“Innocent?” His tone was thick with sarcasm. “Right.”

She was just thinking up a great comeback when a big hand on her lower back nudged her forward past Mill. Although she gave John a minor glare, she allowed him to usher her away from the aggravating cop. Mill muttered something not quite loud enough for her to make out before he shoved open the door and left the building. “What is his deal?” she asked under her breath.

“Who knows, but you’re not going to gain anything by getting into a pissing match with him.” John kept his hand on her back as they approached the desk sergeant, and Molly allowed it for a few seconds before shifting to the side. His touch disappeared, and she immediately missed the warmth and, even more, the feeling that John had her back.

Shaking off her distracting feelings, she stepped up to the window dividing the main reception area from the desk sergeant’s domain. When she recognized who was on duty, she gave him a genuine smile of greeting. “Sergeant Garcia. What are you doing behind a desk? Did you hurt yourself again, or is your knee still giving you trouble?”

His return grin turned into a pained frown as he held up his left arm, showing her the plastic brace on his forearm. “I wish it were just my knee. Everyone’s started calling me Sergeant Glass.”

She winced sympathetically. “What happened?”

“Slid on some loose gravel and fell.” Lowering his injured arm, he gave a shrug. “My wrist took the worst of it.”

“At least you didn’t land on your face. Protect the moneymaker, right?”

“That’s right.” He chuckled as his gaze flicked back and forth between Molly and John. “What’s with the two of you? You working together now?”

It took some effort, but Molly resisted the urge to glance at John as she answered. Instead, she kept her gaze locked on Garcia’s face. “John’s just helping me out with a tricky skip.”

The sergeant went quiet for a few moments, still studying them as his expression sobered. “Hope that ‘tricky skip’ isn’t a certain Mr. Zarver.”

She made a face. “Are you psychic? Because that’s not fair if you are.”

“Mooollllly.” He dragged out her name in an extended scolding whine before his voice returned to its usual tenor. “What are you thinking? Zarver’s bad news. I like you. I don’t want bad things to happen to you, but they will, if you hang around Zarver and his pals.”

“I know.” She did her best to not sound flippant or like she’d heard the same lecture a half-dozen times, even though she had. “I’ll be careful. Besides…” She bumped John’s meaty biceps with her shoulder, just then noticing that he’d moved very close to her. Although she gave him a funny look, she didn’t move away. “Carmondy’s on the case with me. I’ll just leap behind him and use him for a shield when the bullets start flying.”

The sergeant laughed as John gave her a look that was both censorious and wry.