Aged 32 during the events of '' Pattern Recognition '' , Cayce lives in New York City . Though named by her parents after Edgar Cayce , she pronounces her given name " Case " . She is a freelance marketing consultant , a coolhunter with an unusual intuitive sensitivity for branding , manifested primarily in her physical aversion to particular logos and corporate mascots . A notable exception to her ability to immediately discern semiotic content in imagery is the succession of images of the September 11 attacks in 2001 , for her " an experience outside culture " . The attacks had added significance to Cayce 's backstory in that they encompassed the disappearance of her father , Win , which in turn impelled her mother , Cynthia , to exploring electronic voice phenomena as her own means of divining patterns in the background static . Cayce is left feeling " ungrieved " for her father until she reviews footage and records of that day tracking his movements until he vanishes
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Cayce Pollard