Текст книги "Directing Disaster"
Автор книги: Kate Kane
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Текущая страница: 8 (всего у книги 11 страниц)
Chapter 23
Friday afternoon
Ben carefully avoided the press, taking the back stairs as he left the courthouse. One famous person in the family was enough. He pulled out his cell phone and called Lane’s cell phone.
“How do you do that,” she asked as she picked up the phone.
He laughed. “I keep telling you, I have ESP where you’re concerned. Why were you thinking about me?”
“I want you to talk to my Obstetrician. I thought that maybe we could have a conference call or something. I was trying to think of how we could do this since you’re in court.”
“The trial just finished. I’m on my way home, or wherever you need me to be.”
“Let me call Dr. Sennette’s office. I’ll see if we can get an appointment or if I can arrange a call. I’ll call you right back.”
Lane hung up and called the Obstetrician’s office. They had an appointment available at 4:00 that afternoon if she wanted it. She took the slot and called Ben. “We have an appointment at 4:00. Why don’t you come buy me lunch,” she said. They’d been married for less than two days, and it seemed like there had been so much going on that she’d barely seen him.
“I’d love to buy you lunch. I’ll see you in about half an hour.”
He hung up and dialed Joey’s cell phone. He still wanted to know what was in those boxes that were left for Jess yesterday.
*****
Pauli was pouting, there was no other word for it, because Jess had gone to the police station with Daniella. That left him with Joey who really wasn’t much company. He’d driven 250 miles from St. Louis and he hadn’t been able to spend any quality time with Jess. On top of that, Joey was just cranky. Sure, he’d been stabbed, had surgery, and was on crutches but none of that was Pauli’s fault.
He’d spent most of yesterday at the hospital, and last night Jess hadn’t even taken time to insult him. She’d yelled at Joey and then she’d just gone to bed. He was pretty sure there were things going on that no one had told him yet. He knew the stalker had followed Jess from L.A. to Kansas and that he’d been found murdered yesterday. He knew the police had questioned Jess, but that they hadn’t held her because she’d been with the family at the hospital. On top of that, no one had bothered to call him about Ben and Lane’s wedding.
Joey had gotten tired of Pauli’s pouting and gone to his bedroom. Which was where he was when Ben called. He answered it, “Hey, old man.”
Ben ignored the comment, “In all of the excitement yesterday, I forgot to ask about the packages. You still have them?”
“Yeah, they’re in my duffle. What do you want me to do with them?”
“Where’s Jess?”
“She went to the police station with Daniella.”
“I want to know what’s in them. We’re going to have to hand them over to the police now, but I want to know what’s in them before we do. And I imagine we’re going to have to tell Jess and Lane about it too, but like I said, I want to know what is in them first.”
“Fine, I’ll check it out. Where will you be?”
“I finished the trial and I’m going to pick Lane up for lunch. Take a look and call me.”
Joey was trying not to use the crutches so he hobbled to the closet. Carefully, he bent from the waist and pulled out the duffle bag. He carried it to the bed and opened it. Both packages were there. He opened the one addressed to Kate and found a love note and white roses. He opened the package addressed to Kit and found a vicious note lying in a bed of black rose petals. He read the notes. Same old bilge as the others. He called Ben.
“They were flowers. White roses for Kate, black for Kit. The notes were more of the same garbage as the others. I’ll call Detective Hunter. He needs a statement from me anyway.”
“You know the drill. You shouldn’t go talk to the police alone. I can’t be there. Lane and I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. Call Uncle Sal and see if he can go with you.”
Ben ended the call. He pulled in front of Lane’s office, parked the Navigator, and went into the building. There was a new guard; the old one was doing serious jail time for murder and kidnapping. Ben stopped and gave his name.
The young guard looked him over carefully before saying, “I’ll just call upstairs.”
Ben stood next to the counter as the guard made the call, and was soon rewarded for his patience.
“Miss Kelly says you can go on up.”
Ben went through the turn style and pushed the button for the elevator. He rode the elevator to the fifth floor and walked toward Lane’s office. Meg Kelly was waiting for him as he rounded the corner.
