“She says you can come in while we wait for the doctor,” she told him with a smile. “He’s just in with another patient, but he wanted to see the CT results.”
In about three long steps, Shane was back at Keara’s bedside. She looked a little more alert, but he could see a bruise already forming on one temple. This time he did stroke her hair back off her face.
He smiled at her. “Wanna tell me what happened?”
She closed her eyes and grimaced. “Oh God. It was so scary.”
“Did you lose control?” He wanted to snap out questions at her, but kept his voice gentle. “Jesus, Keara, you picked the worst place on that road to go off.”
“I didn’t pick it,” she retorted, voice still insubstantial. “Someone forced me off the road.”
Shane stared at her. “What? What do you mean?”
She blinked eyes that had gone watery again. “Another vehicle was following me. He was riding my tail all the way and making me nervous. I was going to pull over onto the shoulder to let him pass, and he crowded me…and I…” She stopped, closed her eyes and swallowed.
“It’s okay.” He laid his hand on her forehead. “Are you sure, Keara?”
Eyes flew open and glared at him. “You don’t believe me?”
“Well…sure I do, but I just…why would someone do that?”
“I don’t know.” The words whispered out of her and her eyes closed again. “I don’t know. But he did.”
“We’ll talk more about it later,” he said softly, stroking her silky hair back over her head. “When you’re out of here. Let’s just get you out of here and get you home first.”
She made a small nodding movement of her head and winced. “Okay.”
The tests showed no internal bleeding. She had only a mild concussion, so they sent her home with painkillers and a warning about potential problems, and Shane led her out of the hospital to his car parked in the Emergency Vehicles Only zone.
“A police car,” Keara murmured, as she got in. “This is the second time I’ve been in a police car.”
The first likely having been the robbery a few weeks back. Shane got in and glanced at her. “You okay?”
Her bottom lip quivered. “Yes.”
Shit. Shane put the car in gear and pulled out.
“Does Maeve know?”
“No. We’ll tell her about it when we get there.”
She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. The only sound in the car was the crackling and distorted voices on the radio as the dispatcher talked to officers.
“Where’s my car?”
“Tow truck took it to their compound. You’ll need to call your insurance company.”
“Oh.”
“I can’t believe they actually got it up the side of the mountain,” Shane said. He shook his head as he drove. “Christ, Keara.”
“I know, I know. I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“I know. It’s just…” Words failed him.
He parked behind Maeve’s shop, and helped Keara in the back door, with a call to Maeve. She appeared in the Staff Only door.
“Shane? What are…oh my God! Keara!” She flew across the hall to where they stood at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the apartment. “What happened?”
“She had an accident,” Shane said, holding onto her around her waist. There was nothing to her, she was so small and thin. “Motor vehicle accident. She’s okay, though, Maeve.”
“I’m okay.” Keara pulled herself away from him.
Maeve just stood there, hands on Keara’s shoulders staring at her in shock. “Jesus and Mary, what happened? Oh, come. Let’s get you upstairs.”
Shane started to lead Keara up the steps but then cursed and bent down, sliding an arm beneath her legs. He picked her up and carried her up the stairs.
“Shane!” She clutched his shoulders. “I can walk.”
“Sure.” She wasn’t heavy at all, although climbing stairs made it a little more difficult. At the top of the stairs, Maeve opened the door and let them into the apartment. “Where’s your room?”
“It’s this one,” Maeve said, scurrying ahead to open Keara’s door. She stepped aside and let Shane carry Keara into the room and lay her on the bed.
“I don’t need to go to bed,” Keara snapped, but she let her head sink into the pillow. She looked like crap, but Christ, she was still appealing as hell.
“Just lie down for a few minutes,” he growled back, and turned to Maeve. He filled her in on the details of the crash as he knew them, saying nothing about Keara’s claim she’d been forced off the road. “She was damn lucky the way her car got hung up on that tree on the way down or she’d be…well, it’d be way worse. Air bags probably saved her from too much damage. Just bruises and scrapes.”
“I have a big scrape on my…chest,” Keara interjected. “From the seatbelt.” She touched a hand just above her left breast.
Maeve’s eyes were wide but she didn’t freak out. “Well, thank the good Lord for that,” she said. “A scrape from a seatbelt is far better than…” Her eyes flicked to Shane and then back to Keara. “Well. How did this happen, Keara? I don’t understand.”
A long, shaky breath escaped Keara’s lips and she started to sit up. “I’m sorry I didn’t get your errands done…”
Shane put a hand on her shoulder—her right one—and gently pushed her back down as Maeve sad, “Oh, muirnín, that doesn’t matter.”
“Just lie down,” Shane said mildly. “We can talk about this later if you just want to rest.”
She gazed back at him, looking…resigned. “There’s no way to prove someone forced me off the road, is there?”
Maeve gasped. “Forced you off the road? Keara! Are you serious?”
“Yes.” She held Shane’s gaze. “Someone made me crash. I don’t know why.”
“We’ll have a look at your vehicle,” Shane replied. “Did he hit you?”
“On the back bumper.” Her mouth twisted. “He came up close beside but I jerked the wheel away to avoid hitting him. That’s when I went through the guardrail.”
“Can you describe the vehicle?” he asked. “I don’t suppose you got a plate number.”
“No.” The corners of her mouth turned down. “Of course I didn’t get a plate number. He was right in my rearview mirror for miles and I was getting pissed off, but I couldn’t see his plate, and then there was no time for that. It was a blue SUV. I think…I’m thinking it was a Jeep Liberty, but I can’t say that for sure. Something like that. Dark blue. It was a man. He had short, dark hair. Sunglasses. That’s all I know.” She took a breath. “It happened so fast.”
Shane took the bottle of painkillers they’d given her at the hospital out of his pocket and set it on the small table beside the bed. “She just had some of those,” he told Maeve. “She can have more in four hours.” He handed over a printout with information on mild concussions for her. “She needs to have an eye kept on her for the next twenty-four hours.”
Keara’s eyes closed.
“What can I get you, muirnín?” Maeve asked, touching her hair. “Anything to eat? Drink?”
“Some water,” Keara whispered. “Just water, please.”
Shane followed Maeve out to the kitchen where she poured water from the pitcher she kept in the refrigerator. She gazed at him with anxious eyes. “Do you believe that’s what happened?”
He shrugged. “No reason not to believe it. But like she said, hard to prove. Unless there were witnesses, which it doesn’t sound like, or some damage to her car. If some paint from the other vehicle is on her bumper, we’d have something to go on. Otherwise…” He met her gaze. “Single vehicle collision. We won’t charge her with anything.”