The Simpatico Series Box Set (3 books in 1)

by Dermot Davis

  “You know what, forget it,” Lily said, sensing their discord. “I can go hungry for one night. You guys have really helped out, though. Thank you.”

  “No problem, Lily, you relax and we won’t be far away,” Andrew said. “I’ve got some news,” he then said to Fiona as they walked towards the kitchen. “You think he’d be okay with us making some coffee?” he asked, looking around the kitchen.

  “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind,” Fiona said, sitting on a stool. “What’s your news?”

  “Uh, I had this talk with Abigail,” he said, sorting in his mind the right order to present the conversation.

  “Abigail, huh?” she said, like they were now on first name terms. “Did she bust your balls for kidnapping her and taking her to an undisclosed location?”

  “No, strangely enough, she didn’t. And I wasn’t going to mention it. She may have outwitted us both, actually,” he then said upon further consideration.

  “Include me out of that equation, Einstein,” Fiona said. “It was all you.”

  “Yeah, well, she may have outwitted me, then,” he said, checking the cupboards.

  “And?” Fiona asked impatiently. “You laid down your demands that you wanted to leave the company?”

  “Uh, yeah, I did.”

  “And?”

  “And she opened the door and told me that I could walk.”

  “Shut up!” Fiona said, ecstatically. “Your plan worked?” she asked, stepping off the stool and raising her hand for a high-five. “Give me five, genius!”

  “I didn’t walk,” he said, wondering now if he had totally messed up.

  “What do you mean, you didn’t walk?” Fiona asked, totally baffled. “Isn’t that what the whole kidnapping was about? Isn’t that what you want? I don’t understand?”

  “I don’t think she was being serious,” he then said, saving face. “She was playing mind games with me. Yeah, she looks like a harmless, little old lady but she’s top brass and she didn’t get there by playing nice, trust me.”

  “What?” Fiona asked, her mouth left open with a mixture of shock and bewilderment.

  “She offered me a job; a huge, huge opportunity. You won’t believe me when I tell you where I’m going to be living,” he said with a wide grin. When he turned around, however, Fiona had left the kitchen. “Fiona?” he called.

  Finding her sitting in the front room on a sofa with her arms and legs crossed, Andrew sat delicately beside her. “I’m confused,” he then said, coming clean.

  “Obviously,” Fiona said, not turning her head to look at him.

  “I don’t know who or what to believe anymore,” he said softly. “Your father was telling me one thing and turns out they had him identified as a liar, a member of a rogue group within the organization. I shouldn’t be telling you this, I guess,” he then said, gently, turning his body around to face the front. “One minute I think that they are evil incarnate and the next they’re telling me that they want to good in the world by making their employees blissfully happy and cleaning up the earth’s oceans and shit; it’s as confusing as all get out. I can leave, no I can’t leave…” he said, clearly sounding perplexed and torn.

  Fiona sat still, looking doggedly ahead, her body position closed off to him.

  “Look, she gave me the option to leave and I figured, hey, let’s hear her out; hear what she has to say and if I don’t like it I can always leave at another time. She said that I can leave any time I want,” he said reasonably. “She’s Professor Dowling’s wife, that’s got to count for something, right?” he asked and then paused. “Wanna hear what she offered me?” he then asked, like he had a surprise.

  Turning her face slowly to look at him, she managed a smile. “There’s more?”

  “Ask me where I’m going to be living.”

  “Where?” she asked, not sounding terribly interested.

  “They gave me a new house, well, not a new house, new to me.”

  “Where?” she asked like her patience was wearing thin.

  “Your place. Your father’s house,” he said like he was expecting a greater reaction than one of complete surprise. “Your father doesn’t own the house: they do. They gave it to me. Just like that.”

  Unable to speak or move her body, Fiona sat staring at him in complete and utter shock.

