Chapter ONE ELLIE

It all started when I stepped into a pile of cat shit.

Yeah, cats used litter boxes, but only when they're clean. Some cats were pickier than others, according to the internet, and everyone knew the internet was always right.

I had a system in place. I scooped daily and changed the cat litter every eight days.

Rocky was still technically a kitten. Only nine months old, or so the animal rescue place had said. He shouldn’t require more frequent cleaning than that.

It was a jumbo sized litter box, for Pete’s sake!

Meredith had been kind enough to allow pets in the Morristown housing where Sammy and I recently moved. It was an offsite location from the Manhattan branch of St. Elizabeth’s Shelter for Women and Children.

Sammy and I were residents there for a couple of months, but Gary had found us and started sending letters with thinly veiled threats. He showed up twice, harassing the poor employees who worked there, some of them volunteers.