Page 138 of Pretty Nightmare

When he uses that name—Donny—I get a really sick feeling in my stomach.

“Donny, Donny, Donny. I kinda like calling you that. Ana did too, didn’t she?”

“Fuck you. You do not get to even say her name.”

“No? But I thought we shared everything?”

“Give me Maggie. Right now.”

“So you can do what? Take her back home?” He laughs again. “They’re never going to let you back in that house after this, Donny. You’re done here. It’s over.”

“No. You’re giving me that little girl, I’m going to take her back home, put her to bed, and then you and I can sort this out.”

“I’m afraid not, brother.” He tsks his tongue. “That’s not how it’s going down at all. You and me?” He points at himself, then me, then himself again. “We’ve been apart way too long, don’t think? You doing your thing. Me doing my thing. It’s kind of a waste.”

I don’t know what to say to that. “You want… me… and…”

“Yes! Yes. That’s exactly right. You’ve got it! I want us to be partners again.”

Now it’s my turn to laugh. “You’re insane.”

“If I’m insane, so are you.”

“No. I’m not the one holding a drugged little girl in the middle of the woods in the dead of night.”

Carter cocks his head at me. Smiles. “Are you sure about that, Donny?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE - ADAM

We slow down once we enter the woods. I don’t know how familiar McKay is with the property these days, but my knowledge of this part of it was at its peak about ten years ago when he and I still had to round Indie up every night for dinner.

McKay slows. Then stops.

“What is it?”

He uses one of our familiar hand signals to tell me to be quiet.

Someone is up ahead.

I feel this person before I hear him. It’s like a sixth sense.

McKay leans into me. “It’s Nathan.” I listen more carefully. Because it’s not just Nathan. McKay adds, “I think he’s got Indie.”

“You mean Maggie.”

“No. Listen.”

I do. And he’s right. There is whispering. Urgent whispering that doesn’t come out of a kid’s mouth. Not even my kid—who, let’s face it, isn’t really a kid. “Then where the fuck is Maggie?”

“Maybe she’s unconscious?” McKay offers. “I saw him creeping into the woods, but he was alone.”

“Maybe he drugged her, then came back to get Indie?”

“Speaking of drugs—where the fuck is Donovan?”

We both look back at the house at the same time, then look at each other. I say, “Donovan wasn’t in the house when we left. I know we didn’t check, but—”

McKay cuts me off. “I agree. He wasn’t there. You can just feel when that house is empty.”