The P.I. Contest

To her dismay, Kate realized she’d lost focus and had no clue what the client wanted from Fox & Fisher. Fortunately Lindsay stepped in with an answer that summarized the client’s needs.

“You want us to find your biological father so you can make sure there are no genetic problems in your family tree before you try to have a baby. No problem. We’ve handled this sort of case many times, haven’t we, Nathan?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “I assume you’ve never tried to find your real parents?”

“No. As far as I’m concerned, I already have real parents. My mom and dad are wonderful and if it wasn’t for Jeremy and his worries, I probably would never have been interested in tracing my biological mother and father.”

“Where is your husband right now?” Kate asked. If he was so concerned about his future baby’s DNA, then why wasn’t he at this meeting?

“He wanted to come,” Hannah said, as if reading her mind, “except his boss is a real jerk about giving time off.”

“What do you have to go on?” Kate asked. “Are your biological parents listed on your birth certificate? Have your adoptive parents given you the name of the adoption agency they used?”

Hannah seemed overwhelmed by the questions. She turned to Lindsay, who answered for her.

“Hannah’s already located her birth mother. They’ve met and everything checked out fine with that side of the family. The problem is locating the father.”

“My birth mom got pregnant in her first term at college. Her parents had been really strict and as soon as she was out of the house, she went kind of wild.” Hannah opened the big leather bag she’d been carrying and pulled out a yearbook from New England College. There were three yellow markers in the book and Hannah flipped pages to the first one.

“James Morgan was a guy Mom met during frosh week. He was studying business. She thinks.”

She flipped to the next yellow tab. “Gary Gifford was on the football team, and finally…” She flipped more pages, to the last picture, a slight boy with protruding ears. “Oliver Crane was in her English 101 class. My real dad could be any one of these guys.”

Three possibilities. Okay. “I’m assuming your mother didn’t keep in touch with any of them?”

“No. She didn’t see the point because she wasn’t keeping the baby. Plus she was worried one of them would try to talk her out of her decision. Which wasn’t very likely if you ask me. I mean, imagine you’re a young guy in his first year of college. If you made a girl pregnant after a one-night stand, wouldn’t you appreciate it if she handled the problem on her own?”

It wasn’t fair, Kate thought, but Hannah was probably right.

“So—” Lindsay patted the yearbook “—we know where these guys were twenty-four years ago, but after that—nada. We’re starting from scratch. First we need to locate these three men, then convince them to let us test their DNA for a match to Hannah’s.”

“We could get lucky and get a match on the first try,” Nathan said. “Or, we could end up spending weeks and weeks on this.”

“Which would add up to a bill that Hannah and Jeremy just can’t afford,” Lindsay said.

“We need to save our money for the baby.” Hannah tugged on her earlobe anxiously. “But there won’t be a baby until we’re sure there aren’t any genetic problems in my family tree.”

“Here’s the deal.” Lindsay flattened her hands on the table and leaned forward. “I told Hannah we’d take the case pro bono, if she’d let us assign two novice investigators to the file.”

Kate’s interest shifted up a notch. “I’m assuming you mean Jay and me?”

Lindsay nodded.

Kate strongly objected to being called a “novice investigator,” but for the moment she opted to keep quiet. Though she’d initially expected to be handed this job on a silver platter, now that she’d met the competition, the prospect of proving her skills on a specific case was intriguing.

“Pro bono, huh? That’s a very generous offer.” Nathan spoke quietly to his partner. “Are you sure you’ve thought this through?”

“You haven’t heard the whole plan yet,” Lindsay continued. “Before Hannah arrived, we were at an impasse. You wanted to hire Jay and I wanted to hire Kate. My idea is to have both of them work independently on this. The first one to locate Hannah’s biological father will, by definition, be the best investigator. That’s the person who will get the job.”

CHAPTER THREE

IT WAS AN OUTRAGEOUS proposition. But also…intriguing. There were few things Jay enjoyed more than healthy competition. Basketball and squash were his usual sports, but this sounded interesting. True, he didn’t have Kate’s training, but he was nothing if not resourceful.

If he found Hannah’s father and got the job, there’d be classes to take, a license to acquire. Nathan had assured him that none of this would be too onerous. Before he knew it, he’d be launched in his second career.

Jay checked out Kate from across the table. She gave him a small smile, her eyes sharp and confident. Then she raised her eyebrows and cocked her head slightly.

The challenge was obvious—she didn’t think he had a chance. And every nerve in his body ached to prove her wrong.

“This plan sounds crazy to me,” Nathan said. “But if Hannah, Kate and Jay all agree, then I have no objection. Hannah, are you sure you want to turn the search for your father into a competition?”

“If it means I don’t have to pay anything, then yeah. You bet I do. I really want a baby and as long as I can tell Jeremy who my real dad is, I don’t care who finds him.”

“Okay,” Nathan said. “The client agrees. How about you, Kate?”

She was still looking at Jay, with gray-green eyes that seemed to say, Back out now and preserve your dignity.

She raised her chin an inch higher. “I’m game.”

Now everyone turned to him. He thought about what he had to lose. Not much, except his pride. Then he thought of what he could gain.

Nathan had been his friend since high school. Jay knew the guy had integrity and smarts. Lindsay seemed his polar opposite in many respects, but he could tell she had the same sense of honor, the same drive to make the world a better place.

If he couldn’t fly planes anymore for a living, surely this was as good a place to land as any. Plus it would be fun to wipe that cocky expression from Kate Cooper’s face.

He glanced around the room one more time, prolonging the moment of tension.

“I’m in.”

Hannah clapped her hands together. “Thank you so much. I never dreamed that it would be this easy.”

“We haven’t found your father yet,” Lindsay cautioned. She glanced at Kate, then smiled. “Though I’m sure it won’t take very long.”

She had a lot of confidence in her friend. Jay supposed it was to be expected. Meanwhile Nathan gave him a nod of encouragement which he appreciated.

“We’ll be in touch with interim reports on Kate’s and Jay’s progress,” Lindsay promised as she ushered Hannah to the door. She called Nadine and asked her to walk their new client through the usual paperwork.

“Plus, we’ll need three DNA samples from her, Nadine. You know where we keep the kits…?”

Nadine must have answered in the affirmative, because Lindsay said, “Good. I’ll leave you to it, then.” She returned to the conference room, closing the door again.

“Well.” She beamed at Nathan, her expression bordering on smug. “Was that a brilliant idea or what?”

Nathan shook his head. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, frankly.” But from the warmth in his voice, it was clear how he felt about Lindsay. He adored her. Jay could understand why. Lindsay was a dynamo. All passion and energy.

Her friend Kate, on the other hand, kept her emotions carefully contained. She seemed analytical and calculating and somewhat aloof. She was going to make a formidable opponent.

Also, a very beautiful one.