Livy went floor by floor, clearing each one, quickly realizing that no one was home. Although most parents had their kids in bed at this hour, the Jean-Louis Parkers were known to do things their own way when it wasn’t a school night. So chances were they’d gone out for ice cream or something. But when Livy reached the stairway that would lead to the fifth and final floor, she stopped and sniffed the air again.

“Jackie,” she whispered, and then charged up the stairs and into Jackie’s practice room. She pushed the door open and went inside, stopping immediately when she saw Jackie’s body on the couch, facing the back of the seat.

Heart breaking, Livy slowly approached Toni’s mother and, when she was close enough, she gently touched Jackie’s shoulder.

Which was when Jackie Jean-Louis screamed and flipped over.

Livy stumbled back as Jackie laughed hysterically.

“Goddammit, Livy! Don’t sneak up on me like that! You scared the life out of me!”

Livy had scared her?

After several seconds, Jackie’s laughter faded away. “Hon, what’s wrong? You look upset.”

Livy took a breath and said, “Someone broke into the house. I thought they’d killed you.”

Jackie blinked. “What? I didn’t hear a thing? Oh.” She held up her earbuds. “I was listening to Johnny’s playing before I fell asleep. It’s possible they came in then.” She studied Livy for a moment. “You look like you’re about to cry. Is that because of me? Oh, sweetie!”

“Jacqueline!”

“Sorry. Sorry.”

“Where’s everybody?”

“Paul took them out to get ice cream.”

“Good.”

Suddenly Jackie got to her feet. “Oh, my God . . . Irene!” She ran out of the room, and Livy followed right behind her to the only other room on the floor.

Jackie threw the door open and Irene spun around in her office chair; computer equipment, papers, and books covered the two desks. A small bed was on one side of the room and looked very unused.

“What is wrong with you guys?” Irene demanded.

“We’ve been robbed!” Jackie shot back.

“No, no,” Livy quickly corrected. “We had a break-in. But I can’t see that they took anything. In fact, if I hadn’t scented them, I don’t think any of us would have known they’d been here. They’re good.”

“Government good?” Jackie asked.

Livy shrugged. “I guess.”

That’s when Jackie locked on her friend. “Again, Irene?”

“How do you know it has anything to do with me?”

Jackie’s eyebrow went up and Irene sighed.

“I’ll go home.”

“No.” Jackie shook herhead. “We can’t assume this is about you. And if it’s about Freddy or Troy, I’ll need you here.”

“We’ll get security,” Livy said.

“And contact Dee-Ann,” Irene said.

Both Livy and Jackie took a step back.

“What the hell for?” Livy demanded.

“If there’s one person I know who has connections you and I can only dream of and, more important, can terrify those connections into giving her answers about why strangers are searching this home . . . it’s Dee-Ann Smith.”

As always, Irene was right.

“You take care of that,” Livy told her. “I’ll deal with security. But do me a favor, go over and wait at the wild dog house until I get back. Call Paul so that he knows to bring the kids back there rather than here.”

“Where are you going?” Jackie asked when Livy headed to the door.

“I’ll be back. And Jackie . . . make sure no one texts or calls Toni.” She narrowed her eyes on the woman she’d briefly mourned. “And that means you, lady.”

“But she should know—”

“Jackie!”

“Oh, all right! I promise! And you can just put those vile-looking claws back, little miss. There’s no need to threaten me!”

Reece Lee had just turned over, his dream about skating naked in front of an audience of beautiful She-predators making him smile, when a scent he’d just learned to recognize woke him up. He thought maybe he’d left the Infamous Book of Smells lying on the bed with him, but when he opened his eyes he saw the vicious honey badger standing at the edge of the bed, staring at him.

“Aaaah!” Reece screamed, scrambling back until his shoulders hit the headboard.

“You scream like a girl,” she observed.

“Why are you here? Have you come to kill me?”

“It’s crossed my mind, but no. I need a security team and I heard the company you work for is really good.”

“Can’t this wait until tomorrow?”

“No.”

Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to just get this feral little woman out of his hotel suite without a fight, Reece admitted, “Look, if you want the full team on this, it’s gonna cost you, darlin’.”

Livy lifted a dark green duffel bag from the floor, unzipped it, and turned it over, dropping a veritable shit-load of money onto Reece’s bed.

“That enough?” she asked. And when he only stared, she added, kind of defensively, “It’s clean.”

“You know, darlin’, I wasn’t actually going to ask you that. But now that you offer it up, it makes me think this money wasn’t always so clean.”