Chapter Thirteen

"Zach! Wait up!" Kendall found herself calling and running after him, which wasn't easy in her high heels, as Zach took long strides down the street to his vehicle. There was something the two of them needed to clear up, and it couldn't wait. Following Zach almost immediately from Greenlee's, Kendall had paused barely long enough to tell Greenlee she'd call her the next day, but he'd still gotten way ahead of her.

Finally, he stopped and turned. "Did you want something, Kendall?"

"You know I do!" she huffed. "What the hell did you meant about your turn with Miranda, Zach? What happened to your wanting to do what Bianca wanted?"

Zach opened his passenger side door. "They're expecting me at the casino so if you want to prolong this now, you can get in and come with me and we'll do it on the way. Otherwise you'll have to wait. One place we will not have this conversation is out on the street."

"But—but my car is here too."

"It'll be taken care of." When still looked hesitant, he added impatiently, "I'm not taking you hostage, Kendall. Come or go, it's entirely up to you. Either way I'm not waiting around."

At that she climbed into the Range Rover, just as unwilling to delay resolving the issue, as she was to go anywhere with Zach. She knew he was fully aware of her ambivalence—he was probably enjoying himself at her expense, the jerk. Was there never to be an end to the battles she was destined to wage with this infuriating man? So far the day had been nothing but a series of them, with the skirmishes with Greenlee thrown in for good measure…and now she was stuck with Zach again for god knew how long. Sighing, Kendall buckled herself in and leaned her head against the window as Zach drove off.

He handled the wheel expertly and assertively, and he drove fast. Trying to ignore the unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach, Kendall began with more confidence than she felt, "Look, Zach I thought it was bad when Greenlee went into her earth mother act, but at least I understood where she was coming from. Maybe it's too much to expect from you, but I want to know why you changed your tune about me all of a sudden."

"I didn't change my tune."

"Yes, you did! How did you go from doing what Bianca wanted, which we both know would be Miranda staying with me, to Miranda's staying with you?"

Quickly glancing at her, Zach returned his gaze to the road. "Is that what I said?"

"Of course," Kendall replied angrily. "Don't deny it. But in the first place I wouldn't let you take care of my pet hamster if I had one. In the second place, as long as I'm around hell will freeze over before you ever get to Miranda. So in the third place that means your chances are zero, zilch, and zip anyway—but why did you try to make me think you wouldn't?"

"What a charming way you have of prefacing questions, Kendall. I have one of my own. Why do you persist in believing Miranda isn't safe with me?"

"You know why! It's been almost twenty-four hours, Bianca and my mother and Ethan and Jack are still missing, and I think you—you know something about it." Kendall looked out the window. The late winter afternoon was dwindling, and she shivered.

"Even you are tactful enough to refrain from calling me a murderer when I'm doing the driving, eh?" Zach asked coolly.

"You've never given me any reason to trust you," she retorted.

"And you so innocent of subterfuge yourself."

Kendall's hackles rose higher. "That's not the point."

"No? My point is that having a less than spotless character doesn't necessarily make one a killer, much less unfit for society. Kendall, we're both aware of your past. Would you acquiesce to the suggestion that things you've done automatically make you capable of murder?"

"You're twisting my words, Zach! Look how you treated Ethan—"

"Shall we talk about young Ethan?" Zach took another sideways glance at her. "How happy you are with him? Or that winning his fortune is destroying him, why I tried to prevent that from happening, and how much he hates me for it?"

Shifting uncomfortably, Kendall looked out the window again and bit her lip. Zach had no idea how accurately he'd hit the nail on the head. Regardless of his motives for trying to keep Ethan and his inheritance apart, motives which Zach of course claimed were pure and Ethan equally insisted were malevolent, the result of Zach's failure had nevertheless enhanced his reputation as a prophet: Ethan's riches were destroying him—and his relationship with Kendall along with it. Which made Zach the last person Kendall could ever or would ever level with. Leveling with herself that the sweet boy she'd thought she known had apparently never really existed was hard enough.

Pressing his advantage as she remained silent, Zach added, "I've made mistakes, Kendall, many of them. My worst have been very public. I couldn't deny them if I would. But I have only ever wanted what is ultimately best for Ethan."

Turning to him again, Kendall replied with a weak show of bravado. "Fine, whatever you say, Zach. We'll print your picture on a father of the year poster, how's that? Now can we return to the reason I ever got in this monster truck of yours—Miranda, and what you meant by what you told me and then what you told Greenlee? How is that 'ultimately best' for Miranda?"