  Chapter 20

  Escorted through the house and grounds of the Palisades property by a slick-talking real estate professional, Andrew listened to every word with excitement while Fiona found it hard not to roll her eyes in disgust and horror every two seconds. “Right through here we have the first of two indoor hot tubs and, of course, you’ve got the outdoor hot tub as an adjunct to the year-round heated swimming pool,” the man said quickly and smoothly.

  “As an adjunct,” Andrew whispered to Fiona while Fiona actually did roll her eyes.

  “In here we have the screening room; ideal for those quiet nights indoors where you can relax in comfort and style while watching the film of your choice. Complete with a wall-to-wall screen, a choice of digital and film projector, it boasts an array of concession-stand goodies like a built-in popcorn maker, espresso coffee machine, and soft ice-cream dispenser.

  “You had a movie screening room all this time and never told me or invited me to watch a film?” Andrew whispered to Fiona. “Two indoor hot tubs and we never soaked once?”

  “Would you excuse us just one second?” Fiona asked the real estate professional as she grabbed her boyfriend by his jacket lapels and pushed him into an adjoining bathroom. “What is going on here?” she asked, looking like she was fit to be tied. “Do you mind telling me why I have to sit through a totally sleazy real estate tour of my own home?”

  “Fiona, I told you, this is routine procedure. It’s a formality. They have to do this so they can sign off on the legal documents. I’ve a bunch of forms to sign before they hand the place over. Besides, technically, this is not your house anymore.” The shock in Fiona’s eyes took him by surprise. “I mean, of course it’s your home; it’s just that we’re changing name from your dad’s to mine; it’s a technicality.”

  “In that case, I’m going to the room that used to be my room. Enjoy the tour of your new house,” she said as she took off.

  Andrew did actually enjoy the rest of the tour. Cruising through the gym and the wine cellar and the garage with the three luxury cars looking like they were brand spanking new, Andrew pretty much felt that he had died and gone to heaven. He didn’t even have the documents looked over by a lawyer as he signed in all the right places and shook the hand of the agent as he was handed a huge bunch of keys.

  Fiona watched Andrew from her bedroom window as he wandered around the grounds, checking out the tennis court and the outdoor pool. He had such a huge grin on his face, she knew that to say anything negative might ruin his experience. Everything was happening so quickly and she had no idea what to make of all the developments. Was it a good thing that Andrew was now master of the house?

  Would they live there together like husband and wife? Or now that Andrew was going places in the world, would he replace her with someone new? Maybe a member of the organization and the order? Someone cute and hip like Lily, perhaps? Unsure of her place with Andrew, she considered to herself that he never once had mentioned marriage to her. In fairness, his life had been so topsy-turvy this past while, no doubt just the thought of planning a wedding would be well down on the list of his priorities, but still…

  He did mention that they would have a story to tell the grandkids but that’s more a turn of phrase and couldn’t be considered a serious proposal, that he meant to make an honest woman of her, could it? Then again, suppose they were to get married, would they be truly happy or would Andrew turn into such an intolerable jackass that she’d wake up one morning to discover that she couldn’t actually stand to be with him, after all?

  In actual fact, the way that things were shaping up for them, she could almost see their future. It didn’t take much imagin
ation to see the career trajectory that Andrew was choosing for himself. She was old enough to realize that nothing comes free or easy in this world and by granting Andrew the temporary ownership of the house, the organization expected an equally large payback in return. Andrew would be expected to work more or less around the clock, twenty-four seven, just as her father always had. He would be expected to follow orders, to the letter, even if he didn’t particularly agree with those instructions. If they didn’t own him before, then they certainly owned him now.

  Feeling a sadness overcome her, she saw her future life flash before her. Left alone and lonely in an empty house to amuse herself while she patiently waited for her man to come home, only to tell her that he was too tired or it was too late for them to spend time together, she would wonder what kind of life she had chosen for herself. She could imagine no other life with Andrew than the one that she could see so clearly in her mind’s eye. Just like with her father, she would bump into Andrew in the kitchen as she grabbed a late-night snack.

