Claire went to follow them, but Agent McCoy grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back. “No, no. You stay here.”

She shrugged him off and went down the hall, closely followed by another batch of agents. They ignored her, focused on the task at hand.

The first agent knocked on the door three times before kicking it in. Claire had the absurd thought that Chip was going to hit the roof when he heard about the broken door. As if that was the greatest of their worries!

Claire stood, mouth hanging open, listening to the shouts of the agents. Within moments, she heard an “All clear!”

She crept closer, watching as agents ransacked the room. One was pulling the sheets off the bed, while two others were ripping the drawers from the dresser and dumping the contents onto the floor. One emerged from under the bed holding a brown, thin wallet.

“We’ve got something,” he said, brushing past Claire.

Agent McCoy accepted it, and Claire watched as he opened it to reveal Marty’s driver’s license, smiling behind the plastic insert.

Her heart ached. Poor Marty.

“There it is,” he said, beaming.

A license! That was all they’d found. Marty had gotten away. She knew she shouldn’t say anything, but she couldn’t help it. “There what is?”

That little bit of snark was hard to contain. If she was about to be arrested, she’d save her next words for the presence of her attorney.

But it ended up being worse than that. Nobody came to arrest her. No one even made a move. She stood there, dumbfounded, watching them scurrying around her. It wasn’t until Lucy burst out of her room down the hall that they perked up.

“Claire!” she yelled, waving.

Agent McCoy took a step forward. “Lucy? Lucy Woodley?”

She ran over, eyes wild. “Yes. Please, don’t –”

He grabbed one of her wrists and swung it behind her back. “You are under arrest for concealing a fugitive.”

“What?” Lucy shot him an offended look as he clipped the first handcuff on.

Claire wanted to scream. “No, you don’t understand –”

The agent’s face brightened. “Would you like to confess to the crime instead, then?”

“Don’t worry, Claire,” Lucy said breezily. “This isn’t my first rodeo.”

Claire had no idea what that meant until she remembered Lucy being arrested for protesting a few years prior.

This was different, though. Claire tried to follow, but someone held her back. She turned around to see the somber face of Agent Alvarez. “I’m sorry about this, Claire,” he said.

She shook her head. “You don’t understand, this isn’t – we’re not some crime family!”

He let out a sigh. “If you have an attorney, now is the time to call them.”

What a nightmare.