Page 72 of After Midnight

That trickle of oxygen jolted me back from the edge of the abyss, and the despair from moments ago forgotten as hope took root in my mind. “I’m not dead yet,” I said, finding strength in the words by saying them out loud. “Don’t let her win.”

Chapter thirty-two

Dillon

After a restless night of mostly no sleep, I began my day with Dad in tow. Skipping breakfast, we went straight to Dominic’s house, armed with goodies from the bakery down the street from our home.

The house buzzed with activity, despite it being early. The girls were in the living room doing homework, since they hadn’t been allowed to go to school. Miss Rita had laundry going and was prepping some food in the kitchen. Apparently, we’d just missed Jeffrey and Ashton. When I asked about them, Miss Rita said they’d gone to the police station to see if they could do anything to help the case along.

Dad introduced himself to the girls and immediately began helping them with their homework.

With them distracted, I asked Miss Rita for a detailed update. “They’re going to contact the number this morning. The police had no luck tracing it and didn’t want to waste any more time. We decided it’d be better if it happened at the station instead of here in front of the girls.”

My chest constricted and I hoped maybe this was the break we were waiting for. “God, I hope they get to him soon.”

Around noon, Ashton and Jeffrey came home looking dejected. They greeted my dad and me, then Jeffrey sent the girls to their room for a few minutes while the rest of us talked.

After the girls were upstairs, he sat us down in the living room. “They have no idea where he is, and the longer he’s gone, the less likely he’ll be alive when they find him,” he said in a whisper.

We all just sat there for a long moment, I think a little stunned at Jeffrey’s directness. I guessed he had simply relayed what the police had said, no sugarcoating involved.

“What about the phone call with the negotiator?” I asked.

“No one answered,” he said. “The phone must’ve been a burner because it’s not traceable. We can only hope someone will call us when they’re ready.”

“I just wish we had some idea where he was,” Jeffrey said. “He might not even be in Denver, for all we know.”

Olivia must’ve been lurking around the corner because she burst into the room saying, “I know where he is. He’s at the Can-Can Factory.”

We all looked at her in surprise, and Jeffrey had her come sit next to him on the couch. “Sweetie, what’s the Can-Can Factory? And why do you think he’s there?”

“You said Margarette took him,” she said to Miss Rita. “The Can-Can Factory is where she meets her friends. It’s scary and dark there, I don’t like it, but when Margarette comes out, she’s always laughing. She said it’s full of candy.” She glanced toward each of us then with a confused expression, and added, “But it doesn’t look like a candy factory.”

“We weren’t supposed to tell anyone about the Can-Can Factory, Margarette made us promise,” Alli said, standing at the bottom of the stairs. “She said it’s only for special people.”

The room went silent as we all digested the new information, and I desperately hoped for this to be the clue we’d been waiting for. “We should call the detectives. Even if it’s a dead-end, they need to rule it out,” I said.

Jeffrey made the call and we peppered the girls with questions, but they became confused and overwhelmed, so we quickly pulled back. Better to wait until the detectives arrived, since both would have to relay it all again.

The same detectives we’d met before arrived within twenty minutes, and immediately sat down and listened to the girls relay the new information. “That sounds like the old abandoned Viacan Factory. Could that be the name you heard?”

Both girls shook their heads adamantly. “No, Margarette said it was the Can-Can Factory,” Alli said.

“Do you think you could show us where this place is located?” the detective asked.

Alli shook her head, but Olivia nodded. “Yes. It’s by the place where I used to take karate lessons,” she said, sounding confident.

The officer nodded. “Was that karate studio at Washington Park?” he asked, and Miss Rita drew in a sharp breath.

“Yes, she did,” Miss Rita answered for her. “Now that I think about it, there’s an old factory that stands back off the road. It’s by the railroad tracks. We used to have to drive by it on the way to their lessons.”

With that, the detectives drove Miss Rita and Olivia down to the Washington Park area. They weren’t gone long when Miss Rita called to say Olivia had identified the old rubber factory as the one she and Alli referred to as the Can-Can Factory.

Things moved in slow motion then while we waited for whatever news came next, Papa K arrived with dinner he’d made for everyone. He also brought several family-friendly movies from my youth, in case the girls wanted to watch one.

The evening became more anxious as the hours stretched on with no update. As we waited, I paced around the living room, no longer able to control my own anxiety or all the different scenarios running rampant through my head. Was Dominic alive? Injured? And if he was hurt, how badly? Mostly, my thoughts kept circling back to the question of whether or not the police would actually find him in that old factory. Could Olivia’s memory actually lead to Dominic’s rescue? Please God, let that be the case.

Chapter thirty-three

---