“No, I don’t know anyone named Abby.”
“You don’t remember leaving the hospital?”
“What? No.”
“You left in the middle of the night. I don’t know how you managed to slip past those on duty, but one minute you were lying in bed and the next—gone. It was only an hour or so before Abby brought you back. You were no longer on morphine. I thought you’d remembered that.” She crinkled her long, thin brows together. “When you came back, you had a cut on your neck that wasn’t there before. Abby couldn’t say how you came by it, only that you’d called her and she picked you up wandering on the street. She was so concerned, fussing over you. She had you wrapped up in her coat. You were shivering like a leaf.” She hesitated, taking my hand and squeezing. “Are you seeing anyone, child? I mean, maybe if you had someone to talk to . . . I could suggest—”
“What did she look like? Did she give a last name, her phone number, anything?”
“No, just Abby. She had red hair and a petite frame. Pale face, wearing all that black. Such a beautiful girl to be wearing all black.”
I was at a dead end. All the police had was my abductor’s DNA taken from beneath my fingernails. But without him in their system, they had nothing.
“Abby did mention another name in passing. Annie or Ansley. No, it was more unusual. I think it was . . .”
“Anstice.” I didn’t wait for her confirmation as I ran from the hospital.
I headed straight to Anstice and Keir’s, handling my Mini like the car had been built to be driven, and the engine purred with glee at being able to strut its stuff. I made it in record time without another speeding ticket to add to my collection.
“Who’s Abby?” I said as soon as Anstice opened the door. I pushed past her and took a quick scan of the foyer, relieved we were alone.
When I turned around, Anstice had her hand on the wall supporting her weight, and her face had gone white.
“You know her? You fucking know her?” Un-fucking-believable. I’d hoped the nurse had been wrong, that Anstice hadn’t been hiding something from me. “Who is she?”
“Danni . . . Danielle, I . . .”
“Babe, what is it? I heard the . . .” Keir stood at the top of the stairs and I sagged a little because when Keir became involved it was like fighting a rhino. “Danielle,” he said. And he called me Danielle. Not good. He was already on the offensive. He came down the stairs and wrapped his arm around Anstice’s waist like a protective shield. “What’s this about?”
“Don’t give me that bull. You know damn well what I’m talking about. Abby? Who is she?”
Anstice looked up at her husband with pleading eyes, her fingers curled in his shirt. He remained stoic, unblinking as he met my eyes head-on.
“Leave it alone, Danni.” Keir’s tone was abrupt with a warning edge to it.
“Piss off, Keir. Anstice knows an Abby. An Abby who was at the hospital with me.” I ignored Keir’s glare and looked at Anstice, who was having difficulty meeting my eyes. “Anstice?”
“I . . . I . . . oh, God, Danni, please, I can’t . . .”
I gripped the banister for support, my fingernails penetrating the wood, as anger surged. “I can’t believe you’re going to stand there and pretend you don’t know anything. So much for best friends. I guess now that you have your little family here, you don’t need a friend who is all fucked up. Well, screw you. I’ll find out for myself.”
Anstice reached out to me and I jerked away. “Danni, please. You can’t go searching for answers even the police can’t find. It’s too dangerous. Come sit down—”
“Who is Abby?” I stood my ground.
When Anstice and Keir remained silent, I whirled around to leave.
Keir grabbed my arm, stopping me. “Anstice is trying to protect you, not hurt you.”
I raised my fist and went to punch him in the face, but he blocked me with his palm. “Fuck you, Keir. I’m the one hurting, and, obviously, you both can help, but you’ve chosen to let me suffer in hell.”
“Danni. Please,” Anstice pleaded.
I ignored her and went out the front door. They knew who Abby was and yet they refused to tell me? What was going on? Who were they protecting? It sure as hell wasn’t me.
I got in my car and drove down the road, parked beneath a large pine tree, and then put on my hat, gloves, and scarf and walked back to Keir’s.
If they contacted Abby, it would be tonight. No way was I going to let this opportunity slip from my grasp like everything else had. They knew more about my abduction than they were letting on, and I was going to find out what, even if I had to sit out in the freezing cold all bloody night.
I paced the alley like a caged panther, every so often stopping to search for her scent. Nothing. Three fuckin’ hours and nothing.
Coldness seeped into my veins and it wasn’t from the near-freezing temperature. The possessive feeling was mounting by the day; an uncontainable protectiveness I had no right to feel.
I’d fought the need to see her again. I’d spent days in some shit motel in darkness, trying to get her out of my mind. I couldn’t do it. The need was more powerful than me, and yet, seeing her again had only brought more pain to both of us.
I kicked a stray plastic bag and the wind picked it up, twirled it in the air, and then dropped to the ground again as the wind died down. It was like me. I was losing my footing with her when I’d always had complete control.