Текст книги "Favor for a Friend"
Автор книги: Kate Kane
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Favor for a Friend
Lane Parker Mysteries #1
By Kate Kane
Copyright 2013 Kate Kane
License Notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.
Favor for a Friend is a work of fiction. Characters, Incidents, Names, and Places are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any events, locales, or Persons living or dead is completely coincidental.
Cover images courtesy of photos by catolla, canstock & Kaid Kane
Cover by Joleene Naylor
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – Prologue
Chapter 2 – You've got a Friend in me
Chapter 3 – No one packs like a Parker
Chapter 4 – North by Northwest or How to get to Omaha
Chapter 5 – A Friend of yours is a friend of mine
Chapter 6 – Meet me in St. Louis
Chapter 7 – Seek and you shall find
Chapter 8 – Never trust a stranger
Chapter 9 – Confession is good for the soul
Chapter 10 – A tale of two guys and a girl
Chapter 11 – All's well that ends well
Italian Translations
Preview – Family Secrets
Dedication
While the Parker, Bellini, and Luciano families were born in my brain, I have to thank my own family for their encouragement and help.
Thank-you to my daughter Keey who helps with a really good one-liner almost every time I needed one.
Thank-you to my son Kaid who helped with the cover.
And thanks to both who listen, laugh, and encourage me as I talk about the disasters and dilemmas my other family faces.
Prologue
Things always look darkest when the sun goes down.
Jeff couldn't believe his luck, if luck was what you'd call it. It was dusk when he'd missed the turn that would have taken him to I80 and he was forced to continue down the gravel road near Gretna, Nebraska; then his truck had died. He checked the gas gage, half full. He tried the ignition again. Nothing, no clicking, no noise, nothing. He opened the door. No beep to tell him the key was in the ignition and the dome light was dark. Damn, it must be the battery. He checked his cell phone. It was dead too. Luckily, the truck had come to a stop within a short walk of a farmhouse. Unfortunately, no one answered as he pounded first on the front door and then on the back door. He walked back to his truck and opened the hood to check the connection for the battery. Everything looked good and he'd exhausted his knowledge of the inner workings of a car engine.
"Okay, what next?" He mumbled as he closed the hood. He looked up and couldn't believe how lucky he was to find an SUV had pulled up and parked behind his truck. He walked toward the SUV and as the window lowered, he saw a really hot blonde.
Jeff smiled as he approached the SUV. "Hey, thanks for stopping. Don't suppose you've got jumper cables."
Her long blonde hair moved in waves as she shook her head and gave him a mega-watt smile. "I wouldn't even know what they looked like."
He wasn't surprised that she had no idea what jumper cables were. He smiled again. "Maybe I could just use your cell phone?"
She shook her head again. "No bars, but I can offer you a ride."'
She looked harmless enough, and darkness had folded in around him since his truck had first died. He shrugged his shoulders. What the heck. "A ride to a gas station would be great." Maybe he could call Triple A from a gas station.
Jeff opened the passenger door and climbed into the SUV. He reached his hand toward her. “My name’s Jeff. I really appreciate the ride.”
She shook his hand. “Star. So, what brings you our here, Jeff?”
“I’m a project manager for a house builder. We’re going to break ground on an acreage near here in a couple of weeks. I was checking it out and missed my turn to get on the interstate. Then my truck died.”
She nodded. “Weird, huh?”
“So, what brings you out here? Not that I’m complaining. It’s really lucky that you happened by.”
“I have friends out here. I was going to visit them, but they weren't home.”
Jeff tried to be sociable by making small talk. But, he was distracted; his mind kept going back to what was wrong with his truck. Since he was in the construction business, his truck was a work vehicle, and he always kept it in good repair. In fact, it was only six months old. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice that the SUV stopped until he heard Star saying his name.
He opened the door and thanked her for the ride as he got out. He walked into the gas station, thankful that it was still open. He greeted the clerk, and asked about a pay phone. His luck had run out. That was the thing about the proliferation of cell phones; pay phones were going the way of the dinosaur.
