Chapter Seventeen
Now
I was fast asleep when my phone blasted me awake.
The device vibrated, vigorously rattling on the bedside table like it was trying to wriggle out of its protective case. Alternating high- and low-pitched beeps blared into my ears.
“What the—” Still half out of it, I fumbled around the bedside table, feeling for my phone. I knocked something onto the carpet. It was the pepper spray Nasser had gotten me. I slept with it by my bed every night.
I always silenced my phone before I went to sleep, so why was it making that unnerving noise? My fingertips finally brushed cool metal. My phone. I grabbed it and squinted at the screen, my eyes trying to adjust to the light. The phone flashed the time. One twenty a.m.
Below the time stamp, a message pulsed in glaring red. As my vision cleared, I saw the warning was coming from the home security system. My heart slamming, I tapped repeatedly on the app to see what was happening. The alert buzzed, pulsing in capitalized letters.
Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!
I shot up to a sitting position. Adrenaline blasted through my veins.
Instantly awake, I scrutinized my phone for more information.
It took a moment to figure out what I was looking at.
One of the window sensors that Nasser installed had triggered.
I forced myself to calm down enough to study the diagram to see which one.
The window in the garage. One I’d never used and barely noticed.
Had it been locked? I never checked that window.
At least the intruder wasn’t in the house. Yet. I always double-checked and double-locked the door that led to the garage. Anyone trying to break in from the garage wouldn’t easily access the house. My phone rang.
“Hello?” I whispered.
“Mrs. Abadi, this is First Shield Security calling; we have information that suggests an intruder has opened the window in your garage.”
“What do I do now?” I whispered into the phone, relieved that I was no longer completely on my own.
“Secure yourself in an upstairs room with the door locked. The police are already on the way.”
“OK. Thank you.” I leaped out of bed to make sure the bolt Nasser had installed for me was firmly in place. “Now what?”
“Stay on the line with me,” the security company agent said. “The police are six minutes away.”
“Six minutes?” That sounded like an eternity.
I closed my eyes and forced deep breaths.
The entire situation felt surreal, like it was happening to someone else.
I scrambled back to the bedside to snatch the pepper spray off the carpet.
I clutched the small canister to my chest. If confronted, I wouldn’t hesitate to use it.
“Are you still there?” The reassuring voice on the line calmed me a little.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I’m here.” Standing by my locked bedroom door, I strained to hear sounds of someone breaking into the house.
But it was eerily silent. Until the house crackled, the floor settling somewhere.
Or was it footsteps? Goose bumps prickled my skin.
Where was the stranger? What did he want?
More importantly, where the hell were the police?
“How much longer?” I whispered into the phone.
“They are two minutes away,” she said. “Help is almost there.”
I peeked through the curtains, watching the street for police vehicles. It seemed like forever, but a cruiser finally turned onto my street and came to a stop in front of my house.
“They’re here.” Relief whooshed through me, loosening my tense muscles.
“Hold tight while they secure the perimeter.” A few minutes later, the security lady told me it was safe to come out of my room and meet with the officers. I joined them in the garage.
“What did they want?” I asked, surveying the garage to see if anything looked disturbed.
Not that it would be easy to tell. The place was its usual mess, littered with old bikes, sleds, dusty lawn equipment, and other old stuff that the slight pack rat in me wasn’t quite ready to throw away—in case I might need it in the future.
“It’s hard to tell.” Taking in the disarray around him, the officer probably wondered the same thing. “You have a security system, is that right?”
I nodded, wrapping my arms around myself. Shivering even though I wasn’t cold, I showed him the app on my phone. We studied the camera views together. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one aimed at the side of the garage. It never occurred to me that someone would try to come in that window.
“Can you tell if anything is missing?” the officer asked.
“Lots could be gone and I’d never know it,” I admitted. “There’s really nothing in this garage that’s worth anything except the cars.”
“We have had some incidents lately with teenagers breaking into cars and stealing items.”
I checked the van, and it looked the same as when I’d last driven it. But the glove compartment in Ali’s Honda was open, and the documents normally stored inside, the registration and car manual, were strewn on the floor of the passenger’s side.
