Текст книги "Directing Disaster"

Автор книги: Kate Kane

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 11 страниц)

Chapter 29

the reception

It had been a tradition since they’d moved to Kansas; the Parkers went to Saturday evening Mass.  Usually, they had dinner and went to a movie after Mass; but tonight they came home and changed, before going to Papa’s for the wedding reception.

Lane and Ben were in the master bedroom.  Ben was changing into his tux, and Lane into her wedding dress.  Jess and Jamie were changing into the clothes they’d worn to the wedding too.  Pauli and Joey were changing into their suits.  Jake had joined them for Mass but had gone home to change before stopping to pick up Meg.  He’d meet the family at Papa’s.

The family entered the ballroom and were stunned.  First, there were the roses; hundreds of them, all ivory.  The head table, for the wedding party and family, was draped with blush and cream tulle and chiffon forming a canopy.  The guest tables had either cream table cloths with blush napkins or blush table cloths with cream napkins. There was a large dance floor, with a string quartet, at one end of the ballroom. There were ivory rose boutonnières for Ben, Jamie, Jake, Joey, Pauli, Tony and Papa.  There were ivory rose hand corsages for Lane, Jess, Mama Bellini and Meg. Everywhere Lane looked, she saw bouquets of ivory roses.  She leaned toward her husband.  “Tell me how many and what they mean.”

“A thousand…” He bent and kissed her as he handed her a rose from the table. “…and one. For a love that will last for all eternity.”

Jess leaned toward Joey.  “I don’t know how she stands it.  I hate the smell of roses.  He sends her two dozen every week.  Flowers just die.  What’s the purpose?”

Joey shrugged. “He loves her, I guess that’s purpose enough. And she seems to like them.  He wouldn’t send them if she didn’t.”

Joey filed that bit of information away.  He’d never known a woman who didn’t like getting flowers, but apparently that was just one more thing Jess Parker didn’t do.

“I guess.”  Jess said as she scanned the crowd.

She was amazed that Ben had pulled this together on such short notice.  All of Lane’s friends were there. There were even friends from Omaha. Joey excused himself and got up from the head table.  He’d been weird all afternoon.  He’d disappeared just after lunch and hadn’t come back until just before they left for church.  He left the ballroom through the door to the kitchen.  When Joey got up, Jamie moved from the seat next to Lane and went to the empty seat next to Meg at the end of the table.

Joey shook his head at Jess as she watched him come back in the room with Nana Evie. Ben had brought Nana Evie to surprise Mom.  God, she thought, that must be love, bringing your wife’s ex-mother-in-law to your wedding reception and seating her at the head table with the rest of the family.

Ben kept Lane distracted until Joey had seated Evie and walked back to his own seat.  Evie tapped her glass and Lane turned to look at her.  Evie stood and held her glass in the air.  “A toast to the happy couple.  May they always be surrounded by family and friends who share in their love.  La felicità sempre.  Happiness always”

Lane looked at the woman who had once been her mother-in-law, and who had remained her friend. Tears formed and spilled from her eyes.  Ben was holding her hand, and gave it a little squeeze before letting go.

Lane wrapped Evie in a hug, whispering, “When did you get here?”

Evie returned the hug and then patted her cheek.  “Your husband sent his brother and a private jet to get me this afternoon.  They’ve had me stashed at your house since this afternoon.”

Lane looked at Ben.  He was an amazing man.  “You did this for me?”

“She’s your friend.  You’ve said she’s been like a mother to you. I think you need her here.”

There were more toasts.  There were knives tapping champagne glasses and people shouting “baciare.”  Which Ben told Lane meant “kiss each other”, and he was happy to oblige each time someone said it.

Joey stood and clicked his glass to get everyone’s attention. “For those who don’t know me, I’m Joey Bellini.  As the best man, it falls to me to toast the couple.  I met Lane just hours before the wedding.”  He laughed.  “By now you all know they were in a bit of a hurry.  I have never seen my brother so happy, so a toast to the beautiful woman who has brought so much happiness into not just his life, but to all of us.  I believe Evie Parker may have said it best, La felicità sempre.”

