Page 11 of Risk It All
There was a brief, heavy silence before Molly stood in a jerky movement that made Cara jump. Gripping the top of her head with both hands, Molly started pacing the small kitchen. Feeling like she was a spectator at a tennis match, Cara watched her pass back and forth, not sure if she should say something or stay quiet and let Molly work through it. When her sister was silent for too long, Cara widened her eyes in slightly panicked question at Norah, who gave her the same look back. Molly started muttering under her breath, but that somehow wasn’t any more reassuring than her silent stewing.
“Did I break you?” Cara finally asked when she couldn’t stand the tension any longer.
Huffing out a breath, Molly stopped pacing. Clutching two handfuls of her hair, she tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling. Cara shifted uneasily. The ceiling-staring and hair-clutching was somehow worse than the silent staring.
“Molly?” she said tentatively. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” Despite her words, Molly was still staring at the ceiling with a ferocious expression. “Who was your first skip?”
Cara really didn’t want to say. “That’s not important. I was hoping to get your help with the second one. The harmless one.” She felt a little guilty for downplaying Abbott’s potential danger, especially since she was asking Molly to help her bring him in, so she amended her words. “Thesupposedlyharmless one.”
That snapped Molly’s attention back as she pounced on the correction. “Supposedly? What does that mean? Who is this skip?”
“Geoffrey Abbott.” Cara was just glad that her sister wasn’t trying to pry Kavenski’s name from her anymore. “He was arrested for tax evasion.”
“Sound like a mobster cliché,” Norah commented, and Cara shot her sister a look. Even though that had been her first impression, too, Molly didn’t need any more reasons to worry.
“It does,” Molly agreed, returning to her seat and dropping into it. “Why the sudden urge to jump into the field without telling any of us what you’re doing?”
“You said it yourself,” Cara said, trying to keep any defensiveness out of her words. “It’s time for all hands on deck. With Fifi and Charlie chasing down Mom, that just leaves the three of us to take the paying jobs. And if Norah and I both strictly do research, that leavesyouto do the actual chasing and tackling. There’s only so much you can do, especially since John’s not around to help.”
Molly wasn’t making any sign of agreement, but she wasn’t contradicting anything, either. Cara knew her sister was just as aware of the reality of their situation as she was, but she pressed on. “Between Mom’s theft and Barney holding the title to the house as collateral on her bail, we need all the cash we can get right now.”
“I get why you wanted to help,” Molly said, still looking thoroughly unhappy with the situation, “but why do it in secret? You could’ve been hurt, and we wouldn’t have even known in time to help.”
“I know.” Guilt shot through her. This was the only part of the whole situation that Cara knew wasn’t justifiable. She just hated being incompetent at anything. Having her sisters critiquing her work at every step would’ve made everything ten times worse, even if the advice had been well-intentioned. Still, her pride had almost gotten her killed at least once. “It was stupid not to tell you. I realized that last night.”
“What happened last night?” Norah leaned forward, her eyes lit with interest.
“Not much.” There was no way she was going to share the whole almost-run-over incident. If she knew how close Cara had come to dying, Molly would figure out a way to keep her locked safely in the house for the next fifty years. “I just heard a rumor that Abbott had some unsavory connections, so I wanted to get your help before I brought a bunch of dangerous criminals down on our heads.”
Molly still looked furious and hugely worried, but some curiosity crept into her expression as well. “Is the rumor from a trustworthy source?”
Cara’s first impulse was to answer in the affirmative, but then she considered the question again. Just because she had the odd and illogical urge to trust Henry Kavenski didn’t mean that he was actually trustworthy. “Possibly,” she finally answered. “Enough that it’s worth looking into, at least. Plus, Abbott went to Dutch’s last night specifically to talk to a woman named Layla who caused Ka—ahh…my source enough concern that he shut down any questions about her.” It was only when her sisters stared at her again that she realized what she’d let slip. She’d been so concerned about not mentioning Kavenski that she’d blurted out something she’d planned to keep to herself. “Shoot.”
“You went toDutch’s?” Molly’s calm voice was actually more menacing than yelling would’ve been. “By yourself? Last night? Dutch’s?”
The guilty look on Cara’s face must’ve been answer enough, because Molly was clutching her hair and glaring at the ceiling again. “It was fine,” Cara tried to assure her. “My source was there, and he’s a big guy. I had backup if I needed it.”
She immediately regretted her words when Molly slowly turned her head to fix her with a gimlet stare. “Who exactly is this source of yours?”
Cara cleared her throat and then wished she hadn’t, since it sounded exceptionally guilty. “Funny story, that.”
Molly’s eyes narrowed, and there was no hint of a smile as she said, “Do tell, then. I’d love a chuckle right now.”
“My source is actually the first skip I went after.” Cara tried for a light laugh, but it came out sounding strangled. “I might not have gotten the bounty on him, but at least I got some information out of the deal, right?”
Molly slumped forward until her forehead met the table with athunk. “Tell me,” she groaned without lifting her head. “Tell me everything, all at once, so I can just go ahead and have an anxiety-induced aneurysm and die peacefully. I wish Fifi had been right and you were just dating some guy that we would’ve hated for whatever reason. This is so much worse than I thought.”
“It’s okay.” Cara tried to keep her tone soothing as she reached over and patted the back of Molly’s head. “I’m completely unharmed, and I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll never chase after another skip without backup, even if he is just a tax evader. I promise.”
Molly raised her head enough to fix her best and most deadly glare on Cara. “What’s the name of this ever-so-helpful skip?”
Fixing her gaze on the ceiling this time so she wouldn’t have to see her sisters’ reactions, Cara sighed and admitted, “Henry Kavenski.”
For several interminable seconds, the only sound in the kitchen was the tap of Norah’s fingers on her phone screen. When even that stopped, Cara couldn’t take the suspense and snuck a glance at her sister’s face. Norah looked just as appalled as Cara suspected she’d be.
Norah turned her head slowly until her horrified gaze landed on Cara. “You went afterthisguy? Have you seen the photos of the crime scene? This was a professional job.”
