The Missing
Kiersten Modglin
Copyright © 2021 by Kiersten Modglin
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
www.kierstenmodglinauthor.com
Cover Design: Tadpole Designs
Editing: Three Owls Editing
Proofreading: My Brother’s Editor
Formatting: Tadpole Designs
First Print Edition: 2021
First Electronic Edition: 2021
Contents
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
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Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Kiersten Modglin
To my PawPaw Chet—
for teaching me to survive in the woods long before I was old enough to have ever survived in the woods.
“Maybe there is a beast…
Maybe it’s only us.”
William Golding
Chapter One
The sun was a liar. It sat high in the sky, shimmering with warmth and happiness. Paradise, it seemed to scream. Welcome to paradise. It gave no warning of what was to come.
I’d spent most of the morning lying on a lounge chair that was equally close to the beach and the cabana, where a man dressed all in white had been refilling my drinks as quickly as I could empty them.
I’d been fighting with my husband that morning, about work, as always. Because who brings their wife on a tropical vacation and plans to spend most of each day in the room at the resort, so they don’t get behind?
Psychopaths, that’s who.
So, I sat and I sipped drinks and read on my Kindle, and I tried to pretend that I wasn’t bored out of my mind and all alone on a vacation that was supposed to be perfect.
I’d built it up in my head as perfect, anyway. But as soon as we’d arrived, I realized that wouldn’t be the case. As usual, my husband was too busy, too popular to fit me into his schedule.
The thing about sitting alone at the beach is that people either think you’re very sad—and they give you that pitiful expression somewhere between a sorrow-filled frown and an encouraging smile whenever they walk past you—or they assume you’re very lonely and try to sit next to you and strike up a conversation. I was in the mood for neither.
That’s what I assumed was happening as the man jogged up the beach toward me. I tried to look away, to hope that he was headed in another direction, but he kept his body aimed straight for me, his smile growing as he drew nearer. He was tall and fit, with tanned skin that said he either lived in the area or worked outdoors a lot. He wore a pair of khaki pants and a lime green T-shirt, with dark sunglasses protecting his eyes from the sun. I looked up, shielding my own eyes and preparing to tell him that I was just waiting for my husband, thankyouverymuch, when his question interrupted me.
“Would you like a free boat ride?”
I furrowed my brow at him, so confused by the question that had come from nowhere. “Excuse me?”
“Boat,” he said, his accent—I assumed Mexican? Cuban, maybe?— was thick, his finger outstretched, pointing toward the boat in the water. Boat was an understatement. The thing was a small-sized yacht, blasting music while a few people danced on its upper deck. “Would you like a ride?”
I sat up straighter, laying the Kindle in my lap. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand… You want me to ride in your boat?”
He laughed, putting a hand to his chest. “Not my boat. I work on it. We have an extra spot…if you want…”
I looked around, waiting for him to laugh and say I was getting pranked. “Why me?” Because I looked pathetic, sitting alone on the beach, most likely.
Sure enough, he gestured around me. “You are the only one out here by yourself, and we have an extra spot. Just one. My captain says to offer it to someone.”
I eyed him. “Where are you going? The boat, I mean.”
“Just around the coast and back.” He pointed to the drink next to my chair. “Free booze, music, ahh, it’ll be a lot of fun.” He shimmied his shoulders, snapping his fingers as he danced to the music from the boat.
“Is it like a private event, or…”
“No, Señorita. We didn’t get fully booked today, so sometimes the captain lets us invite a few extra people. We’re just looking for one more.” He glanced back toward the boat. “It’s okay if you don’t want to go… I can find someone else. I just thought you looked bored.”
I stared at the Kindle in my hand and lifted the beverage to my lips, finishing the last of it. The people aboard the boat appeared normal.
No, correction, they looked like they were having fun. Something I desperately needed to do.
“Can I invite my husband?” I pointed behind me. Not that he’d go…
The man glanced toward the boat again, and I saw a group of crewmen dressed like him coming out onto the decks. “No, Señorita. I’m sorry. We have to leave now. It’s okay… Maybe next time?” He waited.
I chewed my bottom lip, thinking for a moment. The waiter from the cabana approached me, a drink in his hand. What would that make it? My sixth for the day? I shook my head, handing him the empty glass. “No, thank you. I’m done for now. Charge the drinks to my room, and this is for you.” I pulled the twenty-dollar bill from my
