“Are you insane?” she asked.
“Technically, no.” Thomas glanced at her for a second, then turned his gaze back to the road. “I’m not insane, but I am desperate. I just wanted to thank you.”
“Thank me?” She couldn’t believe this. She was his hostage and he was thanking her. She’d almost been hit by a police bullet because of him, and he was thanking her. He was insane.
“I still don’t know how you trained that cat, but I have to hand it to you. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Molly had a sick feeling. Familiar sat between them, his attention totally on the road. She remembered the way he’d pawed the map, insisting that she go to the state park to check out Thomas’s story. The way he’d shown her the tent stake holes. What had he done?
“Any fool knows you can’t train a cat.” She glared at Familiar.
“Somebody trained this one, and whoever it was did one hell of a job.”
“What did Familiar do?” She’d fire him on the spot. She’d buy a cat carrier, stuff him in it and put him on the first plane back to Washington, D.C.
“He was in my cell when I came back from the interview room. I’d seen him around earlier, but I didn’t realize he was your cat until he started to act strange.”
One thing about Familiar—he could certainly act strange when he chose to. “Go on,” she said.
“He walked right out of my cell and went down to where the guard sits. I was watching, just amazed. The cat reached up and snagged the cell key. That quick.” Thomas snapped his fingers. “Then he brought it to me. Thank goodness they haven’t modernized the jail or it would be a different story. As it was, it was just like one of those Wild West shows. I unlocked the cell and walked right out.”
Molly knew better. “It was just that easy until what?”
“Until I had to knock the deputy out.”
“Good grief,” she muttered. “You struck a deputy?”
“He was about to yell and alert the others. I didn’t have a choice.”
She wanted to punch him. “Of course you had a choice. You could have stayed in the cell.”
“Now why would I do that when you went to all that trouble to spring me?”
Thomas took a hard right and headed up into what looked to be high hills or small mountains.
“Where are we going?” For a moment Molly was distracted from her plight by a bigger worry. What did Thomas intend to do with her?
“These are the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. I know some good places to hide out.”
She sighed. “We need to get a couple of things straight right now. I didn’t train the cat to help you escape.” She picked Familiar up and held him so she could stare into his green eyes. “That was his idea all by himself.”
Thomas laughed. “Try telling that to the deputies. I’m sure they’ll get a big laugh as they lock you up.”
“It’s the truth.” She put Familiar down on the seat, suddenly feeling how deep her troubles were. She’d been involved in a felony jailbreak. It didn’t matter that she was an innocent victim. It was her vehicle that had been used for the getaway. No one would ever believe she was innocent.
“The truth doesn’t matter, Miss Harper.”
“I didn’t plan this or help you. I’m innocent.”
He slowed long enough to look directly into her eyes. “Welcome to my world.”
Chapter Three
Thomas knew he’d shocked Molly, but she had to understand the score or she’d get hurt. No matter what her intentions—and if she hadn’t put the cat up to springing him, who had?—she was now involved. He might regret that she’d been dragged into the mess, but he certainly didn’t regret having his freedom. If he was going to prove his innocence, he had to be free to do it. Certainly no one wearing a badge seemed interested in seeking the evidence that would counter the circumstantial case against him.
“Miss Harper, I’m not going to hurt you, but I may need to keep your vehicle.”
Molly stared out the front window as if she’d gone into some kind of trance. Worry etched fine lines around her eyes, and Thomas felt a pang. This woman had lost her sister and her niece. Now, because of him, she was in trouble with the law.
“I’m sorry.” He meant it. “When I can, I’ll let you loose. I’ll call the sheriff’s office and tell them you weren’t involved in the breakout.”
“And they’ll believe you.”
The heavy dose of sarcasm in her tone actually made Thomas feel better. She was a fighter. “Why did you send the cat in to get the key if you didn’t want me to escape?”
The look she shot him would curdle milk. He automatically pressed harder on the gas pedal.
She raised her chin defiantly. “I didn’t send the cat. He went on his own.”
“You’d better come up with something more reasonable than that if you want the deputies to believe you.” It was sort of ironic. They were both at a place where their stories were “too convenient.” “Look at it from my perspective. You show up out of the blue and insist on talking to me. You come back twice in one day. And the second time, while we’re talking, the cat is casing the joint to plot an escape. Doesn’t that seem like you might have planned it? Heck, even the idea that a cat obeys your command is hard to believe. But that the cat planned it? Get a grip.”
He could see she understood, even if it was against her will. It was easier for her to be angry at him than it was to think how her own actions had put her in jeopardy.
“I didn’t plan a thing except for a talk with you.” She nudged the cat. “That’s what I get for listening to him. He insisted we go to the campsite. He found the place where those other campers pitched a tent. He’s your biggest supporter and fan.”
Thomas chuckled. He couldn’t help it. In another time and place he’d think about calling the men with the white coats for a woman who spoke about a cat as if he were human.
She slumped deeper into her seat. “You’re laughing at me like I’m a nut.”
He wisely kept his mouth shut and focused on the road. The sun had set behind the hills, and the blue-gray of twilight had turned the trees into stark black silhouettes. It was the most beautiful and the saddest time of day to him.
“Familiar is a private investigator.” She spoke softly, as if she didn’t believe the words. “I hired him yesterday and picked him up at the airport in Shreveport, Louisiana, this morning.”
He chanced a look. She’d really blown a fuse—she thought the cat was a detective. “You picked him up? Like at the baggage claim?”
“He
