But this one needed to work. Meghan's life depended on it.
"I think we should call Grace on this one," Nicky said.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The stars were slowly emerging, one by one, from behind the dark clouds. Nicky tore out of the police station's parking lot, Ken in the passenger seat. The tires screeched and the engine roared, the car leaving dust in its wake. Grace, the tech genius she was, had pulled up two potential matches within thirty seconds. One old abandoned apartment building called 'Sunrise Homes,' that had shut down after a bad fire, and another old warehouse of a defunct business that was once called 'Home Furniture Factory.' The latter was the most similar to the other location, so Nicky had her sights set on that one first.
Maybe it was a longshot, but she had to try. There was no losing here. Katz was in custody, so if he was the killer, he wouldn't be able to finish the job anytime soon. If he wasn't the killer, though, then it was worth looking further into.
The only thing Nicky wished was that this car could drive faster. She was already running the damn thing into the ground.
Nicky was driving fast down the highway, the night's darkness quickly overtaking her.
"Lyons," Ken said.
Nicky glanced at him.
"We're gonna find her," he said. "One way or another."
Emotion struck her chest. "There's only one good way to find her and that's alive."
"I know," he said, "and I agree. But if we don't..."
"There's no if we don't. We find her alive. That's it."
Ken didn't reply, but Nicky knew how she was behaving. She knew that nothing could ever guarantee a missing person being found alive. She knew that most missing persons were never found at all.
But she couldn't deal with another Masie. And so, she blocked out the idea that it was even possible. Meghan was alive, and Nicky would find her.
As she drove, she tried to calm the steady thud of her heart, but she found herself going back to the place she always went back to. The place where her worst memories existed, but also the place that somehow brought her the most comfort. In this place, Rosie was alive, and they were together—no matter the circumstances.
The lake house. Rosie. The man.
It all took over, until Nicky couldn't stop herself from becoming immersed in the memory, even with the lights of the highway ahead of her windshield.
***
"We need to get out of here," Rosie said.
Nicky shivered, sitting on the floor of the cold, empty cabin.
"He could be out there still," Nicky had said.
She was the older one. She was the one who should have been in charge. But she was scared. Scared that the wrong move could cause them to lose their lives.
They'd been in the cabin for three days now with nothing to eat but a few stale crackers, and a bucket for a toilet. He came and went, only to check in on them, ask how they were doing, and smile. He always smiled.
They'd tried the door many times, but it was too well-locked. There was no other exit.
They were trapped. He'd boarded up every window, every nook and cranny that they could possibly try to break free from. Plus, without being able to see outside, they couldn't tell when he was there and when he wasn't. Sometimes they'd hear his tires crunch over the gravel, signaling that he'd left, but he'd always come back soon. Always.
This was one of those nights. They'd heard his tires leave a half an hour ago, and as always, had tried to figure a way out. But they couldn't. He'd never been gone for more than thirty minutes before.
Nicky's mind raced as she looked around the dark and empty cabin. They'd tried removing nails from one of the windows so they could get to the other side, but it was hard for their small fingers to do without tools. But three days of slowly picking at them was starting to work, and if they were going to do it, maybe now was the best time.
"We need to try again," Rosie said.
Tears welled in Nicky's eyes. She was so scared, so scared they would die, so scared they were going to be trapped in this prison forever, so scared they wouldn't be able to find the strength to open the door and leave, so scared that maybe she'd be too scared to do it, and the door would stay shut, and they would be stuck here in this cabin for the rest of their lives, never being able to find the courage to open the door, never being able to find the strength to leave.