Page 25 of In Her Sights
“Speak for yourself.” Felicity was obviously fighting—and failing—to keep a straight face. “I’m interested.”
“Not me, especially since we should be concentrating on how they’re letting Stuart go.” Cara’s tone went from wryly amused to flat, and Molly turned to see that her sister was right. Stuart was walking away from the squad car—no cuffs or even a ticket in evidence—heading toward a bright-green Jeep parked a half block away. When he saw them watching, he gave a jaunty wave. John swore under his breath, but Molly kept her comments to herself that time.
“Of course he drives a Jeep,” Felicity said with tones of heavy loathing.
“What?” Charlie asked.
“I hate Jeeps.”
“Why?”
“I just do. They’re…gross.”
“That’s weird.”
“It’s logical and right.”
“You’re so strange.”
Molly ignored her sisters’ argument, concentrating on the two detectives as they headed for opposite sides of the squad car. “Is that it?” she called, unable to keep the sharp edge from her voice. “You’re just letting him go after he broke into our home?”
“You really want to drag this out?” Mill yelled back, his words a challenge. “If you do, we can talk about the penalties for making a false statement to police.”
From his spot next to his Jeep, Stuart let out a mocking laugh, and it was Molly’s turn to growl as she charged toward the car. She wasn’t sure if she was planning on tackling Mill or Stuart, and she wasn’t able to find out, since John grabbed her and swung around, putting himself between her and both of her targets.
“Carmondy,” she gritted out between clenched teeth, “move.”
“You won’t win this one, Pax.” His tone was surprisingly gentle, considering she was basically snarling at him. “Sometimes head-on doesn’t work. We need to retreat and come at them from the side.”
“Okay, Sun Tzu.” Despite her mocking words, the initial flash of rage had faded, and she shifted back a half step so she wasn’t right in John’s face. “What’s the battle plan, then?” He gave the slightest wince, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “You don’t have one, do you?”
“Not yet. Genius takes time.”
Even with all the bad things that were happening, that drew a short—but honestly amused—laugh from her. “Fine.” She let out a long breath, expelling the last of her frustrated anger at the cops’ mishandling of the situation. Turning to her sisters, she said, “I’ll text Norah and tell her to come home. Time for another family meeting.”
They trooped inside, John bringing up the rear. Although Molly arched an eyebrow at him, he gave her a blank-faced, steady look, and she dropped her silent objection with a shrug. Maybe he wasn’t technically family, but John was a wily one with the potential to be helpful. She’d worry about getting too dependent on him later. Right now, the priority was to save their house—and figure out what the heck was going on—and for that, they’d need all the brains they could get.
Chapter 9
Norah had just walked in the door when Cara’s phone beeped. As she checked the screen, her nose wrinkled, and Molly knew exactly who was calling. No one except Barney got that bad a reaction from Cara.
“I can’t wait until the month’s over and someone else has to take his calls,” she grumbled as she poked the screen with an angry finger.
John looked confused, so Molly explained, “Every month, we switch off whose phone gets the calls from our main business line. That way, no one has to give their cell number to clients or informants, and we only have to deal with the Barneys of the world every fifth month.”
“Pax Bail Recovery. How can I help you?” Cara asked in a syrupy-sweet voice that made Charlie snicker. When Cara’s gaze darted toward Molly, she immediately knew what Barney wanted, and she waved her hands, palms out, in a frantic effort to ward off the pass. From Cara’s wicked smile, Molly knew it was a futile effort. “She is available. One moment, please.”
When Cara tossed her the cell phone, Molly briefly considered dodging and letting it drop to the floor, but then she remembered that money was tight at the moment and they didn’t need to be buying more phones. With a silent sigh, she raised Cara’s cell to her ear.
“This is Molly.”
“Molly Pax, my favorite soon-to-be tenant.” Barney’s smarmy voice immediately shot Molly’s rage to maximum levels.
She fought to keep her voice level and slightly amused. “Haven’t you heard the old saying about not counting your chickens before they skip their next court appearance?”
“I’m just counting the chickens that have already skipped town.” The smugness in his tone didn’t lessen.