He raised his glass and sipped his champagne.  Yes, she’d brought happiness to all of them.  Without Lane there would be no Jess, and suddenly, he was having trouble imagining a world without Jess Parker.

Jess stood and raised her glass.  “I’m Lane’s daughter, Jess.  My brothers and I met Ben three years ago.  He’s been the father figure we never had.  He’s shown us what it means to love a woman.  He’s made our mother happier than I’ve ever seen her. So, a toast to my mother and the man who loves her.  May they always be as much in love as they are at this moment.”

She sipped her sparkling grape juice.  Jess wouldn’t be 21 for another four months, and serving alcohol to minors could get Bellini’s liquor license revoked.

The dishes were being removed; and the simple string quartet, that had been playing softly during the meal, was trading places with a band that would play dance music. The band warmed up and began an intro to Exactly Like You.  Jess and Joey both stood up.

Jess looked at Joey. “What are you doing?”

“Ben asked me to sing Exactly Like You for Lane.”

Jess groaned.  “Mom asked me to sing it for Ben.”

Joey smiled and put his hand in the small of her back.  He leaned down.  “Looks like we’re doing a duet, Toots.  You take the lead.  I’ll sing the second time through.”

Jess looked at him. “You sing?”

“Like Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble, Toots, let’s go.”

They approached the band.  Jess took the microphone.  “Once again, my Mother and Ben are thinking alike.”  She looked at Joey.  “Without knowing it, they asked each of us to sing the same song, so we’re going to be doing a duet.  Mom, Ben for you.”

Jess began, “I know why I’ve waited…” she sang the song through the first four verses.

The band played the orchestral interlude and Joey started with the next verse, “I know why I’ve waited…”

They finished with Joey singing, “Exactly like you.” Followed by Jess echoing, “Exactly like you.”  Then together, “Exactly like you.”

There was applause.  Joey and Jess held hands and bowed together, each held a hand to the other and bowed separately and then together again.

Joey put his hand in the small of her back and walked Jess back to the table.  He held out her chair.  “If this acting gig doesn’t work out, I have a job in Vegas for you.”

Who knew she could sing like that and make the whole room believe she was in love with him while she did it.  He hadn’t seen anything in the profiles he’d read online that gave any indication that Jess sang at all let alone like she should quit her day job and do it for a living.

She lowered those incredible eyelashes and looked at him through them, “Thanks, you’re not so bad yourself.”  He could swear her eyelashes fluttered as she said, “Any other hidden talents?”

He was about to make a reply filled with double entrendres and sexual innuendos, when Pauli stepped in and asked Jess to dance.

Ben and Lane had danced together to Exactly Like You.  Papa had cut in for the second dance and Ben danced with Mama.  Lane and Ben sat out the third dance.  Uncle Sal had asked for Jess to dance the third dance.

It was the first time Jess and Uncle Sal had spoken since Friday night.  “I am in your debt, little one.”  He said as they began dancing.

She smiled at him.  “I think Joey owes you.  I’d like to acquire his debt as payment for the debt you owe me.”

“Consider it done.”  He smiled down at her.  “Are you sure you aren’t Benito’s child?”

Jess laughed.  “I’m not.”  She inclined her head toward her grandmother, “I look too much like Nana Evie.”  Jess was short like her grandmother.  Evie Parker was five feet nothing.  Lane and the boys were all tall, there was no place else this short stature could have come from.

Joey came to claim the next dance with Jess.  Salvatore Luciano placed Jess’s hand in Joey’s and said “Giuseppe, Il vostro debito è ora nelle mani della bambina.”

Joey looked at her. “You bought my debt from Uncle Sal?”

She smiled.  “Traded, I traded him his debt for yours.”

