A Promised Fate (32 page)

“Did you let the cat in the house?” Ava asked me.

“No. I locked the door. Remember?” A small row of
goosebumps dotted down my spine as the noise grew louder and more
panicked.

Ava reached the end of the hall and she screamed. Her
hand flew over Max’s eyes shielding him from whatever she had
seen.

“Oh, no!” She cried. “Ari! The cat!” Her fingers
trembled over Max’s face and her own.

“What?” I pushed ahead of them both, the bags dropped
from my arms and I stared with an open mouth at a blood-soaked
floor. “Ava, get in the car now! Lock the doors, call the
police.”

She grabbed Max and ran.

I scrambled for a towel in the laundry room and
carefully eased Fluff, covered in his own blood, into my arms. His
tail and one of his ears had been completely severed, the blood
around his face made it too difficult to see if he still an eye.
Our kitchen knife was tossed on the bloody ground. A furry,
bleeding black cat tail lay beside it. Written in our cat’s blood,
on our kitchen floor was 0804. Our alarm code.

The cat howled in pain. Still alive but just barely.
With him in my arms, I made it back to the car and sped of out the
driveway to the animal hospital. Ava was frantic on the phone,
shouting our address and begging for someone to come quick. Max
cried a loud billowy scream. His tiny kitten had been cruelly
attacked in the most perverse and malicious way. Blood was
everywhere and Max had seen it all.

“Mama…,” he whimpered.

Ava turned around to face him just in time for Max to
puke.

“This is Ari,” I scooped up the receiver before Lirik
could intercede.

“Hi, Ari, this is Dr. Kopecki at the animal
clinic.”

I had not slept soundly in what seemed like weeks.
None of us had. Max had not uttered a single word since throwing up
in his lap.

Fluff had been in critical condition for the first 48
hours after the attack. He had lost a lot of blood, he had lost his
tail and his right ear, and the veterinarian had had to remove his
left eye to fight infection. The gash that had been sliced across
his face had left that eye blind anyway, I was told.

“Tell me you have good news. We need some good
news.”

“Fluff's going to look a little strange, but he'll be
fine. He needs some time to heal and adjust. You can pick him today
if you’d like.”

A small amount of relief helped ease my tight
shoulder muscles. “I will. My family will be very happy to see
him.”

“Remember we close at six. But we can stay a bit if
you need us to.”

“I’m on my way.”

I set down the phone with a sigh and buzzed
reception. “Lirik?”

“I’m here, Ari.” She was already standing in my open
doorway in her same pencil skirt, high heels and long-sleeved silk
blouse. She must have that outfit in every color imaginable. She
was the only woman in the office with long sleeves when the
temperature was well above ninety degrees outside. She was the only
woman who worked in the fashion industry who owned just one style
of shoe.

“I’m leaving now. I have an appointment with the
security company in the morning. I may or may not be in the office
tomorrow. You can send calls to my cell and I’ll work from my home
office as much as I can. I’ll be in on Friday.”

“Okay.”

“Do I have any messages before I go?”

“No messages.”

“Nothing from Julia?”

“I’m sorry. She hasn’t returned your calls.”

“Have you tried Detective Scott?”

“L.A.P.D still won’t give me his personal
information. He isn’t listed in the phone book either.”

“Leave our information with the desk sergeant again
and ask him to forward it to Scott... Tell them it is Ava Alexander
- he'll call her back,” I said as I grabbed my keys and left the
office. I made it to the vet with some time to spare and picked
Fluff up in a small carrier along with a bottle of antibiotics.

“You’ll want to be very gentle with him. He’s
stitched up but still weak and healing.” Dr. Kopecki gave me a kind
smile.

“Thank you for your help.”

“Of course. That’s what we're here for. Do you have
any idea who may have done this? Animal abuse and cruelty is a
felony in California. Abuse is something I take very
seriously.”

“We don’t know who is responsible yet. We are trying.
The police are involved.”