“Well, congratulations,” she said as she extended her hand toward Ben. “On the marriage and the baby.”
She seemed to be smirking. Ben wondered if she’d found out about the wedding from Jake, from Lane, or from the news like the rest of the city.
“Thanks.” He inclined his head toward Lane’s office door. “I’m here to take her to lunch. She should be expecting me.”
“She is, but she had to step out for a minute. Better get used to it. Pregnant women have bladders the size of a walnut.” Which wasn’t really true, it just felt that way. “Go on in and have a seat. She shouldn’t be long.”
Ben went into Lane’s office and walked over to stand in front of the window. He looked to his left at the bookshelves. Lane had a recently taken portrait of the Parkers on the shelf. In it, Lane was sitting in a chair; Jake was standing behind her with his hand on her shoulder. Jamie and Jess were sitting in front of her on the floor. It was the one thing he regretted about the hurried ceremony, they didn’t have photographs. He would make a call to be sure they had someone at the reception.
Lane walked up behind him. “Hey, Counselor. You ready?”
He turned and took her hand. “I am. Where are we going?”
She didn’t care as long as it wasn’t Aunt Em’s. She loved the food and especially the pies at Aunt Em’s. But, she’d fainted there earlier in the week, she had no desire for a repeat of that performance, different audience or not.
As the elevator doors closed, he turned to her. “Has your husband told you today how beautiful you are?”
She smiled. “I don’t think he has. He did kiss me this morning, and he told me he loved me before he left, but no, I don’t think he said anything about being beautiful.”
He squeezed her hand. “The man’s a fool. He should be telling you every hour on the hour.”
She patted his arm. “You shouldn’t be so hard on him. He’s had a busy week.”
The elevator doors opened and they walked into the lobby. As they went through the turn style, the guard spoke to Lane. “Will you be back today, Ms. Parker?”
Lane turned around and smiled at him. “Bob, it’s Mrs. Bellini now. This is my husband, Ben. Ben, this is Bob. We’re just going for lunch,” she said as Ben and Bob shook hands.
Ben opened the door for her and walked her to the Navigator, clicking the remote to unlock the doors, before he opened the passenger door for her.
“How do you feel about Papa’s? We can get in and out in reasonable time. Since you told Bob you’d be back, I take it you’re going back to work for a while before our Doctor appointment.” Ben said as he started the SUV.
“Yes. I’ll need to take a lot of time off over the next few months; I don’t want to squander any.”
“Speaking of time off, we have a honeymoon to take. I was thinking we might go to Italy, see some sights, and maybe drop by to see Jess.”
God, she loved him. “Let’s talk about it tonight. It is date night, you know.”
They pulled into the parking lot of the strip mall where Bellini’s was located. At least one of the news crews that had been in Kansas City for the trial had been reassigned to report on Jess’s stalker. They were skulking outside Papa’s taking video and calling to Lane and Ben as they went in.
Ben flashed his million watt Bellini smile and, keeping his hand in the small of Lane’s back, he made sure they kept walking into the restaurant and all the way into the Board Room.
Chapter 24
keeping secrets
Uncle Sal accompanied Joey to the Overland Park Police station. Joey gave a formal statement to Detective Hunter, and turned over the packages and notes that had been left for Jess. Let the police file them away in some evidence locker for the rest of eternity, he thought.
Detective Hunter questioned Joey briefly about Clyde Benson, but since he’d been in the hospital at the time of Benson’s death, Joey had nothing to offer.
*****
Jess had returned home from the Police station after Joey had left the house. Pauli had gone somewhere and she was finally home alone. She went into Jamie’s room and took his toothbrush, and then went into the master bath and took Ben’s toothbrush. She left a brand new toothbrush in the place of each of the ones she’d taken. She’d labeled each of the toothbrushes and put each of them in individual plastic bags. She put those in a larger plastic zip bag and put them into her purse. She had found a website online that could do DNA testing from a toothbrush and she’d mail them in when she got back to California.
