Page 69 of Matthew
But they’d tried.
And that changed everything.
Callie hadn’t moved from behind the counter, not even after Maggie had returned to the back office. She glanced at her phone sitting on the counter beside her. The dark screen reflected her strained expression.
She exhaled. Things were getting worse. Thank God this hadn’t happened when her dad had been sick.
The dogs, sprawled out on their designated beds near the sink, had gone quiet again, but they watched her with a look, telling her they knew something was off.
When her phone finally buzzed, she snatched it up so quickly it nearly flew out of her hands. “Take it easy,” she muttered under her breath, then answered Matthew’s call. “Hey.”
His voice was calm but clipped. “You okay?”
“Yes,” she said, then paused. “No. Not really. Everett, my neighbor, stopped by. He said he was out walking his dog early this morning and saw a truck parked at the gate.”
A beat of silence passed on the other end. She could almost picture the way his jaw would tick, the way he’d swipe a hand over his face and start mentally calculating the next steps.
“Did he get a plate?” Matthew asked.
“No. Said it was clean. No logos, no movement. It sat there a few minutes, then drove off toward the county line.”
“Shit.” His voice was lower now, tight. “We figured they might circle back, but not this soon.”
Callie closed her eyes. “So, it really was a pickup?”
“GreenSpan Imports was the name on the invoice Carter found in the box. You flagged the delivery itself, and that gave us the opening. Carter’s digging deeper now.” Matthew’s voice was steady but clipped. “Turns out the payment route links GreenSpan to Vantage Gulf Holdings—one of Duke Carver’s old development firms.”
Cripes.
Callie’s pulse kicked up.She’d known something felt off when she signed for that box, but the manifest had listed her usual supplier, FieldSource Garden Supply. She never saw anything with GreenSpan on it. “So, they’re still using his networks.”
“Or someone picked up where he left off,” Matthew said. “Either way, the fact that someone showed up looking for that shipment means they know we intercepted it. And that means they’re watching.”
She glanced toward the front windows, half expecting the truck to come back. “What do I do?”
“Nothing,” he immediately replied. “But keep your eyes open. Carter’s pulling footage from the gate cam now. I’ll swing by after lunch to check the perimeter and talk to your neighbor. You shouldn’t be alone this week.”
“I’m not. Maggie’s here,” she said, then hesitated. “And Sammy. And Tater, my sister’s Corgi.”
“Even better.” She could hear the edge in his voice soften slightly. “Golden retriever muscle and Corgi attitude. Power combo.”
Despite the tension winding her nerves, she smiled. “They’d take a bullet for me.”
“I’d rather it not come to that.”
The words landed hard in her chest. They were said with warmth and a fierce, steady tone. and just like that, the earth shifted back a little closer to normal.
“Thanks for calling,” she said in a quieter voice.
“You text me that type of message,” he said, “you’re lucky I didn’t show up in person.”
She bit her lip. “Pretty sure you got that backward. I’d be lucky if you did.”
“I plan to.”
Then her luck was changing for the good.
***
