Shower. A hot one. As soon as possible.
“You were with them for three weeks. In most cases...” The woman’s doubt radiated from her.
“The one in charge forbade the other to touch us.” Jessie shivered and rubbed her arms. “And I think he wanted me to submit willingly.”
The woman nodded. “Well, you were fortunate, then. We’ll be taking your clothes into evidence, so I’ll get you something to wear home. Is there anyone I can call for you?”
The police had already asked her that. “No, no one.”
“When you are done here, we will have an officer take you home.”
“You haven’t found my car?” She’d dropped her fob when they’d grabbed her.
“Not yet, I’m sorry to say. But we’re looking for it.” She hesitated before adding. “I’d rather you weren’t alone. Is there anyone that you can stay with? Or that can stay with you?”
“No.” Jessie linked her fingers together. The tips turned white from the pressure. “Do you think they’ll come after me?” Braden’s last words to her had been pretty damned clear.
“We are going to increase patrols in your area,” she assured.
So, yes, then. Jessie had seen their faces. So long as they were at large, there was a risk. She remembered the size and strength of the creature she’d witnessed. Jessie didn’t need an officer in a car. She needed the Hulk, but there was no way she could admit to that.
“They’d be foolish to come after you,” the woman said. “So far, they are wanted for unlawful confinement and assault. If they’re smart, they won’t add to it. They should be long gone.”
Were they smart? Jessie couldn’t get past the hair. And the teeth.
The officer’s eyes hadn’t left her face. “Our tech wants to run you through our composite software, see if we can get an image of these guys. And then my colleague has some questions for you. It’s important, or we’d wait.”
“Okay.”
The policewoman collected her gear and left. The tech came in and set up his laptop.
It took a couple of hours to finish the two composites. Troy’s and Braden’s faces were etched in her brain. Both the human ones, and the other.
Jessie doubted the software was geared to werewolves. She stuck with the human faces.
When the tech finished Braden’s, he turned the screen. The ravaged Adonis face looked back at her. And her effing heart leaped.
She shuddered. “Yes. That’s him.”
The man packed up his laptop and left. The officer who took his place wore a sympathetic, but determined, expression. Jessie swallowed. So much for the easy part. How the hell was she going to tell these guys she’d been kidnapped by a werewolf? They’d lock her up in a padded room.
The answer was obvious. She was going to have to lie like hell.
9
Once they were in the house, Cara pushed Zach to a seat at the kitchen table.
“I’ll make tea. You look like you’re going to fall over.”
Warm breath caressed the back of his hand. Willow snuffled him and blinked her heavily lashed eyes. Even at miniature status, the donkey took up a substantial amount of the country-style kitchen. Spike rolled his canine eyes and pushed past her to lick Zach’s arm.
Zach sighed. Organizing the donkey’s removal from his house promised more effort than he could currently afford.
The older woman hummed as she drifted around the kitchen, somehow effective despite moving like a ballet dancer. She opened the second upper cupboard from the sink and extracted two china teacups. They weren’t Zach’s. She’d brought them when she discovered all he had were mugs. She then extracted the tea from the one cupboard before plugging in the kettle that never left the countertop.
“Where’s the teapot?”
He winced. She’d brought the teapot too. “Sorry. I dropped it. Just brew it in the mug.”
