“I’M NOT so sure this is going to work out,” Kaori said as Bobby pulled into Randy’s long driveway. Snow completely coated the gravel, and Bobby felt grateful that Randy had had all the potholes filled in prior to the arrival of winter.

“We’ll find Carly and Matt,” Bobby said. “We have to.”

“I don’t mean that. I’m talking about asking your friend here for advice. He didn’t seem to feel too warmly toward me last night.”

“No, that was Frankie. Randy hardly said anything.”

“I remember which one of them is which. If Randy had trusted that we were telling everyone the truth, he would have come to my defense.”

Well, that was true enough.

Bobby parked in front of the ramshackle garage, sending up a prayer of thanks that Frankie’s car did not occupy the driveway. Later he’d have to find a way to make the man forgive him, but Bobby had more pressing matters to worry about now.

Snowflakes blew into Bobby’s eyes as he and Kaori strode up to the concrete porch. He raised a hand to rap on the door, but it opened before he had the chance to knock.

“Get in here, Roberto,” Randy said, holding the door open for them. He gazed past them at the darkening sky for a moment, then followed them inside.

A fire crackled in the hearth. Lupe sat on a couch with Ashley Mason, a stack of children’s books piled beside them. The sight of the child minus her parents sent a pang of sorrow through Bobby’s heart. He couldn’t forget that Phil was missing, too, in addition to the others.

“What’s going on now?” Randy asked in a low voice, reading Bobby’s face.

“Carly and Matt—Kaori’s predecessor—went to Safeway to pick up groceries and never came back. We tried calling them, and they didn’t answer.”

“How long have they been gone?”

“More than an hour. We went there to see what the holdup was and found Carly’s car, but no Carly or Matt.”

“We went inside and paged them,” Kaori added. “They weren’t there.”

Randy’s expression turned grim. “That doesn’t sound too good. No premonitions?”

Bobby shook his head. “Nope. I can’t make any sense of it. I mean, I guess they’ve been kidnapped, but I don’t understand why I wouldn’t have been forewarned about it.”

Randy rubbed his chin. “Hmm. Kidnapped but not in any danger? Sounds like they’re bait.”

“Not that again.”

They turned. Lupe had diverted her attention away from Ashley and was wrinkling her nose. “Thane must not be very…original? Because when he made Graham go all loco, Graham used me as bait, and now Thane must be using poor Carly as bait, and it just doesn’t seem creative. Like he’s run out of ideas.”

“It might not be creative,” Kaori said, “but it seems rather effective. Matt’s like my father. He’s my only living predecessor.” She clamped her mouth shut and swallowed. “Randy, we wondered if you could help us find them.”

Something like amazement glistened in Randy’s eyes. “You really are a Servant,” he said.

“Just as much as you once were,” Kaori said with a sorrowful smile. “What gave it away?”

“Nobody who’s lying would refer to a friend as a ‘predecessor’ in regular speech.”

“I could be a very good liar.”

Randy smirked. “Somehow I doubt you are.”

Kaori gave a soft, humorless laugh. “Do you have any idea of where Thane might have taken them?”

“Me? No. Bobby’s the one with the psychic circuitry in his brain.”

“I tried to find Phil that way,” Bobby said, remembering the pain it had caused him. “It…didn’t work.”

“Wonderful.”

“Has anyone been looking for him? I mean, I would have tried harder, but I had to help Bradley.”

“Frankie and Janet said they drove around to all of Phil’s favorite haunts earlier and found no sign of him. We told the police Phil might have been taken by the person who stabbed Allison.”

“And are they finally looking into that?”

“As best as they can, I’m sure.” Randy frowned. “I just hope Phil hasn’t been in an accident. If he went off the road somewhere…” He cleared his throat. “You mentioned that Thane has been healed.”

“I thought it was his apparition at first, but he wasn’t behaving like an apparition. And maybe he’s the one who nabbed Phil.”

“That would be convenient,” Kaori said. “Freeing our friends in one fell swoop.”

Randy fell silent, and Bobby got the sense he wasn’t telling him something. A log popped in the fireplace. Bobby jumped and hoped nobody noticed.

“If he isn’t living at that nursing home anymore,” Lupe said, “then he has a new…how do you say it…base. He could have bought a house or something.”

“Or illegally moved into a vacant one,” Randy added.

“It’s probably safe to say he isn’t staying in an apartment,” Bobby said. “He couldn’t alter that many people’s perceptions if Carly and Matt started making noise.”

“He’ll probably have an accomplice, too,” Kaori said. “One man couldn’t force two people to go with him, especially when one of them is Matt.” She paused. “Pardon my French, but Matt would’ve kicked his ass.”

