Page 42 of Preying Game

Chapter 14

It was his turn to feel a jolt of shock. “Your car?”

“Yes. How did it get here?”

“I bought it—and drove it here.”

“Bought it from whom?”

Jonah felt a shiver along his nerve endings. He had worried about this moment, but he’d thought he had more control over the revelation. “There’s a lot I have to tell you. But uh . . . when did you buy the car?”

“I got it used a few months ago. I needed transportation, and it was what I could afford. I had driven it to the camp. I thought it was still in Western Maryland.”

“Look back at the house,” he murmured.

“The house? We were talking about the car.”

“Uh huh.”

She turned and looked across the fields, leaning forward.

“Where’s the fire? I can’t see it.”

“We left it.”

She looked confused.

“I need to tell you where we are and why you can’t see the fire.”

“Why not?”

“Because it was put out a long time ago.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

“Let’s sit down.”

“Is this going to be something very bad?”

“Yes—and no.”

He escorted her to the passenger door, and she climbed into the front seat. He went around and slid behind the wheel, then turned to her.

“When I was trying to find you, I was having trouble figuring out where you were. Remember I asked you questions about what happened to you? I asked if Alice Davenport was your real name.”

“I remember.”

“That was because I couldn’t find anything about an Alice Davenport dying in an accident in Western Maryland.”

“Why not? That’s what he told me he cooked up. Was he lying about that?”

Instead of answering, he went on. “I restore old cars. I was working on this car—your car—when I heard your voice over the radio.”

“It’s not old. Well some people would say it was, but I thought it was a good deal for the money.”

Before he could untangle that for her, his cell phone rang. He pulled the instrument from his pocket and swiped his finger across the bottom of the screen.

“We’re all waiting to find out what happened. Did you get her out of there?” Grant asked.

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