“Ooh…sounds hot.” She winked and rushed back into Sonny’s room, smiling at John’s startled bark of laughter. She unscrewed the plate around the first outlet, but it was empty. The sirens grew deafeningly loud before shutting off completely, and Molly rushed to the light switch. Because the plate had been painted over, the screw didn’t want to turn.

“C’mon…c’mon…” she muttered. The screw finally gave, and she hurried to twist it out. Heavy boots pounded on the stairs as she dropped the plate onto the floor and peered into the opening. Her heart gave a jump as she spotted the top of a small cell phone, and she slid it out just as the boots reached the top of the stairs. Dropping the phone and John’s multi-tool into her pocket, she turned toward the doorway just as the first firefighter appeared.

“Are you okay, miss?” he asked, and she smiled as she walked toward him, her newly found evidence bumping against her leg.

“Yes, I’m fine.” She joined him in the hallway just as John came out of the room across from hers.

“Sonny’s not in here, either,” he announced. “He must’ve left earlier without Mother Ti—uh, Sky’s mom hearing.”

Nervous giggles fueled by adrenaline threatened to bubble out of Molly, but she forced her expression to stay serious.

“The two of you shouldn’t be up here.” The firefighter, a very attractive black man, frowned at them disapprovingly as more of his colleagues moved around them, looking for the explosion site.

“Sorry, sir, but we had to check if someone was trapped up here.” She grabbed John’s hand. “We couldn’t have lived with ourselves if someone died when we could’ve helped.”

The firefighter’s frown lightened slightly, although his tone remained scolding. “The next time there’s an explosion of any kind, stay outside and wait for help to arrive. Professional help.”

“Yes, sir,” Molly said, perfectly willing to make that promise, as John nodded in agreement.

“We’ll do that. Let’s go, sugarplum, and get out of these nice people’s way,” John said, ushering her toward the stairs.

Molly turned and said over her shoulder. “Keep your eye out for trip wires. That friend of Sky’s seems to be quite the…practical joker.”

The man who’d just admonished them stared at her for a long moment, looking bemused. “We’ll do that.” Turning, he called out to one of the other firefighters, “Carson! I need you to walk these two out.”

As Carson escorted them through the house, Molly could barely contain her excitement and the need to share her find with John.

Once they stepped outside, however, and she saw her least-favorite detectives, Bastien and Mill, interviewing Mother Tick, she was distracted from the cell phone burning a hole in her pocket.

“Here you go. The detectives will want to speak with you.” He nodded toward the Denver cops.

“Thank you, Carson,” Molly said politely, even as she plotted an escape route. The detectives’ backs were turned toward the house, so she was pretty sure she and John hadn’t been spotted yet.