Page 110 of Tear Me Apart

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.”

“That’s your right,” Woody says. “I understand the impulse to hold your family close right now. But I promise you, Mr. Wright, we are not interested in creating some sort of media spectacle. That hurts our chances to solve this case just as much as it disrupts your lives. We want to get to the bottom of this, find out who kidnapped Mindy, and who killed Vivian Armstrong. Please don’t throw roadblocks in our way by dragging it into court.”

“No roadblocks, and no court, only necessary protections that will allow us to make the proper decisions regarding our daughter. My daughter.” Jasper straightens in his seat. “Though my wife does not have paperwork regarding her end of the adoption with Dr. Castillo, I do have the paperwork from my legal adoption of the child. I have rights, just as many, or more, than Mr. Armstrong. Custodial rights.”

“I see.” Woody sits back in his chair, coffee cup abandoned. His tone changes. Gone is the loose, easy manner. Now he is all cop, and Lauren can’t help but wonder if Jasper has overplayed their hand.

“I hear you loud and clear, buddy. But that’s not what we’re here to decide right now. We’re releasing the statement regardless of how comfy you are with it, and we would like to control the message from the get-go. We’re trying to help you out here, get you prepared. No need to get prickly with us. We’re your friends.”

Jasper laughs, short and humorless. “Right. Friends. Got it.”

Parks spreads his hands out on the table. “Seriously, let’s not get adversarial. We’re all in this together, and we’re trying to help you be ready for the media storm that’s going to roar through here the second this is announced.”

“Yes, we are,” Juliet seconds. “And we want to make sure that this is painless for Mindy. That’s the goal here. She is the only focus for all of us. Right, Lauren?”

“Of course.” The house phone begins to ring. “Excuse me a moment. I’ll be right back.”

Lauren is relieved to step away from the table to gather her thoughts. Her husband is white-faced, the CBI agent’s eyes are hooded, the Nashville cops look like they are smelling something exceptionally tasty, and her little sister is smiling at her encouragingly, a fox to the chicken. She turns her back on them as she answers.

“Hello? Wright residence.”

“Mrs. Wright?”

“Yes?”

“Ma’am, this is Jeremy Finley, from WSMV in Nashville, Tennessee. Is it true you’re the adoptive mother of the missing child Violet Armstrong?”

“I—”

“And is it also true that Violet is now named Mindy Wright, and she lives with you in Vail, Colorado, and is a member of the United States World Cup ski team?”

Lauren slams down the phone with a gasp, making everyone turn. Her face says everything.

“Uh-oh,” Juliet says. “Was that what I think it was?”

She nods, and Juliet can feel the distress coming off her in waves. “Some media person from Nashville. They know.”

Lauren whirls to the table, the unholy cabal of parent and cops staring at her. “Who let it out? Someone leaked. It had to be someone in Nashville.”

“It wasn’t us,” Parks says. “We’ve kept this super hush-hush.”

“But we did pull all the files, and put Armstrong’s DNA in the system, and talked to University Hospital,” Starr says thoughtfully. “Entirely possible someone at the lab got interested and mentioned it to someone. Or saw we set up the flight here, or Andrea Austin said something—there’s any number of ways this leaked. Two plus two...”

The phone rings again. “Oh, that’s just great,” Jasper says, standing. “So much for your help. We’ll attend to things ourselves from here on out.”

Woody stands as well. “Mr. Wright, I wouldn’t recommend—”