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She didn’t want to pull her hand out from under his to start the engine, but she had to.
When she put her hand on the stick shift again, however, his hand went back over hers.
“Accelerate,” he said. She did, and when the engine was struggling again, he said, “Now try.”
This time he helped her pull it straight back into second gear, and then, with more encouragement, she went faster and shifted into third. Wind was lifting her hair, and her heart was flying.
They came to the end of the parking lot, so she hit the brakes.
The car stalled again.
She swore again.
Hunter was laughing. “It takes practice.”
Kate looked at him. “Who taught you? Your dad?”
That killed his smile. “No, actually. My uncle. The jeep used to be his. He said if I learned on a stick shift, I’d be able to drive anything.”
She was quiet for a while. “Did he and your dad really die in a rock slide?”
“Yeah.” He paused. “About three miles north of here. Dad had military clearance, so they kept it out of the papers. Even the funeral was pretty private.”
She wondered if he’d pulled off for the driving lesson just so he wouldn’t have to drive through there again. “And you still don’t think the Merricks had anything to do with it?”
He looked at her. “I know they didn’t. Calla all but admitted to being behind it.”
Kate pulled the emergency brake and shifted on the seat to look at him. “She did? And you didn’t—”
He avoided her eyes and looked back at the dashboard again. “I should have.”
Her heart was thundering in her chest now. “Why didn’t you?”
“I couldn’t.”
“Couldn’t?”
“I had an opportunity—and I couldn’t pull the trigger.”
Kate swallowed.
Hunter looked at her. That streak of white hair fell across his eyes, catching the sunlight. “So I guess you’ve got one on me,” he said. “How did you do it?”
She blinked.
“Your mom,” he said. “When you went after the Water Elemental.”
Oh. Right.
She’d given this speech before, when she’d been questioned.
She’d spent an hour memorizing exactly how to answer.
“Two bullets,” she said. “He’d run to the end of a pier—going for the water, I’m sure. I got him first. A shot to the hip brought him down. One to the head took him out.”
Hunter didn’t say anything, and her words hung in the air, sharp and dark and painful.
Then he finally exhaled, and she realized she’d been holding her breath, too.
