by Katie Ruggle
“Home.” She knew she shouldn’t give information to a skip, but it was hard to be suspicious of a guy who’d just saved her life and then put himself between her and the furious bouncer like a human shield.
“Good.” His eyes narrowed, his glare getting icier, but she found that most of her apprehension had evaporated. “You need to keep your distance from Abbott—and Layla.”
She made a noncommittal sound before trying to close the door, but he kept his significant bulk in the way.
His expression switched to a glower. “I’m serious. You’re going to get yourself killed.”
Again, how could she be mad when he was so concerned with her safety? “Thank you—really—but I have a bunch of sisters to look out for me.”
Tiredness was creeping up on her, and her knee was starting to throb again. “Besides, I won’t be chasing anyone else tonight. I have a paper to finish, and I’d really like to shower after being in there.” Her gaze moved toward his grip on her door.
With a grumbly sigh, he released her door and shifted back slightly until he was no longer blocking her.
“Thank you.” She smiled at him again. “You might want to get back to your motel room and get some rest, too.” It was silly of her, but she hated to think of him being unprotected and alone.
He blinked, one corner of his full lips twisting down as if he were holding back some expression, but Cara wasn’t sure if it was a smile or a scowl. Reminding herself that it was really none of her business—and she would be better off not getting involved—she pulled the door closed and started her car.
Kavenski stepped out of the way. As she left the lot, turning onto the main street, she saw he was standing where she’d left him, wrapped in shadows.
“Be safe, big guy,” she said quietly. Pulling her gaze away from his mostly hidden form, she turned her eyes to the road. She needed to go home and let her sisters know what was going on. As much as she was dreading the lectures about to come her way, she needed backup. As Henry Kavenski had said, she couldn’t count on him to be there every time her life was threatened, and she seemed to be heading deeper and deeper into danger. It was time to get some help from the real pros.
Chapter 3
“Hey.” Cara tried to sound casual as she walked into the kitchen. From her spot sitting on the counter, Norah gave an absent wave without looking up from her phone. Molly, who was sitting in Cara’s usual spot at the small table that acted as a desk, wasn’t as oblivious. Her gaze latched onto Cara, her suspicion clear.
“What’s wrong?”
“Why would you think anything’s wrong?” Cara knew she was speaking too quickly. Why hadn’t she inherited any of Jane’s acting ability? “Everything is wonderful.”
Now even Norah was looking at her curiously. For her to have gotten Norah’s attention, she must’ve been over-the-top unbelievable.
Cara paused, considering how much of her recent escapades she wanted to share with her sisters. “Fine, maybe not wonderful exactly.” She’d planned to tell them. It was just that this way, it felt as if her sisters were dragging it out of her, rather than Cara making the well-thought-out and rational decision to share information with her family. Pulling out a chair, she plopped down. “Where are Fifi and Charlie? I’d like to get all the yelling out of the way at one time.”
“They’re in Wyoming, chasing another lead on Mom.” Molly crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair as if bracing herself for bad news. “You’re going to get yelled at twice, so just spill.”
“How about John?” Cara knew she was just delaying the inevitable at this point. “Will he be staying here tonight?” It was strange to see Molly without him. Normally, they were joined at the hip.
“No.” Molly frowned. “He’s gone for a few days, chasing a skip who ran to Texas.”
“Ugh. Poor John.”
Although Molly made a dismissive gesture, Cara could tell that she wasn’t happy being apart from him. “Quit trying to distract me.” Molly’s laser focus returned, as did her inquisitor stare. “What’s going on with you?”
“Felicity thinks you’re sneaking around with a guy, but I don’t think that’s it,” Norah said.
Turning her startled gaze to her sister, Cara said, “A guy? What? Why would I be sneaking around with a guy?”
Norah shrugged. “She wasn’t sure about that part. Maybe because you thought we wouldn’t like him?”
Unable to hold back an amused snort at how her sister was both wrong and also weirdly right at the same time, Cara shook her head. “It wasn’t like that. I was with a guy—well, around a guy—but it wasn’t romantic. He’s a skip.”
“A skip?” her sisters chorused. Even Warrant raised his head off his front paws to stare.
“I was perfectly safe.” Except for a minor brush with death. “I hardly had any contact with the skip at all.” From Molly’s expression, Cara’s assurances were not helping. “In fact, when I realized that the first skip was going to be harder to bring in than I thought, I switched to an easier target—a harmless one. Total white-collar, nonviolent criminal.” Although after Kavenski’s warning about Abbott, that last bit didn’t feel entirely true.
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. “The supposedly harmless 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 leaves you to 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 to Dutch’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 a thunk. “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 after this guy? Have you seen the photos of the crime scene? This was a professional job.”
“Why? What’d he do?” Molly jumped up and circled the table so she could peer over Norah’s shoulder. Her horrified expression soon matched her sister’s. “Cara Evelyn Pax!”