The veterinarian was sick at the idea that someone
had purposely wounded this defenseless animal. We all were. I had
never had so much hate buzzing through my veins at one time.

“Will you keep us updated on Fluff’s progress? If you
have any questions, don’t hesitate to call.”

“I will and thank you.”

Fluff gave one tiny mew on the ride to my parent’s
house.

Ava and my mom were in the kitchen at the island. Max
sat on the floor in a pile of Legos. We had been at my parents'
house all week. In good conscience, I couldn’t allow Ava or Max in
our home until all the security was updated. We were being watched.
Terrorized and hunted.

“I have Fluff.” Gently, I held up the carrier and Max
turned to look up at me. Unlocking the crate’s door, I eased the
kitty onto my palm and sat him on the floor next to Max. My eyes
were dry and itchy and I resisted the urge to rub them raw. “Here
you go. Be soft, okay?” I took Max’s finger and helped him stroke
Fluff behind his neck. The cat arched his back with Max’s touch and
gave a soft vibrating purr.

“Hi, Baby.” My lips pressed into Ava’s round cheek
and then I washed cat fur from my hands at the sink.

“Hey, Ma.”

“Ari, dinner is in ten – grab your father. He’s in
the study.”

“Sure…”

We have very few house rules. One is not to use the
word
hate
. Two is not to bother my father when he's in the
study unless mom says otherwise.

Feeling like I was a kid again, I hesitated outside
the office door. I could tell he was on the phone, but didn’t
listen to what he was saying. I knocked when he ended the call.

“Uh, hey Dad – it’s just me.” I said from behind the
closed door. “Ma said it’s time for dinner.”

“Ari, come in, I would like to talk with you for a
minute.”

Pushing open the door, I walked in and stood in front
of his desk. I had never been comfortable in this space. Never
welcome unless I had Ava beside me. My relationship with my father
was vastly different from the one I had with my mother.

“Have a seat.”

“Sure.”

“Are you doing alright?” He asked after I sat down.
“You haven’t said much since you’ve been staying here.”

“I’m fine. I’m eager to be home. The new security
company comes tomorrow so we can all go home after that.”

“Ava seems very upset.”

“Do you blame her? I changed the alarm code and Ava's
the only person I gave the new digits to. The person I spoke to at
the alarm company said the intruder used the correct code on their
first attempt. How in the hell did they find out? What kind of a
person would do that to an animal?”

He didn’t look at me. “It won’t happen again.”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t…” He still wouldn’t look at me. He just
twirled his wedding band around his finger. Around and around and
around. “What are the police saying?”

“Detective Bryant is taking the situation a little
more seriously but they don’t know anything more than they did
before. We haven't been able to talk to Scott.”

“That won’t happen again, Ari.” He said again.

“How do you know?”

“I don’t,” he said again, shrugged and stood up for
dinner. “I know you are upset. Just remember, I am on your side. I
will help you and Ava anyway that I can.”

We all ate in silence for the third night in a row
and after dinner, Ava sat at the piano. My mom smiled at the sound
of her first stroke on the keys. Max and I could listen to her play
all night.

Ava played complex and beautiful songs I didn’t know,
Max sat on the living room floor with the cat on his lap and I
sneezed every few minutes on the bench beside her.

At eight thirty, my mom’s tea kettle whistled. I
could set my watch to it. Every evening for as long as I can
remember, my mother has made tea at eight thirty and taken two cups
to my dad’s study. It is their time each day to talk alone.

Ava yawned mid-song, stopped playing, closed the
piano lid and turned to me. “Ari, I’m tired.”

“I’ll take you to bed.”

“No. I am tired of all of this. I don’t want to live
this way. I don’t want to be scared, I don’t want to have to fight
for our right to happiness. I want this to be over, I want to go
home. Who is doing this to us?”

“I don’t know. But I am going to find out. I won’t
rest until I do.”

They slept together, the two of them, Max and Ava
snuggled in tight under the blankets, keeping each other warm and
safe. I watched them like a dog on guard duty.

