His face darkened, growing even more flushed than his normal ruddy coloring. “I, being the nice guy that I am, helped her out when none of her kids bothered to show up.”

“Why’d she pick you?” Molly asked, relieved that they were finally getting to some details about Jane’s arrest and first advisement. “She’s never used your services before, right?”

Studying her face closely, he leaned back again, drawing a complaining shriek from his chair. “That’s right. I happened to be at the courthouse yesterday, and we ran into each other.” His grin was an unnatural shade of white, bordering on blue, and she made a mental note to mention his disconcerting appearance to Felicity, who was addicted to tooth whitening. “She must’ve realized what she’s been missing all these years.”

Ignoring the gross sexual innuendo for the time being, Molly focused on the situation and what needed to be done. “But why you? Normally, she uses Gavin or Delia.”

His gaze dropped as he gave an irritated shrug. It was just for a second before he refocused on her face, his gaze snapping back to meet hers, but it was long enough for her to know that he was about to lie. “No idea. Like I said, she probably just figured out that I’m the best.”

“Uh-huh.” Even to her own ears, her tone made it sound like Molly didn’t believe a word he was saying…which was pretty accurate. “So, she didn’t hit up Gavin and Delia first, but they turned her down?”

His face darkened again, this time to almost a plum color. “How would I know that?”

“Uh…” Molly gave him a “duh” look. “You all stand in the back of the courtroom, waiting to pounce on potential clients. Don’t you guys talk?”

“Of course we talk, but we don’t share client information.” He huffed, sounding more offended than a guy who, the bail-bond gossip pipeline had it, had once accepted someone’s kidney as a form of payment. Although Molly was ninety-nine percent sure the rumor was false, that one percent of doubt remained. It would’ve been enough to make her shy away from working with Barney—that and his utter creepiness.

From Barney’s defensive attitude, Molly was fairly certain that he’d been Jane’s last choice. The question that remained was why? If Barney had fronted a five-hundred-thousand-dollar bond, it had to have been worth it. Even with the proceeds from Molly’s car and the stolen cash, Jane didn’t have enough collateral to justify the risk.

A suspicion crept into her brain.

“Are you holding the stolen necklace for her?” she asked suddenly and bluntly, wanting to see his immediate reaction before he managed to think up a proper lie.

The baffled surprise that instantly crossed Barney’s expression seemed sincere, however. “I wish.” That sounded heartfelt, too. “If she’d given me the necklace, I would’ve happily written a bond for ten times Jane’s bail.” His face blanked, and it was almost comical how chagrined he looked at his own honesty. “Not that I would ever deal in stolen merchandise.”