Page 4 of Child In Jeopardy

“The phone she was using was a burner, one that I’d given her when she went into hiding,” Lana explained. “And to the best of my knowledge, she only used it for making her OB appointments. That’s why I was surprised when someone called her on it.”

“Did you hear any part of the conversation?” he wanted to know.

“No. Stephanie didn’t say anything to the caller. She just listened. Then she told me to take Cameron to you, that he was your son and that she’d been your surrogate,” Lana continued.She had to swallow hard before she continued. “She even gave me this.”

Lana took the folded envelope from her jeans pocket, handed it to Slater and watched as he read it.

A muscle flickered in his jaw. “This first page is an Acknowledgment of Paternity, naming me as the baby’s father. The second page is a surrogacy contract.”

“Yes, I read them,” she admitted. Her sister had used her real name and had signed both documents. Since Slater’s signatures were there, too, Lana figured they had been forged. “I have to believe Stephanie had a good reason for doing that.” She paused. “The last thing Stephanie said to me was for us to keep Cameron safe.”

His attention whipped away from the document and to her. “Safe?” he questioned.

She nodded again. “Trust me, I grilled Stephanie about that, and she said she thought someone had found out about her having a baby. Someone who might not have his best interest at heart.”

“Was she talking about your parents?” Slater asked.

“I’m not sure, but I have a hard time believing they’d hurt a baby. It’s true they would be riled to the bone at Stephanie having a child, but I can’t see them taking out their anger on Cameron.”

Slater made a sound that could have meant anything. He certainly didn’t jump to agree with her, and she recalled that years ago her parents had moved the family from Saddle Ridge because Slater’s father, then Sheriff Cliff McCullough, had been investigating her parents for the disappearance of a teenage boy, Jason Denny. Lana had only been eleven at the time, but she knew Jason had been dating Stephanie and that her parents hadn’t approved of the relationship.

No criminal charges had come out of the investigation, and later when Jason had resurfaced, he’d claimed someone had threatened him and that’s why he’d run away. Jason refused to say who’d done the threatening, but maybe Slater’s father believed her parents had been responsible.

And they might have been.

Lana didn’t know the scope of her parents’ dirty dealings, but she was well aware they were ruthless. It was the reason she’d cut them out of her life.

“I didn’t push Stephanie nearly hard enough to tell me the truth about what was going on,” Lana continued. “I thought there’d be time for that later, especially since Stephanie was insisting that I go ahead and take Cameron to you. I left the hospital and drove around for about an hour before I decided to return and talk to Stephanie. Just to make sure she was certain about handing the child over to you.”

Now she had to pause again and remind herself to breathe. All the grief and fear were smothering her, and she had to look at the baby to try to steady herself. Lana had never needed an anchor to stave off panic, but she needed it now, and the baby was the ultimate reminder of what was at stake here.

“When I got back to her hospital room, there was chaos,” she muttered. “I heard one of the nurses say that Stephanie had been smothered. I glanced in the room and...well, I saw her lifeless body before a nurse shooed me away and insisted I leave the area. She didn’t seem to realize that I’d been with Stephanie earlier.”

Lana figured she’d been in shock, because she had mindlessly walked away with Cameron cradled in her arms.

That’s when she had spotted the man.

“I believe I saw Stephanie’s killer,” Lana spelled out. “He was peering out from one of the other rooms, and he set off every alarm in my body. I knew there was nothing I could dofor Stephanie so I immediately turned around and hurried out another exit. He followed me, but once Cameron and I were in my car, I managed to lose him on the highway.”

“And you came here and left the baby on my doorstep,” Slater stated, clearly not approving of that.

Lana groaned. “I was worried about Cameron’s safety, so I dropped him off and left only after I saw you open the door. Then I quickly drove away to make sure the man hadn’t found me. If he had, I planned to lure him from the baby by having him follow me. I was never far away, and I had every intention of coming right back for him. I just didn’t want him with me if I met up with that man.”

“At any point did you consider calling the cops for help?” he asked, and there was a snarl in his voice now. Of course there was. The lawman in him probably didn’t allow for gut feelings.

Lana needed yet another breath to finish this. “The man at the hospital was a cop.”

Slater stared at her and looked ready to curse. Or to challenge that. “Name? Description?”

Lana had no trouble recalling these details since they were fixed in her mind. Just like that image of her dead sister. “About six-two. Brown hair, brown eyes, muscular build. The surname Johnson was on his uniform.”

“Austin cops have their badge numbers next to their names,” he pointed out.

“Yes, but I couldn’t see his. He had his communication radio positioned in front of it.” Probably intentional.

Well, maybe it was.

If he’d wanted to conceal his identity and murder a woman, he probably wouldn’t have shown up in uniform. Not unless he was cocky or totally sure he could get away with murder.