****

“All done...” A tall, thin man from the new security
company stood outside the doorway of my home office. “When you're
ready, I can show you how to access the system.”

“I’m ready now.” I stood and followed him to the new
access panel; a high-tech touch- screen device that had been
mounted to my wall and showed surveillance of the outside and
inside of our home.

“You will have 24-hour video surveillance of every
room in the home including the garage and the pool house as well as
of the entire perimeter of your yard. The video is high-definition
and in color so you should have a clear image of anyone who tries
to gain access to your property. You can view your home live
through any computer via our website – we'll give you access to the
codes and links. No one else can penetrate the system. You can also
view everything through an application on your phone and any tablet
and also on your televisions here at home. Video surveillance can
be disabled in any room at any time for discretion and privacy by
using your access code.”

A map of our house was glowing on the wall mount and
he selected room number 5, the baby’s room. “Here is an example of
the technology we have.” The baby’s room came into full view and he
zoomed in on every corner, the closet and the crib. “We have left
no corner untouched. This is very high-tech gear, the best
available today. We use voice recognition to disarm the alarm. All
you have to do is say your code clearly into the system and the
code will disengage. If someone else attempts to disarm the alarm
code and the system does not recognize the voice, the alarm will
sound here at your home, but also on your cell phones and computers
where the application is downloaded and then at our headquarters
and police will be notified. If they don’t have your voice, then
they can’t have access – it’s that simple. Securacare is really the
best choice, Mr. Alexander. Your family is safe with us.”

“Thank you.”

“I disabled your existing cameras – they were out of
date anyway and you won’t be needing them with our system. I hope
that was okay.”

My whole body lurched forward with a sickening,
head-spinning confusion and fear. “I beg your pardon.
Existing
cameras?”

“Yeah, one in each room. But like I said, the quality
was poor, ours are much better.”

“We didn’t have cameras.”

“You did,” he nodded “and some kind of sound device –
microphones were running through your speaker system. I disabled
that too. I am surprised that you kept it running for so long, I am
sure you'll find that with it gone, your sound quality will
improve.”

“We didn’t have that installed.”

“Perhaps it was a previous owner then. How long have
you owned the home?”

“No, they didn’t have a security system. I checked
when I bought the house – over a year ago.”

“I’m sorry, Sir, but yes, you did.” He handed me the
bill. “If you have questions, here is my card with my direct line
and also our eight hundred number. I left a brochure on the counter
with our frequently asked questions. You and your wife should
record your voices today. You cannot access the system without your
voice. The sooner you are up and going, the safer you will be.”

We were bugged. They had been watching us in the most
private rooms of our home. We weren’t safe.

“I’m back. Any messages?” Returning from an afternoon
meeting, I brushed past Lirik on my way into my office.

“No messages but a package came for you while you
were out.” Lirik pointed to a large decorative basket filled with
Yummy Yum
chocolates and candies. I stopped and smiled at
the thought of Ava. “There is an envelope attached, do you want me
to open it for you?”

“No.” I pulled the tape from the envelope addressed
to me in pretty, cursive writing. The envelope held the tickets for
the charity dinner and a heavy cardstock note with
House to
Home’s
logo embedded in golden scripted letters.

Flipping the card over, it read in fresh printer ink,
“Dear Mr. Alexander, The staff at
House to Home
, the
children, and the community would like to thank you for your
generous donation. We eagerly look forward to seeing you at the
black tie dinner hosted by
House to Home
on the evening of
Saturday, October the fifth, at seven o’clock. Drinks will be
followed by dinner, a silent auction, dancing and door prizes.”

The charity’s mission statement was scripted across
the bottom and then a handwritten, personal note from Ava was just
below that.

“Love you, xo, Yours.”

Mine
. My thumb brushed against her
writing.

“Are those tickers to the fundraiser dinner?” Lirik
chirped.

“They are. I held back a table for my staff. If
you're free that evening, you're welcome to join us. It should be a
fun night.”