Chapter Fourteen
Slater knew this had already been a hellishly long day, but it apparently wasn’t over yet. After finishing with the San Antonio cops about the shooting, they’d returned to the ranch in Saddle Ridge, and even though Lana looked ready to drop after getting Cameron down for the night, she still had one more thing on her to-do list.
She had to call her mother.
Lana needed answers as to where the woman had been during the shooting. Answers that she’d then pass along to Duncan, Ruston, Thayer and any other cop involved in the investigation. Well, if there was anything new to pass along. For Duncan, that would be easy since he and Joelle were just down the hall in the main suite. Slater could update the others with short texts.
Sighing, Lana sat on the foot of the guest bed, the baby monitor right next to her, when she made the call to Pamela. It wasn’t the first attempt since they’d seen that photo of her mother leaving the apartment with a gun in her purse. Lana had tried to call her immediately afterward, but the woman hadn’t answered. Definitely not something Slater and Lana had wanted.
However, Pamela had texted back within the hour to check and make sure Lana was all right and to let her know that the San Antonio police had asked her to come in for an interview about the shooting. Pamela didn’t offer any details of that interview and had messaged that she would be able to speak to Lana later.
Well, it was later, and Slater sincerely hoped the woman responded. If not, he was going to have to call Ruston again and see what he could find out. Slater wasn’t surprised that the cops would want to speak to Pamela, since the shooting had happened on the estate where she lived.
And because of the recent rift she’d had with her husband.
Yeah, the cops would definitely want to question her about that, since it could play into motive. If she was the shooter, that is. Slater had no idea if Pamela was actually capable of that, but it was possible, especially if there had been an affair going on between Taylor and Leonard.
Since Lana put the call on speaker, Slater heard the three rings and silently cursed, figuring this was about to go to voicemail. It didn’t, though. Pamela finally answered.
“Lana, are you sure you’re all right?” Pamela immediately asked.
“Slater and I are fine. He’s here with me, and I have the call on speaker so he can listen.” Lana’s tone stayed cool. “I’m sure you’ve heard, though, that Taylor is dead.”
“Yes. It’s all such a mess. The detective who questioned me wouldn’t say what had happened so I called Marsh, and he filled me in.”
Marsh, not Leonard, and that meant there was still a rift between husband and wife.
“Did you see the person who shot at you?” Pamela added.
Lana paused, maybe to see how her mother would respond to the silence, but Pamela kept quiet as well. “No,” Lana finally said.
“I’m so sorry.” Pamela sounded genuine about that, and it made Slater wish he could see the woman’s face so he could try to detect a lie. “Do you think it was Taylor?”
Lana sighed again, and instead of answering her mother’s question, she went with one of her own. “Why’d you leave the apartment earlier today?”
“I told you. I went to the interview with the detective at SAPD.”
“Not then, Mother. Before that. Before the shooting. You left the safe place you had us arrange for you, and you had a gun with you.”
Again, Pamela went silent for several moments. “I didn’t want to tell you about that, but I met with a private investigator.” Another pause, even longer than the others. “I asked the person to dig up any dirt on your father. And I’m sure there’s plenty of that to find.”
Slater couldn’t argue with that, but the timing seemed way off. “You were worried about your safety,” Slater pointed out. “So why not just talk with the PI over the phone?”
“I did speak to her briefly, but I wanted to meet with her in person to make sure our conversation wouldn’t be recorded. Leonard has a lot of important people in his pocket, and I didn’t know if this particular PI was one of them. It’s Julia Munson from Sensor. She works with Lana.”
He and Lana exchanged glances, and Lana immediately fired off a text to Julia. No doubt to confirm there had indeed been a meeting.
“What do you expect Julia to find on Leonard?” Slater asked Pamela.
“Anything I can use. I plan on divorcing him,” Pamela added, and her voice wavered. “And I’ll need any and all ammunition. Before I left the estate, I copied some files from Leonard’s computer, and I wanted Julia to see if there was something in them.”
Slater huffed. “If you copied the files without permission, then you probably won’t be able to use anything incriminating.”
“That’s what Julia told me, but I asked her to look, anyway.” Another pause. “I want proof that he was having sex with Taylor. Taylor!” she repeated, and there was a jab of fury in her tone. “I’ve turned a blind eye to that sort of thing for years, but I’m fed up with it. Taylor flaunted the affair by telling her friends all about it. Leonard should have known the gossip would get back to me.”
