Page 385 of A Matter of Time

For whatever reason, he found that very funny.

It was a long drive up to Schaumburg, but Caleb kept busy on his phone while I used mine. Dane wanted to know what was on my kamikaze mission for the day.

“I had this idea—” I began.

“You know, of course, that I will find you. And when I do, you will never ever get out of my condo without my permission. I hired Aja a bodyguard until this is over, and I’m going to do the same for you.”

“Yeah, okay.” I sighed, realizing that my headache just did not want to go away. It hurt up the back of my neck and over the top of my head. I felt the tension deep in my shoulders.

“Is Caleb with you?”

“Caleb? No.”

“Put him on the phone.”

I shoved my phone at him, and after a minute he took a breath and squinted as he said hello. He groaned deeply ten minutes later when he hung up.

“Jesus, that man is mad.”

“Yeah, well⁠—”

“He’s mad at you, at me—he’s just pissed off all the way around.”

“Not a lot to be done about that.”

“He’s going to murder us both.”

“Well, that line forms behind the guy who kidnapped us, am I right?”

It was quiet, and after a moment I turned to him.

“What?”

“That was kind of morbid.”

I shrugged.

“A little tired, are you?”

“Just a bit.”

He laughed at me and told me where to get off the expressway.

Ms. Fain’s house was at the end of a narrow street with enormous potholes and trees that lined both sides. The sidewalks were cracked due to overgrown roots, and the houses were all run-down. Standing in front of the chain-link fence with Caleb, I shivered hard.

“What?”

“I dunno, feels weird.”

“Why?”

I shrugged.

“C’mon.” He smacked my shoulder before lifting the latch to step into the yard.

I followed him up the path with weeds growing through the cement to the front door. He rang the doorbell and knocked on the door. The porch was tiny, the wrought-iron railing framing what was basically a stoop.

“I’ll go around the back,” he said, taking the four steps back down.