Page 66 of Tear Me Apart

“I’ll be here.”

“Great. See you in a couple of hours, then.”

What exquisite torture, Zack thinks, and sets about cleaning up the house.

36

At one on the dot, the doorbell chimes. Zack practically falls over Kat trying to get to the door. The dog has decided today is the day to start barking at strangers and parks herself dead center in the foyer.

“What is wrong with you? Move.”

She looks right at him, gives a final bark as if sayingscrew you, buddy, I’ll bark if I want, then falls silent and sits on her haunches, elegant nose in the air.

He opens the door to a tall, dark-haired man with a thick mustache and a much smaller woman, reddish hair pulled back in a ponytail. They are both in plainclothes, though their weapons are visible on their hips. Ever the military man, even eighteen years removed, Zack identifies them by the butt, Glock 27s, and glances at their ankles, where he can see the slight bulge of ankle holsters. Four weapons, fifty-two rounds loaded between them. Bet the ranch they both have pepper spray on their belts, too. Knives, maybe. Extra magazines. On the surface, they look so benign, but he knows both are lethal.

Satisfied with his assessment, he grabs Kat’s collar and gestures for them to come in.

“Mr. Armstrong, I’m Sergeant Parks, and this is Detective Brianna Starr.”

“Nice to meet you. Stay still for a moment. Kat doesn’t like weapons. She spent some time as a puppy training to uncover them. Don’t worry if she growls, she sees it as doing her job.”

Zack releases the dog’s collar and Kat begins her inventory, professionally sniffing the strangers up and down, uttering short barks at waist and ankle.

“She’s beautiful,” the detective says, careful not to move. The cop’s voice is low and smoky, not what he expects from someone so small. “What is she?”

“A Belgian Malinois. It’s a herding breed.”

“She was a working dog?”

“No, she failed out. Too happy.”

“But a dog named Cat? That seems almost cruel.”

He laughs. “Kat with a K. Short for Katerina.”

“Ah.”

Kat finishes her sweep, sits back, satisfied, tongue lolling. Zack pats her on the head, says, “Good job, sweet girl,” then leads them to the living room.

“Can I get you anything?”

“We’re fine, thanks,” Parks replies.

They all sit, and silence stretches between them. Finally, Zack opens his hands expectantly. “You wanted to get updated?”

“Right.” Parks smooths two fingers over his mustache, a nervous gesture that puts Zack on alert. “I took a pass through the files last night, and then I asked Detective Starr to pull everything together and get up to speed. I don’t want you to get your hopes up, sir, but we wanted to give things another once-over, and I’d like to assign Detective Starr to investigate. She’s had great successes with cold cases, and since there have been so many technological updates recently, she and I agree it would be wise to take fresh DNA samples and get them into the system. It’s been a while, and I have to tell you when I looked last night, I didn’t see a profile for you in CODIS. Your wife, yes, but not you.”

Zack’s entire body goes tense. “You want my DNA again? I was cleared.”

“Nothing to worry about, sir,” Starr says. “If I’m going to reopen a case, it’s standard protocol for me to update all the files, and in this case, since you’re not in the system, I’d like to get fresh DNA input. You never know what might show up.”

“What, like my missing daughter is some kind of teenage criminal mastermind, and you want to see if you can find her through the system?”

She shakes her head, fighting back a smile. “Not at all, Mr. Armstrong. There’s nothing villainous here. Your DNA isn’t attached to the file anymore. Things get lost over time. It happens. It’s a long shot we’ll find a match, but I’d like to get you back into play, just in case. Okay?”

Zack crosses his arms. “Continue.”

“After I update your DNA, I’m going to update CODIS—the Combined DNA Index—and put the information into ViCAP—that’s our Violent Criminal Apprehension Program. These programs will look for DNA matches and any cases that are similar. I will go into deep specifics—weapon used, placement of the body, the missing infant, anything and everything I can add to the case to see if there’s a chance the suspect in your wife’s murder has committed another crime in the intervening years. I might even put the age progression of your daughter into the FBI’s NGI facial recognition database, just for kicks.”