Chapter summaries Blessing of the Lost Girls J. A. Jance

Chapter 43 Summary: The DNA Match and a Medicine Man’s Advice

Spoiler Notice

This analysis contains major spoilers for Chapter 43 of Blessing of the Lost Girls by J. A. Jance. It reveals key plot developments including the confirmation of a suspect’s true identity and the issuing of an arrest warrant. Read on only if you are comfortable with these reveals.

Chapter Summary

The chapter opens with a brief meditation on a woman alone in the desert, who finds comfort in the red light of the mountains and the silent companionship of Old Broken Coyote when messages from her people fail to arrive. The narrative then shifts to Denver, where Dan Pardee waits with Anna Rae Green for DNA results. Their team confirms that “Charles Milton” is an alias, as his identity records trace back to Ronald J. Addison, who disappeared in 2015. A call from Captain Louise Acuña in Albuquerque brings news that the victim of an assault there has come forward, corroborated by a witness who placed the attacker’s glasses in her purse. The prosecutor agrees to issue an arrest warrant for whoever matches the DNA profile on those glasses. After determining the Ina RV Park is in Pima County’s jurisdiction, Dan arranges for Sheriff Brian Fellows, a family friend, to receive the warrant directly. While awaiting the lab results, Dan calls his wife Lani and learns she successfully moved her mother into assisted living after receiving unexpected advice from a medicine man named John Wheeler. Wheeler also advised Dan to visit his estranged father. The chapter concludes with Anna Rae bursting in to announce a DNA match, confirming Milton and Addison are the same man, setting the stage for an arrest.

Key Events

  • A short, atmospheric vignette describes a solitary woman who speaks with Old Broken Coyote and longs for red light when her people do not think of her.
  • Dan Pardee and Anna Rae Green’s team confirm Charlie Milton’s past is fabricated; his Social Security number belongs to a deceased infant, and records only begin in 2015, months after Ronald J. Addison vanished.
  • Captain Louise Acuña reports from Albuquerque that the assault victim, Deborah Russell, and a witness, Eddie Willis, are cooperating. A prosecutor has agreed to issue an arrest warrant based on the DNA profile from the attacker’s glasses.
  • Dan clarifies the Ina RV Park is under Pima County jurisdiction and confirms Sheriff Brian Fellows, a close family friend, will handle the warrant.
  • During a call with his wife Lani, Dan learns she convinced her mother to enter assisted living with guidance from the medicine man John Wheeler.
  • Lani relays that Wheeler also advised Dan to visit his father before it is too late, a suggestion that unsettles him.
  • Anna Rae Green receives lab confirmation that the DNA profile from the cigarette butts matches the one from the glasses in Albuquerque, proving Charlie Milton is Ronald J. Addison.

Character Development

  • Dan Pardee: Displays his deep, collaborative law enforcement instincts by correctly determining jurisdiction and leveraging his personal relationship with Sheriff Fellows. His personal life intrudes when he is visibly shaken by the medicine man’s advice to reconcile with his father, showing a vulnerability beneath his professional competence.
  • Anna Rae Green: Her leadership style is praised by Dan as action-oriented and efficient, someone who prefers to take a “machete” to red tape rather than scissors. Her excitement at the arrest warrant and the DNA match highlights her investment in justice for the victims.
  • Lani Pardee: Her off-page development is significant. She reveals she followed Dan’s suggestion to see John Wheeler, showing a newfound openness to spiritual guidance. Her successful, firm conversation with her mother demonstrates personal growth and newfound resolve.
  • The Solitary Woman (Rosa Rios): The chapter’s opening allegory deepens her tragedy. She communicates with “Old Broken Coyote” in a state of lonely exile, finding solace not in human contact but in the memory of a warm, red light, a stark contrast to the blue-gray cold of her reality.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • The Red Light as Spiritual Connection: The vignette centers on a “red light”—bright, happy, and warm like sunrise. It represents a connection to the woman’s people and her unborn child, a spiritual lifeline that contrasts with the physical coldness and isolation of her situation. This motif ties directly to the spiritual beliefs of the region.
  • The Power of Indigenous Wisdom: The chapter elevates the role of the medicine man, John Wheeler, who provides Lani with practical, life-altering advice for her mother and offers Dan an unsolicited but piercingly accurate admonition about his father. This wisdom is portrayed as insightful and effective, bypassing conventional Western logic.
  • Jurisdictional Cooperation: Multiple law enforcement agencies—Albuquerque PD, MIP in Denver, Tucson PD, and Pima County Sheriff’s Department—seamlessly coordinate. The chapter argues that cutting through bureaucratic “red tape” with a “machete,” as Anna Rae does, is essential for serving justice efficiently.
  • Identity and Erasure: The confirmation that a dead infant’s Social Security number was used to construct the persona of Charlie Milton underscores the killer’s methodical effort to erase his past and fabricate a new, untraceable identity to prey on victims.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is a critical pivot point where investigative procedure transforms into actionable justice. The long-awaited DNA match provides the concrete proof needed to connect Charles Milton to the Albuquerque assault, creating the legal mechanism for an arrest that will likely crack open the entire homicide case. Simultaneously, the chapter balances the professional breakthrough with significant personal stakes. The unsolicited medicine-man’s advice about Dan’s father introduces an emotional subplot that promises future conflict and resolution, while Lani’s success with her mother gives Dan’s support network a crucial win. The opening vignette of the solitary woman serves as a haunting reminder of the human isolation at the heart of the crimes, ensuring the procedural victory is grounded in the victim’s tragic experience.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. Question: What legal strategy do the investigators use to initiate an arrest when they lack direct evidence for the homicides? Answer: They use the solid DNA evidence from the Albuquerque assault case to obtain an arrest warrant. Since the DNA profile on the attacker’s glasses matches the profile from cigarette butts connected to “Charlie Milton,” they can arrest him on the assault charge and then seek additional search warrants for more evidence linking him to the homicides.

  2. Question: How does John Wheeler’s advice impact both Lani and Dan’s personal lives in this chapter? Answer: Lani’s life is directly improved when she heeds Wheeler’s advice to be firm with her mother, telling her that her need for caregiving disrupts their lives and that accepting help in assisted living is a way of caring for them. This toggles a “switch” in her mother, leading to cooperation. For Dan, the advice creates a new internal conflict, as Wheeler mysteriously knows about his estranged father and warns him to go see him before it’s too late.

  3. Question: What is the purpose of the opening vignette featuring Old Broken Coyote, and what does the “red light” symbolize? Answer: The vignette provides the victim’s psychological and spiritual perspective, moving beyond the clinical case file. When the woman’s own people do not send messages, her only comfort is Old Broken Coyote’s animalistic news or a visionary “red light.” This red light symbolizes warmth, happiness, and a deep spiritual connection to her people and her unborn baby, acting as an inner resource against the cold “blue-gray” despair of her isolation.

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