“Don’t keep me in suspense any longer, Bai. Do you have a name or only a number match?”
“Juliet, you did not hear this from me, okay?”
“Bai. Spit it out.”
“The profile belongs to Lauren. Your sister was at the Armstrong crime scene.”
72
The shock of the words slams into her. It takes her a minute to catch her breath. When she can speak again, she says, “What are you talking about? There’s no way Lauren was there. She was in Colorado. The baby...the doctor... Bai, there must be a mistake.”
“I ran it four times. There’s no mistake. The evidence team from Nashville has your sister’s DNA, but they don’t have the report yet. I had to let you know first.”
“Have you told anyone else?”
“No. But there’s no way I can keep this quiet.”
“I know, I know.” She holds her head in both hands. Think, Juliet. Think.
Zack’s voice comes to her. There’s something off about your sister.
“Juliet? Are you there?”
“I am. Bai, can you give me an hour before you tell anyone?”
“Oh God, Juliet. I—”
“I know what I’m asking. I don’t blame you if you say no. But one hour, Bai. Just enough for me to talk to Lauren and find out what the hell is going on. Please.”
He is silent for a moment, then she hears a click. “I’ve set a timer. One hour, Juliet, and then I have to tell Woody. And you sure as hell better act surprised when he calls to tell you, because I refuse to lose my job over this.”
“You’re the best, Bai. Thank you so much.”
She slams down the phone and prints out the email. If she is going to confront Lauren, she is going to need proof.
But what kind of proof is this? Other than somehow her sister’s DNA is in Vivian Armstrong’s house. That’s all it is, right? It doesn’t mean...
She cleans her tracks from the computer and shuts it down. Sits for a moment, at the perfect marble-topped desk, staring at the paper with the samples side-by-side, the match clear as day.
Oh, Lauren. You really have been lying to all of us.
She steps out onto the deck. The day is gorgeous, unseasonably warm, sunny with blue skies and a few white clouds. Another big storm is coming tomorrow, a blizzard, estimated to drop anywhere from a foot to two feet of snow. Good timing, it will chase off the reporters for a little while, make them hunker down in their hotel rooms. No one wants to stand outside in a blizzard hoping for a glimpse of a sick kid.
The sense of the world spinning, rushing toward her, is palpable. The stream next to the house gurgles in warning, as if it too knows it’s going to be overwhelmed on the morrow. Her tears start to fall; she brushes them away angrily.
She needs to talk to Zack.
She dials his number with shaking hands. He answers right away.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Zack. I just got off the phone with my lab. I...they found Lauren’s DNA at your house. It’s a part of the evidence Starr brought from Nashville.”
“What?”
“I know, it’s kind of hard to believe.” A branch starts to wave, scratching up against the deck. “I’m stunned. I don’t know what this means, or how, or why, but I have to find out what’s happening.”
“You said you were from Murfreesboro. How old was Lauren when you moved?”
“Sixteen. Seventeen. I don’t know.”
“Did she ever get treatment for depression?”
“What? No. Not that I know of. I was a kid, Zack. Why?”
“Vivian hid her world from me. Lauren’s been lying to you. I just wondered if they knew each other.”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to go back to the hospital. I’ll talk to her, figure this out.”
Juliet hears the whine of an engine, then the crunch of gravel.
“Never mind. She’s here. I see the car. She’s pulling in the drive.”
There’s a new urgency in his voice, and he’s louder, more commanding. “I’m on my way. Do not confront her alone.”
“Zack, it will be fine. This is my sister. There’s an explanation, I know there is. She can’t be responsible for this.”
“Juliet. Wait for me to get there to talk to her.”
“Gotta go. I’ll talk to you shortly.”
“Juliet, no. Wait for me. You’re not—” But she hangs up as Lauren pulls to a stop and gets out of the car. Looks up at the deck. She seems dazed, exhausted, and despite herself, Juliet feels the urge to comfort her.