Slater wondered if Pamela had just spelled out her motive for the shooting. She could have fired the shots at him and Lana as a diversion with the actual target being Taylor.
“Did the detective who questioned you take your gun?” Slater asked.
“No. I didn’t have it with me when I went to the police station. I took it to the PI’s office because, well, as you said, I was scared. I didn’t know if Leonard was going to use one of his goons to try to silence me.”
And there was Leonard’s motive all spelled out. Again, Taylor could have been the target to stop her from gossiping about their affair. It sickened Slater to think Lana could have been killed in what would have been just collateral damage to Leonard. Or to Pamela. Then again, the same could apply to Marsh.
As far as Slater was concerned, all three were still suspects, and that’s why he sent his own text. This one to Ruston to remind him they needed to get Pamela’s gun.
“Anyway, since I decided I could trust Julia,” Pamela went on, “I asked her to put an entire team together to go through those files and find anything they could. Not just about his affair with Taylor but with others. I know there were others,” she added in a mutter.
Slater thought of the photo Taylor had shown Lana and him. “Did he have an affair with Alicia?” Slater came out and asked.
“I honestly don’t know,” Pamela said, and all the anger seemed to have seeped from her. There was a weariness in her voice now. “I didn’t suspect it at the time, but I asked Julia to go back as far as she could. If he carried on with Alicia, there might be some proof of it.”
Maybe, and Slater figured it was practically impossible to keep something like that a total secret. Maybe Julia would be able to find something, and if so, there’d be the link from Alicia to the murder of Slater’s father.
“I’d like to stay here at the apartment awhile longer,” Pamela continued. “Maybe just a day or two, but I plan on getting my own place. Julia said she could set that up for me, too. Where will you go that’s safe, Lana?” she tacked onto that.
“Cameron and I will be fine where we are,” Lana assured her.
Lana obviously didn’t give her mother her location, and Pamela didn’t ask. The woman probably suspected, though, that Lana, the baby and he were somewhere in Saddle Ridge.
“Have a good night,” Pamela said, ending the call.
Before Lana could even put her phone away, she got a text. “It’s Julia,” she relayed. “She confirmed my mother came in to see her today.”
“Does the timing work to give her an alibi for not being near the estate during the shooting?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Not really. According to Julia, she had a long conversation with my mother over the phone, but their visit only lasted a couple of minutes, long enough for my mother to give Julia the files and to pay the retainer.”
Pamela definitely hadn’t mentioned that, and if she’d told the detective the truth during the questioning, the San Antonio cops would be looking for any proof that Pamela was in the vicinity of the shooting.
As if Ruston had read his mind, Slater got a text as well, and he was glad to see his brother’s response. He figured it’d please Lana, too, so he read it aloud. “‘Detective O’Malley and I are going to the apartment now to take Pamela’s gun. It’ll be sent for immediate testing.’”
Good. That way, they’d know not only if it’d been recently fired but if it was the weapon that’d been used to kill Taylor.
Lana sat there, staring at her phone as if trying to process, well, everything. They’d gotten so much information over the past two days and had been attacked twice. And even after all that, they still didn’t know if Taylor had actually been Buck’s accomplice or if she’d been set up. Heck, they didn’t even know if the accomplice had anything to do with the attacks. They weren’t exactly at square one in the investigation, but it felt like it.
The sound Lana made was of pure frustration, and Slater went to her. It wasn’t a smart move, but he sat down next to her and put his arm around her.
“You believe what your mother said?” Slater asked.
“I don’t know. I want to believe her, but that’s not the same thing.”
No, it wasn’t, and he was glad she understood that. Glad that she could try to look at all of this with some objectivity. He rethought that, though, when she looked at him, and he saw no trace of that objectivity in her eyes. It was a mix of weariness, fatigue and...resignation.
Slater understood all three of those emotions. Because he was feeling them himself. The first two, the weariness and fatigue, were because of the attacks and the investigation. But the third, that was all about this intensity between them on a personal level. The attraction.
The need.
Yeah, it was all that and more, and even though it would have been easy to blame it on the sense of urgency and immediacy caused by the danger, it was more than that. Maybe it always had been but they’d managed to keep a leash on it.
The leash was gone now.