“Must be the kids again.” The officer seemed convinced he’d cracked the case. “Did they take anything?”
I bit my lip. “Not that I can tell.”
But the incident didn’t strike me as a random break-in perpetuated by delinquent teenagers.
Only Ali’s car was tampered with, making the intrusion feel targeted.
First someone had ransacked Ali’s home office and now his car.
What did Ali have that they wanted badly enough to break in not once but twice? How far would they go to get it?
Could it be related to Cozy Glenn? It was obvious that someone out there didn’t want me to know what the deal was with that house. Maybe they thought Ali kept papers related to Cozy Glenn at home or in his car. Jake had asked for Ali’s business papers too. Was that somehow related?
I told the officer about the previous break-in, and he conscientiously took detailed notes and promised to update me if they developed any leads. After the police left, I quickly locked up and scurried back to the safety of my bedroom.
I hated feeling unsafe in my own home. A place that had always been a sanctuary for me. I’d spent hours over the years choosing the right paint colors, furniture, and decor to make it the perfect home for me and my family. I took a lot of pride in the life that I’d made here with Ali and the kids.
But now, instead of feeling like my safe place, the house felt big and empty and scary. These days, I was always relieved whenever someone, like Lulu, Nasser, or Claudia, popped by so that I wasn’t alone.
It took me a long time to fall asleep. I was too wired and couldn’t call Lulu or Nasser. I didn’t want to wake them up. Besides, they’d insist that I go stay somewhere else. But I still hated the idea of leaving the house.
Despite everything, while the world shifted around me, I continued to feel more grounded in the home where I’d lived with Ali and our family than anywhere else.
The happiest times of my life had happened here.
Besides, I’d already physically lost Ali.
And now I faced losing the idea of who I thought he was.
This house felt like one of the last touchstones left of my former life.
As I lay in bed, a million thoughts raced through my mind as unease trembled through me.
The house had been broken into for a second time, and I still didn’t know why.
Giving in and going to Lulu’s was tempting.
I’d feel much more protected there. It was clear now that Ali had been my security blanket and that, on some level, I’d been living in fear since he died.
I’d found certainty in my roles of wife and mother. My identity was tied to being something to someone—wife to Ali, mother to Ayla and Adam—rather than a woman in my own right. The truth was that I’d been very reliant on my husband and was terrified of living the rest of my life without him.
Moving in with Lulu would be like admitting I couldn’t make it on my own.
That left me with no choice. I had to stay put.
When I finally started to drift off, it was almost daylight.
I felt secure in my decision. At least the new security system had kept me safe.
It was comforting to know that a real live person somewhere out there was monitoring my house.
Whoever the intruder was, he now knew I had a surveillance system.
Maybe that would deter him. If not, I always had the pepper spray within reach.
But what if that wasn’t enough?
“You look like hell,” Lulu said that afternoon when she met me at the animal shelter in Falls Church.
“Gee.” I suppressed a yawn after a fraught night with little sleep. “Thanks.”
I still hadn’t told her or Nasser about last night. If they discovered the truth, they’d pressure me to stay with my sister or a friend. But, even in the bright light of day, my feelings about leaving my house hadn’t changed.
“I guess you’re not sleeping well?” Lulu asked.
“Nope.” I knuckled my tired eyes. “That’s why we’re here.”
Her eyes widened when she realized what I was saying. “You’re getting a dog?”
“You guessed it.”
“You said you’d never get another dog after Hummus died.”
“My circumstances have changed.”
Ali and I had adopted Hummus, an adorable mixed breed, from a shelter when the kids were young. I’d grown up with dogs, but Ali had never had a pup and was eager to get one. We all loved Hummus, and the kids were devastated when he died of canine distemper when they were in elementary school.
We entered the kennel where shelter dogs available for adoption were kept. Excited barking and yelping echoed off the cement walls. Lulu pointed to a fluffy little black dog hiding in the corner of its pen.
“That one’s cute.”
“I’m not looking for cute.” I kept moving. “Cute and fluffy isn’t going to scare anyone.”
“Hmm.” She followed me, looking at the caged animals as we walked. “So, what you’re looking for is a guard dog. There are lots of pit bulls. They can be vicious.”