  Not only would he have to work like a maniac to pay the lawyers back for their expensive services but now he would have to work harder, commensurate with the material rewards that the organization had bestowed upon him. Failure to follow their orders meant the risk of financial ruin as well as the threat that the very shelter over his head could be pulled away in an instant. The organization was making sure that Andrew needed them more than they needed him. They may have given him his fantasy but, in exchange, they were demanding his very own soul.

  “Say hello to the new owner of Wuthering Heights, Miss Catherine,” Andrew said jokingly as he stood inside the door while holding the massive bunch of keys in the air.

  “I wouldn’t gloat like that when we go to visit my father, if I were you,” Fiona replied, changing her clothes.

  “Oh, yeah, is that today?” he asked.

  “You don’t have to go,” she said, giving him an out.

  “No, I’ll come. I forgot, that’s all. A bit preoccupied with owning my own house!” he said, like he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

  Dressed in a designer suit worth a small fortune and driving the Mercedes convertible for the very first time, with the top down, Andrew drove Fiona to visit her father in the California State Prison of Los Angeles County. Familiar with the institution from his first-hand experience, he walked through security gates and the lines of other visitors like he was untouchable.

  With a grin that he forced himself to hide from Fiona, he actually looked forward to seeing the expression on Simon’s face when the man walked from his miserable cell and into the visiting room where Andrew would be sitting with his daughter. In full proprietorship of Simon’s job, along with the keys to his very own house, the pain to Simon’s heart would be immense. The shoe was on the other foot, he’d like to tell the older man, although it was very self-evident.

  In complete contrast to Andrew’s buoyant mood, Fiona sat upon a bench with Andrew in the noisy and filthy visiting room with a look of severe consternation on her face. Willing herself to hold it together, for the sake of her father, she forced her rigid body to sit up straight and demanded her quivering lips to cease their tremors and form a friendly and supportive-looking smile on her face.

  When she saw her father being led out from the prison side of the visiting room along with a line of other criminals and reprobates, Fiona well-nigh lost it. With long, unkempt hair and the beginnings of a beard, Simon barely resembled the well-dressed, clean-cut man she had known all of her young life. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, his sad eyes remained emotionless as he was directed to sit opposite the pair.

  “Daddy, are you okay?” Fiona asked straight away.

  “Why? Do I look like a prisoner?” he asked coldly, his steel-hard eyes looking at Andrew with absolute contempt.

  “I didn’t know what to bring you,” Fiona said, trying to hold it together. “Andrew said that you might like some postage stamps,” she said, producing sheet and sheets of regular mail postage stamps.

  “Thank you, sweetheart,” Simon said without any enthusiasm. “That’s thoughtful.”

  “Are they treating you okay?” Fiona asked, struggling to ask appropriate questions.

  “Yes, sweetie,” Simona answered, like he was treating an idiotic question as if it were a reasonable one. “The staff and the other inmates are very nice.”

  “And the food?” she asked.

  “Every day is something new,” he answered.

  “Excuse me, I’ll be right back,” Fiona said, jumping up before her tears began to explode. “I have to… bathroom,” she said and left quickly.

  Simon took a cold hard look at Andrew and appeared like he could easily stare him down, if that was the game that Andrew wanted to play. As Andrew was the first to look away, Simon smirked, like he hadn’t totally lost it. “You had something to do with this?” Simon asked.

  Unwilling to even give Simon the satisfaction of an answer, Andrew merely grinned.

  “As soon as I get out of here, I’ll be coming for you, you know that, don’t you?” Simon asked with a steely resolve.

  “I wouldn’t hold my breath about getting out of here real soon, if I were you,” Andrew answered. “You haven’t asked yourself why those high-priced company lawyers aren’t taking your case?” Andrew asked and smiled when he saw the look of doubt flash before Simon’s eyes. “If you haven’t figured it out by now you’re being dumped, disowned, discarded… denied,” Andrew said, pleased that he used all appropriate words with the same letter. “Discontinued,” he then said, for good measure.

