Page 57 of Risk It All
Fifi looked a little startled before a Cheshire cat grin spread over her face. “Did you hear that?” she asked, loudly enough to get all the sisters’ attention. “Cara wants me to push you even harder in the mornings.” The communal groan that this elicited just made Felicity’s smile wider. “Tomorrow we’re starting a half hour earlier. Prepare for pain.” With a final squeeze that contradicted her bloodthirsty words, Felicity released Cara and headed for the door.
Charlie took her place, although she gave Cara a fist thump to the shoulder rather than a hug. Charlie wasn’t big on gestures of affection, which made her hug and hand-holding at the Red Hawk police station rare and precious. “Nice job, Twin. I think that’s the highest bounty any of us has ever brought in.”
“Thanks.” Cara tipped her head back to smile at Charlie. “Although it was kind of unintentional, so I don’t know if that counts.”
“If the money’s there, it counts.” With a final whack on Cara’s shoulder, Charlie followed Felicity out the door.
“Let’s go find us a weasel to pop, PI sidekick,” John said as he ushered Molly after them.
Although Molly allowed herself to be towed, her eyes narrowed. “Who’re you calling ‘sidekick,’ sidekick?”
John gave one of his deep bellowing laughs as they disappeared out the door, and Cara couldn’t help but smile at the sound. Even though she’d been gone for just a couple of days, it’d felt like an eternity, and she’d had moments when she hadn’t thought she’d see her family again. She’d missed them all, even John.
Once Molly had closed the door behind them, Cara looked at Norah as the house went quiet.
“Ready?” Norah asked.
“Let’s research.” They both stood at the same time, as if it’d been choreographed, which made Cara laugh. When Norah gave her an inquiring look, Cara just waved her sister toward the stairs. “Don’t mind me. I’m just happy to be home.”
Norah’s expression changed as she reached out to grab Cara’s hand. After giving it a tight squeeze, she let go and hurried out of the kitchen. When Norah said quietly, “I’m glad you are, too,” Cara grinned at the softly spoken words.
Norah glanced back, giving her a pained expression when she spotted Cara’s smile. Like Charlie, Norah wasn’t one for big displays of emotion.
“I’ve also missed being on the research team,” Cara said, taking pity on her sister and changing the subject to something less emotionally soppy. “Adrenaline rushes are exhausting and traumatizing. Give me a nice, safe computer screen and a snack any day.”
Without looking back, Norah just held her fist behind her. Cara bumped it in researcher solidarity.
It’s good to be home.Now she just had to bring Henry home, too.
* * *
Cara’s eyes felt gummy when she looked up from her laptop screen and blinked at the black bedroom window. “When did it get dark outside?” she asked, but Norah just hummed a non-response, staring at her own screen.
“We should probably get some food.” Cara set her laptop aside and stretched, feeling the lingering aches in her muscles from the past few traumatic days. She was still exhausted, and her vision had gone fuzzy around the edges, but she couldn’t sleep while Henry was locked up for something he didn’t do. “Norah? Food?”
“In a bit,” her sister said absently from her perch on Cara’s bed as she leaned even closer to the screen.
“Why?” Cara felt her stomach jump with a flash of hope. “Did you find something?”
“There’s a woman who keeps popping up. She’s listed as a past associate of Geoffrey Abbott,andshe was interviewed by the police when Kavenski killed—um…I mean, someone killed that couple and framed Kavenski. She was the one who discovered the bodies, said she was a close friend of the murdered couple.” Norah turned her laptop so Cara could see the screen. “Her name is Layla Baron.”
“Layla?TheLayla?” Peering at the photo, which appeared to be a publicity shot at some sort of formal event, Cara felt an itchy sense of recognition. “That’s her. That’s the woman who met with Henry, the one I saw the night that…” She let her voice trail off right before sayingthe night I was almost hit by a car, since she didn’t want to freak out her sister. “Ah, I saw her at Dutch’s,” she rephrased lamely, glad that she was talking to absentminded Norah rather than one of her less distracted sisters who would’ve pounced on her verbal misstep. She’d also seen the same woman giving money surreptitiously to Henry, and her heart started to beat faster. Could Layla Baron be their link to the real killer?
“I’m surprised she’s hanging out at Dutch’s.” Norah rotated the screen back so she could frown at the woman’s picture before her fingers tapped at the keyboard again. “She looks a little too high-class for that place.”
“Geoffrey Abbott was supposedly high-class, too.”
“Funny you mention that.” Norah’s fingers paused. “Layla Baron went to Anchor Academy in Aspen with Abbott—well, until he was expelled. She graduated from Anchor the following year.”
“That’s an interesting coincidence.” Grabbing her phone, Cara tapped out a text to Molly. When there wasn’t an immediate response, she tried Charlie, and then Felicity. As she waited for her sisters to answer, she paced the short distance between the two beds.
The seconds seemed endless, and Cara knew she wouldn’t be able to stand sitting at home doing nothing to help Henry while waiting for a return text. She stopped in front of Norah and smiled.
Norah shrank back. “What?”
“How about we go out to eat? Maybe some chicken wings?” Grabbing Norah’s hand, she hauled her sister off the bed.
“Dutch’s?” It came out as a mournful but resigned sigh.
