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Cassie responded with a nod, her eyes glassy, swimming with tears.
Drake slipped an arm around her and led her back to the truck. He opened the door for her and helped her into the passenger seat.
His heart squeezed hard in his chest at the sadness in her eyes. Her friend Penny meant a lot to her. He wished he could help her in the search to find her.
“Which way?” he asked as he slipped behind the steering wheel and backed out of the driveway onto the road.
Cassie swallowed hard before she answered. After she gave him directions to Earl’s auto repair shop, she sat back in her seat and stared out the front windshield.
“I stopped asking why a few weeks in as a sheriff’s deputy,” Cassie said softly. “Why are people so mean to each other? Why would someone kill another person? Why would someone want to harm an innocent child? Why would a person torture a dog?”
A single tear slipped down her cheek.
She wiped the tear away, her jaw hardening. “Asking why doesn’t fix broken people. It doesn’t make them nicer. Sometimes, I think I’m becoming too jaded and starting to think there is no goodness in this world.” A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “Then a handsome SEAL comes to the rescue of a stranger, making sure she’s not harmed by one of those crazy people I don’t understand. And an old woman invites me to her house for company and margaritas.” She shot a watery smile toward Drake. “And my faith in humankind is renewed until the next dumbass does something heinous.”
Drake reached across the console and took her hand in his. “I’ve had moments like that, more often than I care to admit. I can’t dwell on those. Not when the sun keeps coming up in the morning, giving me a brand-new shot at a better day.”
Cassie squeezed his hand. “You’re all right, Drake Morgan. Look at us philosophizing, and we haven’t even had any alcohol.”
Drake laughed as he turned onto the street where Earl’s auto repair shop stood, surrounded by several vehicles in various stages of assembly or disassembly.
Three large overhead doors graced the shop. Two were closed; one was wide open.
Drake parked in front of the shop and pushed his door open. As he stepped down, a scream echoed inside the open bay door, and a plump, gray-haired woman burst from the shadowy interior.
