Page 47 of The Girl Who Was Taken

“Sounds like it,” Livia said. “Tell me about the Capture Club.”

“Just a bunch of stoner kids out for a thrill. We were into that sort of thing back then. A fetish, I guess some people would say. Couldn’t get enough of kidnappings and missing people. Used to talk about all the interesting ones. Wedissectedthat shit. Like that girl who went missing in the Bahamas. ’Member her? Still, like six years later, everyone’s trying to figure out what happened to her. Everyone’s got a theory. There was an HBO special on her. Casey got a copy and we watchedit at one of the meetings. The club, we made our own guesses and talked about all that stuff.”

Livia nodded, trying to hide the ugly look her face wanted to make.

“I still read about that stuff all the time,” Nate said. “It’s just insane, you know, that somebody like,stealssomebody else. Not their car, not their money. Actually steals theperson! Yeah, the club was dark but so’s the whole country. When someone important goes missing, or the case is interesting enough, everybody has the same fetish. Whole world, really. No one admits it, but it’s true. In the club, nobody judged. We all understood.” Another drag of his smoke and an amused look. “Everyone hides under the cover of news watching and sadness for the victim and their family. Fine. Be sad. That’s normal. But don’t pretend you’re not curious.”

“Tell me about the initiations.”

“That was the thrill of the club. To get in, you had to agree to be taken. That was a rush, on either side of it.” He laughed. “We had some epic takes, too.”

“Let me try to understand. You all agreed to kidnap one another?”

“Nah, it wasn’t like that. You don’t just agree to it, that wouldn’t work. It wasn’t anything you expected. Casey was the contact guy who went online and found people who were interested in becoming members. As soon as Casey was convinced that a new potential member would be up for the thrill and would be cool with it”—Nate raised his eyebrows—“the take was on. No one ever saw it coming. If you expected to gettaken, what’s the point? If it’s gonna work, you gotta be scared. I mean terrified.”

“Like Diana Wells.”

Nate just smiled and blew smoke into the night air. “Not everyone was cut out for the club.”

“And Casey was, what? In charge of the club?”

“He was the man.”

“Who else did you guys talk about at the meetings? What other cases?”

“Shit. Lots. Some old stuff, like sixties old. But mostly current stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Anything local, or even close, was always a big topic.”

“You guys ever talk about Megan McDonald and Nicole Cutty?”

Nate looked at Livia, the corners of his eye creased slightly out of suspicion. “You sure you’re not a cop?”

“I’m sure. You know who those girls are? Megan and Nicole?”

“’Course I do.”

“Yeah? Nicole Cutty was my sister.”

“No shit?”

Livia cocked her head. “No shit. Casey and the club ever talk about Nicole or Megan?”

“You mean about them going missing? No.”

“No? Why not? Can’t get more high profile than Megan McDonald. Plus, they were local girls. Probably had you guys salivating with such a big case being so close.”

“Totally. I was fascinated. Still am. Follow the McDonald girl online and watch her stuff. Even read herbook. But there’s no more club. Casey organized everything. So when he took off, the club broke up. We tried to get together a few times. Used to meet down at the old Coleman’s brewhouse, but with Casey gone it wasn’t the same.” Nate smiled and shook his head. “So Nicole was your sister?”

Livia nodded. “She was.”

Nate gave another crooked smile. “She was one of the club’s most epic takes. She wanted it dark and dirty. Most people couldn’t handle what we did to Nicole. She loved it.”

Livia swallowed hard, pushing down whatever was trying to come up her throat. “So Nicolewaspart of your club?”

Nate frowned like everyone should know this. “Not justpartof it. She had Casey all wrapped up. So whatever she wanted, she got.”

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