63
Lauren uses a single finger to push aside the curtain in her bathroom window and watches the Nashville cops take in the exterior of the house with narrowed eyes, assessing and judging. She recognizes them from Juliet’s description. Brianna Starr: small, red hair, young—she seems barely old enough to be out of college, much less be a homicide detective; Bob Parks: older, with a dark mustache and salty hair, thick through the shoulders, like he works out. The way they’re looking at the house makes her nervous. The Parks fellow is much too observant, and his sidekick is clearly cut from the same cloth.
A blond ski bum in a suit stands with them. Lauren knows this must be CBI’s Woody Stockton. He is jawing, pointing out the various peaks, and now Juliet is coming up the drive, too. Fabulous. Lauren is being descended upon, and her heart beats harder in her chest.
With a final stroke of the brush through her hair, she sets it down and puts on some lipstick, a little mascara and a touch of eyeshadow. She hasn’t put herself together much over the past month, and she needs as much armor as possible.
With a final glance in the mirror—yes, she looks fine, tired, but who wouldn’t be, considering—she shuts off the light and heads to the living room.
Jasper has already welcomed the entourage and is busy passing out cups and directing people toward the dining room table. Parks and Starr have stopped by the fireplace, first taking it in—the huge hearth, the large gray stones leading twenty feet up to the vaulted cedar ceiling, the foot-thick driftwood mantel—then moving slightly toward the windows and staring out at the view, the slopes and the mountain, both of their mouths open a little. Lauren feels the spark of pride she always does when her home is being showcased to strangers. It is lovely, they are lovely, their daughter is a world-famous skier, and their lives are more than enviable. She’s built this world, and she fits perfectly within it.
Nothing to hide, nothing to hide, nothing to hide. See how beautiful we are? See how our lives matter?
With this knowledge secure in her heart, she pastes on a smile and sails down the stairs to greet her guests. After the introductions are made, Parks is the first to speak. He has a brisk southern accent.
“Ma’am, thank you for taking the time to talk with us. I know this is a rough day, what with your daughter’s treatment, and you’ll be wanting to get to the hospital as soon as possible. I promise we won’t take much of your time. Your home is beautiful, by the way.”
Jasper comes to stand beside her, his shoulder touching hers, and she lets herself be bolstered by his presence. She smiles as graciously as she can. “You’re kind to acknowledge it. We’ve had a rough month, that’s for sure. I’m just sick learning the truth about Mindy’s parentage. I had no idea...well, you know that already. What can we do for you? We’re happy to answer any questions you might have. Please, let’s all sit down.”
Once they are arrayed around the table, Woody leads the discussion. “First, we wanted to see if you would like to add anything to the statement we’ll be releasing to the media.” Woody hands her a piece of paper. She reads it, heart in her throat. Their names, the details, everything is here. At the look on her face, Jasper takes it from her hand and reads it, eyes moving rapidly across the page.
“Right now, we’re only stating that a lead is being pursued, but we’d prefer to cut to the chase and announce that Mindy is the lost child. It will come out, there’s no keeping her out of the story, but we have time, should you want.”
“What kind of time?” Jasper asks.
“A day, maybe,” Woody says. “We’ll do our best, but there is about to be a ton of law enforcement personnel from several agencies diving into this case, and the minute they do, we’re looking at leak city. I can control my people, but as I said, we’re going to be talking to inmates, and we’ve already subpoenaed the hospital’s records, and with the presence of the Nashville police...it’s going to be hard to keep it quiet. I’d suggest we get it out of the way now, do a press conference this afternoon, and then retreat behind the hospital walls for a day or so.”
Juliet catches her sister’s eye. “Mindy’s having the stem cell transplant in two days. It stands to reason you and Jasper will want to be there, anyway. We can keep you isolated, let the initial fervor die down.”
With her eyes and the tilt of her head, Lauren sends a private message to Jasper, who nods. “It’s time,” he says quietly, and she swallows hard.
“Yes. We can release her name. But we will not participate in a press conference. We are a family dealing with a serious medical situation, that’s all I want out there. We won’t be meeting with reporters until the transplant is over, and even then, Mindy will not be interviewed. It will be Jasper and myself only, though I suppose Zack Armstrong will want to be part of it, too.”
“That’s the last thing he wants,” Juliet says. “He’s made it very clear he wants the media attention to be investigation-related only. He’s even stipulated there will be no taking money from magazines for inside scoops.”
“We’ll have to do it eventually,” Jasper says. “Something legitimate, like People Magazine or Sports Illustrated, and they can do some coverage of Mindy’s skiing as well, help bolster her chances for staying in her Olympic spot. But not some paparazzi crap.”
“I’ll let you and Zack battle that out. He was quite adamant.”
“She’s our daughter,” Jasper says. “Zack doesn’t get to make decisions that affect this family, not when all of our reputations are on the line.”
Lauren tries not to cheer at this proclamation, only squeezes his hand and nods. She sees a flash of something in her sister’s eyes, wonders for a moment why Juliet is facing her and Jasper, instead of being faced down by the bevy of cops. Juliet is on the wrong side of the table.
She’s with them, a little voice says. No matter what, no matter that she’s your sister and Mindy’s aunt, she will always pick them first. The law, and science, her precious props.
The realization scares her, and she blurts out, “I think we need a lawyer.”
This catches the Nashville sergeant’s attention. “For what?”
“Of course we do,” Jasper says smoothly, as if this has already been discussed and decided between them. “We will be retaining the services of my firm to protect ourselves, and Mindy’s interests.”
64
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Woody says. “Hold up. Let’s not bring the lawyers into it.”
“I am a lawyer, sir,” Jasper says. “And it’s the only course of action that makes sense. We are facing weeks of attention, and I want to be certain there is no question that Mindy’s interests are paramount here. For our protection, and hers, we will retain counsel, and will not discuss the case with anyone going forth—media and police included—without him present.”
Lauren is surprised but not shocked. Something in the police’s attitudes must have set off Jasper’s alarm bells too because he hasn’t mentioned this to her, but he backed her up immediately. Her heart swells when he continues.
“We will also be petitioning for full custody of our daughter. I’ve already started drawing up the papers.”