Slater could see that, too, in Lana’s eyes as she stood, dropped both the baby monitor and her phone onto the bed and went to him. Before she even made it to him, they were reaching for each other.
Their mouths immediately met, and this was no gentle, soothing kiss. This was all about the need. All about that urgency. And there was no leash in sight that could contain this. Even more, Slater didn’t want to contain it, and it was obvious that Lana felt the same way.
He couldn’t say which of them deepened the kiss. It seemed to happen at the exact second, and with that same intensity, that was swirling around them. Her taste roared through him, but there was no time to savor it. No. The need was too strong for that. The savoring would have to happen later. This was all about sating that need that just wouldn’t stop.
Her arms went around him, and he slid his around her waist, pulling them body to body. Until they were pressed against each other. Of course, that only amplified everything, especially since the hungry kiss continued.
Somehow with Lana still in his arms, Slater made it to the door to close it and lock it so they would have some privacy to finish this. With the baby just next door, there was always the possibility of an interruption if Cameron woke up, and if he did, they would hear him on the baby monitor. For now, though, they just focused on this, on being together.
The kissing somehow managed to become even more fierce, and that urged on some touching. He slid his hand over her bottom, cupping her, and pressing her against his erection. Lana did her share of touching, too, and ran her hands over his back, her fingers digging into him.
It didn’t take long for them to start grappling to get out of their clothes. This had to happen much faster than either of them wanted, but they went with the breakneck pace. Slater caught on to her top, pulling it off over her head and tossing it aside so he could kiss her breasts. In the back of his mind, he knew he would like to savor this part of her even more, but this was going to be a situation where foreplay happened afterward.
Lana rid him of his shirt, too, but first she had to remove his shoulder holster. No easy feat, and Slater had to stop the kissing and touching for a couple of seconds while he helped her with that. Finally, though, they both had their shirts off, and to complete the skin-to-skin contact, he eased off her bra.
Despite the need demanding release, Slater took a moment to kiss her neck. And then her stomach. Of course, that only fueled the heat even more until Lana was pulling him toward the bed. Her back landed on the soft mattress, and he landed on top of her. He hadn’t thought it possible, but the heat went up even more, and the battle began to get out of the rest of their clothes.
He wanted her naked, now, and obviously Lana had the same idea. Slater had to move off her so she could undo his belt. Again, not easy since their hands were frantic now, so he helped her with that as well and was thankful that getting her out of her jeans was a much simpler process. He slid them off her. Her panties, too. And soon he had his hands and mouth on a naked Lana.
She was beautiful, of course. Everything he’d expected and more. More because she moved with him as if they’d been born to be in sync with each other.
“Condom,” he managed to mutter, and Slater took the one from his wallet before Lana tossed his jeans and boxers onto the floor. He was pretty sure they landed somewhere near Lana’s jeans and panties.
“Now,” she insisted.
And that’s exactly what he gave her once he had on the condom. Slater pushed into her, feeling the slam of intense pleasure that nearly robbed him of his breath. He apparently didn’t need breath to finish this, though, because Lana lifted her hips, starting the thrusts inside her.
The pleasure built. And built. Until Slater could feel the freight train of pressure roaring through him. He silently cursed that he couldn’t hang on to the pleasure, but Lana couldn’t hold on, either. Her climax rippled through her, clamping on to him and forcing him to let go.
Slater gathered her into his arms and gave in to the heat. He gave in to Lana.
L ANA LAY ON the guest bed and waited for Slater to come out of the adjoining bathroom. Thankfully, her body was still buzzing from pleasure so she hadn’t delved into any thoughts or regrets. She simply let herself stay slack while she kept her gaze pinned to the baby monitor.
Cameron was still asleep. For how long, Lana didn’t know. Apparently, some newborns defied the cliché of sleeping like a baby, and Lana had learned in her very short time with him that sleep could last as little as an hour or stretch to three or four. That meant she had to be ready to get up and give him a bottle, which was the reason she’d put back on her clothes after Slater had gone in for the pit stop in the bathroom.
The nanny and Joelle had both offered to take the night shift for her so she could get some sleep, but Lana had declined. She needed to get used to Cameron’s unpredictable routine, which was her new normal. Or rather it would be her normal once the investigation was finished.
Whenever that would be.
