Page 158 of Distress Signal

He turned to go, pausing with his foot on the first ascending tread, and winked at me. “Only if you ask nicely.”

Then he disappeared upstairs.

“What thefuck.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Lainey replied.

As succinctly as I could, I explained who Tuck was to me—to the Lawless family.

“I wasdancingwith him at Crew’s wedding last night,” I hissed, still in disbelief.

Lainey pouted. “I missed all the fun.”

Though there was absolutely nothing comical about this situation, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I wish you could’ve been there.”

“I can’t wait to meet this whole ridiculous family when we get out of here.” She sighed. “And now I suppose it’s my turn to spill.”

And she did. About the abduction, how she’s been locked in this basement for the last four months. She hadn’t exactly been living in squalor, she explained, gesturing to the small vestibule off the side of the main room. I got up and walked toward it, finding I could also reach it. Inside was a stand-up shower, toilet,and the rough foundation of a vanity with an aged porcelain sink and copper pipe as a spigot.

That was good, though. Though he’d made it so we couldn’t reach each other in the main room, he apparently hadn’t considered the possibility that we could within the bathroom.

Lainey reached my side and threw her arms around me, squeezing me to her. I hugged her with equal fervor, tears slipping down my cheeks as I did. We weren’t safe yet, but we were together, and that was a major blessing.

The main area and the mattresses we’d both been provided appeared clean. Lainey herself didn’t look too worse for wear, though there were deep, dark crescents under her eyes, her cheeks more hollowed out, the bones of her arms more prominent—like she hadn’t been eating enough.

Not to mention, she waspale, her skin a shade it likely hadn’t been since we were children. Like she hadn’t been let outside once during the entirety of her captivity.

“Every three days, he’d leave me alone for an entire day,” she continued, tapping her crude calendar, where certain hashes were marked with an X. “Now that I know what he does for a living, obviously, those coincided with his shift at the firehouse. But when he was here, he washere.” She pointed at the nearby armchair, its ugly orange fabric faded and pilled, the cushion sagging in the middle. “He’d sit there and talk to me. Sharing stories about people I didn’t know, reminiscing on memories I’d never been a part of. It didn’t take long to realize he was pretending I was someone else.”

I shook my head. “That actually makes perfect sense.” I explained about how Addie had profiled him. “We’re likely surrogates for someone he lost.”

“You look exactly like her.”

So lost in catching up, neither of us had heard Tuck come downstairs until he spoke.

“That doesn’t give you the right to hold us here. We aren’t yours to keep.”

“She”—he pointed at Lainey—“already gave herself to me. And, god, it was like having Nadine back in my arms.”

“But we’renotNadine,” I protested, then switched to a different tack. “What exactly is your plan here, Tuck? To keep us locked in this basement forever, hoping we’ll eventually break?”

Instead of answering, he took a seat in that heinous orange chair, reclining back and resting his elbows on the wooden arms.

“Nadine and I were only twenty-three when she left. I thought we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. I even bought a ring. Instead, I came home from shift one morning to find everything she owned gone. She’d disappeared. I tried to find her, spoke to her family, and asked the public for information on her whereabouts. But I didn’t have much to go on, and she didn’t leave a single clue behind. For a long time, I’d convinced myself someone had taken her.”

“Like you took us,” Lainey muttered.

I snorted. “And all of her stuff? Fucking delusional.”

“About a year later, her mother delivered a letter to me at work.Stop looking, it had said.I left of my own free will. I just didn’t love you anymore. Heartbroken, I’d been forced to accept the fact that she was gone for good.”

“What’d you do to drive her away?” I asked before I could stop myself. Lainey drove an elbow into my side.

What?I silently asked her.Women don’t just pick up and leave without a word unless they have a damn good reason.

Maybe she realized he’s fucking crazy.