He narrowed his eyes and nearly growled, “Why do you want me to owe you, Toots?”

“Uncle Sal already owes me.  There’s no reason to have him owe me two favors.”

He pulled her closer and bent to whisper in her ear.  “That still doesn’t tell me why you want me to owe you.”

Did she have any idea what that meant within his family?  He was sure she couldn’t and yet what had Ben told him?  She’d called in a favor from Uncle Vinnie to protect Meg last month.

“You never know when I might need protection.  We’ll keep Ben out of the middle of things this way.”

“Huh?”  He grunted, “And I just come running when you call.  Is that it?”

“Only if I call in the favor.  It will be very clear when I call it in.”

“God you are such a little princess.” He mumbled in an exasperated tone.

The music had stopped and they stood on the dance floor amid Ben and Lane and Jake and Meg and Jamie and Nana Evie.

“Of course I’m a princess, my father’s a queen.” She said as she turned and quickly walked away.

Jamie and Jake both moved toward Joey.  Ben stepped closer to the three of them as he said, “Joey, you have to go after her.”

Joey was confused. “What the hell did she mean?”

Jake stepped closer to Joey and quietly said, “Our father came out of the closet and walked out the door when Jess was a year and a half old.  He may have left Mom, but he abandoned all of us.  Jess has never gotten over it.” Jake looked at Nana Evie.  “Sorry Nana.”

Lane took a step away from Ben. “I’ll go to her.”

Joey held up his hand.  “No, I clean up my own messes.”

He turned and left the ballroom.  Where had she gone?  She had left the ballroom.  She hadn’t stopped at the table to get her purse and she had no keys.  So she hadn’t left the building.  All of the family was in the ballroom.  That meant the Board Room would be empty.  He knew she hadn’t left, and knew she’d want to be alone.  Really alone.  She wouldn’t have gone to the Ladies’ room.  Nope she’d be all alone in the Board Room.

He pushed the carved wooden doors open. She turned as he walked into the room.  She picked up a glass center piece, with an unlit candle, from the table next to her and hurled it toward him.  It whizzed past his head.

“Get out.”  She said firmly as she swiped at her eyes.

Oh, God, she was crying.  They all told him she didn’t cry unless it was written in a script.  Oh, crap.  What had he done?

“I’m not leaving.”  He said quietly but firmly.

She moved to the next table and picked up the center piece and hurled it at him, hitting him in the middle of the chest.

What’s wrong with him, he isn’t even trying to deflect. She thought, but said, “You’ll go or you’ll regret it.”

“I’m not leaving.” He repeated.

She stepped to the next table but before she could pick up the center piece, he’d pulled her into his chest.

He ran his hands gently down her back.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t know.  I’m sorry.”

She pushed away from him.  “That’s because from day one you had a preconceived notion of who I was and that picture was painted by your delusional brother…”  She affected a perfect Pauli tone … “Dr. Paolo Raffaele Bellini.”

She’d stopped crying.  That was good, wasn’t it?

“And he only wants me because I won’t swoon and because he can’t have who he really wants.  My Mother.”

Good God, crying was better.  While she was sort of cute when she was mad, he knew mad wasn’t good.

She started poking him in the chest.  “I am not a princess.”  She waved her hand around, “Do you see Disney anyplace?  Uh-uh. No movie rights here!”

Damn that hurt.  What was it with her and his chest?

She slapped her left hand into her right. And in Italian she began yelling.  “Giuseppe Gabrielli Bellini!  You stupid Italian man.  Every time I try to explain, you tune me out. Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall. A big muscled brick wall. You never hear the important things.  And my name isn’t Toots or little girl.  It’s Jess!”

She looked in his eyes and, still in Italian, said quietly, “Got that or do I need to repeat it?”

So, to answer in English or Italian was Joey’s dilemma. In English, he quietly responded. “Oh, no need to repeat, I got every word.  Every Italian word, Jess.  So you’ve got my attention.  What else?”

