Page 62 of After Midnight

I made eye contact with the stranger who’d pulled me out of the car just as something solid came crashing down on my head, knocking me out.

Chapter twenty-eight

Dillon

Iarrived home singing. Sure, I couldn’t carry a tune for shit but what I obviously lacked in talent, I made up for in enthusiasm. You’d have thought me Adam Lambert with how loudly I belted it out. My evening with Dominic had been amazing in every way, right up until it ended. But soon I’d have him with me in Chicago, where we could have date nights every week rather than only during my brief visits home. I wondered if I’d be able to convince him to come work at the club there too. I really did love looking toward the bar and seeing his handsome face laughing at my jokes.

I was getting ready for bed, and still happily humming to myself, when the doorbell rang.

That’s strange, I thought. No one had ever rung our doorbell after midnight.

I continued getting undressed and was about to turn in when I heard Dad call for me to come downstairs.

“Okay. Is anything wrong?” I hollered back.

When he didn’t answer, alarm bells rang in my head. I quickly threw my clothes back on and rushed downstairs to see two uniformed cops standing in the living room. Now I was worried.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Were you with Mr. Dominic Lawson this evening?” the female officer asked.

“Yes, I was with him for several hours tonight. Why? Is he okay?” I could feel my heartbeat kicking up.

“We don’t know. He seems to have gone missing. When was the last time you saw him?” she asked.

“About an hour ago. I dropped him off at his car at the club we both work at, Denver’s Comedy Club. I saw him drive off, though. Didn’t he make it home?”

The woman ignored my question while jotting down some notes, and the male officer walked toward the front door. I heard his walkie-talkie beep before he told someone to check the security camera footage at the club.

“What’s going on?” I felt panic settling into my chest as bile rose in my throat. “I’m not sure what’s happening.”

As my anxiety grew, Dad put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “What can you tell them about the last time you saw Dominic?” he asked.

“We were happy. I took him out to eat at Jimmy’s Diner, then…” I looked at my dads and gulped, but I knew I had to tell the cops everything, even if it was embarrassing. “I’d rented a hotel room, and we were having a romantic evening when he got a text from his sister, Olivia. Something about his youngest sister, Alli, possibly an emergency. When he tried to call his godfather, he couldn’t get through, so he decided to head home to check on them. Oh God, is something wrong with Alli? Is she hurt?” I asked, feeling sick. “Oh wait, he said he’d text me when he got home. Can I go get my phone and check? Maybe I missed hearing it ping.”

The female officer nodded, and I dashed up the stairs and unplugged the phone from its charger. I was looking for new messages as I came back down. “No, he didn’t text me,” I said slowly. Why hadn’t he texted? Why hadn’t I checked sooner?

She looked at me for several seconds, probably trying to assess if I was lying or not. “We may have more questions for you, Mr. Pearson. Please stay close, for now.”

I nodded as the officers left, feeling wound up with nowhere to go. I didn’t know what to do.

I looked at my dads and saw worry on their faces. “He was fine an hour ago, maybe he just…”

Dad pulled me into the breakfast nook and sat with me while Papa K fixed me some chamomile tea, his go-to for curing everything from colds to heartbreak.

My dads stayed up with me for a while, drinking tea and just being supportive as the minutes ticked by with no word from anyone. Eventually, they went back to bed while I sat in the living room with my phone in hand, trying to get ahold of Dominic. Finally, I put the phone down and stared into the fireplace. Worry and guilt clawed at me. I shouldn’t have let him go back alone. I could’ve at least followed him to his house and made sure he got in safely. If I’d gone with him, he wouldn’t be missing.

About an hour later, the cops rang the doorbell again, and this time, they were less standoffish. Dad and Papa K came back downstairs, and we all gathered in the entryway.

“We found Mr. Lawson’s phone,” the female officer said. “Do you know if anyone was following him tonight after you dropped him off? Any suspicious people or cars in the club’s parking lot that you noticed?”

I shook my head. “No, I didn’t pay much attention after he got in his car. When he drove off, I came directly home.”

The woman looked sympathetic, which did nothing to ease my mind. “Someone smashed his car window after he got home. The garage door was open, and his car was parked inside but the driver’s door was left wide open. There was no sign that he went inside the house. If he was taken, we assume they took him from his garage. There was also blood on the ground, beside the car.”

I gasped. “Blood? Dominic’s blood? He’s been kidnapped?” My breathing had become ragged and Papa K put his hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me. Everyone’s concern only ratcheted up my panic, though.

“We’re not sure. Our officers are investigating and remain on the scene. Mr. Galbraith, the godfather you mentioned earlier, said he heard the garage door open and a vehicle pull inside. He’d assumed it was Mr. Lawson but when no one came in, he went to check and found the door open and Mr. Lawson’s car window smashed. That’s when he called us.”

---