"What? I'm helping." She looked at Gabe. "You do care about her, right? That's not weird to say."
Gabe's expression went carefully neutral. "Let's just get this done."
"Okay but remember what I said about the emotional subtext." Piper positioned her phone on the counter. "Places, people. Cara, stand over there. Gabe, you're by the table. You need distance for this to work. Like you're physically pulling away from each other while arguing."
Cara moved to the spot Piper indicated. Caught Gabe's eye. He looked like he regretted every decision that had led to this moment. She certainly did.
"Ready?" Piper asked. "And remember, I need at least three minutes of material. We can edit it into a loop. So keep it going. Build the tension. Make it messy."
"This is ridiculous," Gabe said.
"That's perfect! Use that!" Piper hit record. "Action!"
Cara stared at her. "Action?"
"Sorry. Too much drama club. You know what I mean. Just start."
“Yes, ma’am.” Gabe drew a breath. "We go in, observe, and leave. That's it."
The authority in his tone made it easy for Cara to push back. "And if we see something? If there's evidence we can grab?"
"We don't engage. We document and call it in."
"That's playing it safe when we don't have time to play it safe."
"Cut!" Piper waved her hands. "Okay, that was good, but I need more emotion. Cara, you're furious that he's trying to control everything. Show me that fury."
"I'm not an actress,” she lied. Actually, that was at the top of her skillset.
"You don't have to be. You just have to be mad at him for treating you like you can't think for yourself. And Gabe, stop being so FBI about everything. You're scared something will happen to her. Show me that fear under the control. We need to work it for the audience. We want to keep these guys listening, right?"
They tried again.
"We observe only," Gabe said. "No unnecessary risks."
"Define unnecessary." Cara let frustration leak through. "Because from where I'm standing, unnecessary is wasting time when your brother could be in that motel."
"My brother isn't at the motel."
"You don't know that."
"I know enough to follow proper protocol. We don't have backup. We don't have jurisdiction. We don't rush in blind."
"Protocol? Seriously?"
"We do this right." His voice rose. "One mistake and we lose everything, the evidence, the chance to make a murder case stick, and any chance of finding David."
She let her voice climb. "You think I'm the one who's going to make a mistake?"
"I think you're willing to take risks I'm not comfortable with."
She snorted, extra drama added. "Nothing about this is comfortable. My bakery's destroyed. I'm being followed. And you want me to stand by while you play by rules that don't apply anymore."
"The rules always apply."
"Not when people are dying!"
Silence crashed between them.
