Page 66

The Night of the Abduction

N icole heard Livia’s recorded voice come through her phone as voice mail picked up.

She ended the call as the flashing lights filled her rearview mirror.

Part of her wanted to scream because she knew there was no turning back.

Part of her wanted to step on the accelerator and flee.

But another part wanted this, exactly what was happening.

Wanted to be cornered with no choice but to tell the police what had gone on tonight.

She pulled to the side of the frontage road, her car pitching to a slight angle as the passenger-side tires settled onto the gravel shoulder. The officer came to her window as she rolled it down.

“You know you sailed through a stop sign back there, young lady?”

Nicole was crying. “I didn’t see it. I need help.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I hit someone. With my car. I hit my boyfriend. And there’s a girl who needs help. Two girls, maybe more. I don’t know.”

“Slow down. Shut the engine off, please.”

Nicole turned the ignition.

“Step out of the vehicle, please. Tell me what’s going on.”

Nicole climbed from her car, crying hysterically now. The officer put his arm around her and led her to the patrol car.

“Here, let’s have those,” he said, taking Nicole’s keys. He opened the back of the car and helped her sit down. “Wait here for a minute. We’ll find out what’s going on.”

He reached for her other hand and gently took her phone.

“Did you make any calls tonight?”

“My sister.”

“I see.” The officer’s voice was gentle and caring. “Did you speak with her?”

“No.”

“Leave a message or a text?”

Nicole shook her head.

“Call anyone else?”

“No,” Nicole said. “No one.”

“Good girl. Sit tight, okay. I’ll be right back.”

The officer helped Nicole glide her legs into the backseat, and then closed the door of the squad car.

Nicole watched as he walked a perimeter around her car, the red-and-blue lights highlighting the scene in front of her.

He shined his flashlight into the backseat, something caught his attention.

Nicole wanted to scream at him that they needed to hurry, but her voice had left her.

All she could do was stare. She watched him pull a handkerchief from his back pocket, shake it open, and use it to pull open her car’s door.

Then she watched him lean in. He reappeared a few seconds later, something gripped in his hand.

Only when he opened the patrol car’s door and sat behind the wheel did Nicole recognize the object he’d taken.

It was the long fork from the barbecue set.

“I bought that at a Goodwill store,” Nicole said through the chain link that separated them, although she wasn’t sure why.

The officer doused the flashing lights and put the car into gear. He swung a rough U-turn and sped back down the frontage road.

“We have to go to West Bay,” Nicole said, leaning toward the partition.

Their eyes met in the rearview mirror.

“Oh,” Terry McDonald said. “I know where we’re going. Don’t worry, my Love.”