She had a pretty good idea of what the findings would be, she just didn’t know how it was possible. She knew Ben had done both his undergrad and law school at Creighton University in Omaha. What she didn’t know was how her mother would have met him. She also didn’t believe that her mother would have put up this elaborate ruse for the last three years. Not only that, she didn’t believe that her mother was capable of the lies a ruse like this would require. At least not to her children. No, there was some logical explanation and she planned to get to the bottom of it.
*****
After lunch, Ben had dropped Lane back at her office. She had told him she’d come home around three o’clock, so she could change clothes and they could go together to the Obstetrician.
Jess heard the garage open. She smiled. The Bellinis were in for a lecture. They’d all gone out and no one had left so much as a yellow sticky note to say where they’d gone. Lane didn’t have a lot of rules the Parker kids had to remember; but leaving a note when you left, so that anyone who came home knew where you were, was one of them. Living in the world of cell phones was no excuse. The Parkers still had to leave a note on the fridge. It had to state: where you were, whom you were with, and when you’d be back. Mom followed the rule too. The exception of course was when Mom was at work, or the kids were at school. Everyone knew that.
Joey came into the kitchen, followed by both Pauli and Ben. It was a little like a parade. Joey was wearing black slacks, loafers and a light weight sweater, followed by Pauli wearing khaki slacks, loafers and a light weight sweater. Ben was in his suit, but quickly went to his room and changed into his casual uniform khaki slacks, loafers and a light weight sweater. Jess was wearing black skinny jeans and a black t-shirt with long lace sleeves and a pair of Giuseppe Zanotti peep toe, lace up booties in black, naturally with a five inch heel. She looked from one Bellini to another.
“Don’t you guys own any jeans?”
Joey laughed and looked at her feet. “Do you own any flats?” He was sure the jeans and T-shirt had been purchased at the mall yesterday. They were worth every penny he’d spent.
She narrowed her eyes. “Yes, I own some, I just don’t wear them.”
Ben held up his hand hoping to divert an argument. “Joey, did Uncle Sal go with you to the Overland Park Police station?”
“Yeah, I talked to Detective Hunter. Gave him my statement about the stabbing and what little I knew about the scene that happened with Detective Crane.” He sat at the table and stretched out his left leg.
Jess looked at him, “Where are your crutches?”
“Toots, take a breath. I don’t need the damn crutches.”
Pauli looked at Jess, “He’s getting around fine without them.”
She turned, and pointed her finger at Pauli, “Parrot Boy, when I want your opinion, I’ll tell you what it is and you can parrot it back to me.”
Ben ignored the tension in the room, “Did he ask about Clyde Benson?”
“Yeah. But since I was in the hospital when he was killed, He didn’t push.”
Ben fell into Italian and his brothers followed. They needn’t have bothered. Jess understood every single word. She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and sat down at the table.
“What did Sal say?”
“Nothing. The normal stuff. Not that I need much help knowing when to keep my mouth shut. What could the cops say? Where was I when it happened? I was in the hospital. Not that I’ll lose any sleep over it. He deserved to die for what he did to her. And although it was an interesting touch, I sure as hell wouldn’t have used her shoe to kill him.”
Ben looked at Pauli, “Have the police contacted you? You were a witness for the shooting.”
“No, do you think they will?”
“Probably not. It’s all on video. You weren’t directly involved, and the paparazzi know as much as you do. You’re family though, so I thought they might. When are you heading back to St. Louis?”
“I have a shift Sunday afternoon. I thought I’d stay for the wedding reception. Thanks for the invite to the wedding by the way.”
“You know what happened last month, with the baby on the way, I wasn’t going to take any chances this time. No one was getting any time to back out.” Ben looked at Joey, “What did Hunter say about the packages that were left at the house yesterday morning?”
Pauli looked from Ben to Joey, “What packages?”
“The stalker left two packages, the Bambino found them yesterday morning, white roses for Kate, black roses for Kit in the driveway. With a love note and a hate note. That guy was more than a little warped.”