She turned her back to him and shook her head.  And then, barely above a whisper, she said, “I never dated Pauli.  I never wanted to date Pauli. I will never want to date Pauli.”

She sighed thinking, I just want to date someone who looks like him.  And she turned back around. They stood only inches apart.

“About that favor. It wasn’t about you owing me.  It was about you not owing Uncle Sal.”

Well, that was bewildering, “I have traded favors back and forth with my Uncles since I was old enough to talk.”

She shook her head. She had understood every word the man had spoken to Uncle Sal last night.  She’d heard him ask for more money.  Uncle Sal had said he didn’t even know the man.  And now that man was dead too.

“It’s better to owe some people than others.  But it doesn’t matter anymore because I have to call in my favor now anyway.  You can’t ever tell anyone I speak Italian.”  She paused.  “Oh and one more thing.  What about those packages?  Who decided to keep them from me?”

“The guy’s dead and the police have them, does it really matter?”

“What matters is that no one gets to decide what’s best for me.  If I had known he was here I wouldn’t have gone to the mall. If we hadn’t gone to the mall, you wouldn’t have been stabbed.”

He shook his head. “And Lila would still be alive and you wouldn’t be the hottest thing in Hollywood.”

She shook her head as she let out an exasperated groan.  “Priorities Joey.  I didn’t want Lila dead, just in jail for the rest of her life. Someone would have taken care of her there.  And I don’t need to be the hottest thing in Hollywood.  But I do need to know you’re okay.”

“And I need to know you understand, I’m not going anywhere.”  He pulled her into his chest and whispered. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She’d been abandoned one too many times already.  No, I’m not going anywhere, he thought, but you are.  She was going to Europe, and who knows how long she was going to be gone or what would, happen while she was there?

Chapter 30

Sunday brunch

Before dawn Sunday morning, Ben was up and dressed for his run.  When he walked through the house, he was surprised to find both Pauli and Joey sitting at the table.

“You’re up early.”

“Yeah.  I’m heading back to St. Louis this morning.” Pauli said.

“The Doctor here has given me permission to work out my lower body.  I’m heading to the weight room.”

“Safe drive, Pauli.”  Ben said as he headed outside.

He had planned a five mile run this morning and was back home in about 40 minutes.  Joey was still in the weight room.

“I’m flying Jess back to L.A. this afternoon.  Is the condo secure?”

“Yeah.  The locks have all been changed.  There’s a doorman now and he’ll give you the keys.  Just so you know, I have replacement shoes for her there and an extra pair for good measure too.  They should be in the condo. I don’t want it to freak her out. You’ll go in with her, right?  Get her settled and make sure she’s all right.”

“Yeah.  That’s the plan.” Joey said as he continued his work out.

Ben went through his normal workout and went upstairs.  Lane was sleeping as he passed through to the bathroom.  He closed the door, and despite discussions of water conservation the previous morning, Lane was still sleeping soundly when he dressed and went to the kitchen.

Jamie had gotten up and was heading toward the weight room.

“Bambino.  I’ll need to have you go pick up your Nana Evie after you’re dressed.  We’ll all go out for brunch.”

“Mom’s skipping her brunch with friends on the Plaza?”

Lane usually met friends in the Country Club Plaza area of Kansas City, Missouri on Sundays.  They had brunch, shopped and gossiped.  But Ben knew Lane was skipping it this morning so she could spend time with Evie and Jess before they both left.

“Yep.  She wants to spend time with Nana Evie and Jess before they head out this afternoon.”

“Okay.  I’ll be ready in about 45 minutes.”

Ben made coffee and sat at the kitchen table.  He’d made reservations at the Bristol for 11:00.  He thought that should be plenty of time for everyone to be up, showered and dressed.

At 9:30, Jamie drove to get his grandmother, and Ben went to the bedroom.  He found Lane in the shower.  He leaned against the door jamb and watched as she washed her hair.  He knew he had to get used to seeing her naked, but he didn’t think he’d ever stop appreciating the sight.

