Page 28 of Child In Jeopardy
“Did Taylor admit to posting those pictures of Stephanie?” Lana asked.
Thayer groaned softly. “That was one of the no comments. Ditto for hiring a hacker. About the only thing she did admit to was that she hated Stephanie and that she had an alibi for the time of Stephanie’s murder. It’s an airtight alibi, by the way. She was front and center at some charity fashion show.”
“As an accomplice, she wouldn’t need an alibi,” Slater muttered.
“No, she wouldn’t, but she might have thought it best if she wasn’t anywhere near the hospital at the time of the murder. And she wasn’t. The fashion show was on the other side of the city.” Thayer paused a moment. “I didn’t get Buck’s phone records until after Taylor left so I’ll have to get the woman back in here to question her about it.”
Slater latched right onto that. So did Lana. They both moved closer to the phone. “Buck called Taylor?”
“Twice,” Thayer verified. “But don’t get your hopes up. It wasn’t recent. The techs had to go back six years to find it. Hardly a smoking gun unless they’d been planning murder all this time.”
No. Those calls were likely about something else. Probably a party or something.
“Any calls about a murder would have likely been done on burner phones,” Slater muttered. “What about the phone Buck had on him when he died?”
“A burner, but he hadn’t used it to call anyone yet. There weren’t any in his house, either, but there were two crushed ones in his garbage. The techs will see if they can recover anything from those. Other than the phones, there was no evidence in his house as to what he’d been planning.”
So Buck had been thorough. Slater had hoped he wouldn’t be. “Have the techs been able to access any of Buck’s emails?”
“Not a one,” Thayer said. “Everything on his laptop was encrypted, and so far, they haven’t been able to get past it.They’ll keep trying,” she tacked onto that, maybe just trying to give them a glimmer of hope. “What about the two of you?” Thayer asked. “Have you found anything?”
“No,” Slater said, and Lana echoed the same. It was Lana, though, who continued.
“If the hacked emails do point to my father as being Buck’s accomplice, my father will never admit to it. In fact, we won’t even get to ask the question because his lawyers will block it,” Lana spelled out. “So I’m thinking of calling my mother to see if she knows anything.”
“You think she’ll admit it if she does know something?” Thayer asked. “Because I didn’t get the impression she’d go against your father.”
“She won’t,” Lana was quick to say. “But I think she’s grieving for Stephanie, and that makes her vulnerable.” Lana stopped, cringed. “I know that sounds callous—”
“It doesn’t,” Slater interrupted. “You need answers about your sister’s death, and your mother might be able to provide them. And, no, I’m not saying Pamela had anything to do with killing her own daughter, but she’s got eyes and ears, and she might have heard or seen something that’ll help us ID Buck’s accomplice.”
“Yes,” Thayer quickly added. “All of that. I have no idea if this accomplice is dangerous and will come after the two of you. Or heaven forbid, the baby. But I know I’ll feel a whole lot better once we have this person. Call your mother,” she insisted. “And let me know what she says.”
Lana assured Thayer that she would, and Slater ended the call just as Lana took out her own phone. However, she didn’t press her mother’s number. She sat there a moment as if trying to gather her thoughts. He didn’t blame her. This could turn out to be a critical conversation.
“If I tell her you’re listening, then my mother will almost certainly be more careful about what she says,” Lana said. “But I want you to hear every word. You might pick up on something I miss.”
He nodded, though he knew what this meant. If the call was on speaker and Pamela spilled something incriminating, then her lawyers could argue that the admission had been obtained illegally. But she could only do that if she knew Slater was listening.
Slater cursed because he knew what he was about to do. He was going to bend the hell out of the law with the goal of finding a killer’s accomplice. No way would he have done it if the threat to life had been over, but it wasn’t. Lana and possibly the baby could still be in the line of fire.
He nodded. “Put the call on speaker,” he instructed. “I won’t say anything to let her know I’m listening.”
She nodded as well, and she finally pressed her mother’s number. Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait long because Pamela answered on the first ring.
“Lana,” her mother said, the word rushing out with her heavy breath. “Are you all right?”
Since this was more concern than the woman had previously shown, Slater was surprised. Clearly, so was Lana.
“I’m safe,” Lana replied, her response obviously cautious.
“Good.” Her mother let out another heavy breath and repeated it. “I was worried because you refused the bodyguards your father wanted you to have.”
“Yes, and we got rid of the PI he had following us,” Lana was quick to point out.
“Your father and I are both worried about you,” her mother said as if that excused everything. “We don’t want you involved in something that could be dangerous. Deputy McCullough can’t protect you the way we can.”
Lana looked at him and managed a weary smile. Despite everything that was going on, Slater latched right onto that smile, savoring it and committing it to memory. He and Lana hadn’t had many quiet, warm moments, but that was one of them.