when they saw Drew kneeling at her side and sobbing, telling Katie how much he loved her. Then, gently, each officer secured him by an arm and escorted him out of the room.
“Please go easy on him,” Isla said to the two security officers. “He’s my daughter’s boyfriend and is quite shaken up about all this.”
“Okay, but he needs to leave the hospital immediately,” the one wearing the stripes said.
“I’m a cop. I’ll drive him home,” Karl offered.
“I can drive home myself,” Drew said.
“I can smell the booze on your breath, Drew. You’re in no condition to be behind the wheel. You can have one of your friends drive you back in the morning to pick up your truck,” Karl said.
Katie’s eyelids fluttered and then opened. She looked around the room, as if seeing it for the first time. Isla couldn’t resist going over and taking her daughter’s hand. Despite the black eyes and bruises, the proliferation of raw cuts and angry scrapes, Katie looked beautiful in the soft glow of the light. The nurse stood just behind Isla, allowing her a few precious moments with her daughter.
“Hi, Katie. It’s Mom.”
Tears formed in her daughter’s eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t you worry, honey. Everything will be okay now that you’re back with us, safe and sound.”
“Where’s Willow? How’s she doing?”
Isla stared at her, not wanting to upset Katie. But she didn’t want to lie, either.
“Mom, please tell me that Willow’s okay.”
“Honey, they haven’t found Willow yet.”
“You mean she’s still out there?” She squeezed her eyelids together.
“Yes, but we have a lot of volunteers out searching for her. We’ll find her one way or another. Don’t you worry.”
“I’m afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
She opened her eyes and wiped the tears away with her fingers. “I don’t know. I just am.”
“Katie, can you remember anything about what happened to you?”
“I’ve tried real hard since I got here, but I can’t remember anything. My memory’s blocked or something.”
“It’ll come back to you. Keep trying, if you’re able.”
“Can you at least tell me who won?”
Isla was puzzled by this question. “Who won what?”
“The softball game. Did we win the championship?”
“You mean, you can’t remember?”
Katie shook her head.
“Shepherd’s Bay won the game, honey. Willow pitched a no-hitter and drove in the only two runs.”
KARL
DREW SAT SLUMPED AGAINST THE DOOR IN KARL’S PICKUP TRUCK, HIS arms folded across his powerful chest. The smell of stale alcohol filled the cabin. The streets were dark and quiet at this early morning hour. Karl loved Shepherd’s Bay when it was like this. He passed a police cruiser, saw Dave Jansen behind the wheel, and waved. It felt much better being a civilian right now than working that long overnight shift. From working the graveyard, his sleep pattern had been thrown off-kilter, and he knew it would be a few days before he settled back into a normal rhythm.
He recalled sitting next to Isla at that hospital, in the dim light, their shoulders lightly touching. No one knew what had happened to Katie or what the future might hold for the poor girl. What if she’d been sexually violated or worse? It might take years for her to recover from such trauma, if she recovered at all.
He considered the Willow Briggs situation. It didn’t bode well for her that Katie had been found alive with no sign of her friend. The theory that they had run away together could now be thrown out, leaving him with only a few alternative theories, all of them bad.
Drew sat in silence next to him as he weaved through the streets. Finally, he came to the Nelsons’ residence. They lived in a sprawling, weathered home that had been added on to many times in a slapdash manner. Rusty cars and pickup trucks littered the property. In the back sat a battered old lobster boat resting on concrete blocks. Green steel lobster traps were piled up everywhere, in various states of disrepair. He stopped in the dirt driveway and looked over at Drew. The kid returned his gaze with an angry scowl before opening the door and stumbling out. Karl leaned over the seat and rolled down the passenger-side window.
“Call me if you need a ride back to your truck.”
Drew reached back, without looking, and waved him away. Then he staggered up the stairs and disappeared inside the house.
Karl turned around in the driveway and headed toward Harper’s Point. No sense going home when he couldn’t sleep. Unlike most of the other locals in town, he didn’t loathe