Page 30 of Home Team Advantage
Once again, it reminded her of an illustration in a storybook. Not that Mrs. Campbell’s house wasn’t nice, but there was just something about the Callaghan home that made it seem almost magical. From what Elsa had told her, the cottage had been empty for years and in bad shape before Faith and her son moved in. It was hard to imagine that, given the way it looked now.
Appearances were often deceiving, however. People built pretty facades to create an illusion. They surrounded themselves with beautiful houses, lawns, cars, and clothes to hide the real ugliness behind it all. Her family had been like that. Beautiful on the outside. So ugly on the inside.
Not the Callaghans. At least not according to Mrs. Campbell.
Anna wondered what it would have been like to grow up in a house with people who cared about one another. Who valued each other more than they valued power or wealth or status. Whose parental interest went beyond how they could use their children for their own gain.
She shook those thoughts away. None of that mattered now.
A small light appeared in the shadows of the Callaghans’ house. At first, Anna thought it was a captured reflection in the window she was looking through, but a closer look revealed a human-shaped silhouette moving back and forth along the side, as if pacing. The light, she realized, was a phone held to the ear.
Then, the movement stopped. Based on the warning tingle at the back of her neck, whoever it was, was looking right at her. The tingle in her lower belly told her exactly who it was.
If you can see him, he can see you, she chided herself. She was making it exceptionally easy, standing in front of the window, backlit by the bright lights of the kitchen.
Her first instinct was to step away from the window, but she forced back the fight-or-flight response. This wasn’t Chicago. No one knew her here. She wasn’t doing anything more nefarious than washing dishes.
She rinsed the last pot, set it in the rack, and made a show of drying her hands. Leaned forward and flipped the switch on the tiny light above the sink. Then, she calmly turned around and left the kitchen, turning off the overhead light as she did.
She moved to her bedroom, which was on the same side of the house as the kitchen and also had windows that faced the Callaghans’ property. With the door closed and the room in total darkness, she lifted the side of the drawn drapes and peered down that way.
Matt remained in a fixed position for several minutes more, then started pacing again until, eventually, he went back inside.
Anna let out a breath and willed herself to calm down. There was nothing suspicious about a neighbor stepping outside his own house to make a private phone call and get a bit of fresh air. You’re being paranoid, she told herself while another voice argued that those who became complacent got dead.
Chapter Eighteen
MATT
Matt spent a quiet evening in. He helped his younger half-siblings with their homework, and then he and Kass watched a docudrama on Netflix about serial killers—which might have been disturbing if Kass wasn’t thinking about studying criminal psychology.
Afterward, he sparred with Kieran and talked about what to include in the martial arts classes Matt was going to teach at BodyWorks.
Then, he went into the study, pulled up a search engine, and typed in the names from that article Anna had been looking at in the library.
One of them was running for governor. The other two were the candidate’s personal bodyguards. All three were rumored to have mob ties.
What possible interest could Anna have in them?
Matt stepped outside, wanting to clear his head. The air was crisp and cool, but no longer bitingly cold. His hoodie was more than adequate.
He paced back and forth, appreciating the quiet and stillness of the neighborhood. Grass was already growing, tips peeking through the quickly disappearing snow. Soon, the trees and flowers would be budding, and they’d be hitting the home center for his mother’s annual haul of foliage for her landscaping beds.
He’d missed the changing of the seasons when he was in Central America. The turning of another page every three months. The different weather, different scents, different things to do from one quarter to the next. He would make a point of appreciating it while he was home. Depending on where he was sent next, it might be a long time before he got the chance to experience it again.
With an exhale, he called Ian and relayed the information he’d discovered, pacing the stone walkway that ran around the house as he did.
He was on his third or fourth lap when he felt it—the sensation of being in someone’s sights. Not just someone. His enigmatic new neighbor.
He stepped into the shadows and discreetly looked up to Mrs. Campbell’s place. Yep, there she was. Standing before the kitchen window, backlit by a bright light so that she appeared as a dark silhouette, but there was no mistaking who it was.
“Matt. Yo. You still there?” Ian said through the speaker.
“Yeah, sorry,” Matt said, resuming his pacing.
“You’re watching the pretty girl next door, aren’t you?” Ian said with a dark chuckle.
How could he?—
