“Leukemia?”
“Yes. Mr. Armstrong, I know this is all quite a shock, and it sounds terrible, but I need you to give me a blood sample so I can test you against Mindy’s DNA, just as a confirmation point that you’re her father...”
“I am her father. You said the blood—”
“I have a mitochondrial match to her mother. I still need to run you. I mean, yes, we all know it, but there’s still a protocol to follow, on the off chance Vivian had an affair... I’m sorry, but we need the tests. If you are a match, then we turn it over to Mindy’s doctors to test as well. If you’ll work for the stem cell—”
“A blood sample.” Stop repeating her words, you idiot. Wrap your head around all of this, and now. He closes his eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath, the possibilities dancing so fast and hard he can’t even focus.
Violet.
“Dr.... Juliet. Anything you need, you can have. But can I just go to Colorado and see her? I mean, I understand someone else has been raising her, and there are a lot of questions, and she might not for sure be mine and her parents... Jesus, I’m probably the last person they want to see. But if there’s a chance, and I can help, you said there’s no time to waste, right?”
Ryder’s smile is almost blinding.
“Yes. We can fly back tonight if you can swing it. And my sister and brother-in-law will be thrilled. We all know what’s at stake. Personal issues aside, Mindy is our priority. All of us.”
“That’s good to hear. Of course, I can go tonight. Right now. Though we should probably let the Nashville cops know what’s going on. If they come knocking and I’m not here...”
“I can take care of all that. Why don’t you pack, and I’ll book us a flight back to Colorado. We’ll talk to the police from the road.”
Zack takes three steps and turns back. “How sick is she? Honestly?”
Juliet’s brows touch again briefly, and she looks young and scared again. “Very. The transplant is the only chance Mindy has now. We only found out about the cancer a few weeks ago. She wrecked in the trials and broke her leg. It was a fluke. A lucky fluke.”
“The trials?”
Juliet smiles, and her face shifts, at once warm and genuine, no longer scared. “Mindy is a world-class downhill skier. We’re talking World Cup, Olympic level. She has a spot on the US ski team if she can beat this.”
“You’re sure she’s ours? Neither Vivian nor I were terribly athletic. Healthy, but not competitive.”
“Pretty sure,” she says, with a small laugh. “Go pack.”
41
Zack moves as if underwater, in a dream state. Underwear folded—She’s alive. Toothbrush in his toiletries kit—She might die, hurry, hurry. Leather jacket, where the hell are my gloves—Oh, Vivian, we might have found her at last.
He makes a quick call to his friend Blake Malone, Kat’s vet, who promises to come by in a couple of hours and take Kat to his house for a few days, then sets out her food and bones on the kitchen counter. He kisses her goodbye, promises he’ll see her in a few days, then nods at Ryder.
“I’m ready.”
She takes in the rucksack on his shoulder. “A man after my own heart.” She shoulders her own small pack. “I travel light myself. Dog’s not coming?”
“She’s staying. A friend will come get her.”
“Too bad you don’t have one of those service dog jackets for her. She could come on the plane no questions asked.”
“She does have one.”
Ryder doesn’t miss a beat. “Then why leave her behind?”
Kat is looking at him as if she is wondering the same thing.
“I...” Why is he? Kat serves a number of purposes for him, companionship aside. He is about to step into an emotionally fraught situation with a bunch of strangers. She is good with weapons and with words. And as he’s been told over and over again, she makes him strong, not weak. Lord knows he doesn’t like parading into the unknown without backup.
“Mindy loves dogs,” Juliet says, scratching Kat’s ears.
Zack needs no more persuading. He packages up some bones and food, and ten minutes later, they are in the back of an Uber, heading to the airport, Kat’s head out the window, tongue lolling.
Zack calls his friend again and cancels the dog sitting, and then calls the airline and warns them he will be bringing an emotional support dog on the plane, and yes, he has all the paperwork.
And then he calls Parks.
“I was about to give you a shout, Mr. Armstrong. Any chance I can drop by and have another quick chat?”
“Actually, no. I’m heading to the airport. I’m going to put you on Speaker. I’m in the car with a Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent named Juliet Ryder.”
“What?” Parks says, but Juliet jumps right in.
“I’m Dr. Ryder, Sergeant. Not an agent. I run the forensics lab. Sorry to be stealing your guy, but we have a lead on his daughter, and we’re acting quickly because of a personal situation.”
The confusion is evident in Parks’s tone. “You’re CBI? What’s your role in this investigation?”
“Not official yet, sir, though my next call is to my boss, and I know he’ll be jumping on this immediately. Mindy Wright is my niece.”
“The skier Mindy Wright?”
“Yes, that’s her. You’re familiar with her name?”
“Um... Dr. Ryder, what time does your flight take off?”
Ryder looks at him, permission seeking, and Zack shrugs. He has nothing to hide from the detectives. “We’re on the 5:45 p.m. direct to Denver. Southwest.”
“I’ll meet you at the gate. Don’t fly off before we have a chance to talk, you hear?”
“Loud and clear.”
Zack clicks off the phone and buries a hand in Kat’s thick fur. “What the heck was that all about?”
“It sounded to me like your sergeant wasn’t surprised by our phone call.”
42
Parks pulls Starr from the meeting with a gruff wave.
In the hall, she pulls on her jacket.
“Thank you for saving me. The community alliance task force meetings are possibly the slowest, longest meetings on the planet.”
“They’re a ten-minute briefing.”
“They used to be. Now it’s an hour of lectures about how Homicide is slacking off and not doing our part.”
“What’s our role in the community alliance exactly?”
“That’s an excellent question. Last I heard, we are responsible for exactly squat outside of our monthly weekend in uniform, yet somehow, we have the most people on the ground in this.” She waves a hand. “Politics and posturing. You know how it is.”
“I’ll talk to the Lieutenant. See if she can’t put in a word. I don’t need my detectives having their time wasted.”
They were in the garage now, alone, shoes echoing off the concrete.
“What’s up?”
“New lead on the Armstrong case. We’re heading to the airport to talk to a Colorado Bureau of Investigation DNA tech, and Zack Armstrong.”
Starr waits until they are in the car to speak again.
“What kind of lead, exactly?”
“You ever heard of a skier named Mindy Wright?”
“Nope.”
“I spent some time last night researching her. She’s the new kid on the block. Seventeen years old, total wunderkind. Instinctual downhill skier, could be one of the greats. Unfortunately, she broke her leg at an event last month, which might hurt her chances for the Olympic team. She has a spot, but if she doesn’t recover...”
“That sucks.”
“Did you know Gorman was a skier?”
“I did, actually. He talked about it all the time. He was excited about the trip to Colorado. Such a shame.”
“He met Mindy Wright while he was out there. And then died suddenly, in a tragic accident.”
“I’m not following. What does a teenage skier have to do with the Armstrong...wait, you think this is the lost kid?”
“I think she might be. She looks a lot like Vivian Armstrong. Gorman was, by all accounts, researching her heavily. And this morning, Mindy Wright’s aunt showed up at Armstrong’s house.”
Starr puts on a pair of Ray-Bans. “This would be the fastest cold case close in Metro history. No chance we’ve gotten this lucky.”
“I like you, Starr. You’re such an optimist.”