Page 12 of Child In Jeopardy
“Any chance you can come into the station tomorrow at ten?” Detective Thayer asked.
Lana glanced at Slater and got the nod. “Yes, ten is fine.”
“Good. I’m guessing you’re probably already on your way here to Austin,” the detective commented. Neither Slater nor she answered. They didn’t know this cop, and while she was likely trustworthy, there was no need to announce their location. “I just wanted to know if you needed an officer to accompany you to wherever you’ll be spending the night.”
“No,” Lana assured her. “We have backup with us.”
“Good,” Thayer concluded. “FYI, I just sent the background check report on Buck Holden to the Saddle Ridge sheriff. I haven’t had a chance to read it myself, but I will before the interview tomorrow morning. I’ll see you then,” she tacked onto that, and ended the call.
Since they weren’t going to the police station, Slater headed toward the safe house. She didn’t need to put in the address since she’d memorized the route. Best not to put that kind of info in the GPS in case someone managed to hack it.
“I’ll let Sonya know what’s going on,” Slater said, taking out his phone to call the deputy. “How good is the security at this place where we’re staying?”
“Good,” Lana verified.
“Enough so that Sonya can peel off and go home once we’re inside? She could come back tomorrow to escort us to the interview.”
Lana thought of the security measures she’d personally put in place on this particular house. “Nothing is hack-proof,” she admitted, “but it’s as safe as it can possibly be. We should be fine with Sonya returning home.” She hoped so, anyway. The sad truth, though, was if Buck was planning on attacking them, he would do that with or without Sonya being present.
Slater nodded and made the call to Sonya while he continued the drive to the house. It wasn’t a showy place, of course. A simple two-story stucco tucked into a cookie-cutter neighborhood. The lots were large, and the fences were high. This wasn’t a community where residents had block parties or stopped by to chat. It was the reason the house had been chosen. Most residents were couples who were at work all day and not around to see the comings and goings of others.
Slater finished talking with Sonya and then called Duncan to fill him in and request a copy of the report on Buck the detective had sent him. He’d just gotten the assurance from Duncan thatit would be emailed to him as Slater pulled into the driveway of the house.
She used her phone to open the garage and immediately closed it behind them once they were inside. She also did a sweep of the place to see if any cameras and sensors had been triggered. They hadn’t been, but that wouldn’t stop her from doing a room-to-room search.
Slater was obviously in agreement with her about that because they went in together. And they both drew their guns. They stopped for a moment, listening for any sounds that someone was there. Nothing. Then he tipped his head to the left to indicate he’d start the search there. Lana went to the right and into the dining and kitchen area.
Since the house wasn’t huge, it didn’t take them long to go through the rooms there, and they went up the stairs together where she knew there were three bedrooms and two baths. She didn’t release the breath she’d been holding until they cleared each one and saw no signs of a security breach or break-in.
Slater texted Sonya to let her know all was well, and they made their way back to the bedroom that had been converted to an office and security command post. Once again, she used her phone to bring the monitors to life. Six of them mounted on the wall and each of them showing the feed from a different security camera.
“There are internal cameras and monitors,” she explained, “and if they’re triggered, then that’ll show up on the screens.” Lana motioned toward the door and windows. “This can become a panic room if necessary. The bathroom’s through there.” She tipped her head to the door. “And there’s even a supply of food and water. Backup communications, too.”
He made a sound of approval but then shook his head. “No way did you set all of this up since Stephanie’s murder,” he stated.
“No. It’s been here for about six months. It’s used to hide spouses of domestic abuse, victims of stalkers, that sort of thing. I set up something similar for Stephanie since I could tell she was scared.” She stopped. Had to. And Lana took a moment just to level out her breathing. “I just wish I’d pushed her harder to find out what had terrified her. If I had—”
Slater cut off the rest of that by pulling her into his arms. “You can’t do this to yourself, because I’m sure you did everything possible to keep her safe.”
“I didn’t arrange for a bodyguard at the hospital,” she was quick to point out.
“Because you didn’t know the threat was there. Stephanie probably didn’t, either, or she would have asked for more protection. She certainly had no trouble asking you to hide her away while she was pregnant.”
Lana knew that was true, but it still didn’t ease this guilt that felt like a deadweight on her shoulders.
They stood there for several long moments, and Lana became aware of their body-to-body contact. Nothing sexual. Well, nothing meant to be sexual, anyway. Slater had given her a hug of comfort, that was all, but being pressed against him reminded her body of the attraction. Since that attraction could be a deadly distraction, she stepped away, ready to explain that nothing could happen between them. She didn’t get a chance to do that, though, because his phone rang.
“It’s Joelle,” he relayed, giving her an instant jolt of panic. Lana prayed nothing had happened to the baby.
“Is Cameron all right?” Lana asked the moment Slater took the call on speaker.
“He’s fine,” Joelle was quick to assure her. “I know it’s hard, but try not to worry about him. He’s getting plenty of TLC.”
“Thank you,” Lana muttered, knowing that she would indeed still worry. However, she also owed Joelle and Duncan a hugethanks for taking care of the baby. No way had she wanted to bring him all the way to Austin.
“Are you settled in somewhere so we can talk?” Joelle asked a moment later. “I’ve just started reading through the report on Buck and something jumped out at me.”
“We haven’t had a chance to read it yet,” Slater explained, booting up the laptop that was on the desk. “What jumped out at you?” he asked as he started to log in to his account.