The Girl Who Was Taken

The unidentified man tosses and turns in bed. He is deep in a nightmare, imagining that the body of his dead “love” is reanimating as he buries her. He wakes in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. Beside him, his wife asks what’s wrong, but he ignores her.

He reflects on all the ways the past year has gone wrong and castigates himself for his failures. He regrets that all his previous “loves” died and wishes he could stop searching for love and connection. He feels unable to stop, and he recognizes that his desperation to love and be loved has made him sloppy. He is angry at his own carelessness and even more angry at the national media for discovering the bodies of his “loves.” He observes that the press calls his last two “loves” “Paula” and “Nancy,” and he feels that using these names creates a false sense of familiarity, as if these people knew and cared for them as he did. He tries to calm down and return to sleep but realizes that he is too angry for any sort of rest.

Livia connects with the medical examiner who autopsied Paula D’Amato’s body. She is allowed to look at the body herself, and she learns that, like Nancy and Megan, Paula was also given ketamine. However, while Nancy died from an overdose, Paula was beaten to death.

Livia ponders the inconsistencies between their murders until the medical examiner asks Livia if her professor, Dr. Colt, identified the ketamine connection between the victims. Livia clarifies that she discovered the connection, and the medical examiner thinks it is strange that Dr. Colt did not find it first. She remarks that Dr. Colt’s wife is a veterinarian with a practice based in Raleigh and that ketamine is an animal tranquilizer commonly used by vets.

An unidentified man visits his fishing cabin in Tinder Valley. He reflects on the dilapidated state of this town and his futile longing to bring his wife and children here. Although he had hoped that the area might be reclaimed and renovated into a pleasant destination, it has remained neglected, overgrown, and creepy for years. Families have no interest in coming here for a local getaway, so he comes alone, relishing in the quiet.

He feels hopeful as he heads into cabin number 48. Though his marriage is failing, he has his eye on someone else and hopes that he will be lucky this time. The chapter concludes with the revelation that the man is Kent Chapple, Livia’s colleague and ride-along partner.

Chapter 38 alternates between Megan’s and Livia’s third-person perspectives in the present as they take their theory to the police. Because the local chief of police is Megan’s father, he is displeased to find that Megan has been assisting in Livia’s investigation. Although he cares about solving crimes, he also wants to keep Megan safe by keeping her as far away from crime as possible. His concern for Megan blinds him to the truth of Megan and Livia’s theory that Nicole’s, Paula’s, Nancy’s, and Megan’s cases are all connected. Although he makes vague promises to explore their theory and reopen Nicole’s case, Megan and Livia leave with the feeling that he does not take them seriously.

Megan has another therapy session with Dr. Mattingly. As she relives her time in the bunker, Megan tries to identify every little detail. She thinks she has almost discovered a vital clue, but she is interrupted by Dr. Mattingly’s attempt to break her from her hypnotic trance. Angry at being interrupted—and desperate to hold onto her clue—Megan abruptly leaves her session and drives to a suburb called West Bay. Although Megan originally thought West Bay was a detail connected to her memories, she feels nothing but confusion when she arrives. Frustrated, Megan breaks down crying in her car as she wonders why she can’t remember more details about the bunker.

Livia meets with Nate again. Because he was an active part of the Capture Club and has experience analyzing abductions, Livia thinks that he can offer new insights into the discrepancies between Nancy’s and Paula’s deaths. She shares case files and photographs with him, and in return, he offers his theories.

Nate believes that Nancy and Paula were abducted by the same man and that he loved both of them. He wanted them to love him in return and drugged them to keep them compliant. Nate suspects that Nancy’s death was an accidental overdose; in the course of regularly drugging her with ketamine, her abductor made a mistake and gave her too much. By contrast, Nate suggests that Paula’s death was the result of punishment taken too far. Paula’s defensive wounds show that she fought against her captor, and Nate believes that the man punished her for it. If he considered Nancy and Paula to be his lovers, he would have been angry when they were not appropriately loving in return. If Paula fought him or tried to escape, he would have become enraged and beaten her in retaliation—perhaps so violently that Paula died from her injuries.

Nate also observes that both Paula and Nancy were buried in body bags, indicating that their killer must be someone who has access to the same types of body bags used by police officers and medical examiners.

Alone in her apartment, Livia contemplates the cases until she is interrupted by a knock at her door. Her unexpected visitor is her colleague, Kent Chapple, who asks if he can spend the night on her couch due to marital problems. Livia is happy to help her coworker and offers him a drink. They chat together for a few hours and discuss the cases that Livia is examining. Kent listens without offering any theories about the disappearances. Before returning to her bedroom for the evening, Livia advises Kent to be honest with himself and his wife about their marital problems. She tells him that these cases—and her interactions with Megan—have taught her that lying to yourself and others is unhealthy. Her guilt over Nicole’s disappearance has eaten away at her, and Megan’s attempts to please her parents have hindered her recovery. Livia has seen firsthand that everyone can benefit from being honest with the people they love and finding healthier ways to process their emotions. Kent thanks her and tosses her his favorite cigarette lighter as a silly thank-you gift for her advice.

Megan struggles with nightmares about her abduction. Her dreams feel as though she is reliving the most terrifying moments of her kidnapping, and she wakes up screaming. As her father rushes in to comfort her, Megan realizes something: In her dream, she heard a sound. That sound is the key detail she has been searching for in every therapy session.