The moment he appeared, Cara pulled out of their spot, swinging into the loading zone instead.
“Are we really giving him a ride?” Jessie looked from Zach to Cara, unsure how much of her doubt to express.
“I’m not leaving him here. He needs my help.”
Jessie’s thoughts crashed around like waves on a rocky shore. “But...”
Cara fixed her stare on Jessie. Her blue eyes were rock solid in their conviction. “Zach had nothing to do with kidnapping you, Jessie.”
“The police said—”
“This is all an attempt on Braden’s part to throw suspicion elsewhere. Zach is as much a victim as you are.”
Jessie’s heart thundered. She desperately wanted to believe Cara. But if the woman was wrong—she was delivering Jessie up like a wrapped package.
Zach’s eyes had riveted on the Jeep. He took one step toward it and saw Jessie, stopping dead in his tracks. His mouth tightened, and a muscle jumped in his jaw. And Jessie read her answer in his tortured gaze.
She opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle. “Take the front”—she told him—“or your knees will end up in your nose.”
* * *
As Cara pulled away from the police headquarters, Zach’s brain teetered on the edge of sanity.
As always, Cara’s presence helped him. She laid a hand on his arm as she drove, and he clung to the wave of calm that passed through him like it was an anchor in the storm.
Maybe it was.
He sighed and wiped a trickle of blood from beneath his nose. He’d been having a lot of nosebleeds lately.
“Kleenex in glove compartment.” Cara removed her hand. Her brows, still peppered with black hairs, lowered over her eyes.
“It’s not bad.” He fetched the tissue and cleaned himself up. His mind spun. How had Cara met Jessie? He sensed Jessie’s stare and twisted to meet her steady gray gaze. She’d slid over behind the driver’s seat rather than stay behind him.
“Hello again,” he said.
“Hi.”
“Are your knees in your nose?” he asked.
Her lips twitched. “No, but yours would have been.”
The Jeep swerved into the next lane, and Zach spread his feet a little wider, grateful for the seatbelt. He’d never driven with Cara before. When she swerved again, he braced a hand against the dash.
“You drive fast,” he noted.
“Got somewhere to be,” Cara said through gritted teeth.
“Well, thanks for the rescue. They weren’t even going to drive me home this time.” Zach’s mouth twisted.
“They are letting themselves get distracted by you. It’s ridiculous.” Cara ducked into the next lane, squeezing between cars. Zach figured the last thing he needed would be for her to get pulled over for reckless driving. Considering he was in the car with Jessie...
“I don’t really blame them,” he said slowly. “They know I’m lying.”
Jessie stiffened in the back seat. “What are you lying about?”
He sensed heruneasiness. If she had any idea of what a freak he was...
He glanced at Cara, who snorted. “Believe me, she’s deeper in never-never land than you are. She knows about the Cryptids. So tell her.”