“I do have one small confession to make,” Randy said. Bobby and Kaori looked at him, and Randy suddenly appeared uncomfortable. “The other night, Thane and a woman I don’t know showed up here at the house and attacked me. Well, the woman didn’t, but I wasn’t sure if she was even there or not. Lupe and I wondered if Thane had made us imagine both her and the attack, since I didn’t think he was any condition to attack people.”

“And you’re just telling us this now?” Bobby said.

Randy shrugged. “What could you have done about it? I didn’t even know where you were. But anyway.” Randy slid his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll see if Thane has bought a house under his own name. Seems a little farfetched, but it’s worth a shot.” He tapped at the screen for a minute or two, then said, “Huh. Our friend seems to be living in an apartment here in Autumn Ridge.”

“You really don’t think he’d be that foolish,” Kaori said.

“It’s right here on the screen.” Randy turned it for all to see. “But that doesn’t mean it’s where he’s taken our friends, if he’s actually the one who’s taken them. Thane has a history of using other people to carry out his work.”

“That was because he couldn’t do it on his own,” Bobby said. “This time he’s all better.”

“That’s right,” said a voice.

Ashley let out a whimper. Thane’s black-clad apparition had materialized beside her on the couch looking as content as a cat.

“Congratulations,” Randy said, his expression filling with controlled rage. “You must feel like a medical miracle.”

Thane shrugged. “Something like that.”

“The medical community would have a field day if they found out about you,” Randy went on. “I imagine they’d want to dissect and probe you until they found out what put you back together.”

Thane gave a dramatic eye roll. “If you want to scare me, you’ll have to try a little bit harder than that.”

“Where are you?” Bobby asked. “And where did you take Carly and Matt?”

“We’re all at my parents’ house,” Thane said without hesitation. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you right away. You’re welcome to drop on by whenever you’re ready, and when you do, your friends can go home free and unharmed. This goes for you, too, Miss Saito. I know what you are.”

Kaori’s jaw stiffened. “I’m sure you do.”

Thane smiled. “Take your time getting here. I’m sure the roads will be terrible.”

He disappeared. Little Ashley gaped at the space the apparition had occupied. “Aunt Lupe, was he a ghost?” she asked in her small voice.

Lupe glowered at the cushion as if it had done her wrong. “No. But hopefully he will be a ghost before too much longer.”

“Don’t say that,” Randy said sharply.

Lupe rose, the color apparent in her cheeks. “Why not? The only good Thane is a dead one, and I stand beside what I said.”

No one could argue about that. Not even Bobby.

LUPE LED Ashley from the room so Randy and the others could discuss their plan of action without further traumatizing her. The child was still quite young—Randy hoped that the passage of time would erase Ashley’s memories of these last few days, what with seeing Thane’s apparition twice and having her mother stabbed and her father vanish.

“Thane didn’t say anything about you two needing to go there alone,” Randy said to Bobby and Kaori, both of whom appeared itching to take action.

“What’s the point of you coming with us?” Bobby asked. “He’ll know you’re coming.”

“Because I’d kick myself if I let you go off alone and something happened to you,” Randy said.

“I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“That’s my own decision.”

A scowl appeared on Bobby’s face, and he suddenly looked a deal older than twenty-one. “My premonitions don’t seem to be working right now. Thane could butcher you if you come with us. Shouldn’t you be thinking about what that would do to Lupe? You know, your wife?”

Bobby’s words sent an unexpected pang through his core. Randy thought of all the arguments he and Lupe had had these last couple of months, bickering about things both foolish and important, and shook his head. “She’d understand I helped you for the greater good.”

“Couldn’t Thane be listening to us right this second?” Kaori asked, making wary glances around the room.

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Bobby said. “There’s no point in hiding anything from him.”

“We could try wearing tinfoil hats,” Randy said.

Bobby and Kaori gave him withering looks.

“He said he’s at his parents’ house,” Kaori said. “Why don’t we figure out where that is?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Randy went back to the search on his phone. A few Bagdasarians lived scattered throughout the state, and since Thane likely would have mentioned if Bobby and Kaori needed to travel, he opted for the nearest one to Autumn Ridge. “There’s a John and Shirley Bagdasarian about an hour from here. Give me a sec, I’ll pull up the satellite view.”

He whistled when an aerial view of their sprawling residence appeared on the screen. “Take a look at this.”

He held his phone out, and Bobby and Kaori leaned in for a better look. “That looks like the place I saw when I tried meditating,” Bobby said. “You think we should try to sneak in and rescue Carly and Matt before anyone notices?”

“What’s the point?” Randy asked. “Thane can read our minds. We might as well walk right up to the front door and knock.”

Bobby’s expression sobered. “Then that’s what we’ll do. What do you think, Kaori?”

“It seems to me that inaction is the worst choice we could make right now.” Kaori lifted her gaze. “Let’s go.”