Page 53 of Tear Me Apart

“I don’t blame her. It’s hard to open yourself up to public scrutiny like that, plus, we could waste a lot of time with false leads. I can work with the name. Give Mindy my love, would you? Tell her I’ll be up as soon as I can, and I’m going to find a match for her if it’s the last thing I do.”

“She will be thrilled, I know. Thank you, Juliet.”

“Of course. Good luck. And, Jasper?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t worry. Mindy adores you both beyond reason, and she’s a smart girl. Things might be rough for a few days, but we’ll make sure she understands how very wanted she is, was, and always will be.”

There is a catch in Jasper’s voice. “Thank you, Juliet. That means a lot to me. To us.”

“I’ll call as soon as I have something. See ya.”

“Oh, hey, wait a sec. Listen, this may be nothing, but one last shot in the dark. Lauren was searching for a man named Zack Armstrong last night. I saw it on her computer, and the way she reacted when I asked her about it—she got jumpy, wouldn’t talk to me. I thought it might be an old boyfriend. Does that name ring a bell?”

“Zack Armstrong? No, it doesn’t. But remember, she’s older than me by a decade. She had all kinds of guys around, and I don’t remember any of their names. I’ll take a look, though chances are you’re right, it’s probably someone she went to school with. People react oddly to stress, Jasper. She adores you, and your life together. I don’t think she’d ever willingly jeopardize that.”

“No, I don’t, either. But in light of all the other...issues...”

He doesn’t have to finish. She knows exactly what he is saying.In light of the lies she’s been telling all of us...

“I asked who he was and she refused to tell me.”

“Sounds like it might be an old boyfriend, then. I’ll look into him.”

“Thanks, Juliet. And don’t—”

“Don’t worry, Jasper. We never talked. Got it.”

He laughs quietly, says thanks again, then hangs up.

Zack Armstrong. Who the hell is he?

Juliet has a momentary longing for her mother. Kathleen would know exactly who Zack Armstrong was because Lauren would have told her everything about him, in intimate detail. She realizes Lauren even lied to their mom about Mindy. Wow.

Well, when in doubt...she doesn’t have her mom’s institutional knowledge anymore, but she does have the internet.

She hangs up and calls Cameron.

“Hello, beautiful.”

“Any news?”

“Nothing yet.”

“Damn. Listen, Jasper has asked me to look into the doctor who helped Lauren adopt Mindy. Would you help? If you want to keep playing Watson to my Sherlock, that is.”

“You never mentioned you were into role-playing. I like it. Absolutely. Your place or mine? And do I get to wear the hat and carry the magnifying glass?”

She laughed. “You’re a sicko. Who do you know who used to work at Swedish Medical in the early 2000s?”

“Spoilsport. I thought we were going to be—”

“Cameron. My dear. I’m dead serious. Who do we know?”

“I’ll call you back.”

Now it is time to talk to her boss, too. She needs to take a few days, and there are a lot of cases piling up. He answers on the first ring.