“I know!” Cara dropped her head onto her folded arms so she didn’t have to meet the accusation in their eyes. “It wasn’t the best plan, but I just gathered research and watched him from a safe distance. I didn’t try to bring him in.” She was careful not to mention breaking into his motel room and the face-to-face encounter that followed. “I realized that I’d bitten off more than I could chew—plus I’m pretty sure he didn’t actually commit those murders—so I switched to the tax evader.”
Molly’s face was skeptical, and Cara mentally cursed her inability to lie—or even hide the truth—well. “How’d he become your source if you stayed at this ‘safe distance’?”
“When I was at Dutch’s, I went to sit at a back-corner booth where I could watch without too many people noticing me, but Kavenski was already sitting there. He let me sit with him and actually gave me some good information.”
“The skip you were following just happened to be at Dutch’s the one and only time you’ve ever gone in there, sitting in the very same booth that you wanted?” Molly asked, her disbelief obvious.
“When you put it like that, it does seem unlikely,” Cara admitted.
“Do you think he’s setting her up?” Norah asked, her still-horrified gaze lifting to focus on Molly.
“No,” Cara answered before her sister could. “He wasn’t happy that I was there and kept warning me away from Abbott.” She started to say that Kavenski had saved her life, but then stopped, not wanting to freak out her sisters any more than she already had. If she told them about her near-death experience, they really would have anxiety-induced aneurysms. “Oh, and he ran out into traffic to save a dog a few days ago. He’s really not that bad.”
“He saved a dog? Wait… Warning you?” Molly repeated sharply, returning to her seat. She plopped down heavily, as if the weight of the world was sitting on her shoulders. “Did he threaten you?”
“Oh no. Nothing like that.” Cara waved a hand, brushing away that idea. “He just told me that Abbott was mixed up in some things besides tax evasion. There was a woman at Dutch’s who Abbott talked to—Layla. I didn’t get her last name. I did get the impression that she’s involved in some shady things.” Which also meant that Kavenski wasn’t totally in the clear, even if he hadn’t committed the Mason murders. After all, his meeting with Layla had been extremely suspicious.
“Well, if she was at Dutch’s, that’s likely,” Molly muttered. Although she still looked unhappy, her initial shock and fury seemed to have passed. “I don’t like you going after this Abbott, especially without getting more information on him.”
“I did a full background check.” Cara was a little offended that her researching abilities were being questioned. Even though she was new to the actual chasing and tackling part of the business, she was confident in her behind-the-scenes skills. “Nothing suspicious popped up. He looked like a straight arrow—except for the tax evasion. Well, and he’s one of Barney’s skips.”
“Ugh.” To Cara’s surprise, Molly simply made a face at the mention of Barney. A month ago, that would’ve gotten a much more serious reaction, but Cara figured they’d all dealt with so much since Jane disappeared that taking a case from Barney didn’t qualify as shocking anymore. Molly absently scratched Warrant behind the ears as her gaze turned thoughtful. “Sometimes a squeaky-clean background is as suspicious as a dirty one.”
Cara raised her eyebrows, happy that it seemed the worst was over, but unable to let the seemingly pointed
comment go. “There are some of us who just don’t like to get into trouble. We do exist.”
Molly grinned at her, and Cara knew for sure that she’d been forgiven. “You exist, sure, but I think you’re the exception more than the rule…at least until recently.”
Before Cara could retort, Norah stood abruptly, drawing both of her sisters’ attention. “I’m trying to do a search for open warrants on anyone with the first name of Layla, but I need my laptop for this.” She hurried toward the stairs, and Warrant, whose ears had perked up at the sound of his name, followed her.
Molly made gimme gestures with her hands. “Let me see the files on the tax evader and Kavenski. Think we can bring both of them in, make this a twofer?”
“No!” Cara clamped her lips together, but the protest had already escaped, and Molly was looking at her much too curiously. There was no chance her sister would let that go. Focusing too intently on digging Abbott’s file out of her backpack, Cara tried again, less vehemently this time. “I don’t think he’s guilty, honestly. He’s been really helpful, and I’d like to keep him as a source. Plus, he’s a huge guy, so he’d be tough to bring in.”
“You doubt my tackling capabilities?” Molly asked, but her voice was teasing. “That’s fine. I won’t go after him. We’ll stick with Abbott. From what you said, he’s mixed up with some criminal sorts, so we’ll probably trip over another skip or two as we track him down.”
“Thanks.” It was only when Cara’s shoulders relaxed that she realized how tightly she’d been holding them. “Do you want me back in research mode, then?”
Molly studied her, all traces of amusement gone from her expression. “That depends. Do you want to work in the field?”
“I thought the idea of me going after skips upset you,” Cara said, a little confused by Molly’s calm question.
“The idea of you going after them alone is what freaked me out. I’m happy to train you to take a more hands-on role in bringing in skips, but you need to have backup and support and a clue about what you’re doing out there.” Molly’s voice was getting more and more high-pitched, as if all her fears of what could’ve happened to Cara were running through her mind again. Taking an obvious deep breath, Molly steadily met her eyes. “If you want to learn, I’ll teach you, but if you want to stick to research, that’s just as valuable as having more bodies chasing and tackling.”
