I walked to the front window and parted the heavy curtains.

The street was empty, the wet asphalt reflecting the yellow glow of the streetlamp.

But then, a pair of headlights flickered at the far end of the block.

A dark sedan was idling near the corner, its lights dim, exhaust rising slowly into the cold night air.

I pulled the heavy curtain shut and stepped back into the shadows of the living room.

My hands were shaking so hard I could barely hold my phone.

I stood there in the dark, listening to the hum of the refrigerator and the quiet tick of the wall clock.

The dark sedan remained parked at the corner, its headlights shining through the bare oak branches.

They were waiting.

I needed to know exactly what Ethan was hiding before he came back.

I walked down the hallway to his small home office, my socks sliding silently over the cold hardwood.

The room smelled of stale coffee and the leather of his desk chair.

I turned on the small desk lamp, casting a dim circle of yellow light across the mahogany surface.