The Girl Who Was Taken

Livia conducts autopsies and prepares to present her findings before a panel of senior pathologists. As Livia works on one body, a crime scene investigator delivers a new one. He tells her that because she is a new pathologist, she is being given the messiest assignments first—the bodies of people who died of drug overdoses or suicides.

Livia calmly acknowledges the pecking order of forensic residency and continues her examination. However, Livia notices signs of trauma that are incongruent with suicide. Upon further examination, she realizes that this person was the victim of a homicide.

Although Livia is supposed to be presenting her findings to the panel of senior pathologists, she suspects that her new investigation will be more important, so she declines to attend her scheduled review. Instead, she seeks out Dr. Maggie Larson, a neuropathology expert who works with the chief medical examiner. Livia has discovered 12 random holes in the corpse’s skull, and she wants Dr. Larson’s professional opinion.

Together, they attempt to identify what caused the injuries. After ruling out infection, gunshot wounds, and congenital defects, Larson declares the cause unknown. They then connect with another expert, Dr. Colt, to see if he can offer any additional insight. Dr. Colt theorizes that the holes could have been caused by a drill but admits that he cannot be sure. He is also unable to identify the cause of death as a homicide. Livia argues that the victim’s death is suspicious and ought to be ruled a homicide, but Colt brushes her concerns aside and tells her to leave the investigation to the police.

Livia is unable to let go of her need to investigate and continues to search for clues about the victim’s cause of death. She connects with police and other experts in the fields of anthropology and forensic dentistry to find out more about the victim. The police investigation finds that the victim’s body was wrapped in a green tarp and tied to cinder blocks. Livia identifies rope fibers on the victim’s clothing and tests them, confirming that the victim was restrained by the rope. This supports her theory that he was murdered.

A forensic dentist works with Livia to match the victim’s dental records. They learn that his name was Casey Delevan and that he had been reported missing by his landlord in 2016. He had no friends and no family apart from his estranged mother. Livia is saddened by the fact that he was alone in life and resolves to solve his murder.

She is still thinking about Casey when she finishes her shift at the hospital and heads to the gym for a workout. Throughout her residency, Livia has found that boxing helps her work through her frustrations. Tonight, no matter how hard she punches the bag, she doesn’t feel at peace. Her sense of unease follows her home when, against her better judgment, she reads Megan McDaniel’s book. Livia dislikes reading the book because it presents Megan as a heroine and Nicole as an afterthought. In Livia’s mind, the book implies that the world would have suffered a great loss if Megan had not survived her abduction, but losing Nicole has made no impact.

Livia’s moment of reading and reflection is interrupted by a phone call from Jessica Tanner, one of Nicole’s closest friends. Jessica heard about Casey Delevan’s murder through a local news story, and she is calling to let Livia know that Nicole and Casey were dating at the time Nicole disappeared.

Chapter 5 is set in the past—July 2016, five weeks before Nicole’s abduction. It offers a third-person account of Nicole’s life in the weeks before she disappeared.

Each summer, Nicole and her best friends Jessica and Rachel spend the majority of their time together at Rachel’s house on Emerson Bay. The girls sit with their feet in the water, soaking up the summer sun and gossiping about high school drama. Jessica and Rachel observe that Nicole has been strangely absent from their usual activities and that she hasn’t been herself lately. After some probing and teasing, Nicole admits that this is because she is dating an older guy. However, she refuses to share any details about him—not even his name or occupation—and she declines Jessica and Rachel’s invitation to bring her new boyfriend to a party over the weekend. Annoyed by their teasing, Nicole snaps that she is no longer interested in “lame” high school parties and that her boyfriend wouldn’t be either. She claims that she wouldn’t attend this weekend’s party anyway because “the bitches will be there” (54).

Nicole is referring to Megan McDaniel and her group of friends. Although Nicole strongly dislikes Megan—contending that Megan is “bitchy,” fake, and stuck-up—Jessica and Rachel disagree and defend Megan, arguing that she is genuine, kind, and smart. Nicole responds by making a lewd comment about Megan’s sexuality.

