Page 76 of The Chain

“There are others who have tried. No one has ever succeeded.”

“I’m going to keep my word.”

“Be sure that you do. We put ten thousand dollars in your bank account this morning—that’s ten percent of the money the Dunleavys paid. We took it out of the same Bitcoin account they put their money into. I don’t know how you would ever explain that to the federal authorities. Even if you somehow escaped our assassins, which no one ever has, we’d release all this information and you’d go to prison. The evidence is all there to reveal you as the genius behind a sophisticated kidnapping ring. You’re smart. You can see the big picture, can’t you?”

“Yes, I can.”

“Good,” the voice says. “We probably won’t speak again. Goodbye, Rachel, it’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”

“I can’t say the same.”

“It could have been worse. It could have been a lot worse.”

When the call ends, Rachel shudders and Pete puts his arms around her. She’s so pale and thin and fragile, and her heart is beating so fast. Like a wounded bird that you put in a shoe box and nurse back to life, hoping that one day it will be able to fly again.

36

Sunday, 4:00 p.m.

Kylie finally comes down the stairs. She’s got her iPad in one hand, her phone in the other, and Eli over her shoulder.

“I had over a hundred and fifty Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter notifications,” Kylie says, trying to sound upbeat.

Rachel smiles. So much for her idea of going full tinfoil hat and killing social media. Kylie returns her mother’s smile.Both of us faking it for each other,Rachel thinks. “You’re a popular girl,” she says.

“I talked to Stuart. Everybody seems to have bought the whole sickness story. And I texted Grandma too. She’s fine. I even e-mailed Dad.”

“I’m sorry I made you do that.”

Kylie nods and doesn’t sayIt’s OKbecause it’s not OK to make your daughter lie to her friends and family.

“You were careful what you said?”

“I was.”

“If you say one thing on social media, the whole world sees.”

“I know, Mom. I can’t ever tell anyone, can I?”

“No…are you OK, my darling?” Rachel asks, stroking Kylie’s face.

“Not really,” Kylie says. “I was so scared down there. There were times when I thought I was going to—I don’t know—disappear?You know that thing where some people think that if other people leave the room, they just don’t exist anymore.”

“Solipsism?”

“That’s what I thought was happening to me down there in the basement. I thought that I was starting not to exist because no one was thinking about me.”

Rachel hugs her tight. “All I did was think about you! Every minute of every second of every day.”

“And then there were times when I thought that maybe those two would just leave me there. Maybe if they thought they’d been discovered, they’d go, and the food would run out and the water would run out and I would just die.”

“I wouldn’t have let that happen,” Rachel says. “I wouldn’t. I would have found you no matter what.”

Kylie nods but Rachel sees that she doesn’t believe it. How would she have found her? She wouldn’t have found her. Her daughter would have been trapped down there forever.

Kylie walks to the screen door and looks out at the basin.

“Your flip-flops are onomatopoeia-ing,” Rachel says, trying to shift the mood.

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