Page 31 of In Her Sights
“I’ll check in with her before I leave. There was a car I didn’t recognized parked outside, but they drove off as soon as I headed toward them. Did you hear anything?”
Norah’s eyes widened. “No, nothing. Who do you think it was?”
Attempting to look unconcerned, Molly waved a deliberately careless hand. She wanted Norah to be watchful but not terrified, and that was a tough balance to achieve. “Probably just a lost tourist. Keep an eye out, though, just in case.” Norah was beginning to look hunted, so Molly deliberately switched topics. “Any leads on where Mom might’ve gone?”
“I might’ve found her car at a dealership in Colorado Springs.” The anxiety in Norah’s expression eased as she spoke. “The VIN is off by a couple of numbers, but that could’ve just been because someone got sloppy entering it.”
“Or the dealer suspected it might be stolen, so they’re hoping to sell it before anyone tracks it down and they’re left without their money or a car,” Molly said.
Norah raised a shoulder in a shrug that Molly knew meant she agreed. “Felicity and Charlie are going to check it out tomorrow morning.”
“Good job, researching genius.” Moving into the room, Molly extended her fist. Norah bumped it while giving her a rare smile. “Any sign of my car?”
“Maybe.” She fiddled with her laptop. “Nothing concrete enough to share yet.”
“Okay.” Shoving down her disappointment and antsy need to push for more answers, Molly moved to the doorway. If pressured, Norah would shut down, which wouldn’t help anyone, but it was hard to be patient. “Text me if you need anything. Nice work so far. Don’t stay up too late.”
“I will, thanks, and I won’t.” The words sounded distracted, as if Norah was already back in her research fog.
Molly backed out of the room, pulling the door mostly closed behind her, and ran into a solid form. Whirling around, she shoved away from the person she’d just run into, her fists automatically raising into a defensive position in front of her face. In that second, she recognized the man standing in her upstairs hallway, and her alarm faded—even as her annoyance increased.
“Carmondy,” she hissed, dragging him away from Norah’s room and into hers so she could yell at him without whispering. “What are you doing up here?”
His linebacker-worthy shoulders lifted and fell. “Just checking on you. I heard your voice but not what you were saying, and I thought you might be calling for me.”
“Calling for you? Calling for you?” His look of innocence aggravated her even as she struggled not to find him amusing. It was the same reason she had a hard time training Warrant. Both the dog and John were too endearing for their own good, even when they were misbehaving. Biting back any hint of a smile, Molly gave him the sternest look she could manage. “Don’t worry. If I ever call for you, you’ll know.”
“Good to know. Ready?” His gaze flickered down to her still bare legs before slowly making their way back up to her face. “Weren’t you going to change?”
Ignoring his question, she rested her hands on her hips and stared at the ceiling, searching for patience. When she realized that none was forthcoming, she sighed heavily and met his eyes again. “Why do you have to be this way?”
“What way?”
The right words escaped her, so she waved her arms in a way that encompassed his whole huge form. “So…lurky. Happy and lurky.”
His grin actually widened at that. “Thank you, but I think the phrase you’re searching for is happy-go-lucky.”
“No.” Giving up, she dropped her backpack on the floor and headed for her closet. “That’s not what I’m searching for. Now, get out.”
“You sure you don’t need any hel—?”
“Out.” She emphasized the single-word command by pointing at the door. Even though he still wore his stupid grin, he obeyed, slipping out of the bedroom and closing the door behind him. Despite knowing that he was safely in the hall and did not, to the best of her knowledge, have X-ray vision, Molly still changed in a hurry, half expecting him to burst in with some half-assed excuse at any moment.
She managed to yank on her cargo pants and T-shirt uninterrupted, so she opened her nightstand drawer and picked through the contents. Since her pants provided multiple, easy-to-reach pockets, she decided to bring along a few more accessories than she normally did: a Taser, two folding knives, a pair of handcuffs, her lock-pick kit, a travel-sized pepper spray, and a few other handy odds and ends.
After twisting her hair into a braided bun at the base of her neck and checking to make sure her backpack had the usual first-aid kit and other essentials she needed when out chasing skips, she couldn’t resist a quick glance in the mirror to make sure she looked okay. As soon as her eyes met her reflection, she looked away. What was she doing? This was a dangerous and important thing she needed to do, and she couldn’t be getting distracted by her impromptu partner.
Turning resolutely toward the door, she shouldered her backpack and checked off all the items on her mental checklist. She was ready to go. As soon as she’d taken a single step toward the entrance to her room, the door swung open and Mr. Happy-and-Lurky stuck his face inside.
“Ready?”
“What’s with your knocking deficiency?” she demanded, although most of the heat in her voice was gone. She was already learning to pick her battles with John, and they’d only been partners for a very short time—not even partners. It was more like they were acquaintances who’d stumbled over the same case…acquaintances who liked to bicker a lot. Recently, that bickering had felt like it bordered on flirting. Wrinkling her nose, Molly made a mental resolution to nip that in the bud. There’d be no living with her sisters if they found out that they’d been right all along about John Carmondy’s more-than-friendly feelings toward her…not to mention her own confusing emotions.
“Sorry.” He thumped his knuckles against the doorframe. “It’s me, John Carmondy. Ready?”
She just rolled her eyes silently at him as she squeezed by him into the hall. Although she managed to squeak by with just the lightest brush of fabric and exposed skin, her traitorous pulse still thumped in double time from his proximity. “I’m just going to check in with Cara first.”
The twins’ bedroom door was closed, so she tapped on it, waiting to be invited in. When she was met with silence, she stuck her head in, taking in the unoccupied room. Backing out again, she closed the door behind her and typed a quick text to Cara, asking where she was and if she was okay. After a short pause, she sent a check-in message to Felicity and Charlie’s phones, too. Everything that had happened was making Molly twitchy, and she didn’t like not having her sisters safely within sight. It was silly, since they were just as proficient at taking care of themselves as Molly was—well, most of them, at least—but she still couldn’t quiet the instinct to keep her younger sisters safe.
