Page 33 of Child In Jeopardy
Still, the photo was pretty damning since Leonard was a married man, and at the time of that lustful look, he’d been nearly forty, and Alicia had been just eighteen. Any relationship between them would have been a scandal, but it wasn’t anything Leonard could be arrested for.
Or even questioned about.
He and Lana had discussed that on the entire drive back to Saddle Ridge, and they’d agreed that if they confronted her father about it, he’d dismiss it as a simple party photo. Which it very well might be. That’s why Julia and Lana were looking formore, and Slater was certain Lana would get back to the search when she’d finished feeding the baby.
He was thankful Cameron had needed a bottle. Thankful, too, that Lana had been the one to give it to him, and to burp him. Even with all the uncertainty surrounding this investigation, Lana needed this moment or two of downtime.
The other thing they needed was a long-term plan. For now, staying at his family’s ranch was a good temporary solution. Here, in this makeshift nursery where Cameron had plenty of protection. Here, in the two guest rooms he and Lana were using where none of their suspects could come just waltzing up and try to finish what Buck had started.
Butherewasn’t home for Lana.
Soon, she’d want to find somewhere more permanent to live with Cameron. Slater was just hoping she’d hold off on that until Buck’s accomplice had been arrested.
Lana was still holding Cameron against her shoulder when her phone dinged with a text. “It’s Julia,” she relayed to him, keeping her voice at a whisper. She glanced through whatever Julia had sent, sighed and got up to ease Cameron back into his crib. The baby didn’t even stir and stayed fast asleep. “She just emailed me a report with some pictures.”
Slater went to her, and they moved to the other side of the room where they’d set up a small office area, and she opened her laptop to access the email and two attached photos. Not of her father and Alicia but rather of Buck and Stephanie at a party. These weren’t from twenty years ago, either, and looked fairly recent.
“This was taken last year,” Lana provided, reading through the report in the email. “Julia found them on social media.” She paused to read some more. “Julia also interviewed four people who were at that party, and two of them verified that Stephanieand Buck had come together. Another, Cassandra Milburn, has agreed to talk to me about Stephanie.”
Julia had provided the woman’s number with instructions for Lana to call Cassandra first chance she got. Lana immediately did that, putting the call on speaker when it was answered.
“Lana?” the woman greeted. “Julia said you’d be calling me, and that Deputy Slater McCullough would be with you and that he’d want to talk to me, too.”
“Yes,” Lana verified. “You’re on speaker, and Deputy McCullough is listening.” She paused. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
“We haven’t. Stephanie told me about you, though, so when Julia brought up your name, I knew who you were.”
“You were friends with Stephanie?” Lana asked.
“Friendly,” Cassandra corrected. “We traveled in the same social circles and have similar backgrounds. My mother was an assistant attorney general for the state. Old money and a mile-wide snobbery streak,” she added in a tone to indicate that had been a thorn in her side.
Yes, that was a similar background, and Slater was hoping that meant Stephanie had confided in this woman.
“How honest do you want me to be about your sister?” Cassandra came out and asked.
“Honest,” Lana insisted.
“Good. Because I didn’t want to paint a rosy picture when Stephanie was going through a tough time.”
Lana sighed again. “A tough time with Buck?”
“No. With your parents. They were pressuring her to marry Marsh, and she was rebelling in her own way, and one of those ways was to hook up with Buck. I don’t need to tell you that he was a bad boy to the core. Not the redeemable kind, either. I always thought Buck was dangerous, and when Stephanie gotinvolved with him, I tried to warn her that she was playing with fire.”
“Why did you think Buck was dangerous?” Slater asked, hoping this would dovetail with Alicia’s murder as well.
“Because I dated him when I was sixteen,” she admitted without hesitation. “He was an exciting adrenaline junkie who knew how to have fun. His mood could also change in a heartbeat.” Cassandra’s voice wavered on that last word.
“Was he ever violent with you?” Slater pressed.
“No, but after we had an argument, I thought the potential was there for violence. He scared me, Deputy McCullough, and that’s why I ended things with him. He didn’t take that well, and I didn’t know how to handle him because I was a teenager, and he’d been my first boyfriend,” Cassandra added. “After the breakup, he stalked me for a while until my mother intervened and put a stop to it. She never told me what she said to him, but Buck quit bothering me.”
So, Buck didn’t handle rejection well. At least he hadn’t back then. Maybe that’s what had happened with Alicia? Maybe he’d lost his temper and killed her, and Alicia hadn’t had Cassandra’s powerful mother to intercede.
“Was Buck ever violent with my sister?” Lana asked.
“I don’t think so. They had a hot and fast affair, and like I said, I believe Stephanie was rebelling against your parents. And then she got pregnant,” Cassandra tacked onto that.
Lana jumped right in with another question. “You knew she was pregnant?”