“Terrible. I know. It used to scare me, how quickly things would turn for her. I hate to say that I’m used to it.”

“Do you think she’ll be all right by tomorrow?”

Andrew shrugged his shoulders. “It’s impossible to say. A few years ago, I would have said yes, she can bounce back. But lately, it’s been harder and harder for her. Plus she still has that stuff the doctor gave her in her system.”

Ryker went into his pacing-by-spinning routine. Now that Nikki was out of sight, he no longer tried to hide the deep concern on his face. “I can see toughing out one more night if we have to, but man, it’s going to be rough if it goes much longer.”

Andrew picked up a rock and skipped it on the lake, throwing it so hard his shoulder popped. “You and Nikki fly home tomorrow. Don’t worry. I’ll get her out the second she’s up to it.”

Ryker stopped spinning, his hands balled into fists. “There’s no way on God’s green earth I’m leaving until I know you and Katy are in that car and heading south.”

“Or we’ve had a chance to show these local yokels why you don’t fuck with Jersey.”

Ryker grinned. “Or that.”

He might be a self-help guru now, but Andrew knew his brother-in-law had been in his fair share of dustups. He’d been banned from two diners for fighting when he was in high school.

Ditching the idea of skipping rocks, Andrew contented himself with simply chucking as many big ones as he could find. The bigger splash they made, the better.

“Whoever has been coming out here has stuck to keeping outside the house. As long as we’re locked up tight, I’m sure there won’t be much of anything for us to worry about or do. They’re chickenshits who obviously know how weak and worthless they are, which is why they do what they do to small animals. What’s unnerving are those sounds. They must have a recording of some animals or something.”

Ryker lay down on the towel Nikki had left on the dock. He put his hands behind his head, face turned to the sun. “You and I should get some nap time in.”

Andrew settled onto his ass at the water’s edge. “And you’re sure you don’t want to tell Nikki?”