Page 43 of Child In Jeopardy

“Did Taylor have a gun with her?” Lana wanted to know. “Could she have been the one who fired shots at us?” Though the logistics of that would be hard unless Taylor had shot at them and hurried back to her car, only to be killed there.

He shook his head. “No gun and no GSR on her. The CSIs will compare the bullet that killed her to any others the shooter might have left behind.”

“So, the theory is one gunman,” she concluded. “And Taylor could have been killed either at the beginning of the attack on us or at the end.”

“Either,” he confirmed. “And since the attack only lasted a couple of minutes, the ME probably won’t be able to pinpoint the exact time of the kill shot.”

A couple of minutes. It had felt like a lifetime or two with them pinned down and bullets flying.

“Marsh is up the hall giving his statement,” Slater went on. “But I heard him tell the detective that he heard the shots and hid so he wouldn’t be hit. He thought Taylor was shooting at him.”

That seemed reasonable since Taylor had threatened him. Well, it was reasonable unless Marsh was lying and had been the shooter.

“There wasn’t any GSR on Marsh,” Slater let her know before she had to ask. “Of course, he could have worn gloves and disposed of them somewhere on the grounds. The CSIs will look for that,” he added.

Good. But twenty acres was a lot to search, and Marsh could have hidden them in plenty of places. Places he was well aware of, since he was a frequent visitor to the estate.

“Your father is still in interview, too,” Slater went on. “He waited until his lawyers were here before he agreed to give his statement.”

“Did they test him for GSR?” Lana immediately wanted to know.

Slater’s mouth tightened. “Not yet. His lawyers are fighting it, claiming that Leonard is a victim, not the perpetrator.”

Lana huffed. “That could mean he’s guilty.” But she had to mentally wave that off. Her father was arrogant enough to believe he was above such measures of the law, and even if he was innocent, he likely would have refused any test.

“I’m hoping his lawyers won’t be able to stall forever,” Slater muttered, but there was enough doubt in his eyes to let her know that it could indeed be the outcome.

“What about my father’s assistant and the housekeepers?” Lana asked. “Is it possible one of them was the shooter?”

“They’re all being questioned, all being tested for GSR,” he assured her. “The estate does have security cameras, but your father said they weren’t on at the time, that he normally only has them on at night. Is that true?”

Lana had to shrug. “I know there are cameras, but he never gave anyone access to the control panel for the security system.”She paused. “You think it’s a coincidence that the cameras weren’t on during the shooting.”

“Maybe.” Slater groaned softly. “I don’t like coincidences, but maybe this is one.”

“True,” she admitted. “It doesn’t feel right that my father would orchestrate an attack at the estate. If he wanted to send someone after us, he could have done that on our drive back to Saddle Ridge.”

That wasn’t exactly a comforting thought, but it’s how she would have done it had she been a killer.

“Has my father said who he believes fired those shots?” Lana asked.

“He thinks it was Taylor and that she then killed herself.” Slater took another of those long breaths. “I suppose it’s possible if there was a second gunman who shot her and then took her weapon. He or she would have also had to wipe the GSR from her hands.” He shook his head. “I’m not sure there was enough time for a gunman to do that in between the shots being fired at us. Unless...”

“Unless there were two people involved in this.” She stopped, groaned. It was too much to think of having multiple killers after them.

“The CSIs are going through Taylor’s house as we speak,” Slater went on. “Ruston’s been getting regular updates and texting them to me. They’re already found two burners that were used to call Buck, and they’re focusing on finding other communications she might have had with him.”

“Burners,” Lana muttered, and she let the meaning of that sink in. The phones could be proof that Taylor was Buck’s accomplice. After all, if she simply wanted to talk to the man, she could have used her regular phone. “It was stupid of Taylor to leave those lying around.”

“Stupid or she was set up,” Slater said, spelling out exactly what Lana was thinking.

“It would tie up everything in a neat little bow if Taylor was the accomplice. She’s dead and can’t say otherwise.” And that led Lana to another thought. “If Buck’s real accomplice thinks he’s out of potential hot water, maybe he won’t come after us again. Maybe the attacks will stop.”

“Yes,” he murmured as if considering that. “No more attacks, but also maybe no answers about Alicia’s and my father’s murders. You might not ever be sure, too, of who worked with Buck to kill Stephanie.”

Again, that was all true, and while Lana desperately wanted the attacks to be over and done, she needed the truth, too. And she was certain Slater felt the same. Neither of them would just let this drop, and soon, Buck’s real accomplice would understand that and would no doubt once again try to kill them.

“We can go back to Saddle Ridge and regroup,” Slater said, once again answering her unspoken question. “We can look for proof of someone entering Taylor’s house to set her up.”