Barney let out a yelp that sounded like she’d just kicked him in a delicate place. “Thirty percent? That’s twice the standard. I’m doing you a favor. You should just be happy you have a month to try to track down your felon of a mother.”

“Thirty percent.” She felt the muscles of her jaw lock into what Cara called her mule face. Her sisters knew when she got that look that Molly wasn’t about to give in. “Plus expenses.”

This time, he just made a pathetic bleat of a whine.

“If you want us to risk our lives by going after Sonny Zarver, then you’re going to pay us thirty percent.” She cringed at the gasps from her sisters when she said Sonny’s name, and she very carefully didn’t look at John. From the prickling feeling on her right cheek, he was shooting deadly eye lasers in her direction. She couldn’t blame him. It was crazy to accept the Zarver job. There just wasn’t any other choice if they wanted to keep their house—their only remaining connection to Victor Chavis, the twins’ dad and the only one of Jane’s husbands and boyfriends, besides Lono, who’d treated all the sisters like they were his children. The property had been in his family for four generations, and Molly hadn’t almost killed herself to pay off the mortgage just to lose their home to Barney Thompson now.

“Twenty,” Barney grumbled.

Clenching her jaw even tighter, she shook her head despite knowing he couldn’t see her. “Sonny beat his stepfather to death and then tried to do the same to his mother when she kicked him out. It was sheer luck that she managed to escape. Thirty plus expenses.”

“Pax…” John’s voice was a mere growl, and the sound shivered down her back and made her thighs tighten on air. Molly still didn’t dare look at him. Her sisters were shifting in their chairs with nerves, except for Norah, who’d gone perfectly still except for the too-quick rise and fall of her chest. Shoving down her concern for her sister, Molly concentrated on the sound of Barney’s huffing and puffing on the other end of the line instead.

“Fine.” Barney spat out the word. “Thirty percent—if you bring him in within a month. If you don’t, then I’ll yank your house out from under you so fast your head’ll spin.”

“We’ll get him.” Although her calm tone was back, Molly didn’t have any of the confidence she was projecting. How was she supposed to track and capture Sonny Zarver, of all people, within four weeks—all while they were searching for Jane and the necklace? It seemed impossible and hopeless, but she wasn’t about to let Barney in on that information. “Will you write up the contract or should we?”

“I’ll do it.” Of course he would. She made a mental note to read through the small print several times to check for tricks. She’d have Cara check, too. Her sister was a whiz with contracts.