Page 3 of Not Our Daughter

“What do we know about Cole Shipley?” Burns asked.

“Not much, really. We’ve started looking, but there’s not too much out there. He appears to be a teacher at a tiny private school in Tabernash, Colorado. There’s a listing with that name in the school directory. But we’ve foundnothingon social media.”

“Any photos?”

“Just one, in the school directory. I attached it to the back of the report.”

Burns flipped to the end and stared at a glossy profile printout of a man who looked to be in his forties with wavy, shoulder-length hair, glasses, and a well-trimmed brown beard. He took in the face for a moment, searching for any resemblance to someone he’d exhaustively hunted more than a decade ago. Greg Olsen had short hair, was clean shaven, didn’t wear glasses, and was slightly pudgy. They looked completely different—except for maybe the eyes. He couldn’t be sure. It had been so long.

“Any mention online of family or other known associations, clubs, activities?”

“No, boss. It’s weird. But then this is small-town America. Tabernash only has, like, six hundred people in it. So my guess is there’s probably not a lot of folks around there who post too much on the internet.”

“Or maybe he’s someone who’s covered his tracks for more than a decade.”

“Maybe. This was your personal case?”

Burns nodded. “Back when I worked in Austin, a long time ago.”

“Yeah, I read the file. Kinda crazy.”

“It was. And something that’s haunted me for years.”

“I bet. You don’t lose too often.”

“We got an address for this Cole Shipley?”

“Yes, sir—98 Cozen’s Pointe Circle, Fraser, Colorado. In the Rocky Mountains, next to Winter Park ski resort. About ninety minutes from Denver.”

“I doubt this is anything. But call the Denver office. Have them send someone out there to poke around. Tell them to lie low but try to get some photos and ship them my way.”

“Will do.”

Two

Cole Shipley smiled at his wife and teenage daughter, who sat across the picnic table from him. Both were laughing hysterically while sharing a giant blue cotton-candy-flavored ice cream cup covered in pink sprinkles. His daughter had ice cream smeared on her nose, and she was trying to do the same to her mother. But Lisa kept playfully swatting her spoon away. His wife had never looked more attractive to him. She’d aged much more gracefully than he had. Shoulder-length brown hair, green eyes with only a few wrinkles, fit as could be since she ran the mountain trails every day. Although in her forties, Lisa could still easily pass for twenty-nine, in his opinion. Not that he was in bad shape. The trails and ski slopes of Colorado had also been good to him over the years. He was fitter now than when they’d married nearly twenty years ago. It was hard to believe it had been that long. They’d been through so much together. They’dsurvivedso much together, was a better way to put it. But today was all about Jade, who was celebrating her fourteenth birthday. In many ways, Jade looked like her mother—long brown hair, bluish-green eyes, bright smile—but none of this came from shared genetics. It had become more difficult to conceal the truth as she grew into a beautiful young woman and kept wanting to compare her facial features to her mom’s and dad’s.

But they could never tell her. For her own safety.

“Are you sure you don’t want some, Dad?” Jade asked, holding out the ice cream.

He laughed. “And risk getting attacked? No, thanks.”

“Your loss. It’s delicious.”

They were sitting next to Miyauchi’s Snack Bar, staring out over Grand Lake, Colorado’s largest and deepest natural lake. Kids on the sandy beach played in and out of the water. Families were renting Jet Skis and boats at a marina just up the way. Many others were out walking along Lake Avenue and enjoying the shops. It was a beautiful summer Saturday in Colorado. They’d made it an annual tradition to drive over from Winter Park every year on Jade’s birthday. It was always lunch at the Historic Rapids Lodge, which sat alongside a flowing water inlet, followed by ice cream at Miyauchi’s next to the lake. They’d been doing it for years, and Jade still seemed to enjoy every minute of the experience. He knew that might change as she grew older and became more independent. But he hoped not. He didn’t want his little girl to grow up. He always wanted to be nearby to protect her, in more ways than one. He was already having nightmares at the thought of Jade moving away for college in a few years.

“Do you want to rent Jet Skis?” he asked.

Jade scrunched up her face. “Not this year. My back is kind of hurting today.”

He nodded, pressing his lips together. For the past few months, every time his daughter said something like that, it felt like a dagger to his heart. But that was going to change starting today. “Everything will be better soon. I promise.”

She tilted her head. “How?”

He’d been waiting all day to share this exciting news.

“We’re finally going to be able to move forward with the surgery. I’m calling the doctor first thing on Monday morning to get it scheduled.”

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