Page 20 of Child In Jeopardy
“I’ll come back and get you when the interviews are ready to start,” Thayer told Slater right before she walked out.
Since Lana looked unsteady on her feet, Slater went to her and took a huge risk. By pulling her into his arms. Hugs, even one of comfort, could still spur the heat between them. And it did this time, too, but they obviously had way too much on their plates to think about acting on it.
He hoped.
Sighing, Lana dropped her head on his shoulder. “I want to ask my boss to use some of the Sencor resources to help us. Traffic cam footage, deep background checks, informal interviews with anyone who was near the hospital when Stephanie was murdered. Anything that’ll link to Stephanie, Buck or anyone he might have been working with.”
Slater had already considered this angle. “I can’t agree to anything illegal,” he spelled out.
“It wouldn’t be. But they’ve got the manpower to interview anyone who crossed paths with Stephanie and Buck. Somebody must know what happened and why Stephanie went into hiding when she realized she was pregnant with Buck’s child. Unless the blowup between them was totally in private, then there might be something to find.”
That was a long way to go back, eight months or so, but Slater could see the reasoning for that to be the starting point. With Stephanie in hiding, Buck might have been digging to find her location, and if so, there could be traces of that. Traces that then might link back to his partner.
“All right,” Slater said.
The moment the agreement was out of his mouth, Lana eased away from him so she could compose a text, no doubt to get the ball rolling on the search. When he heard the swooshing sound of the text being sent, he expected Lana to move back to the window. Or anywhere else in the room that wasn’t so close to him.
She didn’t.
Lana came right back into his arms, and he heard the whisper of a soft sob that she managed to choke down. She was grieving. Scared, too, and Slater wished he could do something to help. The only thing he could manage, though, was to stand there and hold her.
The moments slid by, and he wasn’t sure exactly how much time passed before she moved again. This time, she looked at him. Their gazes locked. Held. Her breath met his. Slater saw the grief. But the heat was there as well, and it didn’t seem to matter that neither of them wanted to feel like this. Not now, anyway. That didn’t stop it. Didn’t stop Lana from moving in and doing the unthinkable.
She pressed her mouth to his.
It wasn’t a hard, hungry kiss born of need. Not solely, anyway. The need was there, but this seemed to be so much more. Slater tried to give her exactly that—more—without pushing this too far. He simply kissed her.
Of course, there was nothingsimplyabout it since this was Lana. The heat rose as the pressure of her mouth went up a whole bunch of notches. That wasn’t all, either. With the newlevel of the kiss came the maneuvering of their bodies, and that didn’t stop until they were pressed against each other. Until this felt like a whole lot more than just a kiss.
Thankfully, they both seemed to regain their common sense at the same moment because they stepped away from each other. Slater was sure he looked as if someone had sucker punched him, because he was gulping in breaths as if this had been a making-out marathon. Lana wasn’t faring much better. She looked shocked and maybe appalled that she had done such a thing.
“Don’t say you’re sorry,” he insisted when she opened her mouth. “No need. You can blame it on the grief and the fact that we were nearly killed today. You can blame it on whatever you need it to be.”
She stared at him a long time and shook her head. “I try not to lie to myself,” she murmured. “So I’ll blame it on this pull I’ve had to you for...too long,” she added in a whisper.
Slater had known the heat was there, but he might have questioned that “too long” part if the door hadn’t opened. Even though he and Lana were no longer standing close to each other, they still moved farther apart, and the guilt was probably flashing like a proverbial neon sign on their faces.
Detective Thayer stuck her head inside the partially opened door, and she seemed to hesitate for a second or two before her gaze went to Lana. “Your parents and Marsh are here. But they’ve asked to speak to you before the interviews. I told them I’d check. You can say no,” Thayer tacked onto that.
Lana didn’t just say no or anything else, but then she nodded. “I want to see how they react to Buck coming after me.”
Slater wanted to see that reaction, too. Heck, he wanted to see them respond to a lot of things, including if they had any part in their daughter’s murder. Of course, neither of them would likely just admit to that, but they might say something off the record.
Thayer waited as if checking to see if Lana was certain, and then she murmured, “I’ll bring them here to the break room.”
Lana pulled back her shoulders and ran her hand through her hair, obviously trying to make herself look as steady as possible. She was pulling it off, too. For the most part, anyway, but Slater dreaded that Lana was about to have to face the emotional wringer her parents would no doubt put her through.
It didn’t take long before the door opened again, and the detective ushered in Leonard and Pamela. Marsh was right behind them. None of them rushed to Lana, but Leonard gave Thayer a dismissive glance before insisting, “We’ll speak to our daughter alone.”
“No, you won’t,” Lana said before Slater or Thayer got the chance. “Slater and the detective are staying put.”
Oh, that did not please Leonard, and Slater saw the anger tighten every muscle in the man’s face. “Fine,” Leonard spat out. “We only wanted to make sure you were okay. I understand from news reports that you were attacked in the parking lot.”
Lana nodded. And didn’t add anything else.
Pamela huffed and aimed a glare at Thayer. “Obviously, you’ve failed at your job if a thug can go after my only surviving daughter right under your nose.” Tears sprang to her eyes, and Slater wondered if they were genuine.
“Lana wasn’t under police protection when she was attacked,” Thayer said, the annoyance coating her voice. “And my team and I are not only investigating the attack but your other daughter’s murder.”