The Nobody Girls (Kendra Dillon Cold Case Thriller Book 3), Rebecca Rane [best book club books of all time txt] 📗

the job if you hadn’t made friends with that trucker. How far did that go? You sure looked like you wanted it.”

The man was twisted. Kendra shuddered to think he’d been watching her as she’d changed her tire. And she owed Minnesota a thank you. TAT had saved her.

“Get up.”

Bunce moved fast and grabbed Kendra’s arm from across the table. She thought she was ready for it, but still, it scared her. His slow pace the rest of the time belied the speed with which he’d lashed out and grabbed her wrist. She felt her old wounds blaze to life as he squeezed.

Kendra stood up, and he yanked her close to him.

“We’re going to walk to my van, you’ll have a little fun, and you can tell me more about my dastardly deeds! And then you can see exactly how I killed those sluts. I mean, you’re a member of the media, a news slut!”

Kendra walked toward the van. Her heart was beating out of her chest. She tried to control her breathing. What if this didn’t work? Had she miscalculated?

Bunce opened the door of his van, using the remote in his other hand. He kept a vice grip on her as they got closer.

“Hop in.”

Kendra saw it then, the face he’d given the women he’d killed. There was a slight smile, a cock of the head. It all looked so non-threatening, so friendly. Nothing like a man who’d put a Grass, Cash, or Ass sticker on his car. Kevin Bunce was nice.

Kendra knew if she got in that van, she’d never get out.

“LET HER GO!”

And there he was, Kyle Carver, gun drawn, ten feet away, ready to blow Kevin Bunce’s head off.

Bunce squeezed Kendra tighter. “I’ll slit her throat; you want that?”

Kendra didn’t know if he had a knife, but it didn’t matter.

From the other side of the van, Lieutenant Omari had his service weapon at Bunce’s temple. Carver had been the distraction needed for Omari to close in.

“I think not. Let her go,” Omari demanded.

Bunce was trapped. It took him a second to accept that, and he squeezed Kendra’s wrist harder. She winced.

But then Bunce released Kendra’s wrist. He knew he was done. Kendra had snared him in her net, and he had no way out.

Turnabout’s fair play, she thought.

She had his confession on tape, and eventually, it would be on the podcast. First, it would go to Agent Price.

Officers were everywhere now, and they handcuffed Bunce and read him his rights. He was silent but was somehow able to continue to keep his eyes on Kendra.

Kyle put an arm around her and walked her away from the scene.

“Come on, he’s trying to spook you out.”

Kyle had arrived an hour before Kendra. He’d been hiding in the rest stop bathroom. Omari had left his car in the woods and had hunched there until Bunce made his move.

And Agent Price had coordinated the wire that Kendra wore.

All three agencies would get credit for a taskforce-type effort. But it was Kendra that had solved it.

She hadn’t done it alone. Shoop had helped find the other victims. She’d come in and started re-listened to the raw, unedited interview with Kevin Bunce. She’d heard his comment about being transferred and then found the exact route for the Vista Foods Rep Western U.S.

The scope of the number of women he might have killed was staggering.

After Shoop and Kendra were sure of Kendra’s hunch, they called Price.

And Kendra had called Kyle. She remembered why he’d run from her, and it was because she went face first into situations like this, over and over. When she called him, she explained that she was trying to learn, to be better, to ask for help.

After decades of no activity on this case, the speed of the last few days was almost dizzying.

Kyle hugged Kendra as the patrol car, carrying The 75 Ripper, drove away.

“You did good, and you called for backup. See, if you were a cop, like your sister, you’d know that backup is key to staying alive.”

“Well, I didn’t even know if I was going to get a return call. You dumped me pretty good.”

“It worked, see? You’re not unconscious or shot at. That’s progress.”

Kyle hugged her, and Kendra exhaled.

Kendra and Shoop didn’t stop. They worked day and night until the episode was ready to record. And they got it uploaded before any of the other media outlets were on to the story.

It had been a marathon several days, but finally, Kendra felt like they’d done everything in their power for the victims. Her voice had a hint of hoarseness when they finally recorded the episode that revealed the real identity of The 75 Ripper:

After authorities arrested Kevin Bunce, a floodgate burst. It’s still bursting.

Kevin Bunce had been on the road as a salesman for Vista Foods since the late ‘70s.

Not only had he worked in the Midwest and out west for a time, but he’d also had routes in the Dakotas and a stint in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey area.

According to Special Agent Sylvia Price, the FBI is working with several other agencies across the country to match unsolved cases with possible victims of Kevin Bunce.

But I keep going back to the two Jane Does we tried to find.

On that score, I failed. No one knows their names or who they were.

What we do know, now, is how the last few hours of their lives on this earth unfolded.

Kevin Bunce was a fixture at Smokey View Diner, at Easy On Truck Stop, and at dozens and dozens of places, just off the highway.

He was there weekly in some cases, monthly in others, delivering products from Vista Foods. He was also one of the nice ones, one of the good guys. He didn’t hire sex workers. He didn’t do drugs or sell them. He was clean. And so was his vehicle.

It is very likely that his victims recognized him when they got into his van. None of the reports gathered so