Page 69 of After Midnight

“I only left to come here, and I didn’t stop anywhere along the way.”

She nodded, then allowed me to go over to where a couple of detectives in plain clothes were talking to Jeffrey and Ashton. The two men looked utterly defeated. Their eyes were red rimmed and their shoulders slumped.

“We will, of course, put out an APB, but you should know, the press will get wind of this. They will descend on this house and likely give you a lot of problems,” one of the detectives said.

“What about their demands? Is there any way to trace who this broker is?” I asked. I knew I probably should’ve kept my mouth shut, but I needed to know as many answers as they’d give me.

When the detectives turned to me, curious, Miss Rita said, “I told him about the letter. You’d do best to stop suspecting him, he’s clearly in love with the boy and only wants what’s best for him. We all know it’s Dominic’s stepmother who’s behind this.”

I put my arm around her and pulled her close to me. Miss Rita’s small act of acceptance, defending me to the cops, forced my bottled emotions to the surface again. Apparently, it hit both of us. I let the tears roll and Miss Rita dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

Ignoring my questions, the detective continued, “We’ll send out a professional negotiator to stay with you over the next part of this. Under no circumstances should you attempt to speak to anyone until then. I can’t stress enough how important the next few hours are. It could be the difference between us finding Dominic alive or dead.”

I swallowed hard at the detective’s complete insensitivity and lack of tact. Being treated like a suspect was one thing, but the callous indifference shown toward Dominque’s family?and I included myself in that category?stuck in my craw. Dominic may just be another case to the police, but he was a person, too, and one we all loved dearly.

Jeffrey wiped away a tear at the detective’s remark, and I quickly turned to see if the girls had heard it. Olivia’s face registered a mix of emotions. Pain, desperation, and alarm. Clearly, she’d heard. I felt like I needed to do… something.

“Maybe we should take the girls out for ice cream now,” I suggested to Miss Rita. “A little change of scenery might be good for all of us.”

The other detective shook his head. “No, you should all remain in the house until the negotiator gets here. We don’t have the full picture yet of who’s involved, and if you leave the premises, especially with the girls, you could be setting yourself up to be harmed. We are posting an officer here for the time being, but we can’t guarantee your safety beyond this house.”

I nodded in understanding. The realization that the girls might be in danger, too, knocked me off balance. Enough that my anger from moments ago was instantly replaced with fear. I looked at Miss Rita, hoping to see some sign of reassurance, but her face mirrored my own alarm. “I’ll just go sit with the girls, then.”

I put on a brave face and asked the girls to get their favorite board game but they refused, saying they didn’t feel like playing.“What else do you have that we can play together? How about your video games?”

Again, neither girl showed any interest. Distracting them might be more difficult than I thought.

“You know what I do when I’m stressed out?” They both shrugged but, undeterred, I kept going. “I make Rice Krispies treats. I saw Miss Rita putting away marshmallows and Rice Krispies after shopping yesterday. That’s most of the ingredients. Why don’t we go see if we’ve got the rest?”

I could tell the girls knew I was grasping at straws, but they followed me into the kitchen anyway. More cops were standing around the table, talking, and I told them, “I’m sorry, officers, but we need to commandeer the kitchen. These little ladies have treats to make.”

They glanced at me, probably ready to tell me off, just as Jeffrey and Ashton came into the kitchen. When I looked meaningfully toward the girls, both men quickly ushered the cops into the living room.

Relieved we’d at least have the cops out of sight for a bit, I measured out the butter, and had Alli dump it into a pan I’d put on the stove. I gave Olivia the job of pouring the Rice Krispies into a big measuring bowl Miss Rita had pulled out after she came in to “supervise,” as she’d called it.

“When I was little, this was the only thing I knew how to make. When I wanted something sweet, I’d go into my papa’s kitchen and start making them. He still rules the roost in the kitchen at our house, just like Miss Rita does here,” I said, mostly to fill the silence. It did earn me a small smile from Miss Rita, though. I figured some constant chatter would help to distract them, as well as myself, from all-consuming worry over Dominic. “Papa K would get so mad at me because I made such a mess, even though he’s the one who taught me how to make ’em.”

Miss Rita chuckled but the girls didn’t crack a smile. Instead, they appeared highly focused on the tasks I’d given them.

“Alli, I need you to count out the marshmallows. Think you can do that?” I asked when the butter began to melt.

While Alli counted in the background, I placed Olivia’s bowl of Rice Krispies next to the stove.

My goal had been to provide a distraction, but I also didn’t want the girls feeling like they needed to bottle up their emotions around me or any of the adults. I’d been trying to do that, with mixed success, since Dominic went missing and it’d only made me feel worse. I didn’t want that for Dominic's sisters. Knowing how much they liked hearing stories, I took a different tack.

“When I was about ten years old, my dad got hit by a car, and he was hurt really bad. When I went to the hospital to see him, he was scratched up with dried blood on his face. It was scary, and for a long time I had nightmares about it.” I paused, letting the words sink in as my mind flashed back to that similarly awful time in my life. “When Dad finally came home, even though I was so happy he wasn’t in the hospital anymore, I didn’t want to go near him. I was afraid he’d still look hurt, or if I hugged him too hard, it might cause him pain. But my love for him was stronger than my fear, so I didn’t let being afraid stop me. And you know what? My dad still had some bruises and his arm was in a sling, but his whole face lit up with happiness when he saw me,” I said, stirring the marshmallows as they melted, then slowly pouring in the Rice Krispies. “And he hugged me tighter with one arm than he’d probably ever done before using two.”

I caught Olivia watching me, in the way she seemed to when she was skeptical. Alli, meanwhile, had sat at the table and was staring at it, but I could tell she was listening.

“My point is, even when something looks really bad and it’s scary thinking about what it might mean, we don’t really know how bad it is until we see that person a little later on. Maybe theyjust need to be cleaned and bandaged up, and given some time to heal. Looking at my dad now, you’d never know he’d been in a car accident.”

I poured the hot melted mixture onto wax paper and instructed the girls on how to press the mixture out. When we were done, I cut the treats into heart shapes and we all sat around the table to try one.

“The thing is, your brother is so strong and so smart. I know the picture of him that you saw looked scary, and it is scary, but we have to stay hopeful that he will come home to us. Just like my dad did. That’s what Dominic would want us to do, so that’s what we need to do. For him.”

“You don’t think he’ll die?” Alli asked, her chin quivering.

I took a bite of my Rice Krispies treat, mainly to buy some time to think of how best to respond. Her question didn’t come as a shock, but I needed to tread lightly, as much to maintain the fragile hold on my own peace of mind as theirs. “I think the police are very, very smart, and they have a bunch of people out there looking for him right now. In a few minutes, they’re going to bring one of the smartest people on the police force here to help us find him.”

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