“You okay?” Juliet calls down. “I thought you were sticking close to the hospital.”
“I wasn’t feeling well. I came to get some medicine.”
“I’m sorry. But I’m glad you’re here. We need to talk. Come on up. I’ll make you some peppermint tea.”
Juliet goes back inside, closes the door to the deck firmly. She turns on the fireplace with a click of the remote, fills the electric kettle, pulls out the teapot, finds the honey she loves. A cup won’t hurt her, either, her stomach is churning. Lauren in Nashville? Why? How? And what does it mean?
Worse, what did she do?
73
They sit face-to-face in the dining room, their elegant china cups in saucers on the thick wooden table. A tea party. Juliet has the page she’s printed out facedown, one hand on top of it as if she can contain its truth if it stays hidden. Lauren sips her tea, quiet and still. She doesn’t look ill. She looks...watchful. As if she knows what’s to come.
Juliet sets her cup on the saucer with an audible conk. Her hands are shaking. She has never seen her sister’s face so carefully blank, and it’s freaking her out. But she must get to the bottom of this. Lauren knows more than she is saying.
Juliet takes a deep, steadying breath. She should let Woody and Parks do this. She knows this. But it’s her sister. Her sister.
“I know you’re stressed about Mindy, but we have a problem. And we don’t have much time. You need to tell me the truth, Lauren. Your honesty is the only way I’m going to be able to help you.”
“What are you talking about?”
Juliet flips the paper over. “Your DNA was found at the Vivian Armstrong crime scene.”
“Impossible.”
Juliet smiles grimly. “That’s what I said. They ran it four times. I’ve looked at the results myself. There’s no mistake, Lauren. You were there. The police are going to come for you, and they aren’t going to be as open and willing to hear your story as I am.”
Lauren sits back in her chair, regards her sister. She crosses her arms over her chest. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s a fact. Lauren. For God’s sake, how did your DNA get there? If you tell me the truth I might be able to help you, figure out a plausible story.”
Lauren laughs, oddly hollow, plastic. It is a stranger’s laugh, cruel and mocking. Fear skitters down Juliet’s spine. When Lauren speaks, it is in a stranger’s voice. No affect. No warmth. Unrecognizable.
“You’re offering to help me lie to the police? Why, Juliet, I didn’t know you had it in you. You’re so straitlaced. So perfect.” She spits out the last word, and Juliet hears the years of resentment. She has never understood why Lauren despises her so much.
“I am far from perfect, but, Lauren, you’re my sister. Mindy is my niece. I’m trying to protect this family, what’s left of it, anyway. Tell me the truth. Did you kill Vivian Armstrong?”
“You can’t possibly think I’m going to fall to my knees and give you a grand confession.” Lauren sighs and pushes back from the table. “I need more tea for this. You?” She doesn’t wait for Juliet to answer, snags her cup and steps into the kitchen. Juliet lets her, knows she’s gathering herself. She saw the lies beginning to form in Lauren’s eyes moments before she stood up. She’s thinking.
She’s planning what she’s going to say. How she’s going to spin this vicious truth.
The realization of this is worse than knowing her sister’s DNA is at the scene of a violent crime. Juliet knows nothing that comes from Lauren’s mouth from here on out will be the truth, and the realization creates a fissure inside of her. Her sister is a murderer. A kidnapper. And what else?
Lauren comes back like a hostess serving a party—teapot on the tray, the two cups aligned, the local honey she knows Juliet loves, shortbread. Bribes, a tray of bribes.
“I didn’t add any honey since you always say I short you. Here’s the whole jar. Are you hungry? I’m famished.” She takes her cookies and tea and strides to the fireplace.
Juliet watches her for a minute, then shrugs and puts a dollop of honey in her tea. Lauren never does sweeten it properly. Stirs, tastes. It is overly sweet, but she tops off the cup from the teapot and sips some more. Better, but not perfect.
“Lauren, I want to know what the hell happened in Nashville.”