Lane turned, saw Ben and smiled. “You were quiet when you showered this morning.”

He nodded.  “You need your sleep.”

He got a towel and wrapped it around her as she stepped out of the shower.  He kissed her shoulder as he towel dried her hair.  He knelt and dried her legs.

She laughed.  “Oh that will really come in handy in a few months when I have trouble bending over.”

He patted her abdomen and tried to imagine her belly big with a baby.  She stepped away from him and bent over to run her fingers through her hair.

“You really do that every day?”  He asked.

She laughed.  “People think I spend a lot of time on my hair.  The truth is that I bend over and run my fingers or a pick through it, throw my head back, and let it fall where it may.  At least on the weekends.  You know I wear it up in the office.  A number of years ago, a mentor told me it was too sexy down; and to be taken seriously, I either needed to cut it or wear it up.”

Ben stepped up and took her in his arms, kissing her shoulder he said, “I’m glad you decided to keep it long.”

She leaned her head back and fluffed her fingers through her hair.  “Oh, no, I cut it all off after she told me that.  But that was a very long time ago.”

Ben kissed her and turned her toward her closet.  “Evie is on her way over and we have reservations at the Bristol at 11:00.  You need to get dressed.”

Lane pulled underwear, jeans, a sleeveless sweater, a denim jacket and boots out of her closet.

“I’ve been thinking about Evie and about your house and about our baby.”

Lane poked her head out of the closet.  “Those are broad, somewhat unrelated topics.  What have you been thinking?”

“I was wondering what you think about asking Evie to move down here.  Your house is vacant now.  What if Evie moved into it?  With the baby coming, I was thinking you’d like to have her nearby.  Give it some thought.”  Or, he thought, this house will be vacant soon.  But he wasn’t quite ready to tell her about the new house.

Lane carried her clothes into the bedroom.  “I don’t have to give it any thought.  I’d love to have Evie close.  The boys would love having her here too, but Evie might take some convincing.  She has an active life in Omaha.”

Ben sat in the sitting area watching Lane as she dressed.  He smiled.  It wasn’t something that needed to be decided today. “Well, it won’t hurt anything to talk with her about the possibility.”

Chapter 31

California here I come

Joey handed his and Jess’s bags to a steward, and put his hand in the small of Jess’s back as they ascended the stairs leading to the Lucky Bets Jet.  In the mid afternoon sunlight, Jess could see the logo plainly; an L and a B, each in the center of cubes, forming a pair of rolling dice.  She’d have seen it when they left Long Beach airport five days ago, if she hadn’t been so rattled by the break-in, Joey’s rescue, and the theft of her favorite shoes.  Seeing the logo, she couldn’t help but notice that is was also the first initial of the last names Luciano and Bellini.

There was obviously a lot about these two families that the Parkers didn’t know, and now they were forever linked.  It warranted some investigation.  Jess remembered the reaction of her friends the first time they learned that she knew “the Bellinis”. It was the first time someone had told her that the Bellinis were mobbed up.  Joey managed a casino in Vegas.  It wasn’t such a stretch to imagine that the casino was owned by the family.  The question was only whether it was owned by the family or by la famiglia.

Jess settled into a seat and looked out the window to where her Mom and Ben stood.  She waved at her Mother as the plane began to taxi.

*****

Lane and Ben had driven them to the Executive Airport.  Lane watched as Jess boarded the plane. Jess had turned and waved at Lane using the signal for I love you.  Little finger, index finger and thumb extended.  It was for the letters I, L & Y from American Sign Language.  Lane smiled, she’d taught it to her kids when they were small, anticipating the days when they’d be too big to tell her or to hear from her the words that the sign conveyed.  The hatch was closed, and Lane and Ben got back into the Lincoln Navigator; but Ben didn’t start the engine until the plane was in the air.