Jess sipped her water and smiled as they carried on what they assumed was their private conversation. It was a good thing she was a good actress. The last question had her ready to get up on a chair and smack every one of these men. Who the hell did they think they were keeping something like that from her?
Joey looked back toward Ben, “Hunter took them. You know they’re going to end up in some evidence locker somewhere. I don’t think they’ll ever arrest anyone for that execution.”
The garage door opened again and Lane walked into the house. Suddenly all Italian stopped.
“Red.” Ben said as he walked to Lane. He leaned down and kissed her. “Do you want to change before we go?”
He walked with her to the bedroom.
Jess looked at Joey and Pauli, “You boys finished telling secrets?”
The Bellini twins looked at her. Joey with a look of defiance, Pauli was obviously ready to melt.
“Yeah, Toots. Finished.” Joey said as he stood, “I’m going to lay down for a while. What time do we leave for the football game?”
“The game’s in Liberty at 7:00, so probably around 5:30, give or take.” Jess replied.
She wasn’t about to let them know she understood what they’d been talking about, but she also wasn’t about to let them get away with keeping things from her. Let Joey go have a nap. She knew she could get anything she wanted out of Pauli, but she also knew he didn’t know anything about the packages. Grrrr. Jamie found the packages, she’d get it out of him after the game. She knew he’d be home soon, but there would be no time to get him alone and work on him.
Lane and Ben came out of the bedroom. Lane was wearing her Levi’s, with cowboy boots with a sweater. She was carrying a barn coat. Ben had picked up a leather jacket.
“Lane and I are going to a doctor appointment. We’ll stop and grab a bite afterward, so we’ll meet you at the game.”
Pauli looked at Lane, “Is everything okay?”
She smiled, “Yes, just a normal appointment; and Ben wants to meet the doctor.”
Jess watched Pauli as Ben and her Mother left. He might be trying to get with to her, but he was still crushing on her mother. She smiled. “So, Pauli, you’re still crushing a little bit, aren’t you?” She could swear he blushed.
“I’m interested in you. I don’t know why you keep saying I’m crushing on your mother.”
“Uh-huh. Pauli, you should see your face when you look at her. You might think you’re interested in me, but believe me I’m a poor substitute for Angelique Lane Valle Parker Bellini.”
*****
She was so infuriating. She either picked on him or accused him of crushing on her mother.
Pauli remembered the first time he met Lane. She and Ben were in St, Louis. He had taken a shower in Ben’s hotel room and had come out wearing nothing but the towel he was drying his hair with. He hadn’t known that Lane was in the adjoining room, or that Ben had opened the door between the rooms and was sitting on Lane’s bed. Her room had two queen sized beds and Ben’s room had a king sized bed, so she’d traded rooms with the Bellini brothers. She’d gotten out of bed and walked from her room into the other room wearing a night shirt that, as Ben put it, barely covered her ass.
The next morning, he’d been rummaging through Ben’s suitcase looking for workout clothes; and Lane, thinking he was Ben, had thrown a pillow at him. He’d thrown it back at her and was enjoying the exchange until Ben growled, “What’s going on?” from the other room, and Lane had realized it wasn’t Ben’s backside she’d tossed the pillow at. Ben had come in from the other room, pointed at Pauli and growled, “You, get the sweats and get out.” Then he’d pointed to Lane and said, “And, you, stop flirting with my brother.” Pauli had gotten the sweats and left the room.
Later that morning, Ben had told him that Lane was 12 years older than he was, and told Pauli to get whatever he had to say out of his system. He remembered thinking there was no way that she was older than Ben. Even now that he’d met her kids; the oldest of whom, was just a couple of years younger than he was, it was still hard to believe Lane was pushing 50. He’d told Ben that Lane was amazing and he couldn’t wait to meet her kids. Even at the time, he’d meant he couldn’t wait to meet her daughter. Lane was beautiful, there was no denying it. And the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree. Jess might be a lot shorter than her mother, and she might be blonde, but other than that she was every bit as hot as her mother was.