“Yes,” Lauren says, almost to herself. “Knowing you, I have to tell you something, or you’re going to go screw up everything I’ve spent my life building.”
She comes back to the table, sits heavily across from Juliet. “It’s time for you to know the truth. Yes, Vivian and I knew each other. We met years ago, in Nashville. We were friends in our teens, kept up with each other after we moved to Colorado. She helped me through the divorce, the miscarriage. She was pregnant too, at the time. We supported each other, and once she was the only one carrying a child, I supported her. And then she got sick. Sick enough that she knew she was going to die. She asked me to keep Mindy safe for her. She was afraid of what Zack would do to the girl.”
“Afraid of Zack? He’s the dad.”
“He’s a stone-cold killer. She told me time and again how afraid she was of him. How she hoped he’d die in combat and never come back because she never knew when he’d forget who she was in the middle of the night and slit her throat. She was terrified of him coming home permanently. She was scared to death what he would do to the baby, what—”
“We’re talking about the same Zack Armstrong, right? My God, Lauren, he’s one of the kindest, gentlest men I’ve ever met.”
“You know nothing about him. And you would be well advised to cut off whatever little romance you’re having with him because he is not safe. Not at all.”
“Romance? I’ve known him less than a week.”
“I see how he looks at you. And how you look at him. You think no one notices, but I’ve seen it all.”
Juliet hears the bitterness in Lauren’s voice, but presses onward.
“There is nothing going on. Now tell me what in the world you’re saying about Vivian Armstrong being afraid of him.”
“Drink your tea, it’s getting cold.”
Juliet takes a sip, even though the mint with the honey isn’t a good combination.
“Knowing she was going to die at his hand, she asked me to see the baby safe. She couldn’t risk him hurting the baby. He had another six months on his tour, but they usually give compassionate leave when a baby is due. She knew he was going to get leave when she was so close to her due date. So she researched ways to induce labor. She had to keep the baby safe.”
“Induce labor?”
“Yes. When he was shot and was sent home from Afghanistan early, she had to move up the timetable. It was luck his mother got sick. She encouraged him to go to her, and the minute he left, Vivian took castor oil so she’d go into labor before he came home. She called me, said she was pulling the trigger. I got in the car and drove like a bat out of hell—you know that’s normally a two-day trip, from Denver to Nashville? I made it in a little less than eighteen hours, straight through. She was lucky, she was able to get her labor going, had the baby without incident. She’d just gotten rid of the midwife when I arrived. I hugged my friend and took her child to be my own. It was what she wanted. For Mindy to be safe.”
“Right. And then somehow she got herself stabbed to death at the same time?”
Lauren looks over at the mountains. “You’ll have to talk to Zack about that. Supposedly he was still out of town, but we all know how crafty he is. He could very easily have made the drive, killed her, then driven back to his mother’s funeral. He got away with it, and he’s been searching for me ever since.”
“I am having a hard time believing this.”
“He’s violent, Juliet. He’s a killer. He smothered her, wouldn’t let her out of his sight when he was home. She was being abused. And now he’s within a hands-breadth of my child, and God knows what he’s going to do. That’s why Jasper and I are keeping watch. That’s why we’re so afraid for her.”
Juliet is so confused. The certainty in Lauren’s voice is enough to convince anyone, but Juliet can’t believe this of Zack. He is too good. He is too kind. She takes another sip of the tea, sets it down with a grimace.
“You asked me to find him. You wanted me to find Zack. You practically handed Jasper the name to give to me.”
“I never thought you’d be able to locate him. The military scrapped his DNA from the system. Vivian told me they do that with all their intelligence operatives. God knows how many crimes he can be linked to. And he was supposed to be living off-grid, not easily findable. His career choices made him a target. And now we’re all going to be a target. His target.”
Juliet is hugging herself now, arms wrapped tightly around her waist. She can’t believe the words she’s hearing, can’t understand them. Zack, a killer. Vivian, in danger from her own husband.
