Page 56

The Night of the Abduction

C asey drove a rusted-out Buick Regal he kept covered and stowed in a storage unit in West Bay.

He drove this car when he took the girls.

The last time he put miles on it was when he journeyed to Virginia the previous year to steal Nancy Dee.

Now tonight, nearly a year later, it came from storage once again.

His insides exploded with fear and excitement.

Tonight was as exposed as he’d ever been, planning a take in Emerson Bay.

But he was sure, with the ease of the others as reference, that he could pull it off.

It was the perfect way to lure Nicole into his world.

The perfect way to introduce her to the thrill.

Their pasts were too similar for her to be without the same needs as he.

So when Nicole came up with the idea to scare one of her classmates by enlisting Casey to take her and dump her in the shed behind Coleman’s, he immediately understood the opportunity.

He scratched his original plan to take the girl who worked at the high school three times a week—the girl named Stacey Morgan—who so perfectly fit the description of the latest request. He abandoned that original plan because even more perfect was the opportunity to bring Nicole to his dark and wondrous world.

It was a world in which she would thrive, and he needed her there.

He had unexpectedly fallen under her spell this summer.

She was his perfect match, his exquisite accomplice.

He’d take Nicole’s classmate where he’d taken the others.

Deliver her to the cellar under heavy sedation, the same way he’d delivered the others.

He’d show Nicole his methods tonight. He’d show her his work and watch the reaction in her face and in her eyes and in the black pond that also made up her soul, so similar to his.

Watch her transformation. And then, sometime in the future, when another request came, he would not be alone in his dark world but accompanied by the only person who understood him.

He pulled now into the parking lot. He wore the clothes Nicole had purchased from the Goodwill store, receipt-less clothing and shoes that would leave untraceable fibers and prints.

He heard music coming from the beach, and voices from the group of people gathered around the bonfire.

He parked across from the Jeep Wrangler, his headlights bright against the spare tire on the back.

He turned off the lights and waited. His heart was going at a good clip and he found he was more excited than normal.

It took fifteen minutes before Nicole’s text came.

Casey pulled the burlap sack from the seat next to him, and grabbed the plastic zip ties.

He scanned the parking lot to make sure he was alone.

There was a pair of Porta-Potties off to the corner, which had been vacant for the past five minutes after three girls left them.

From the beach entrance, Casey watched the girl walk into the parking lot.

She headed to the Jeep Wrangler and opened the driver’s-side door.

With the burlap sack and zip ties in hand, Casey started the engine, his headlights washing Megan McDonald and her Jeep in a blinding white glow.

She shielded her eyes from the high beams and never saw him coming until the headlights disappeared as the burlap covered her head.