Catherine Michelle Higgins

Gary Portelli was kind enough to rent her a room in his house. Gary has agreed to hold off asking for her first rent payment until she gets her first paycheck.

Within a week of arriving in Teal Cove, she got a job working as a carhop for Speedy's Drive-In Restaurant. She works there 20 hours a week making minimum wage ($3.35 an hour), plus any tips she can make. While working there she must wear a uniform consisting of blue satin short shorts with yellow trim around the edges, a white tee shirt (tied up to expose her midriff) with the Speedy's logo in blue and yellow on the chest, a pair of nude hose, a pair of white tube socks with blue and yellow stripes, and a pair of white roller skates. Her new employer agreed to advance her enough money to cover the cost of the uniform, but that amount (about $40) will be deducted from her first paycheck, which she expects to receive on the Friday after completing her first work week.

Photography: This is something she's good at and that she enjoys. She also knows how to develop her own pictures if she has access to a darkroom.
Art: She's skilled at both drawing and painting.
Music: She learned to play the harp in her high school orchestra.
Dancing: Mainly disco and ballroom dancing. She can also do ballet and square dancing, though she doesn't have much interest in these.
Fitness: She knows aerobics well enough to teach classes.
Cooking: She's a pretty good cook, as long as it's not too fancy.
Sewing: She can do basic sewing by hand or with a machine; just don't ask for anything too complicated.
Transportation: She has her driver's license, and knows how to drive both manual and automatic transmission cars. She can also ride a bike, roller skate, and skateboard. She knows how to swim.
Games: She's great at playing Ms. Pac-Man. She's also good at the original Pac-Man, and does okay at Asteroids. She's quite good at shooting pool. She's average at throwing darts. She likes the UNO card game.
Office skills: She can type, use a Rolodex, file things in a cabinet, and use a phone. She can't use a computer, though.

Academics: Let's face it, she didn't do very well in school. Math and science in particular seem to be difficult for her.
Technology: She can play games on an Atari 2600 and use a basic calculator, but don't expect her to know anything about computers beyond that. She has no idea how to work on a car or fix mechanical things.
Music: Trust me, you don't want to hear her sing.
Athletics: She's physically fit and has endurance, but she's not particularly strong or fast. She doesn't really have much experience with or interest in team sports. She couldn't tell you the difference between a touchdown and a home run.
Games: She's not very good at playing pinball machines. She doesn't know how to play chess or backgammon. She can play checkers, but is not very good at it. She has a basic knowledge of how poker works, but she has trouble remembering what hands beat what, at least when it comes to hands higher than a full house. She knows how to play a few other card games like blackjack and gin rummy, but she doesn't know how to play bridge. She's not very good at bowling.
Transportation: She doesn't know how to pilot an aircraft. She's never ridden a motorcycle or motor scooter. She's never been on a horse. She's never piloted a boat or rode a jet ski.
Phobia: She's afraid of heights. Well, it's really falling that she's afraid of, not heights per se. She's fine in a flying airplane or in the upper stories of an enclosed building, but being near a drop-off like a cliff or the edge of a balcony makes her very nervous, even if there is a railing present. She would not willingly try skydiving, zip lining, mountain climbing, etc.
Squeamish: She doesn't like creepy crawly things like bugs, spiders, and snakes. She's grossed out by the sight of blood, guts, manure, slime, vomit, etc. She doesn't like getting muddy or dirty.
Fighting: She doesn't have any martial arts training. She knows how to punch someone or kick someone in the shin or in the crotch, but that's about it as far as fighting skill goes. She doesn't have any training on how to use guns or other weapons.
Poverty: When she arrived in Teal Cove, she had no credit card, no checkbook, no access to her bank account back in Pittsburgh, and a total of $12.86 in cash in her purse. Her entire wardrobe consisted of a single dress, a pair of high-heeled platform sandals, a pair of pantyhose, a pair of panties, a bra, and an aerobics outfit consisting of a black leotard, a pair of red leg warmers, a red terrycloth headband, and a pair of red sweatbands for her wrists. Aside from that, she owned her car and a camera bag containing her camera and photography equipment.

She ran away from Pittsburgh to escape her then-boyfriend, who she had just discovered was a drug dealer and a murderer. He may or may not be looking for her.

Her ex-boyfriend left a gym bag in the trunk of her car, and inside are a couple of kilos of cocaine and a floppy disk that has contact information for his cocaine suppliers. She hadn't looked in the gym bag as of her arrival in Teal Cove, and so she didn't know what was there.

She has in her possession a roll of film containing pictures of her ex-boyfriend fighting with another man and stabbing the other man to death.