Braking to a stop at a red traffic light, Zach relaxed his grip on the steering wheel and flexed his fingers to try to expel some of his growing frustration. Kendall was, as always, a broken record. But his frustration was directed more at himself and at the situation as a whole than at her. He could have allayed her fears with a few words of clarification. Instead, he'd used them to inveigle her into joining his trip, for the same reason he'd separated her from the reporters that morning, i.e. cloistering Kendall might prevent her from shooting her mouth off to the world at large. The downside was that for the time being they were stuck in this loop of an argument.

Suddenly, Zach's mobile phone beeped in its cradle on the dashboard. Pressing the remote button on the steering wheel, he answered the call and a voice filled the air.

"Zach? This is Derek Frye. I'm outside your place. Where are you? And do you know where Kendall is?"

"Oh my god!" Kendall frantically broke in. "Oh my god, Derek, I'm here! In Zach's car I mean, with him, on the road, going to the casino. What is it?"

"Kendall…." There was hesitation in Derek's voice. "The casino. Okay. Zach, how close are you? Would it be faster for me to meet you folks there or for you to turn around and come home?"

From behind them came a loud honk. Zach realized the light was now green. "Hold on, Derek." Executing a U-turn with a practiced spin of the wheel as Kendall bit off a shriek, Zach steered the Range Rover into rush of the oncoming traffic with mere inches to spare. "We're headed for home now, Derek," he announced, his eerily calm voice belying the racing of his heart. "Can you tell us what's up?"

"Not over the phone, Zach. We'll talk when you get here."

Again Kendall broke in. "What about Greenlee, Derek? Does she know anything yet?"

"No, she doesn't, Kendall. No more questions for now, all right? Sounds like Zach needs to concentrate on his driving. I'll wait here outside your condos for you. Over and out."

"It's bad news. It's bad news," Kendall was moaning as Derek's voice faded. "If it was good, he would have said. It's bad, I just know it. Oh my god. Oh my god."

Very much afraid he was in total agreement with her, Zach tried to block out Kendall's piteous noise and center his attention on the road. His entire consciousness seemed to have shrunk instantaneously from its normal expansiveness into the tiniest speck trapped in long, dark, ominous tunnel, where even one thing at a time was almost more than he could handle.

Owing mostly to his ability to drive efficiently on automatic pilot, they reached home in record time, Kendall stumbling and nearly falling in her ridiculous shoes as she exited the SUV. She managed to catch at the door handle, using it to pull herself up. Following the effort she leant against the door quietly hyperventilating.

Zach sighed to himself. Hadn't he already attended the matinee performance of this act today and not enjoyed the show the first time? But only the most heartless of men could have left Kendall in such a condition then, or now. Especially now. He went back to her. "Don't fall apart," he ordered softly. "Come on, Kendall, we've got to go in."

Her eyes were screwed shut. "My legs feel like spaghetti," she breathed. "I can't. I can't."

"Here, take my arm and hang on to it." Somehow Zach's voice stayed calm and his arm steady. "See? It's right in front of you."

Slowly her eyes opened, and she tried to swallow. "I…I…don't think I c–can."

"Yes, you can. First take my arm. Then put one foot in front of the other. Then do the same with the other foot. Come on, try it. It's easy."

"M–my l–legs won't work."

Trying to persuade her to move, Zach slid his arm between the Range Rover and Kendall's shoulders, gently pushing her forward, toward him. The next thing he knew, her hands were gripping his shoulders, while the rest of her drooped against him as limply as a rag doll. Against his chest he could feel her heart beating as harshly as his own was…or was that his heart he was feeling? Impossible to distinguish between them at that moment…for even if it was ever only for that moment, he and Kendall had been transformed from two adversaries into two fellow sufferers…united by the same consuming fear.

"We can't stay out here all night, Kendall. Derek is waiting," Zach murmured. "If you can't walk I'll have to carry you."

Against his chest Kendall shook her head. Still holding on to him, she tried to firm her feet against the ground. Slowly releasing her grip from Zach's shoulders, she moved her hands down his arms until she was using them to brace herself against his forearm. Then she took a tentative step. They walked a few yards in that halting fashion before she was stable enough to advance without a stranglehold on his arm.

Zach was almost sorry when she let go of him. Kendall's touch was better than no human contact at all. At least she still crept along at a snail's pace, giving him an excuse to drag his heels. Not for years and years, since he'd been a young boy facing the unholy wrath of his unforgiving god-like father for some minor infraction, could Zach recall experiencing such dread.

No sign of it registered on his poker face. When they reached the inner courtyard and he spotted and greeted Derek, no sign of it altered his voice. But while he waited for Kendall to unlock her condo where, in unspoken mutual assent, the three of them gathered like mourners already at a wake, it was reflected in his eyes.