“Half hour, maybe.”

The man stood and turned in a circle as he surveyed the dark playground. “I knew I shouldn’t have taken her off the leash.”

Nicole stood from the swing, dizzy. The swaying had magnified the effects of the cannabis. She righted herself after a second. Felt good. “Roxie is her name?”

“Yeah,” the man said. He pulled out his phone. “Here’s a picture. Have you seen her before?”

Nicole moved closer to look at the man’s phone, which glowed like a flashlight in the dark night. Her eyes narrowed and her lips separated when she looked at the photo. She stuttered her words until they finally formed.

“That’s my cousin. Julie.”

“It is?” the man said. “That’s a shame. She’s missing, too. And she’s never coming home.”

Before Nicole could react, a burlap bag came down over her head. Her muscles flexed and tensed, but the element of surprise was too great to overcome. Hands groped her and pulled her until she was shoved into the backseat of a car. She felt the momentum pull her into the seat as the car lurched from the parking lot and sped away.

The ride was twenty minutes, during which her hands were duct-taped behind her back and the burlap sack secured over her head. She cried and pleaded but got no response from the man who’d taken her. She knew there were others in the car.

“Why do you have that picture of my cousin?”

She heard the roll of duct tape unpeel. Then two hands reached inside the burlap and sealed the tape across her mouth. She bucked in the backseat, only to be subdued roughly by the man next to her.

Nicole finally gave in. Stopped moaning and fighting and kicking. She lay still under the weight of the stranger until the car ride ended and they lifted her from the backseat and dragged her through the woods. Nicole could feel the moss and sticks and leaves as they pulled her along, her feet barely working. She thought she felt train tracks under her shoes. Down a steep slope, eventually the rattle of a metal lock filled her ears, and then a door squeaked open. She was dragged through an entryway and forced to her knees, with the man behind her. She closed her eyes despite the burlap sack over her head. His mouth was by her ear and his breath penetrated the sack.

“How do you like it? Same as your cousin? What was her name? Julie?”

His hand slid along her waist and over her abdomen, then up to her chest, where he grabbed her breast and moaned into her ear.

Nicole tried to scream through the tape as she bucked wildly away from his grasp. The man released his grip and pushed her forward. She fell face-first to the cold ground, hands behind her back and unable to break her fall. The burlap was yanked from her head.

“We’ll wait until you calm down. Ain’t no fun when you fight the whole time.”

The door closed before she could see his face. She stayed on her stomach and listened. No voices. No footsteps. Just silence. After a minute, she rolled onto her back and pulled her taped hands behind her legs and over her feet until her arms were in front of her. Then she ripped the tape from her mouth—a slow pull that distorted her lips and ruined her skin. She licked her lips and felt the sticky remains of adhesive.

Several deep breaths helped rid the shakes brought on by the man whispering in her ear. She tried to think, to pull reason from the darkness around her. The effects of the joint were not helping. On her feet now, she walked slowly to the door, feeling her way through the dark until her bound hands grasped the door handle. She shouldered it hard but found no trace of give. She threw her hip into it, then a wild front kick that knocked her backward and landed her on the ground. Then she cried. All she could imagine was Julie, young and scared and shoved in some dark place like this. Her stomach swam with nausea. Finally, Nicole sat up, pushed herself into the corner, and allowed the damp earth to seep through her jeans and suck the warmth from her body.

CHAPTER 14

July 2016

Four Weeks Before the Abduction

“Nicole.”

The voice was far off and jovial, turning her name into a three-syllable word. Ni-coooo-ole.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

Her eyes opened. She’d fallen asleep. Not sure if she was dreaming, she stood up and listened. The seat of her jeans was soaking wet and her upper thighs numb with cold. She’d been asleep long enough that the marijuana no longer had a hold on her.

“Oh, little Ni-cooo-ole. Where are you?” The voice was singsongy.

Nicole waited. The voice grew closer. Then a loud bang on the wooden door.

“You in there, Nicole? It’s time to come out!”