*****
Jess was sitting at the table, just looking at him with those big blue eyes. She blinked with those unbelievable eyelashes and smiled at him. God, what was he going to do? She raised her left eyebrow and cocked her head a bit.
“Fine, I’ll tell you what we were talking about.”
Jess smiled. Sometimes it was just too easy.
Chapter 25
tossing the ball
Jess walked out of the garage, onto the driveway, and spoke with the paparazzi, “Hi, guys. We’re going to watch my little brother play some high school football. You can come and ruin the night for a lot of high school kids or you can give me one night of normal family life and we can pick this up tomorrow.” She flashed a movie star smile, “I promise if anything noteworthy happens, I’ll tweet my location.”
The Parker and Bellini contingents arrived at the football field at 6:30. The paparazzi had decided to stay away, but it didn’t matter. As Jess, Joey and Pauli walked into the football stadium, heads turned and cell phones popped out taking pictures. They’d made the news yesterday, and that alone made them celebrities. Add to that the fact that Bellini men pretty much stopped traffic wherever they went; and multiply that by Jess’s new found star status, and there was no way to travel incognito. They made their way to the visitor bleachers, and moved to the top where Jake, Meg and Abbey were seated.
They watched as Jamie’s team lost a hard fought game. After the game, they split into groups. Jake and Meg had a date night planned. It was something he’d learned watching Ben for the last three years. No matter what was going on in your life, you had to set aside at least one night a week for date night. Date night was always just for you and your girlfriend. They were going to drop Abbey with Meg’s parents before going out for a late movie.
Although they wouldn’t say what they were going to do, Lane and Ben had plans too, so that left Jess with Joey and Pauli. Pauli and Joey were close and with Joey in Las Vegas, they didn’t see much of each other anymore. Yet, each of them wished the other was somewhere else. Jess might spend most of her time insulting whichever one of them she was with, but both Joey and Pauli wanted to be alone with her. She’d be going back to L.A. soon, and in no time she’d be in Europe filming the movie. There was always the phone, texting, and Skype, but Pauli knew that wasn’t the same. It was the way he’d been keeping in touch with Jess for the last month. First, there was the two hour time difference and then there were their conflicting schedules. Most of Europe was seven hours ahead ahead of Central Time; and Joey was on Pacific Time, making it a nine hour difference.
Lane and Ben went to the Parker house. That afternoon, the obstetrician had explained to Ben that the baby wouldn’t be harmed from them having sex. She had explained that as the pregnancy progressed, that they may find they needed to experiment with different positions; but as long as it was comfortable for Lane, it was safe for the baby.
It was what he wanted to hear. Ben had lost his virginity at the age of 16 and had spent more time being celibate since he had started dating Lane, four and a half months ago, than any other time since he turned 16. The truth was he’d have spent the next eight months being celibate, if that was what the doctor had told them was needed.
He put his phone on speaker and opened the Pandora app. He took Lane in his arms and danced with her. He wanted to make love to her, but there was time for that. Right now, he wanted to hold her and dance with her. He’d put together a reception in the ballroom of Papa’s for tomorrow night. He would put on his tux, she would put on her wedding dress and they’d dance and eat and greet guests who, thanks to Jess and the internet, would all know that they were pregnant when they got married. The important thing was that they were married. She had once asked him why he’d never married and he had told her that he couldn’t imagine spending the rest of his life with any of the women he’d dated. Right now, he couldn’t imagine spending even one minute of his life without Lane. The weeks that they had spent apart had been miserable for him.
They danced around the house; and as he moved them toward the bedroom, he told her how much he loved her. He’d made love to her in this room just before he’d given her that stupid line about needing space. He’d make love to her here tonight and then they’d drive back home and he’d make love to her again in their bed. He planned to spend the rest of his life loving this woman.
He had lifted her onto the bed and was unbuttoning her Levi’s when his phone started ringing. It was a blocked number. He kissed Lane and apologized before he clicked the answer button.
“Bellini.”
He listened, finally replying, “We’ll meet you there.” He looked at Lane. “We need to go to the Leawood Police Station. I’ll explain on the way.”
