“I’ve got him,” Bastien said, escorting Stuart over to the squad car with a tight grip on his upper arm. Stuart immediately began speaking. Although Molly was too far away from the pair to make out what he was saying, she could see his arms waving dramatically, and she suspected that he’d come up with a new story in the time they’d been waiting for the cops to arrive.

Now that she had her irritation under control, Molly shifted over so that John was no longer blocking her view of Mill.

“So, what happened here…this time?” the detective asked. His slight emphasis on the last two words immediately topped off her annoyance levels again. She could feel John’s assessing gaze on her, but she ignored it. Whatever the reason for his newly protective manner, she couldn’t hide behind him while he dealt with all her problems.

“Stuart over there”—she jerked her chin toward him, noting that he was still gesticulating dramatically as he spoke to Bastien—“knocked on the front door about twenty minutes ago. When we didn’t immediately answer, he picked the dead bolt and walked inside. He said that he was in a class with Cara and dropping off some notes she’d asked for, but…” Molly gestured toward Cara in an unspoken invitation to finish her sentence.

“I don’t know him,” Cara said immediately. “I definitely never asked him for notes.”

Mill studied all of them, even though Felicity and Charlie had remained silent since the cops’ arrival. “Why do you think he picked the lock?” he finally asked. “Isn’t it more likely that the door was unlocked?”

Biting back the sarcastic response that wanted to escape, Molly said semicordially, “We watched the dead bolt turn.”

Making a skeptical sound that brought Molly’s restrained anger flaring to life, Mill eyed each of them again. She knew he was using silence to get them to talk from sheer discomfort, but she also knew it wouldn’t work on any of them. They used the same trick when they were trying to track down skips. Even Cara had questioned her share of cagey friends and relatives of people who’d jumped bail. If Norah had been there, she might have broken into awkward chatter, but she also might have stayed frozen and silent. It was hard to predict how she’d react in social situations.

Several minutes ticked by quietly before Mill spoke again. “Why would someone break into your house?”

“Isn’t that a question for Stuart?” Molly shot back, making the detective frown deeply.

“Why are you refusing to answer?”

“Oh, for God’s sake…” Charlie muttered, drawing Mill’s sharp attention.

“Were you going to add something?” he demanded, and Molly resisted rolling her eyes. Charlie didn’t bother holding back her scorn.

“Why would I bother, when you’ve already made up your mind?” Crossing her arms over her chest, Charlie leaned back against the doorframe. Normally, she tended to play up her innocent, girl-next-door look, using her dimples and wide Bambi eyes as a tool to get skips and sources to let down their guards and confide in her. Right now, however, her full lips were drawn into a tight frown, and her eyes were narrowed to slits. Molly knew just looking at her sister that she was pissed.