  “You reap what you sow, Andrew, old boy. No good deed goes unpunished and all that.”

  “You live by the sword you die by the sword,” Andrew said, not to be undone.

  “What?” Simon asked, like his metaphor was in some way incorrect.

  “This is what you get for all those rituals you did with my baseball cap,” Andrew then said, making it clearer. “Do something wrong and one day it’s going to turn around and bite you on the ass. Just like your snake in that dumb tattoo. Is that what it means?” he asked, as if he’d just had a brainstorm.

  “No,” Simon answered drily.

  “You thought you could mess up my life and then carry on like nothing ever happened? Like you never did anything wrong?” Andrew asked, like he was the one that was wronged. “No, now we’re even,” he then said. “You put me in there and now I put you in there. We’re even except that you killed two innocent young people, my friends. Now you know what I had to go through. Now you get to see the results of your handiwork; your incantations, your rituals. It’s different when you’re out there, sitting in your nice clean ritual room, looking up ancient spells from books that promise you the world. You reap what you sow? Yeah, well, how does it feel now, tough guy? You joined a gang yet?”

  “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself involved with, do you?” Simon said, his voice putting a chill into Andrew’s heart, as he saw Fiona return. “You have no idea at all.”

  As if wanting to familiarize himself with every room of the vast house and obtain as much pleasure as he could derive from owning it, for the next few days Andrew encouraged Fiona to play tennis, swim in the pool and relax in all the hot tubs, watch movies in the screening room, dance in the music room and so on.

  Having worked out by himself in the gym, Andrew returned to their bedroom where Fiona sat reading in a chair by the window. “I’m going to take a shower, sweetie,” he said, looking preoccupied.

  “Okay, love,” she said, blowing him a kiss.

  “You know that room you used to play in as a child?” he asked, his thoughts reeling. “I was thinking maybe we could move the gym up there and get some more machines, like really pimp it out into a proper gym, what do you think?”

  Fiona pictured her magical room that was filled with toys and wonder and imagined it all being replaced with weights and gym equipment. Filled with shock and horror, she remained quiet and actually
bit her lip.

  “It’s just that the gym downstairs is pretty lame, don’t you think? Hey, you know what? That room is so large, maybe we could get a pool table and section it off, maybe?”

  “Yeah,” Fiona said, just to let him know that she was listening and hoping that he would stop.

  “Think about it,” he said as he stripped off and vanished into the shower room.

  Fiona tried not to think of her golden room being bastardized in that way. She prayed that with time, he would move on to some other bright idea and leave her room, just as it was; just as she liked it. Rising from her chair to check out Andrew’s ringing cell phone, she wondered what Lily would be doing calling her boyfriend. “Hello?” she answered.

  “Oh, hi, is that Fiona?” Lily asked, sounding a little surprised.

  “Yeah, he’s in the shower. Was it important?” Fiona asked, trying to sound casual.

  “Oh, not really,” Lily said as she looked around at the sofa in her apartment that had all its cushions removed for cleaning. “May be nothing but I found a piece of jewelry at the back of my sofa and it’s not mine. It can’t be many people, actually, and I thought that maybe Andrew lost it here that time he stayed over when you guys were on a break.”

  Fiona threw up in her mouth a little bit and had to move the phone away from her mouth for fear that Lily would hear her retch.

  “Are you there?” Lily asked.

  “Uh, yeah, sorry, I just… What kind of jewelry is it?” she managed to ask.

  “It’s like, I think it’s silver and it’s shaped like a bird, maybe a hawk?”

  As Fiona’s body went into shock, she had a hard time remaining conscious and in her body.

  “Doesn’t seem like anything Andrew would own but I thought I’d ask,” Lily continued.

  “No, you’re right,” Fiona said, her body and voice shaking. “It’s not his. Must be someone else’s,” she said, her words beginning to slur. “Take care,” she then said as she cut Lily off.