done, I put on my clothing and wiped off every surface I touched during our "tea party". I gathered the bloody rubber gloves in a ball and wrapped them in another glove. I exited her home from the back door unseen. I had my hair covered with a baseball cap. I doubt anyone knew it was I from any other woman at distance. I dumped the wadded up ball, that contained the gloves in a nearby dumpster. I went home and took a hot bath.

I don't regret killing her. I regret letting my marriage go. I regret waiting so long to do something about it. I can't go to hell for it; because I am already there.

Thank you for taking being a good neighbor all of these years.

Yours,

Cassie Goodleigh Lingle