He looked at Lane.  He was sure Jess had no idea that Lane’s eyes filled with tears every time she said good-bye to her daughter at an airport.  Lane reached into her purse, retrieved a tissue and dabbed at her eyes.

Ben squeezed her hand.  “She’ll be fine, Red.  You know she can take care of herself.”

“I know, it’s just that I always remember her as that little girl.”

“Oh, you mean the one who went toe to toe with you at, what was she, three when she told you not to yell at Jake?”

Lane dabbed her eyes again and smiled. “Yes, that little girl.”

*****

Joey had taken the seat across the table from Jess again.  He watched her as she gazed out the window until the Navigator was no longer in view.  “You okay?”

She smiled at him.  “Yes.  I worry about my Mom, that’s all.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, the old man is all about taking care of her.  I pity any man, woman, or beast who causes her the slightest bit of discomfort.  Her children excluded of course.”

Jess laughed.  “He can be just a bit over protective, can’t he?  I thought he was going to carry her to the SUV last night when she said she was tired.”

“He would have, if she hadn’t looked at him with that raised eye brow.  Stopped him in his tracks.”  Joey worked his face trying to raise his left eyebrow in imitation of Lane’s look the night before.

Jess raised her brow.  “You mean this look?”

Joey held his hands up in surrender.  “Yes, that look.”

She laughed. “Oh, come on, you aren’t trying to tell me that look frightens you.  Every mother has something that gets her kids.  I’ve seen Mama Bellini get the attention of her grown sons like this.”  She slapped the fingers of her left hand sharply into the palm of her right hand, the same way she had done the night before to get his attention.

“My mother raised her eyebrow, and we knew that whatever discussion or argument we thought we were having was over. And there’s no need to ask who won.  If it was accompanied with a finger pointing toward the bedrooms, we knew we were in deep trouble.”

Joey gave an exaggerated shudder.  “I think the hand slapping and yelling is better.”

It was what he’d grown up with.  He was used to it; and if the truth be told, until Jess had done it last night, he had thought he was immune to it.  That quiet tone and the look that the Parker women used was going to take some getting used to.

They hadn’t talked about the events from last night.  They had walked back into the ballroom together.  They’d danced together, and he’d stepped aside when each of his brothers and most of the other men at the wedding reception had asked her to dance.  But after each dance he relinquished, he had come back and claimed his place next to her.  Damn, the last thing he expected five days ago was to become a full-fledged member of the Jess Parker fan club.

She had been right last night.  Five days ago, what he thought he knew was that she was nothing more than a pretty face and Pauli’s current girlfriend. He’d learned a lot since then.  The most important thing was that she wasn’t Pauli’s girlfriend, had never been Pauli’s girlfriend and never wanted to be Pauli’s girlfriend.  And although she was beautiful, she was much more than just a pretty face. She was smart, witty, and bossy. He rubbed his chest absent-mindedly.  And how could someone so damn small have such a wallop? Whether because of the paint ball gun, the center piece, or her finger, his chest ached.  It had to be from something she’d shot, thrown, or punched.  There was no way it was from anything else.  And yet he had to admit it was a sensation he didn’t think he’d ever felt before.

He shook his head.  What did he feel? In the beginning, he’d wanted to divert the paparazzi away from him and make them believe he was Pauli.  After all, at the time he thought she really was dating Pauli. He also didn’t want his people in Vegas to think he was mixed up in some mess with an actress.  Over the last five days, he’d been her savior, her protector.  He smiled.  Yeah right, he’d been her protector.  After he’d been stabbed, she had the little twerp who’d done it incapacitated and on the ground in seconds.  No wonder Hollywood was going nuts.

He looked across the table.  She was looking at him rather quizzically.  He wondered what he’d done.

“What?  What did I do this time?”

She smiled and shook her head as she said, “You weren’t listening again.”

“I was thinking.  God, don’t tell me I’ve missed something important again.”

Jess squinted her eyes and looked at him.  “I was just making small talk.”

