Page 4 of In Her Sights
Instead, she focused on the sweat-soaked back of Donnie’s shirt. Digging deep, she slowly closed the gap between them until they were only ten feet apart. Giving her another hunted glance, he turned abruptly and headed for a six-foot wooden fence enclosing someone’s backyard. Molly and Felicity groaned in unison.
“Not it,” Molly said quickly, just before Felicity said it.
“But I’m in shorts and a sports bra!”
She sighed, her heaving lungs making it come out in an uneven rush. “Fine. I’ll do it.” Although Molly would much rather be the one who gave her sister a leg up rather than dropping into a stranger’s backyard, Felicity had a point. Molly’s T-shirt and capris were slightly more suited to hurdling a fence.
Donnie didn’t slow down as he approached the wooden barricade, using his momentum to haul himself up the side. Driven by the intense desire to avoid doing the same, Molly scraped up the very last of her energy and surged forward, leaping up to latch her arms around his waist. Her weight unbalanced him, and his grip on the top of the boards slipped, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
Molly hit the sunbaked earth first, grunting as the air was driven out of her lungs from the force of the fall. Although she managed to twist slightly so that his entire weight didn’t land on her, he’d still pinned her right arm and shoulder to the weedy ground. Then Felicity was flipping him over, and Molly was free of his weight.
Rolling over and pushing to her knees, Molly blinked a couple of times to orient herself. “You good?” she asked, and Felicity gave her a fierce grin. Her knee was pressing firmly into Donnie’s spine, and she had a strong grip on his hand, using it to twist his arm behind his back. Donnie was swearing and muttering, his words muffled by the thick thatch of weeds his face was shoved into.
“Never better.”
“I’m not,” Donnie whined. “Who the hell are you?”
With a breathless chuckle, Molly stood up and did a quick inventory, checking for any injuries of her own. Although her shoulder was throbbing where Donnie had landed on it, she knew there was no major damage done. She’d just be bruised and sore for a few days.
The two deputies ran toward them, barely winded, and she raised her eyebrows. “You were slow on purpose, weren’t you?”
“I’m admitting nothing.” Maria winked at her as she and her partner, Darren, took over, allowing Felicity to climb off Donnie. “Just think of it as a measure of trust in you. We knew you’d run him down. You always get your guy.”
“Besides,” Darren said as he cuffed Donnie’s hands behind his back, “this way you really feel like you earned the payout.”
“I’m fine with not earning it,” Felicity said, and Molly nodded in agreement. “If we’d ended up having to go over that fence, I would’ve been annoyed.”
“I’ll leave the acrobatics to you youngsters,” Maria said, helping Donnie to his feet.
“Youngsters?” Molly exchanged a skeptical look with her sister. “What are you? Thirty?”
“Thirty-two.”
Rolling her eyes, Molly fell in behind the trio as they headed back in the direction of the park. “Okay, Grandma.”
“No one read me my rights.” Donnie’s voice was a winded mix of complaint and triumph. “That’s illegal. I’m going to sue you all.”
“We’re only required to let you know your Miranda rights if you’re being questioned while in police custody,” Maria explained with more patience than Molly could muster after that chase.
“We never have to read you your rights, dummy.” From Felicity’s gleeful tone, she had just about as much sympathy for Donnie as Molly did. “We’re not cops.”
“I can’t believe you played me like that,” Donnie whined from his spot between the two deputies. “That’s why I don’t trust chicks.”
Darren gave him a look. “How were you not suspicious when they started paying attention to you? Those two are way out of your league.”
Molly tuned out Donnie’s indignant sputters and turned to her sister. “Thanks for getting here so fast after I texted. How’d you sneak away without Charlie tagging along?”
Felicity grinned. “I asked her to help me clean the garage. That’s the one thing she hates more than paperwork. There’s no way she’ll go out to check if I’m in there. She’ll be too worried that I’ll make her help.”
“Genius.”
“Yep.”
As they reached the ice cream shop, a shout from across the street caught Molly’s attention. When she turned her head and saw John and Warrant, both looking equally stubborn and annoyed, she pressed her lips together to hold back a laugh.
“Talk about genius.” Felicity sounded just as amused as Molly felt. “You finally figured out a way to ditch Carmondy. Nice one, Molls.”
“Thanks. I just wish he’d give up on following me around and chase his own skips.”
