Chapter 3 - The VanGlass rained across the sidewalk.
To Mia, it probably felt like an hour.
She stood beside Olivia near the front window, gripping the detective’s sleeve with one hand and the recovered loaf of bread with the other.
Frank Danner sat handcuffed against a chair.
He had stopped shouting.
That worried Olivia more than his anger had.
A guilty man sometimes argued.
A frightened man watched.
Frank was watching everything.
The officers.
The exits.
The clocks.
Especially the clock.
11:42 a.m.
Olivia followed his eyes.
“What happens at noon?”
Frank smiled.
It was small.
Almost polite.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Olivia leaned closer.
“You keep checking the time.”
“I own a business.”
“You’re in handcuffs.”
“That doesn’t stop time.”
Officer Marcus Hale approached.
“We found the basement access.”
“Locked?”
“Triple deadbolt. Steel reinforcement.”
Olivia looked toward Frank.
“A bakery needs that?”
Frank shrugged.
“Storage.”
Marcus lowered his voice.
“Fire department is bringing the ram.”
Mia tugged Olivia’s sleeve.
“Sophie’s down there.”
Olivia crouched beside her.
“We’re going to get her.”
“You have to hurry.”
“We are.”
Mia shook her head violently.
“No. You don’t understand.”
Olivia’s stomach tightened.
“What happens if we don’t?”
Mia looked at Frank.
Frank stared back.
And smiled.
Mia began crying.
“He moves them.”
Olivia stood so quickly the chair behind her scraped.
“Moves who?”
Mia covered her mouth.
Frank laughed softly.
“You should be careful what you encourage children to imagine, Detective.”
Olivia crossed the room.
She bent toward him.
“If there is another child beneath this building, you should start praying she’s alive.”
His smile disappeared.
The fire department arrived seconds later.
Two firefighters carried a hydraulic spreader toward the gray door.
Olivia positioned officers at the rear alley.
“Marcus, secure every vehicle registered to Danner. Nobody leaves this block.”
“Already on it.”
“What about adjacent buildings?”
“Uniforms checking them.”
The metal screamed as the hydraulic tool forced the reinforced frame apart.
Mia buried her face in Olivia’s coat.
One lock snapped.
Then another.
The door opened three inches.
A smell rushed out.
Bleach.
Mold.
Something chemical.
And beneath it—
Human waste.
Everyone froze.
Olivia had been a detective for eleven years.
She had entered murder scenes.
Drug houses.
Burned apartments.
Nothing prepared her for the sound that came from below.
A child coughing.
Weakly.
Mia broke from Olivia.
“Sophie!”
Olivia caught her before she reached the stairs.
“Wait!”
The basement was dark.
Marcus drew his weapon.
Flashlights cut through the blackness.
Concrete steps descended beneath the bakery.
At the bottom stood another locked door.
Beside it sat a small security monitor.
Four camera feeds.
One showed the bakery.
One showed the alley.
One showed the basement stairs.
The fourth showed a room.
A mattress.
A bucket.
And a girl curled beneath a blanket.
Mia screamed.
“That’s her!”
Olivia’s throat tightened.
Sophie Carter was alive.
Barely.
The second door came down within seconds.
Olivia entered first.
“Sophie?”
The child moved.
Mia fought past the officers.
“Sophie!”
Sophie’s eyes opened.
For a moment she looked terrified.
Then she saw Mia.
Her face crumpled.
“Mia?”
The sisters collided.
Sophie was so weak Mia nearly knocked her over.
Olivia turned away for one second because the sight hurt more than she expected.
Eight months.
Eight months this child had been missing.
Eight months while police searched bus stations, parks, shelters, foster homes, and abandoned buildings.
She had been beneath a bakery.
A bakery where families bought birthday cakes.
Where children pressed their noses against glass displays.
Where Frank Danner handed out free cookies on Saturdays.
Paramedics rushed downstairs.
Olivia scanned the room.
A steel cot.
Plastic restraints.
Medicine bottles with labels removed.
A small refrigerator.
A locked cabinet.
Then something on the wall caught her eye.
Photographs.
Dozens.
Children.
Some appeared asleep.
Some frightened.
Some photographed from across streets.
Olivia stepped closer.
Mia.
Sophie.
Ruby Ellis.
And at least nine others.
Marcus whispered, “Jesus.”
Olivia pulled on gloves.
“Photograph everything before it moves.”
Marcus pointed toward a workbench.
There were fake school IDs.
Wigs.
Children’s clothing.
Three prepaid phones.
And a ledger.
Olivia opened it.
Initials.
Dates.
Amounts.
Cities.
Some names had a red line through them.
Others had check marks.
This was not one predator hiding children.
This was organized.
Olivia felt cold spread through her body.
“Call trafficking.”
Marcus nodded.
“State police too?”
“Everyone.”
Upstairs, Frank started shouting.
“Detective!”
Olivia ignored him.
“DETECTIVE REED!”
She climbed the stairs.
Frank was standing now, two officers beside him.
“You found what you wanted,” he said.
Olivia stopped six feet away.
“You kidnapped children.”
“You think I did this alone?”
Olivia’s expression did not change.
“You’re going to tell me who helped you.”
Frank chuckled.
“No.”
“You will.”
His eyes moved toward the wall clock.
11:56.
Olivia understood.
Something was coming.
She grabbed his shirt.
“What happens at noon?”
Frank looked pleased.
“You really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“The delivery.”
Olivia’s pulse spiked.
“What delivery?”
Frank glanced toward the front windows.
A black refrigerated van had just turned onto the block.
No bakery logo.
No plates on the front.
The driver saw the police cars.
The van stopped.
Then reversed violently.
“MOVE!” Olivia yelled.
Marcus sprinted toward the door.
Police units peeled away from the curb.
The van shot backward through traffic, struck a parked sedan, then raced toward the intersection.
Olivia ran outside.
“Stop that van!”
Sirens exploded.
Mia appeared at the bakery doorway behind her.
Olivia turned.
“Stay inside!”
But Mia was not watching the fleeing van.
She was staring at the rear doors.
And screaming.
“There’s a girl in there!”
The van swerved.
For one split second the rear doors bounced open.
Olivia saw darkness.
Then a hand.
Small.
Pale.
Bound at the wrist.
The doors slammed shut.
Olivia pulled out her radio.
“Possible child inside suspect van! Do not lose that vehicle!”
She turned back toward Frank.
His face held no fear now.
Only satisfaction.
“You opened the basement,” he said quietly.
“And now they know Sophie talked.”
Olivia stared at him.
“Who knows?”
Frank leaned toward her.
“The people who own me.”
May you like
Then every light inside the bakery went out.
A second later, an explosion tore through the rear wall.
Related Stories