“Well, by all means, please continue.”  He said waving his hand in a go-on motion.

“I asked where you went to college.”

“Oh, that kind of small talk.  Undergrad and MBA from St. Louis University.  The Bellinis are big on Jesuit schools for young men. The old man went to Creighton, Tony went to Rockhurst and Pauli and I went to St. Louis.”

He looked at her.  “How long have you been able to speak Italian?”

“A couple of years.  Ho imparato da Rosetta Stone.”

“And no one has any idea?”

“No, and as you know I plan to keep it that way.”

“Why did you learn?”

“I like languages.  I’m also fluent in Spanish and I’m learning French now.  But the real reason for Italian is that I was tired of being left out of conversations.”

He grinned. “I imagine someone like you could find that really irritating.”

She raised her eyebrow and tilted her head slightly.  “Someone like me?”

He held up his hands as if in surrender. “Inquisitive.  I’ll bet you were a precocious child.”

She smiled and shrugged.

“What’s with the five inch heels?  The truth, not the publicity hype.”

That got a full throated laugh.  “I’m short like Nana Evie.”  She took off her shoes and stood up.  “You’ve seen my brothers and my mother.  I needed some help.  It really is as simple as that.  I constantly felt like a Lilliputian.  It’s one thing that isn’t hype.”

The three hour trip passed quickly and soon they were on the ground at the Long Beach airport.  Joey had a limo waiting; and Jess recognized Tito, the driver who had taken them to the airport earlier in the week.

They rode silently for a while, then Joey broke the silence.  “The old man had all of your locks changed.  He said the building has a doorman now and we can get the keys from him.”

“I wonder how he managed the doorman.  California is pretty laid back, not like New York.  It’s a small building, 12 units, but still I imagine there were some people who didn’t want a door man.”

“It’s hard to argue with the old man once his mind’s made up.  He’s probably paying the doorman’s salary himself.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.  Just how much money did the Bellini family have? She wondered.

Joey held his hands up.  “Hey, he’d do it to keep you safe.”

The limo stopped in front of Jess’s building.  Tito opened the door. Joey got out and reached back in to take Jess’s hand.  He took Jess’s bag from Tito and walked with her into the building.

“The old man said he sent you some things, so the doorman will have packages along with the key.”  He told her as he opened the door and walked into the lobby.  He stopped in front of the desk that hadn’t been there a few days ago.  “I’m Joey Bellini.  This is Jessica Parker.  I think you have a set of keys and some packages for us.”

“You don’t mind if I check some ID, do you?”  The guard said.

“Not at all.”  Joey turned to smile at Jess as he pulled out his wallet.

The guard inspected Joey’s ID and nodded.  “And the lady?”

Jess reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet, dropping the plastic bag of toothbrushes on the floor. She laid her ID out for the guard as Joey bent and picked up the plastic bag she’d dropped.

The guard handed the new keys to Jess and the packages to Joey.  As they walked to the elevator, Joey handed her the bag he’d retrieved.  He could see that the bag contained toothbrushes, each in separate bags.  He also noticed that the bags had labels reading Jamie and Ben.

“Don’t ask, because I’m not going to tell you.” Jess said as she took the bag and stuffed it back into her large purse, wondering how much he’d seen.

They rode the elevator to the top floor.  Jess walked out and Joey followed her to her condo.  She unlocked the door and opened it, stood in the hall and looked around.  Of course, she thought, Ben would have had a cleaning crew come through.

Joey had gone into the condo first and put the packages down in the living room.  “I’m supposed to make sure everything’s secure.”  He said as he took her hand.  “Come on, you need to see that no one’s here, everything is safe, and you’re secure.”

He left his gun in its holster, but she was sure it was there under his left arm.  She held his hand as they walked through the kitchen, the dining room, the bedrooms and the bathrooms.  They walked back into the living room, where they sat next to each other on the sofa.  Joey pushed the bags toward her.