Page 66 of Hunting Justice

She stepped from the building and swept the area with an experienced eye. Less than a minute later, she motioned for Jonah to join her. “All clear from what I can tell.” She escorted him to the car and stayed by his door, scanning the area. Once he was safe inside, she moved to the driver’s side and slid behind the wheel. She closed her door and started the engine.

“Are you okay?” Jonah placed his hand on her forearm.

She nodded. “The guy’s question caught me off guard. Yesterday affected me more than I care to admit.” She inhaled and released a long, slow breath. “What’s next on the list?”

Jonah had taken Raven’s suggestions and mapped out a plan for the day. “Forever Inked.” He rattled off the address.

“I guess it was too much to ask for our first stop to be the right one.”

He chuckled. “That would be a bit optimistic.”

“Here’s praying it’s the second one.” She smiled at him.

His brow furrowed, and he looked away.

“Jonah, what just happened?” She pulled into traffic and followed the GPS on her dash to their next location.

He sighed. “How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Pray.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. They’d talked faith and beliefs in the past. How had she missed his uncertainty? “I thought you believed in God. I’m gathering you don’t?”

He shifted and angled himself to face her. “Oh, I do. I believe He is very real.”

“Then why the question about prayer?” She glanced at him and then returned her focus to the road.

“Let’s just say He and I aren’t on speaking terms.”

“That’s too bad.” God had been and still was her lifeline.

“So I ask again. How do you pray after all that’s happened to you?”

She clamped her mouth shut and thought about her reply. She had no intention of brushing off his question. Her answer mattered.

“Noelle, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“That’s not it. I don’t want to give you a flippant response.” She tightened her grip on the steering wheel. Where should she start? “I grew up in church. In fact, I found my faith and friendship with Jesus when I was twelve. I can’t say that everything I experienced in church was positive. Sometimes I wonder how people claim to know God and act the way they do.”

He laughed, but it had no humor in it. “I hear you on that one.”

She glanced at him and smiled. “But you know what I decided?”

“What?”

“That we are all human and respond with human actions.” She shrugged.

Jonah rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess I’ve never looked at it that way. Human nature tends to make us view the world through our own lens and not always God’s.”

“Exactly. But to answer your original question, it was all I had to keep me sane.”

He straightened in his seat. “While you were being tortured.” His whispered response was more of a statement than a question.

Sweat beaded on her forehead. She adjusted the air vents, even though her body’s response had nothing to do with the temperature. “You see, as I sat there in pain, with blood dripping from the cuts on my body, I knew the only person who could hear me was the same person who had any idea how I felt at that moment.”

“Jesus.”

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