I glanced over at the Virtue. The driver’s door was open, Angie’s keys in the ignition. I looked up at the apartment building, saw a few people come out onto their balconies, look through their windows, wondering what all the commotion was. Somewhere in that building, I figured, lived Angie’s boyfriend Cam, but if his apartment wasn’t on the side that faced the street, he wasn’t going to be aware of what was happening out here.

I went back to Trevor. Only now did I notice that he had a dark gash on the side of his head. A patch of his hair was clotted with blood.

I put everything I had into trying to speak calmly.

“Trevor, who took Angie?”

“They, they were in this truck. They tried to start the car, and it wouldn’t start, and then they took her.”

I was reaching into my jacket for my cell. I was getting ready to punch in 911.

“No!” Trevor screamed. Hysterically. “No, no, don’t call the police!” He was grabbing for my phone, trying to get it out of my hands.

“Trevor, I have to call the police. Let go of my phone.”

“No! They said they’d kill her! Don’t call the police!” He was wide-eyed, grabbing me by the shoulders.

I was starting to reassess things. Not about calling the police. That was the only thing that made sense. I was reassessing Trevor. His panic was genuine. It was possible that he really had nothing to do with this.

“Trevor, you have to calm down. We have to get the police working on this right now, as fast as we—”

“They said they’d know.”

“What?”

“They said they’d know. That they have people in the police, people who tell them things, that if you call 911, if you call the cops, they’ll know, and then they’ll kill Angie.”

Kill Angie.

The world spun. For an instant, I had an image of Angie, sitting in a highchair, laughing, chocolate pudding on her nose.

“That’s crazy,” I said, freeing the phone from Trevor’s grasp. “They’re just bluffing.”

But I found myself hesitating, knowing I should punch in 911, but not quite able to do it.

“No.” Trevor shook his head violently. “They weren’t bluffing. I could tell. They said they’d know instantly.”

I swallowed. “Trevor, tell me what happened. From the beginning.”

“They jumped out of a truck and they took her. They tried to start the car, but it wouldn’t work, so they took Angie instead.”

“What do you mean? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Shut up! Just shut up! Let me try to explain.” There were tears running down his cheeks now, and when he went to wipe them away, his hand brushed his hair. When he saw the blood on his hand, he looked at it, baffled, then touched his head where his hair was black.