The Night She Vanished

THE NIGHT SHE VANISHED AN ABSOLUTELY GRIPPING AND TOTALLY NAIL-BITING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER WITH A JAW-DROPPING TWIST WENDY DRANFIELD BOOKS BY WENDY DRANFIELD The Night She Vanished The Birthday Party Detective Madison Harper series Shadow Falls Cry for Help Little Girl Taken Gone to Her Grave Catch Her Death Available in Audio The Birthday Party (Available in the UK and the US) Detective Madison Harper series Shadow Falls (Available in the UK and the US) Cry for Help (Available in the UK and the US) Little Girl Taken (Available in the UK and the US) Gone to Her Grave (Available in the UK and the US) Catch Her Death (Available in the UK and the US) CONTENTS Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68 Chapter 69 Chapter 70 The Birthday Party Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Hear More from Wendy Books by Wendy Dranfield A Letter from Wendy Shadow Falls Cry for Help Little Girl Taken Gone to Her Grave Catch Her Death Acknowledgments * For my husband; for everything. PROLOGUE SUMMER 2008 Several thoughts go through Lori Peterson’s head as she lies dying. She didn’t see it coming. She trusted the wrong people. She should have been more careful. More suspicious. But even though she can feel her life draining away, she doesn’t really believe she’s going to die. She has things to do: assignments due, chores outstanding, books due back at the library. And she had promised to teach her little brother how to ride his bike. The thought of sweet, sometimes annoying, five-year-old Tommy being upset that she will never come home makes her heart ache. He won’t understand. He might think she didn’t care about him. He’ll have to endure growing up as the boy with the dead sister. Lori tries to swallow but her mouth is dry. She clears her throat and attempts to force positive thoughts. Someone will find her before it’s too late. They have to. People don’t die at fifteen. It wouldn’t be fair. Although Alice Shepherd from school died when she was fourteen. She was hit by a truck while out on her bike delivering newspapers. Rumor has it her head exploded like a watermelon as the truck’s front tire ran over it. A tree was planted in the field behind the school as some kind of memorial. Everyone cried as they watched the principal plant it. Even the girls who had ruthlessly bullied Alice since third grade. They had sat in the cafeteria fake crying and basking in everyone’s attention. It had made Lori sick. Will they do the same for her? Pain suddenly breaks through her thoughts. A searing-hot stab tears through her head. With a wince, she’s jolted back to reality. Lying on her back, she’s completely alone in a park in the Midwestern town that she and her best friend had always planned to escape from once they were old enough. Stars twinkle in the night sky overhead. The day was hot and clear, and the night is set to remain warm. If she can hold on long enough, maybe someone will find her early tomorrow morning. An all-consuming feeling of dread sets in. She’s kidding herself. It could be hours before she’s discovered and by then she would have bled to death. It’s up to Lori to save herself. She tries wiggling her feet. They both cramp at the sudden movement and she gasps in pain. She has no choice but to ride out the cramps. At least she can feel her feet. That should be a good sign. It means they would probably hold her weight if she’s able to get up. Next, she tries moving her hands. She has no feeling in her fingers but her arms lift off the ground slightly at the elbow. Her head doesn’t. It’s heavy and painful and, when she tries lifting it, something in her neck cracks, sending another jolt of pain through her entire spine. She screams, startling two huge flies into the air. Were they drinking her blood? Laying eggs in her wounds? Are they going to start feasting on her before she even starts decomposing? She pushes the thought away as terror grips her. Liquid, warm and wet, runs into her left eye. The blood mixed with sweat stings, blurring her vision. She gives up on moving, and her body begins to tremble all over. It’s clear there’s no way out of here without help. A laugh—harsh, mocking and close—sends shivers through her entire body. It sounds evil. Like death coming for her. She squeezes her eyes shut. She doesn’t want to see who it belongs to. She wants to sleep. To wake in her bed tomorrow morning to sunlight streaming through her drapes like this morning. To Tommy bursting in uninvited and insisting she play hide-and-go-seek with him. A tear leaks from her eye and runs down the side of her face with the blood. There’s no escaping her death. And once she’s found she’ll be on the news. Reporters and police will flock to the park and photograph her body. She cringes at the thought of men staring at her like this, with her skirt raised up over her waist from the position she collapsed