“I will,” Brianna promised as she hugged her friend and felt the smaller woman nearly crumple in her arms. “Call me if you hear anything. And when you have time, send me that list.”

“List? Oh, yes. Right.”

“And the time line,” Brianna reminded her. Over dinner they’d discussed putting together a time line and a record of the events as they knew them, as well as a complete list of everyone the girls knew, or may have come in contact with last night. Although Selma had filled out a report at the Baton Rouge PD, she’d been upset at the time, well, more like totally freaked out, so Brianna had suggested she write down everything she could think of: friends, enemies, teachers, employers, arguments the twins had been involved in, boyfriends they’d broken up with, out-of-town friends or relatives, e-mail addresses, social media platforms, and phone numbers. Anything that might lead to finding the girls. Brianna wanted to wade through the information and pass it on to both police departments.

“I will,” Selma promised. She settled behind the wheel of her Chevy and rolled down the window.

“Take care,” Brianna said.

Selma placed her cigarette in the car’s ashtray. “Thanks.” As Brianna stepped away from the curb, Selma pulled into traffic, narrowly missing a motorcycle that came roaring down the street. Up the street, brake lights flashed in Tanisha’s Charger, and as soon as the Chevy passed, Tanisha’s car moved into the street behind her.

Brianna turned.

Jase had straightened, his hands in his pockets, his athletic silhouette backlit by headlights as a truck rumbled past. His gaze found hers, and for the briefest of seconds the back of her throat turned to dust and she was a schoolgirl again, harboring a secret crush.

Damn.

No matter how it all played out, she figured, this was gonna get messy.

Zoe’s ankle throbbed and her skin was burned, hot to the touch. Add to that, she was hungry and thirsty. Yeah, the river was right there, a few feet away, but so far, she hadn’t drunk from it. Well, as long as you didn’t count the kabillion gallons of water she’d swallowed during her swim the night before. She couldn’t just lie here of course. If she did, she was a sitting duck. Besides, no one would find her in the dark.

Once again she thought of the creatures of the night.

As frightening as snakes and gators were, they were nothing compared to the psycho who’d abducted her and planned her torturous demise.