Chapter 21

Theo's nagging guilt turned into terror as he rounded a bend in the back road leading to the cabin. There was Star's lime green hybrid, nose down in the deep ditch alongside the road.

"Son of a bitch." His stomach clenching, he parked his SUV on the shoulder and got out to check Star's vehicle, breathing a deep sigh of relief when he saw that everything was switched off and there was no sign of Star, or her purse, which she never went anywhere without. She'd been well enough to get out and walk. Thank god.

He climbed back into his SUV and started toward the cabin, going slowly enough to watch for any movement along the side of the road.

There. He stopped and peered through the rain at the movement.

It wasn't Star, just a bunny.

But what was a walnut brown, lop-eared rabbit doing out here in the woods? Native cottontails were light, mottled brown with perky ears - this had to be a lost pet. Worse yet, it was clearly dragging itself along without the use of one of its back feet.

He