Has Juliet just signed their death warrants by finding the man who can save Mindy’s life? But she doesn’t have time to think it through; Lauren is on a roll now.
“And of course, super sleuth Juliet, our modern-day Nancy Drew, with your beakers and potions, you found him and brought that viper into our lives. And now what are we supposed to do? The media is watching, and he thinks he’s safe. That the grieving dad will supersede the truth. Well, it won’t. If something happens to me, there’s a letter ready to go to the press, explaining everything he’s done.”
“But the doctor, Castillo...why lie?”
“Don’t you see? I was trying to keep us safe. I couldn’t have any ties to Vivian. The Castillo story was the perfect cover. She was feeding babies into the system. It was the right timing, the right scenario. I saw the story in the paper, about that Graciela girl. I knew it was the perfect cover in case anyone—especially Zack—ever found out. There was no way anyone could prove I hadn’t received one of those babies.”
Juliet shakes her head, trying to absorb all of this. “Zack isn’t a bad man—”
“Says you? He’s charmed you to pieces. Him and his dog. Also a trained killer, mark my words. That beast is his weapon when he can’t hold the gun in his hand. You can’t see who he really is. You’re blinded. But don’t worry. Now that we have what we need from him, I’m going to take care of him. He won’t hurt anyone in this family. Ever.”
Lauren comes around the table to Juliet, sits next to her and takes her in her arms. Juliet is shaking, but Lauren is steady as a rock. “It’s okay, honey. I forgive you. I knew you’d break all the rules to save Mindy’s life. We both—all three of us—thank you for doing that. I’ll make sure Woody knows you weren’t responsible.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I know you broke into the files, took Mindy’s DNA, and put it into CODIS to look for a match. I’m so proud of you for breaking the rules. It must have been so difficult for you. I explain it all in the letter, because I didn’t want you to get in trouble for doing something so unethical.”
“That’s not exactly what happened. And don’t bother. He already knows. I’m on suspension.” And then she really hears what Lauren is saying. “Wait, you threw me under the bus in your letter?”
/> Lauren smiles and puts a finger on her lips. “I’m trying to save you, sweetie. Zack Armstrong is very dangerous, and if something happens, we need to be covered. We need to protect our family. I will do whatever’s necessary to protect us. Whatever it takes.”
“The man’s an English professor at Vanderbilt. He’s a grieving widower. He’s Mindy’s father. You’re wrong about him.”
Lauren’s chin rises. “I will not allow him to hurt my daughter.”
“So you’re going to discredit him? Or what, get rid of him? Dear God, Lauren, you’ve gone entirely insane. Has the lack of sleep made you psychotic? Does Jasper know how ill you are?”
“Jasper knows everything. I told him what Zack is, why he’s such a danger to us. What you did. And now I’ve told you as well, not that I think it will matter.”
“You can’t be serious, Lauren. You can’t just kill Zack. The police will be all over you in a heartbeat.”
“I’ve handled threats to this family before.”
Juliet stands up, the chair screeching back. “Like Vivian Armstrong? Did you kill her so you could steal her baby? Because that’s a hell of a lot more plausible to me than this whopper of a story you’ve just told me. You’re lying. Why are you lying about this?”
“You really don’t remember. It’s amazing.” Lauren shakes her head with an uncanny smile, and the frisson reverberates through Juliet’s spine. It is not Zack who is the problem. Her sister is a monster.
“Remember what?”
“Why we moved to Colorado. I know you were young, and Mom always said you blocked it out entirely.”
“What are you talking about, Lauren?”
“Bennett Thompson.”
“Our stepfather? He died when I was little. I don’t remember him.”
“Oh yes, he died. I took care of that for us. I paid the price. I lost a year of my life for you. You never even knew what I did for you.”
Lauren’s eyes are furious, and Juliet cringes.
“What do you mean?”
“He was molesting you.”
Tear Me Apart Page 32
