Chapter 47 Timing

Chapter 47 Timing
The house is quiet again, but not in the same way as before.
It feels tighter. Like everything has pulled inward without anyone saying it out loud.
I find them in the living room.
Josh is at the window, not leaning this time, just standing there with his attention fixed outside. Mike moves more slowly than earlier, pacing without the edge, like he’s already working through something in his head. Jake sits on the arm of the couch, phone in his hand, but he isn’t really looking at it.
Drew is the first to notice me. His gaze lifts, settles, and stays.
Patrick stands near the center of the room.
Still.
Waiting.
Something in my chest tightens.
“What happened?”
No one answers right away. Josh glances at Patrick instead of me, and that’s enough.
I stop where I am.
“Say it.”
Patrick closes the distance between us, not rushed, not hesitant either. He already has my phone in his hand. I don’t remember leaving it anywhere, but I take it when he offers it, my fingers brushing his briefly before I look down.
One message.
Unknown number.
I open it.
You should come see him.
Same words.
Different number.
No one moves right away.
The message sits between us, not on the screen anymore, but in the room. In the way no one reaches for anything. In the way the air feels just slightly too still.
Josh shifts his weight near the window, not looking outside now, but not fully turning back either, like he’s listening for something he can’t see.
Mike’s pacing slows, then stops altogether. He stays where he is, hands braced on his hips, head angled slightly like he’s running through options and not liking any of them.
Jake glances toward the door, then back to me, his usual ease gone quiet at the edges. He doesn’t joke. Doesn’t fill the space.
Drew stays exactly where he is.
Close enough.
Steady.
Patrick hasn’t moved.
His attention is still on me, but there’s something else layered under it now. Calculation. Timing. The kind that doesn’t show until it matters.
My fingers loosen slightly around the phone.
Not dropping it.
Just releasing the tension I hadn’t realized I was holding there.
“He knows this is the part that matters,” I say.
The words come out quieter, but they carry.
Josh turns fully now. “What do you mean?”
“The waiting,” I reply. “Before something actually happens. That’s where people slip.”
Mike exhales through his nose. “We’re not slipping.”
“I know.”
I hold his gaze for a second, then look back at Patrick.
“But he wants us to think we might.”
That lands differently.
Not fear.
Focus.
Patrick’s jaw shifts slightly, like something just confirmed what he was already considering.
“Then we don’t give him that,” he says.
Simple.
Decided.
Drew’s hand brushes mine again, just once.
Grounding.
I don’t look down this time.
I don’t need to.

My grip tightens just slightly around the phone, the shift small enough that no one calls it out, but I feel it anyway.
The silence stretches, not empty, just full.
Mike exhales through his nose. “He’s pushing.”
“No,” I say, my voice steady.
Their attention shifts to me.
“He’s not pushing. He’s timing it.”
Josh’s eyes narrow slightly. “Timing what?”
“The hearing.”
That land between us is quiet but solid.
Patrick watches me more closely now, something sharper settling in. “You think this is about Thursday.”
“I think everything is about Thursday.”
Jake drops his phone into his lap, running a hand through his hair as he leans forward. “New number means he’s not just throwing things out. Someone’s tracking.”
“Or watching,” Mike adds.
Drew steps closer, not touching, just within reach. “Did anything else come through?”
I shake my head. “No.”
Josh moves then, stepping fully into the room, closer to me. Not crowding. Just there.
“Did you answer it?”
“No.”
“Good.”
The word is quiet, but it settles anyway.
Patrick reaches for the phone, not taking it, just angling it slightly to read it for himself. His jaw tightens almost imperceptibly.
“Second number. Same message.”
“Not random,” Mike mutters.
“No,” Patrick agrees.
Jake pushes off the couch, pacing once before stopping again. “So what...he’s watching, texting, and just waiting for us to walk into court?”
“Not us,” I say.
They all look at me.
“Me.”
The room is still.
Drew’s hand brushes lightly against mine, brief but grounding. Josh’s focus sharpens, something more deliberate settling into his stance.
“You’re not going alone,” he says.
“I didn’t say I was.”
Mike drags a hand over his face. “He wants her there. That’s the point.”
“Yes,” Patrick says, calm and certain.
“And he’s going to get that,” I reply.
That lands differently.
Not reactive.
Decided.
Jake studies me for a second, quieter now. “You’re not even tempted to answer him?”
A beat passes.
“No.”
I don’t look away.
“There’s nothing he can say to me that I haven’t already heard.”
Silence settles again, heavier this time, as something has locked into place.
Josh nods once. “Then we don’t engage.”
“We don’t ignore it either,” Mike adds.
“We won’t,” Patrick says, cutting cleanly between them before it can turn into anything else.
That’s the end of it.
He steps closer, his attention settling fully on me. “From this point on, anything that comes through, we see it.”
I tilt my head slightly. “I wasn’t hiding it.”
“I know,” he says. “That’s not what this is.”
A second passes, then I nod.
“Fine.”
Drew shifts closer at my side, steady and quiet. Jake drops back onto the couch, the restless edge gone. Mike stops pacing. Josh doesn’t move, but his attention doesn’t leave me either.
Patrick looks between all of us once, something final settling in his expression.
“Phones stay on. No gaps.”
No one argues.
They don’t need to.
I glance down at the message again. Same words. Different number. My thumb hovers for half a second before I lock the screen and lower my hand.
Done.
I lift my gaze.
“He’s not changing anything.”
Josh’s attention sharpens slightly. “No?”
“No.”
My voice stays even.
“He wants me there.”
A beat.
“I’ll be there.”
Patrick holds my gaze for a second longer, then nods once.
“Good.”
No pushback.
No adjustment.
Just alignment.
The room settles again, but this time it feels different. Not tight. Not strained.
Clear.
Whatever this is, it’s not circling anymore.
It’s moving. And this time, we’re ready for it.