Page 23 of Child In Jeopardy

Marsh’s hands were trembling now. So was his voice. The cynical cop in Slater wondered though if it was all an act. Marsh continued to scroll until he found the one he was clearly looking for, and he held up the screen so Slater and Lana could read it. According to the contact, it was indeed from Taylor.

I found Stephanie, Taylor had texted.Now, this can all finally be over.

Chapter Eight

Despite the sickening worry and dread, Lana smiled when she saw Cameron on the FaceTime call to Joelle. The baby was sleeping, and everything about his precious little face looked so peaceful. Lana was thankful for that. She didn’t want him to sense any of the fear.

But the fear was there.

For Lana, it was bone deep. And it wouldn’t be going away until they had answers about Buck’s accomplice, who might or might not be Taylor. At the moment, they just didn’t know, but Lana was hoping they could soon remedy that since Detective Thayer had already called the woman. Taylor hadn’t answered, but Thayer had left a terse voicemail for Taylor to contact her right away.

Maybe Taylor would do that and admit to any part she’d played in Stephanie’s death. While Lana was hoping, she added that maybe Thayer was getting yet more details in the interviews with Marsh and Lana’s parents. Slater might pick up on something, too, since he was observing them.

Lana had elected to wait in the break room for those interviews to finish and had been trying to get some work done using her phone, but she’d finally admitted her focus was practically nil and had made the call to Joelle.

Thankfully, Joelle had understood how important it was for Lana to see the baby and had quietly slipped into the makeshift nursery. The sight of Cameron had given Lana some peace of mind. So had seeing the nanny in the room with the baby. Ditto for Joelle wearing a shoulder holster and gun. Joelle was anexperienced deputy and would protect not only her own baby but Cameron, too, if there was a threat.

“You haven’t seen anyone suspicious?” Lana verified after Joelle had slipped out of the nursery and back into the hall.

“No.” Joelle smiled, but there was a steely resolve in her cop’s eyes. “And if I did, there are armed ranch hands here to back me up. Also, Luca’s downstairs. He’ll be here until Duncan gets home.”

Lana already knew all the security precautions, but it was good to hear them repeated.

“How are things going there?” Joelle asked.

Lana’s mind was whirling with everything they’d learned, and it was hard for her to sort out what Slater had already told Duncan in an update call right before he’d left to observe the interviews.

“I suspect my parents know a lot more than they’re saying about Stephanie and Buck,” Lana admitted.

Joelle’s quick sound of agreement told Lana that the deputy had come to the same conclusion. “Your father won’t make it easy for the cops to investigate any wrongdoing.”

“He won’t. He did speak to Slater and me without his lawyers, but he had two with him when he went in for the official interview with Detective Thayer. I suspect they’ll keep him and my mother from saying something they’d rather keep to themselves.”

And it riled Lana to the core that they would do that instead of leaving no stone unturned to get justice for their murdered daughter. Yes, Buck was dead, but there was no absolute proof that he’d actually killed Stephanie. It was possible his accomplice had done that.

Lana mentally stopped and shook her head.

She couldn’t see Marsh or her parents sneaking into Stephanie’s hospital room to kill her. But maybe one of themdid. Or perhaps it’d been Taylor. That’s why it was so important to speak to the woman, but Lana reminded herself that what Marsh had said about Taylor might not even be true. He could be throwing Taylor under a bus to cover up his own guilt. Still, she did recall Stephanie saying that she and Taylor were no longer friends.

The break room door opened, and thankfully this time Lana didn’t reach for her gun. A sign that hopefully her nerves were settling just a little. Her nerves settled even more when she saw Slater.

“Joelle, call me if anything...well, if there’s anything,” Lana told the woman before they ended the call.

“Is everything okay at the ranch?” Slater asked, tipping his head to her phone.

Lana nodded. “I just wanted to see Cameron, so I FaceTimed with your sister.” She went closer, studying his face to see if there were signs that he was about to deliver some devastating news.

But Slater shook his head. “Nothing new came out in the interviews. Your dad admitted on the record that he knew Buck had fathered Stephanie’s child, but he said he got the info from an anonymous call made to one of the PIs he keeps on retainer.”

Lana wanted to roll her eyes. “The PI could have hacked into police records to get it, or my father could have another mole here in Austin PD.” Either, or both, was possible, and it was a reminder for Lana not to trust someone just because they were a cop.

Slater took hold of her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Your mother broke down during her interview. The tears seemed real enough.”

That didn’t surprise Lana. “Stephanie was my mother’s golden child. Well, more golden than me, anyway. She knew shestood no chance of pushing me into an arranged marriage, but I believe she thought she could pressure Stephanie into it.”

“Pressure?” Slater questioned.

“Stephanie’s been arrested twice. Once for DUI and another for possession of a small amount of narcotics. Both times, our parents got her out of it. No parole, no community service. The charges just went away. Stephanie never came out and said it, but I think she was worried they’d hold that over her and use it to keep her in line.” She paused. “Obviously, that didn’t work.”