Yes, there had been times when she imagined all sorts of things. But it was very obvious when the medication had her in its grip. Those times, she didn’t even recognize her husband or surroundings. She recalled tattered bits of those moments, Andrew filling in the rest. It always made her uncomfortable, face in her hands, exclaiming, “Did I really say that?”

This wasn’t one of those moments.

Andrew deflated. “No, you look fine. Maybe you were sleepwalking.”

“I couldn’t have been sleepwalking because I’ve been up for hours.”

Oh Lord, she wanted to slap him. It was as if he were accusing her of some mighty wrongdoing, which she knew was irrational. The past few minutes had her on an emotional roller coaster, and she needed her husband to settle her down, not send her on the next loop-de-loop.

When he leaned over to hug her, she pulled away.

“Look, I’m sorry. Wouldn’t you rather it be a hallucination or dream than some poor person screaming for their life out there?”

She went to say something, but bit her tongue instead. Tonight was the first time she’d put on a new patch in tandem with the new light sedative she’d been given. Maybe, just maybe, they didn’t play well together.

And she really didn’t want that to be some poor, hurt, terrified woman out there in the woods.

Staring at Buttons, who had grown bored and closed his eyes, she said, “I hate it when you’re right.”

She leaned into him and he held her, his stale beer breath something powerful.

“Yeah, me too. It’s not easy being right so much of the time. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”

Kate pinched him, eliciting a sharp yowl.

“Now you get to stay up with me until I can fall asleep.”

Propping up their pillows, he said, “Fine, but no black-and-white movies. I need something in color with action. Naked boobs if we can swing it.”

“I married a child.”

“Action and nudity keep me young.”

She laughed, and it felt amazing to release the pressure that had built up inside her. “Then you’re going to grow old real fast with me around.”

Andrew clicked around, settling for a Vin Diesel movie.

She had just started to believe that maybe she had been kind of sleepwalking when the penetrating scream happened again, this time sounding as if it were right outside their window.

Chapter Fourteen

“Did you find anything?”

Andrew was in the kitchen, buttering up some toast for her. He had a plate for himself heaped with scrambled eggs and sausage links.

Neither of them had been able to go back to sleep. Here they were, eating breakfast at the ass crack of dawn, Kate tapping and swiping away on her tablet.

“Yes, but he’s thirty miles away,” she said.