Page 32 of Child In Jeopardy
“Yet Stephanie is the one who ended up dead,” Slater threw out there.
Taylor’s gaze slashed back to him again. “Marsh didn’t kill her. He’s not Buck’s accomplice.”
“Do you believe that because you’re still in love with Marsh?” Lana wanted to know.
“I believe it because it’s true,” Taylor snarled. “I didn’t ask you to come here so I could get you to arrest my ex-lover. I want your father arrested.”
Lana waited, but Taylor didn’t add more. She certainly didn’t add any proof, and then it occurred to Lana what might be going on here. Taylor clearly blamed Leonard for orchestrating the relationship between Marsh and Stephanie, and Taylor wanted him to pay for that.
“Are you saying that Leonard is Buck’s accomplice?” Slater demanded.
Taylor gave a firm nod. And that was it. Nothing more.
Slater huffed. “If you have proof that Leonard is the accomplice, then you should have told Detective Thayer.”
“I’m not telling her anything,” Taylor snapped. “She questioned me like I was a common criminal, and I won’t be treated like that.”
“So instead you’re telling us, knowing we’ll report it to Thayer,” Slater summarized. On a heavy sigh, he leaned back in his seat. “There’s just one problem with that. No cop will arrest Leonard Walsh just because of what you’ve said. They need proof.”
Taylor gave him an indignant look. “I have proof,” she said, picking up her phone from the table. “I remembered this picture I took, but it took me a while to find it because I’ve put my photos in several different online storages over the years. It’s all the proof you’ll need that Leonard and Buck are best buds.”
Lana held her breath and waited while Taylor tapped her screen and showed them the photo. It appeared to have been taken at a party, not a recent one, either, and it was of her father and Buck. Her father was smiling and had his arm slung around a very youthful, fresh-faced Buck. There were no traces of the thug that Buck had become in recent years. In this shot, he looked like the other preppy-dressed partiers milling in the background.
One of those preppy partiers was Marsh. Lana had no trouble recognizing him, either. He was standing back from Buck and Leonard, but he didn’t seem to have his attention on them.
“When was this taken?” Slater asked.
“According to the date in the storage cloud, it was nearly twenty years ago,” Taylor answered. “That would have been my first year of college. I think Leonard was there because Marsh’s family hosted it.”
So that’s why Marsh was there. Perhaps Lana’s mother had been, too.
Slater made an odd sound, a sort of grunt that came deep from within his chest, and Lana turned to see what’d caused it.She doubted his reaction was because of this old picture of her father and Buck, which in no way proved they were best buds or had ever conspired to commit murder.
Slater took the phone, causing Taylor to snarl out a protest, but he ignored it and enlarged the photo. Not the portion with her father and Buck. But of the person next to them. And that’s when Lana saw it.
Or rather Lana sawher.
Alicia Monroe.
Sweet heaven. It was the young woman who’d been murdered nearly twenty years ago. The woman whose murder Slater’s father had been investigating. Slater clearly saw her, too, and he muttered some profanity under his breath.
“Buck was a person of interest in Alicia’s murder,” Slater said. “And here they are.”
Yes, they were in the same photo, which was proof that Buck did indeed know her. But in this picture, there was an odd sort of dynamic going on. Marsh was looking at Alicia. Lana could see that now. And Alicia wasn’t looking at either Buck or Marsh. No. Alicia and Leonard were staring at each other, and in that frozen snapshot of time, Lana could practically see the attraction sizzling between them.
Lana gasped. Oh, mercy. Had her father and Alicia been lovers?
Chapter Eleven
While Slater read through the latest report from Detective Thayer, he kept an eye on Lana. The worry was still etched on her face, but she was definitely more relaxed as she sat in the rocking chair and fed Cameron his bottle. Slater thought he was more relaxed as well now that they were back in Saddle Ridge.
But being home didn’t mean they were safe.
He’d hoped Taylor would be able to give them proof of Buck’s accomplice so the person could be arrested and any potential threat neutralized. That hadn’t happened, though. The woman hadn’t provided them with any proof that Leonard and Buck were coconspirators. Heck, she hadn’t even given them proof that Leonard had been involved with Alicia.
It had certainly looked that way, though, to Slater.
And that created a boatload of questions and concerns. Had Leonard and Alicia had an affair? Maybe. Julia at Sencor was digging into that. But even if the pair had been lovers, it didn’t mean Leonard or even Buck for that matter had been responsible for Alicia’s death.