Your parents have to be sick with worry. And you’re missing school.”
“I’ve got books in my backpack. I don’t need some teacher to tell me what’s in ’em. Besides, if Mr. Devaney really knows I’m here, even though you haven’t admitted it, don’t you think my parents have been told I’m okay?” she asked.
“I doubt it,” Molly replied. “Otherwise your folks would be demanding to see you.”
Unless, of course, he and Joe Sutton knew more than they’d been letting on. Maybe that’s why they hadn’t made a major issue of Kendra’s continued—if unacknowledged—presence. They could easily have served Molly with a subpoena for harboring a missing minor or used some other legal tactic if they wanted to play hardball. There had to be some reason why they hadn’t. Whatever their reason was, Molly needed to know.
Much as she hated the idea of getting drawn into this any more deeply with Daniel, maybe it was time she made an alliance with one of the men to protect this fragile young girl.
Kendra was watching her intently. “What are you thinking?”
“That maybe it’s time I got a little friendlier with the other camp.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Kendra said worriedly. “What are you going to do?”
“You know the expression ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em?”’
“Yeah, so?”
Molly gave Kendra a jaunty, reassuring smile and declared, “I’m going to make Daniel Devaney and Joe Sutton my new best friends.”
Chapter Five
Molly intended to start her new plan by going to see Joe Sutton. After all, Joe was about as close to a neutral party in this mess as she was going to find. But when she called his office at police headquarters, she was told he was out for the day on an investigation.
“If it’s an emergency, I can track him down,” the officer who’d answered his phone told her.
“No, thanks. I’ll call back later if I need him,” she said.
She hung up slowly and debated whether to wait for Joe or go to see Daniel instead. Because she didn’t like the nagging little voice in her head shouting that she was a coward, she decided to go to Daniel’s office. She wouldn’t call, though. She’d leave it up to fate whether or not she actually saw him.
And in case fate was feeling particularly whimsical, maybe she ought to put on something fancier than what she wore to work every day. It always threw Daniel off-kilter when she dressed up, and she definitely wanted him off-kilter.
Her wardrobe didn’t run to anything too dressy, but she did have a couple of power suits she could choose from when she had to meet with the town muckety-mucks for various permits. Used to seeing her in jeans and T-shirts, the officials were pretty much rendered speechless by the power suits. And the suits gave her a confidence she needed when she was away from her own turf.
She had the choices tossed across her bed when Kendra wandered in, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
“What’re you doing?” she asked Molly, flopping down on the bed and only accidentally avoiding the suits.
“Picking out something to wear to see Daniel Devaney,” Molly said, studying the suits with a critical eye. One was teal blue and fairly sedate. One was drop-dead red and had a neckline that plunged daringly. She usually wore it with a prim white blouse to negate the sexy effect.
Kendra, awake now, bounced off the bed and peered past her. “Red suit. No blouse,” she said without hesitation. “It’ll take him a week to get his tongue untangled.”
Molly stared at her. “I’m not entirely sure that’s the effect I ought to be going for. I want to project friendliness and reliability, not seduction.”
Kendra grinned. “Seduction’s always better.” She said it with the assurance of someone much older.
“How on earth do you know that?” Molly asked.
“I’m female and I’m smart.”
“So am I, but I didn’t know that at thirteen.”
“Maybe you weren’t as smart as I am,” the girl said, her expression suddenly turning oddly glum.
Something in her tone alerted Molly that the conversation had suddenly turned serious, though for the life of her she couldn’t detect why being smart would be a problem.
“How smart are we talking?” Molly probed carefully.
Kendra shrugged.
“Kendra?”
“They say my IQ is off the charts, whatever that means. I don’t see the big deal.”
“It’s something to be proud of,” Molly told her, though it was evident Kendra didn’t see it that way.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place for Molly. Not only did Kendra’s