Page 17 of In Her Sights
Molly held up her hands in an I don’t know gesture. “Sorry. I didn’t ask Carmondy that. Want me to call him back?” She really didn’t want to talk to him again so soon, mainly because their last conversation had put her severely off-balance in an unexpected way, and she’d had quite enough surprises for one day.
“Not yet,” Cara said, to Molly’s relief. “First, let’s figure out what we know—and what we can find out on our own. Then you can talk to John to fill in the blanks.”
“Okay.” Molly took great pains to hide her inward grimace. It appeared that her next call to John was just delayed slightly, not canceled as she’d hoped. As soon as the thought popped into her head, she mentally scolded herself. She and her sisters had an entire world of problems that were a thousand times worse than her uncertainty around this new version of John. If she had to call him for more answers—even if she had to ask him for help—she was going to put her pride in the closet and do exactly what was necessary.
After all, their mom had just jumped into a canyon of trouble…and Molly had to do her best to make sure that she and her sisters weren’t dragged into the abyss with her.
Chapter 6
Shoving open the dingy glass door to Barney Thompson’s bail-bond office, Molly very carefully hid any sign of disgust that wanted to creep into her expression. She didn’t even make a face when she felt something sticky adhere the door handle to her palm, and she was quite proud of herself for that.
After spending the morning chasing down leads on Jane’s case and getting nowhere, Molly hadn’t been able to put off the visit to Barney’s office any longer. She wasn’t happy to have to talk to him—in fact, she’d rather sleep in a bed full of cockroaches than waste a minute with Barney Thompson—but he’d written Jane’s bond, which meant he had information that Molly and her sisters didn’t. Reminding herself that it wouldn’t take long and then she could leave this hole-in-the-wall, she stepped into the reception area.
Barney’s twentysomething son, Ashton, sat at a battered metal desk, his focus on his phone. Peeling her hand free with an inner shudder, Molly let the door close behind her. When Ashton didn’t look up from the small screen, she pulled the door open again a few inches and closed it with a loud bang.
Reluctantly, he tore his gaze from his phone and let it flick over her. Immediately, he lost his disinterested expression as he gave her another more thorough visual examination. “Whoa. You’re one of the hot Mexican bounty-hunter sisters. Which one are you again?”
It became harder for her to hold back her ick face, but she somehow managed to cling to her coolly polite smile. “I’m Molly Pax. Is your dad here?” She didn’t bother correcting him about her nationality. After all, if it hadn’t sunk in after Ashton’s previous four encounters with her, then he was never going to get it.
“Yeah.” He didn’t take his gaze off her as he raised his voice to a yell. “Dad! There’s a hottie here for you!”
“Thanks,” she said dryly.
“No problem.” Ashton leaned back, ignoring his chair’s protesting squeal. “So…Mel. Whatcha doing later?”
“A lot of things.” She started to correct him on her name, but stopped herself before she could. It’d probably be a good thing if he couldn’t remember it.
Ashton opened his mouth again, and she braced to firmly shut him down. Luckily, the inner office door opened before he could say another word.
Barney peered into the reception area. When he spotted Molly, his scowl disappeared and his mouth curved up in a small grin. The smugness in his expression was almost enough to make her turn right around and leave his office, but then she reminded herself that he had information she needed. First, she’d learn more about what happened with Jane, and then she’d tell him—and his son—to shove it.
“Molly Pax.” He looked like he was resisting the desire to rub his hands together, evil-villain style. A tall man with a broad frame, he might have been considered moderately handsome if a stranger saw him in a picture, but his personality had completely warped her perception to the point that just the sight of his florid, square-jawed face made her gag a little. “What a surprise to see you here.” His almost giddy tone made it clear that he wasn’t surprised at all.
“Molly?” Ashton repeated, frowning, before she could get her bubbling temper under control enough to respond. “Why’d you tell me your name was Mel?”
Ignoring the son, she focused on Barney, clinging to her mantra that she only had to deal with these two for a short time before she could leave them to their dingy, depressing office with its mysteriously sticky doorknobs. “Barney. It’s been a while.” She almost told him that it was nice to see him again, but she couldn’t force out such a whopping lie.
“Too long. Too long.” He made a flourishing gesture, extending his arm toward the inner office. “Come in, and we’ll discuss business.”
Molly had to force her feet to move. Everything in her gut was telling her to cut and run and find a different source of information, but she was already here—plus she’d already dealt with Ashton’s sliminess. Surely she could survive his father’s as well?
Inside the office, Barney waved her toward a straight-backed wooden chair in front of his desk as he took the seat behind it. That chair protested just as Ashton’s had, and Molly had the whimsical thought that even the furniture was complaining about having to work with these two—or, more practically, Barney was just too cheap to buy new chairs.
“So…Molly.” Leaning back, he steepled his fingers and put on what Molly was pretty sure was supposed to be his thoughtful expression, but it ended up making him look even blanker than normal. “Since you’re here, I’m guessing you’ve decided to take the Sonny Zarver job after all.” Before she could refute this, he continued, “Figured you’d come around eventually. It’s a lot of money at stake.”
Even though she was almost painfully tempted to punch the smug condescension off his face, she crossed her legs and linked her fingers together in her lap instead. “Actually, I’m not here because of Sonny. Our decision not to take that job stands.”
His smarmy grin disappeared as quickly as if she’d really allowed herself to smack him. It was very satisfying to watch. Unfortunately, she could only enjoy it for a few seconds before he smiled again. This one was a little meaner-looking than the last, and a great deal colder. “You sure about that?” After moving the remains of a fast-food breakfast sandwich off a pile on his desk, he slid a large manila file from the top of the stack and opened it. He didn’t look down at the contents, so she knew he was already well aware of what they said. Her stomach twisted and turned as she waited for him to drop whatever bomb he had on her head.
Instead of answering, she waited. When she didn’t know all of the facts, the only thing running her mouth would do was get her in trouble. Barney loved to brag about his exploits, so she figured that he’d tell her everything if she just stayed quiet.
When she didn’t respond, his mouth tightened, and he tapped his fingers against the contents of the folder. Molly resisted the urge to glance down at the papers in front of him to get a peek at whatever he was about to throw her way. Instead, she held his gaze and kept her face calm…at least she hoped she was projecting a placid facade. After the turmoil of the past couple of days, her nerves were starting to fray, and she worried that her tension would show through.
Finally, he spoke. “Your mother got herself into a shitload of trouble.”
Tell me something I don’t know. Rather than letting her snarky words escape, Molly limited herself to raising her eyebrows slightly.
