“She took off. Dad, too. Aunt J is talking to the cops that are coming to interview us. It’s just me and Zack. He pulled the Mindy-sitting straw.”
“Well, we’re going to have to proceed without them. Let’s shake a leg here. I’ll find someone to take the dog.”
“I’ll find Juliet,” Zack says. “She’s nearby.”
Mindy looks over at him, curious. There is something possessive about the way he says her aunt’s name. Juliet is his ally; she gets that. But Juliet is also cute, and single. And Zack is handsome, and single. What a perfect match they’d make. But then, would Juliet stop being her aunt and technically become her stepmom?
Mindy lets the joy of that idea fill her. She is going to live. She just knows it.
She hugs Zack again before he leaves. She thinks she can get used to having extra parental units around, considering.
59
Juliet comes back upstairs for the dog, and Zack and Mindy are taken to their respective sterile areas. Things are moving so quickly, Zack almost doesn’t know what to think. The doctors are firing questions at him about drug interactions, allergies, taking a full history while getting him ready. He passes with flying colors—he’s thankfully been very healthy his whole life and taken no medications outside of some Zyrtec for seasonal allergies, which he is currently not on.
They start the IV while he looks away, thinking of his daughter’s beautiful face. If she can suck it up and handle all the needles, so can he. They are doubling the normal dosages of the cell-building drug, getting it into him fast, and warn him it might feel like he has the flu, aches and pains and headaches. He already feels crappy from the altitude. He can’t imagine this will make him any worse. They are going to give him the extra dosage morning and evening for two days, and then they’ll take the stem cells from his blood over a marathon eight-hour session. He tries not to think about what it will be like to have an iron spike in his arm for eight hours, reminding himself again that Mindy is a trooper, and if she can handle it, so can he.
After the first round of the drug, they encourage him to lie down for a few minutes in case it makes him too dizzy to walk. Juliet is allowed in to see him.
“For a tough guy, you really are a wimp. Half the time I see you, you’re horizontal on the ground.”
“You want to get shot up with this blood-building crap?”
“All right, true confession time. I’m not a big fan of needles, either.”
“The great and powerful Juliet, DNA expert, CBI tough girl, has a weakness?”
She cocks her head to match the angle of his and winds Kat’s lead around her wrist. “Tell anyone, and I’ll make sure you never see the dog again.”
“Threats, is it? You just try to keep Kat away. She’s Super Dog. She’ll find me no matter where I am.”
Juliet rights herself, grinning. “The Nashville folks are on their way. My boss is giving them a lift up the mountain. He’ll help them with the case from here on out.”
“You won’t be working on it?”
“I’m a DNA wonk, remember? I’m not an investigator. Besides, I’m personally involved, so I have to recuse myself. Company rules. I’m part of the investigation now. It’s my sister who bought a hot baby.”
“How much do you know about Lauren back then? You said you just found out about Mindy yourself, along with Jasper. Why would she keep this from you in the first place? You’re her sister.”
Juliet looks away, out to the parking lot, and up the mountain. “We’ve never been close. All I know for sure is in the summer of 2000, she miscarried but let everyone believe she was still pregnant. I’m rather upset with her for not telling me. I mean, I’m her sister. If anyone should have been filled in on all of the stuff happening, it’s me.”
“Lauren’s husband died, the doctor who helped her get Mindy died, my wife died, and the detective who was investigating all these years also died. That’s a heck of a trail of bodies.”
She looks suddenly horrified. “What are you saying?”
“Whoa, whoa. I’m not saying anything. I was just ruminating about how many leads we can’t follow. Why? What did you think I was saying?”
She glances away. “I thought you were blaming Lauren somehow. For Vivian.”
He reaches out a hand, and Juliet takes it. “Listen to me. Your sister gave my daughter a life. She and Jasper have been incredible parents to her. I wasn’t implying anything, outside of the fact that the cops have their work cut out for them.”
“Okay. I’m sorry for overreacting. I guess I’m as tired as everyone else.”
“You have every right to be. I think I’m ready to sit up. Why don’t we go grab some coffee or something? I could use some energy.”
“Are you allowed to drink caffeine? Does it affect your treatment?”
“They didn’t tell me I couldn’t. But I’ll get decaf, just in case. Fair enough?”
She helps him sit up. She smells good, something he can’t identify, roses maybe. It isn’t intense, just a gentle scent. But he likes it, and then he berates himself silently. He is not allowed to find other women attractive. He hasn’t allowed that over the years. He has fulfilled his basic needs, but that is it. He isn’t ever attracted. Because attracted means involved, and he is an avowed bachelor. The last woman he loved was killed because of him, and he isn’t about to put another woman in that kind of danger.
Juliet knows all the shortcuts to the cafeteria. Zack and Kat follow slowly; he is already feeling a little odd from the medicine. Inside, she pays for their coffees and leads him to a seat by the window. A light snow is beginning to fall, and he looks at it with the wonder of a southerner. Kat watches intently too; she loves snow.
Juliet hasn’t even noticed it until she sees him staring outside.
“What are you looking at?”
“The snow. It’s pretty.”
“Pretty? It’s cold and wet and is going to mean a ton of accidents at the tunnel. Hopefully Parks and Woody won’t be too delayed.”
“I get it. You lack a sense of wonder about something you see practically daily five months out of the year. For us southerners, this is magic.”
She sips her coffee and looks out the window. She leans closer to the glass, suddenly on alert. “Is that Lauren out there? What in the world is she doing?”
It is Lauren. He recognizes the fluffy blond ponytail. “I don’t know. She was supposed to be going home to take a nap. It looks like she’s messing—”
“With my truck. What the hell?”
“Does she have keys?”
“No, but I keep a spare set under the wheel well, and she knows that. I better go see what she’s looking for, she must have lost something from her purse. We went to lunch the other day. She could have just texted, for heaven’s sake. I’ll be right back.”
He watches her go, then retrains his sight on Lauren, who is definitely searching for something. A few minutes later, Juliet appears. Lauren jumps away from the car, looking incredibly guilty. The two exchange words, which quickly becomes a heated argument. Lauren turns away first, and he watches Juliet get into the car, head disappearing as she looks for something. She holds it up, and Lauren scurries away.
What in the world just happened?
He finishes his coffee, gets up and grabs a Milky Way. He needs the sugar rush; he is starting to feel a little woozy.
He sits down, and Juliet comes in, clearly in a huff. She throws herself in the seat.
“What was all that about?”
“She lost a glove.”
“Big fight for a lost glove.”
“The lack of sleep has gone to her head. She’s worried that whoever killed Vivian will come back to finish the job on Mindy. Like we’re in Breaking Bad, or you’re mobbed up. I think she’s delusional. I told her so, and she blew up at me. She’s really in a mood today. I don’t remember the last time I saw her yell at Jasper. Me, well, we yell at each other all the time, always have. What in the world is going on with her?”
He steeples his hands. “You know what I used to do, right?”