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Behind her, Josie heard the quiet click of the door closing again. Then Turner drew up beside her and said, “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe what made Dean so upset just now?”

Great. Just great. He’d been in the room a nanosecond and he was taking an antagonistic tone with a serial killer holding a toddler in his arms.

Carter’s eyes widened as he registered Turner’s presence. Panic flitted across his features. He didn’t see Josie as a threat. Of course he didn’t. She was a woman and he was very good at overpowering women. He’d already had an opportunity to do anything he wanted to her and he had. She tamped down the rage that flared to life in her gut.

“That’s none of your business,” he said.

For once he wasn’t giving them the smooth, easy mask he had perfected. He wasn’t even trying to explain away his odd behavior. He was rattled. Why? Because Dean had recognized the lipstick case as the same kind he’d found on his and Kirstie’s bedroom floor the day she was murdered?

“You’re right,” Josie said. “It is none of our business. That’s between you and your brother. How about I take Molly and you can get out of here, go talk to Dean privately.”

He stared at her for a long moment. She could practically see him running every scenario in his mind. Stay and continue this confrontation. Backpedal and try to act totally normal, blow them off, try to return to the service like nothing had happened. Or leave Molly with them and run. Except Carter was too smart to believe they’d let him run. Maybe long enough to ensure Molly’s safety but not long enough for him to make any kind of meaningful escape. He saw her suggestion for exactly what it was.

“Daddy.” Molly tapped his shoulder with her lollipop, leaving a sticky blue residue on his suit jacket. “Down, down, down.”

Carter understood there was no getting out of this. If his brother figured out or suspected what he had done then his life as he knew it was over. The illusion would be shattered. Their bond was clearly strong but Josie couldn’t see Dean forgiving the murders of his mother and wife, much less covering for Carter.

This was his last stand.

He clutched Molly more tightly to him. “What do you want?”

Molly wiggled in his arms. “Daddy, play.”

“We just want to talk,” Josie said. “Put Molly down, Carter.”

She could feel Turner’s frenetic energy beside her, hear the soft flutter of his fingers along the side of his leg. Yet, his voice came out casual. “Come on, Carter. You know she’ll be bored. Kids hate grown-up talk.”

Molly got the lollipop tangled in her curls. Two-handed, she tried to pull it away but the motion only made things worse. “Daddy, help.”

Carter’s eyes darted between Josie and Turner while he lifted his free hand and tried to disentangle the lollipop from her hair. His movements were jerky and too strong. Molly squealed as he pulled at a lock of her hair hard enough to cause pain. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. She pushed away from him with one hand while the other clutched the stem of the lollipop which was now firmly embedded in her hair like a curler.

Josie stepped forward, hands extended. “Here, let me help. I’m really good at getting gum and candy out of hair.”

Molly’s body listed toward her, one tiny hand reaching. There was a hummingbird in Josie’s chest now. So close. She was so close. The tips of her fingers brushed Molly’s just as Carter yanked her away. Molly squealed again. The force of his sudden move sent him stumbling backward until his shoulder hit the end of one of the shelves. Fat tears spilled down Molly’s face.

“I don’t know what you think you saw or what you think is happening,” Carter snapped. “But I would never hurt my kids.”

Josie took another step forward. “I know you wouldn’t,” she lied. “Carter, this isn’t a conversation you want to have in front of your daughter. Put her down.”

From her periphery, she saw Turner to her right, angling himself so that the three of them formed a loose triangle.

“Tell you what,” said Turner. “Let Quinn take Molly out to Erin. They’ll work on getting that thing out of her hair and you and I can sit down and talk, just the two of us.”

Molly continued to pull at the lollipop. “Daddeeeeee!”

Again, Carter used his free hand to try to help her, more gently this time, while his eyes flitted back and forth between Josie and Turner. “She won’t go with her,” he said even though Molly had just reached for Josie.

Turner inched closer, holding out his arms. “Then I’ll take her. I have a daughter, too. I bet I’m way better at removing sticky objects from hair than Quinn over here.”

Molly went still, studying Turner closely. When he smiled at her, she turned away and buried her face in Carter’s neck, leaving the lollipop dangling. Carter stopped trying to extricate it and began stroking her back.

The sight of his large hand along her fragile little spine made acid roil in Josie’s stomach.

This wasn’t working. He wasn’t going to relinquish Molly. Not when he could use her as a human shield. Josie got right to the point. “Carter, you’re a smart guy. You know this is only going to end one of two ways. The easy way is you come with us back out to the church, hand Molly over to Erin, and the three of us drive over to the station.”

“If you meant what you said about not hurting your kids, then you’ll choose that,” Turner said, his tone serious now. “It’s the safest option for Molly.”

Carter seemed to consider it for a moment and then he slowly backed down the closest aisle of books.