The door flung open. Ten people stood outside the shed with flashlights, lighting the night and highlighting their faces like a pack of medieval tribesmen. The first two people to enter the shed were girls Nicole had never seen before, who raced in and bear-hugged her.

“We love you, we love you, we love you,” one of them said.

“You fucking guys!” Nicole said.

“Freaky stuff, right?” the other girl said. “Did you piss your pants?” she asked, feeling Nicole’s wet jeans. “Yes!” The girl turned to the group. “She pissed herself!”

The crowd cheered. The girls led her from the shed and, once outside, the crowd cheered louder. A man walked from the ranks of the pack. His flashlight pinned under his chin so the light cast his face in an eerie glow. “My little Nicole. You made it.”

“Casey?” Nicole asked.

“Who else would save you?”

“You’re an asshole!”

This brought the group to hysterics. There were loud whistles and catcalls.

“What was with the picture of my cousin?”

“All part of the experience,” Casey said.

“And who was the guy? He grabbed my tits.”

This brought more laughter and hoots.

Casey smiled in the glow of the flashlight. “It wouldn’t be very convincing had we just asked you to jump in the car with us.” He shrugged. “Missing cousins, groping, a little ear moaning. It’s all part of the package you ordered.”

He moved closer and grabbed her in a giant hug, whispering in her ear. “You did great, sweet thing. Welcome to the Capture Club! I knew you’d love it.”

CHAPTER 15

July 2016

Three Weeks Before the Abduction

Nicole lay on a beach towel on the bow of Rachel’s ArrowCat. They had anchored an hour earlier and now allowed their bikinied bodies to absorb the warm afternoon sun while other boats slowly settled around them. Not far away was Steamboat Eddie’s, a bar that sat on a very small island in the middle of the bay and served fried food and beer. Most summer days saw boats anchored and floating around the island, music blaring from the live band that played on the patio of Steamboat Eddie’s.

“So where were you the other night?” Jessica asked.

Nicole lay on her back with her arms at her sides, sunglasses covering her closed eyes.

“Busy.”

“With Mystery Man?”

“Maybe.”

“So what do you guys do? Does he, like, take you to dinner?”

“He’s not that cliché,” Nicole said.

Jessica and Rachel waited.

“We hang out.” Nicole didn’t consider telling her friends about her adventure the other night. Not only would they not understand the club, but they’d likely judge her as unstable or demented.

“God,” Jessica said. “What’s the big secret?”

“There’s no secret. You guys just wouldn’t get him. He’s not like the guys we hang out with. Like all the losers last weekend who were too scared to drop their shorts at Matt’s party. I mean, what’s the big friggin’ deal? It’s a penis, get over it.”

Rachel and Jessica laughed.

“I’ll never forget Chris Harmon’s face,” Jessica said. “He was literally gawking at you on the platform. Like, he didn’t even care that you noticed. I think he was in a trance.”

“I’m probably the first naked girl he’s seen that wasn’t on his computer screen. Little perv. And, of course, he was the only one who didn’t do it.”

“Him and Brandon. Thank God,” Rachel said. “Could you imagine his scrawny little body all naked and wet?”

“Oh,” Jessica said. “Stop!”

“You’re going to make me puke,” Nicole said as she pushed herself up onto her elbows and surveyed the growing pack of boats around them. It was Friday afternoon and the bay was packed. “What I’m more shocked about,” Nicole said, “is that those prudes actually got naked.”

“Who? Megan?”

“Yeah. Blew me away.”

“She was cool that night,” Rachel said. “She hung out with all of us.”

“She only came out to the platform because of Matt. She couldn’t stand the thought of him out there all alone with me. God forbid!”

“Just tell her you’ve got a mystery boyfriend,” Jessica said. “Then she won’t be so worried.”

Just as Jessica said this, a water balloon fell from the sky and splattered on the deck next to them.

“What the hell?”

They looked around and saw Matt with his friends on the boat across from them.

“Bombs away!” Matt yelled.