Page 128 of The Rescuer

Reece leaned down and nuzzled her ear, whispering, “I’m going to walk Shane out. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Eyes blank, she nodded. Suddenly, those denim blues widened. “Shane, this may sound like a really weird question, but I have to ask. You said you know how hard it is for the clinic to make ends meet. Have you been depositing money into my bank account?”

Shane’s mouth swung open. “Have I beenwhat? Neve, I can barely deposit money into myownaccount.”

With a defeated look, she waved him off. “Never mind.” She seemed to remember herself, offering him a small smile. “Thank you for coming. And thank you for the flowers.”

“What the fuck wasthatall about?” he asked when Reece nudged him into the hallway. “She thinks I’m putting money into her bank account?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s above your pay grade. There was something in there you left out.”

Shane headed for the entrance, and Reece fell in beside him. “Just some other crap in Bunting’s writings. She was batshit crazy. She’d convinced herself Neve faked her own five-star reviews, then stalked Bunting’s nonexistent clients to lure them away. It unravels from there.

“She worked up a plan for this so-called confrontation—if you can call the crude map she sketched a plan.” When Reece cocked an eyebrow, Shane elaborated. “She had drawings of Neve’s clinic, the depot, Neve’s Tahoe, and her own Subie on there. There are some scratchings in the margins indicating that by hiding the Tahoe, and with Neve missing, people would assume the doc took off on her own. Even if they spotted the Tahoe behind the depot, it wouldn’t necessarily look out of place.”

“What was Bunting’s real motive?”

Shane’s bootheels clicked on the polished floor. “We’ll probably never know for sure, but my gut tells me she wanted revenge—and yes, I get it, Neve didn’t do a damn thing to earn that revenge. But the woman was loco. She ranted about ‘doing away’ with her ‘competition’ so everyone in the area would be forced to use her clinic. She even pats herself on the back for her self-control, talking about how she refrained from doingmoredamage to Neve’s clinic.” Shane made a circling motion with his index finger beside his temple.

Reece opened the hospital door and held it for an older couple before he and Shane stepped outside. “And you’re sure she acted alone? There’s no boogeyman lurking out there ready to finish what Bunting started?”

“Ninety-nine percent sure, but we’ll keep investigating. Until she completely lost it, Bunting was very good at hiding her crazies. She didn’t want anyone in on her secret, and frankly, she didn’t need help.”

Reece agreed. “Neve has a vague recollection of getting two shots of the drug. She thinks the first syringe—the one Pearl found—held a smaller dose that caused disorientation and some loss of motor coordination but not enough to completely incapacitate her. Her legs might have been unstable, but she could still move under her own power. Bunting ordered her into the Tahoe, then the Subaru, before she produced a second syringe and stuck Neve with the dose that knocked her out.”

“Makes sense. She would never have been able to maneuver Neve in and out of the vehicles otherwise.”

Even though the ordeal was over, Neve was safe, and her would-be-kidnapper was dead, unease simmered in Reece’s gut. “Saying she was going to confront her is utter bullshit. What do you think Bunting truly had planned for her?”

Shane’s eyes darkened. “I’m not sure she knew herself. In her state of mind, who the hell knows what would have happened to Neve? They were heading toward Coal Bank Pass. Would she have pulled Neve out of the car and ‘confronted’ her there? Neve could have ended up more injured … or worse. I do know Bunting didn’t plan on going off the highway and killing herself at the bottom of Lost Horse Gulch. She wasn’t wearing a seat belt, and the impact threw her against the tree and killed her.”

“Any idea what caused her to crash?”

“She swerved, maybe to avoid wildlife, which is pretty fucking ironic.”

“How so?”

“She charged people for fixing up their pets without fixing them up. She causes Neve bodily harm. But then she goes off the road to avoid hitting an animal and winds up killing herself.” Shane shook his head. “I’ll never understand people.”

“How can you when they’re fucking insane?”

“True that.” Shane raised his fist for a bump, then grasped Reece’s shoulder. “Dude, how long you been up? You need to get some sleep. Are you safe to drive Neve home?”

“Yeah. I can make it.”

“If not, I’m happy to take her with me.” The dumb fuck waggled his eyebrows. “So what’s up with you two? Still planning on getting an annulment or divorce or whatever the hell you were talking about before?”

Reece gave him a pointed look. “Why?”

“I just wanted to get a lay of the land so I can date her when your ass finally leaves town. Neve’s not only damn pretty, but she’s tough as nails, and that’s a very sexy look on a woman.” With a stupid grin on his stupid face, Shane whacked Reece’s chest. “You’ll let me know, right? When you leave, I mean.”

Reece bristled. “Fuck you.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he guffawed before pivoting on his heel and striding away.

Grumbling a curse, Reece hurried back to Neve’s hospital room, where he found her on the edge of the bed, fighting with her gown. Her bare back was to him. “What are you doing?”

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Changing so I can go home. Don’t look so shocked. It’s not like you haven’t seen it before.”

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