An icy flutter, a little flurry of premonition, dove through him. For the first time, nice wasn’t going to work on Carly. It surprised him how much he didn’t want to go the other way. But it didn’t stop him.

John dug his tongue against a molar to flex his jaw. “You need to get control of your face, young lady. You have been gunning for me all day. And I don’t appreciate it. I’ve been easy on you. Maybe too easy. I don’t know what you think you’re doing. If you’ve got something to say, say it. But you’d better say it respectfully. Don’t you glare at me. And don’t you ever follow me around again and barge in on private conversations. Is that clear?”

When she didn’t respond, John didn’t look away from the road. “You’ve got nothing to say? Really? I said I wasn’t mad because I was trying to be nice. But, yeah, I’m getting pretty angry right now.”

“But you’re not, though.” Her voice was the flat confrontational match of the expression he’d seen on her face.

“What? You’re saying I’m not angry?”

“Yeah. Actually, I don’t think you are. You’ve got five thousand things on your mind right now, and you want me to think you’re angry so that I’ll feel bad and be quiet. Like maybe I’ll try to get on your good side by not asking questions. But I don’t actually think you’re mad at me. Not yet.”

“Wow. You are really something these days. It’s like I don’t even know the person sitting here.”

She said nothing. The icy flutter grew tendrils and he fished his mind for a new tactic.

She got there first, but with a new waver in her voice. “You told Mom that the cameras were for some guy who was stalking you. But you said he was weak. Like some homeless guy or something. That he wouldn’t hurt us.”

“That wasn’t him.” He snatched a quick look away from the road. “That’s not who I was talking about. That’s not who the cameras were for.”

So that was it. The worry of Owen had put Carly on her mission. She was just barely on the dry side of crying. This he could work with. “It’s not him, Carlzee. I promise.”

“Then who is he?”

“Just someone I did business with a while back.”

“Did business?” Tears forgotten in an instant, she was straight back on offense. “What does that even mean? Did you work with him?”

He didn’t have time for her hyperprimed attention to detail, but he couldn’t help being impressed. “Yes. As in did business. That’s what that means.”