Lana shoved that aside, too, and concentrated on hanging on to her buzz. Slater helped with that by coming out of the bathroom. Unlike her, he was naked, and he certainly made an amazing picture walking toward her. His lanky body had just the right amount of muscles. His face, the right amount of character to prevent him from being an outright pretty boy.
He was smiling a little when he came to her, leaned down and kissed her. That helped rebuild the buzz, too, and the kiss turned so hot she nearly asked if he had a second condom.
“I don’t want either of us to overthink this,” she said instead.
That widened his smile. “Good.” He ran his gaze over her body. “I seem a little underdressed.”
She sat up, took his hand and looked him over as well. “It suits me.” And she sighed. “You’re...hot,” she settled for saying.
Now he chuckled and moved in to give her one of his scorcher kisses when her phone rang. Both of them groaned, but they knew they couldn’t just ignore it. Lana especially knew that was true when she saw the name on the screen.
“It’s Julia,” she relayed, automatically checking the time. It was just after 9:00 p.m., past the usual time for a friendly chat, so Lana answered it right away in case there was an emergency of some kind. “Is something wrong?” she asked, putting the call on speaker.
Julia certainly didn’t jump to reassure her that all was well. “Yes. I’m obviously working late, and I found something in one of the files your mother wanted me to look at.”
Since there were plenty of things a thorough PI like Julia could have found, Lana didn’t speculate. She just waited for Julia to continue. Slater must have realized the potential for truly bad news because he started getting dressed.
“In one of the files, there were some copies of email conversations between your father and Buck. I intend to send them to a tech to make sure they’re real and that the file is actually as old as it seems to be.” Julia paused. “The emails appear to go back nearly twenty years.”
Twenty years. Lana immediately made a connection with that since it’d been when Alicia was murdered. Judging from the intense look Slater got in his eyes, he’d made the connection, too.
“The emails by themselves aren’t confessions,” Julia went on. “The wording seems to be intentionally vague. Here, I’ll just read you one, and you can see what I mean. This is from Buck. ‘I moved her to where you said, and nobody saw me. There was too much mess to clean up so I left it.’”
Everything inside Lana went still. Yes, she could see why the email would have alarmed Julia. “And the date on them?”
Julia sighed. “The night of Alicia Monroe’s murder.”
Of course it was. “What was my father’s response?”
“‘Make sure no one finds her. Ever. If they do, you’ll go down for this.’” Again, she paused. “It sounds as if Buck and Leonard were in on this together. Sounds,” Julia emphasized. “That’s why I want to have the techs look at it. It’s possible someone planted this on your father’s computer. Someone like BoBo.”
That was true, but it was equally possible the emails were real.
“Why would Buck and Leonard have a conversation like this via email rather than texts or calls?” Slater asked.
Lana silently cursed herself for not having already considered that. It might be an indication these were indeed faked.
“I have no idea, unless they didn’t want there to be any phone records. Burners were around then, but maybe one of them didn’t have a burner. Still, if it’s secrecy you’re going for, then why keep the emails?”
Unfortunately, Lana could think of a reason. “Insurance,” Slater and she said together. So obviously he’d considered this as well.
“This way, if Buck rats him out, Leonard has proof that Buck was involved. Maybe even the actual killer.”
That was true, but Lana’s stomach twisted. Because maybe Buck was just the cleanup man and her father had been the one to kill Alicia. Lana was still considering that when her phone dinged with an incoming call.
“My mother is calling,” Lana relayed to Julia. “Does she know about what you’ve found?”
“No, I wanted to tell you first, but your mom copied the files before she gave them to me, and she said she planned to go through them. So maybe she found the emails as well.”
Yes, and if she did, her mother would be frantic.
“Go ahead and take her call,” Julia encouraged, “and if you have any questions, you can phone me back. In the meantime, I’ll send these emails to one of our techs.”
She ended the call with Julia so she could talk with her mother. The moment she heard her mom’s voice, Lana knew that something was indeed wrong.
“Lana,” her mother blurted. “Oh, God, Lana. Something horrible happened.”
“What?” Lana asked through the muscles that had tightened in her throat.
“It’s all there in the files from your father’s computer.” She broke into a loud sob. “It’s all there.”
“What’s there?” Lana insisted.
Her mother didn’t answer for a long time. “God, Lana. Your father murdered Alicia, and I believe I know where her body is buried.”