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and Andrea were the only patrons inside.
    Carly’s tension returned to full as she noticed Erika’s reaction to the man. Her expression and body language told Carly she was not happy to have him on the other side of the counter.
    “They’re coming,” Andrea said. “Now will you tell me what is going on?”
    Carly shook her head, straining to hear what was being said at the counter. But classical music was playing and Erika and the man were speaking in low tones. Then Erika stepped back, folded her arms, and waved a hand toward the door.
    “You should go,” she said clearly and sharply.
    The man stomped his foot and with a sweep of his hand knocked the donation can toward Erika, who had to step aside to keep from being struck. The clang of metal and coins hitting the floor brought Carly to her feet.
    “That’s enough,” she said, sliding her backpack to Andrea, making a split-second gamble that the man was not armed and wanting her hands free.
    Erika and the man both turned her way. In three quick steps, Carly was at the counter. “She asked you to leave.”
    He looked at Carly with two of the darkest and coldest eyes she had ever seen. And now, close, with a full-on view, she could see that his face was a mess of divots and scars. Either he’d been in a car accident or he’d been in a lot of fights.
    “This doesn’t concern you, sweet cheeks,” he said in a harsh, raspy voice, indicative of damaged vocal cords. He took a half step her way—to intimidate, she was sure. They were even in height, but he was a good forty pounds heavier than she was and solid, not fat. Prison weight training.
    Carly took the balanced stance that years of weaponless defense had taught her and refused to be intimidated. “It concerns me because I’m a police officer and you just committed vandalism bordering on assault.” Without taking her eyes from the man’s, she addressed Erika and sensed, rather than saw, that Jinx was watching from behind the kitchen door. “Do you want to file a complaint, Erika?”
    “No, no,” she answered in a clipped, tight tone. “I just want him to leave.”
    Carly wished she’d said yes but wasn’t going to argue with Erika. She shrugged and kept her own tone light. “Hear that? She said it again.” Carly pointed to the door. “Time to go.”
    His whole body tensed, and a muscle jumped in his jaw. She knew he wasn’t going to comply, and because of that she was ready for his next move.
    The man rocked back like he planned to leave, then pivoted to his left and swung his right hand toward Carly as if to sweep her away as he’d swept the can off the counter.
    The hours she and Nick and Joe had practiced weaponless defense paid off. Carly simultaneously stepped back and reached up, catching his open hand and using his forward momentum to jerk him off-balance. With a quick twist of his wrist and hand, she spun him, turning him so she was behind him, bending his elbow and pushing up and in on the palm, increasing the tension in her hold until the muscles in his forearm were taut and he was on his tiptoes.
    The guy was a knot of muscles, which only made it easier to control him because he had no flexibility. Pressure in a control hold applied the right way was all it took to successfully restrain someone.
    The man cursed and struggled, but once Carly set the hold, he wasn’t going to get free without breaking his wrist. She planned to hold him until the on-duty unit arrived.
    “I gave you a chance, pal. Now you’re under arrest for assaulting an officer.”
    “Carly, please, no.” Erika leaned over the counter. “You don’t understand. This is a family matter. Just let him go.”
    Carly frowned, tightened her grip, and looked at Erika. “You know this guy?”
    She nodded. “Yes. He’s my brother-in-law. He’s Ned’s brother.”

5
    “HE WAS IN PRISON in Arizona. I didn’t know he’d been released.” Erika held her hand to her temple as she explained once the patrol unit