She then takes her bikini top off, flaunting her bare breasts in front of Rachel’s brother and his friends nearby. Jessica and Rachel disapprove, telling Nicole that her behavior is disgusting, and they exchange a silent glance of concern. They feel that Nicole’s recent behavior has been uncharacteristically risky and promiscuous, and they are concerned about her choices. Nicole shrugs off their disapproval.

Chapter 6 is set four weeks before Nicole’s disappearance and is narrated from Nicole’s third-person perspective as she navigates her turbulent relationship with her family and her clandestine relationship with Casey Delevan. Nicole’s aunt Paxie is in town for a visit, and Nicole finds it difficult to be around her. She wants to talk to Paxie about her daughter, Julie, but feels unable to do so because her family refuses to engage with uncomfortable topics. Just as Paxie never mentions Julie, she also frowns in disapproval at Nicole’s fashion choices—dyed black hair, black lipstick, and black nail polish—but does not comment on it. Nicole’s mother also declines to comment on any of Nicole’s choices, whether she disagrees with them or not, and Nicole feels suffocated by her family’s unspoken code of silence.

She confides this to Casey while the two message back and forth in an online chat room. Nicole finds it odd that she and Casey never seem to message in the same chat room; instead, Casey moves to a different forum each night as if he’s afraid of something. Nicole does not comment on this, however; she is simply glad to talk to him. She tells Casey that her cousin Julie went missing when she was nine years old. Julie has never been found, and the family—especially Paxie—never talks about her. Nicole feels like the silence is disloyal to Julie; in her mind, it is tantamount to acting as though she never existed. Nicole feels like she is the only person who misses Julie or still thinks about her.

Casey empathizes and tells her that his brother, Joshua, also went missing as a child. Casey admits that he often tries to put himself in Joshua’s shoes and imagine how he felt when he was abducted. Together, Casey and Nicole reflect on the darkest aspects of Joshua’s and Julie’s disappearances—the fear they must have felt and how much they likely cried. They discuss this until Casey abruptly changes the subject, telling Nicole that he has a secret and hinting that he wants to take her to a private nightclub.

Chapter 7 also takes place in July 2016 and returns to a third-person omniscient narrator. Megan, Nicole, and their friends attend a weekend beach party. Nicole did not bring Casey, and she is intent on causing trouble. She flirts brazenly with Matt Wellington, a boy Megan likes, and makes lewd and snide remarks to Megan and her friends. During a game in the pool, she pulls her friend Jessica’s bikini top off in front of everyone, and Jessica is mortified. Megan watches with disapproval and quietly tells a friend that she thinks Nicole is a “slut.”

Nicole later dares the partygoers to go skinny dipping in the bay and pressures many of the boys to take their swimming trunks off. Megan also participates, responding to Nicole’s accusations that she is a “prude.” After everyone has jumped into the water naked, the other teens swim back to shore and gather their clothes. Nicole takes her time, standing naked on the dock and enjoying the admiring stares from the boys and the venomous glares from the girls.

Chapter 8 returns to the present and is narrated from Livia’s third-person perspective. Following their phone call, Livia meets with Jessica Tanner, who offers more insight into Nicole’s behavior during the summer she went missing. She tells Livia that Nicole was increasingly confrontational and promiscuous and often seemed to be looking for trouble.

On multiple occasions, Nicole deliberately antagonized Megan, including one notable occasion when Nicole slept with Matt. Although Matt and Megan were not necessarily in a committed relationship, Jessica asserts that Megan’s feelings for Matt were common knowledge. Jessica reluctantly admits that despite being a close friend of Nicole’s, she was also aware that Nicole had a dark and problematic side to her. Jessica believes that Nicole slept with Matt purely because she disliked Megan, and she sees this as evidence of Nicole’s mean-spirited and risky behavior in the weeks leading up to her disappearance.