He asked about using the landline, but the teenaged kid behind the counter said he wasn't allowed to let customers use the phone. Jeff let out an exasperated sigh. What was he going to do? As he glanced around the store, he noticed that there was a display of cell phone accessories. He turned the display case stopping when he saw an a/c charger for his i-Phone.
"So, if I buy this charger for my iPhone, have you got an outlet I can plug it into? Or is that against the rules too?"
The kid looked at him and shrugged. "You can use the outlet the men's room for anything you want."
Great, so now he had to sit in the men's room while his phone charged. Could this day get any worse? He paid for the overpriced charger and headed for the men's room. Hopefully, he'd have enough juice to make a call right away. Of course, that would require that he had service.
Jeff used his Swiss Army knife to open the theft preventative packaging that held the charger. He got the charger out, the phone connected to it and the whole thing plugged into the electrical outlet. Out of habit, he'd locked the door and he was leaning against it as he waited. He both heard and felt the knock. "Yeah, give me a minute." He said as he checked the phone. Woo hoo! Bars and it had enough power to make at least one quick call. He pulled the cord from the wall outlet and opened the door as he hit the send button. He got through to Triple "A" and gave the information about his whereabouts. The tow truck could meet him at the gas station and then they'd drive to his truck. The tow truck was coming from Lincoln, Nebraska and there was an estimated 45-minute wait. He'd noticed a bench in front of the building when he'd gone in. He grabbed a Diet Coke, paid the clerk, and stepped outside. He sat on the bench and noticed an electrical outlet next to it. He plugged the charger in and sent an e-mail to his mother telling her about the truck issue and explaining that he might not be able to pick up her new patio furniture the next day as he'd agreed earlier – it all depended on what was wrong with his truck.
Chapter 1
A Friend in Need
Lane sat in her office glancing out the window overlooking the expansive trimmed lawn, her hand still resting on the phone. She'd just hung up after talking to her best friend from childhood. Maggie Donaldson and Lane Parker had lived next door to each other and had been best friends from diapers through junior high school. After that, their lives had taken different paths and some thirty-five years later, they'd somehow lost touch.
The summer Lane turned thirteen, her Aunt Marta had sold the house Lane had grown up in, and moved her to Omaha. Through tear filled eyes, and cracking voices, she and Maggie had vowed to stay in touch. It was before email and cell phones though and the girls had tried to stay touch through cards, letters, and phone calls. For a while, they even managed to spend a weekend with one another every month or so; but Maggie was playing sports and had basketball practices, softball practices, and track meets while Lane was busy with piano lessons and recitals. Before long, they'd each made other friends, and the phone calls, cards, letters, and weekends became fewer and farther between.
A tap on Lane’s office door brought her back to the present. She looked up to find her administrative assistant, Meg Kelly standing in the doorway.
"You need to pack up if you're going to make it to the airport in time to meet Jess's flight."
Lane nodded. "Thanks, Meg." She said as she powered down her laptop.
"You seem a little preoccupied. Are you worrying about Jess driving back to California alone?"
Lane’s daughter, Jess, was a student at UCLA majoring in Theater. She'd been going on more auditions and getting more parts and Lane had flown to L.A. over spring break and helped Jess find a condo. After a great deal of consideration on Lane's part and fussing and feuding on Jess's part, Lane had agreed to let Jess take her car back to school at the end of the semester. As much as Lane wished time would move a little more slowly in respect to her children, the end of the semester had arrived.
Lane laughed. "Well, as it happens, my sons have convinced me that they should accompany their sister back to California, so she won't be going alone after all. I guess I'm just getting a preview of what my empty nest will be like when my youngest goes off to college. Maybe I'm not ready for it."
Now Meg laughed. "Well, it hasn't happened yet. Maybe he’ll live at home and attend Rockhurst University."
Lane shook her head as she loaded her laptop into her wheeled briefcase, added some reports she wanted to review over the weekend, and zipped it up. It was Memorial Day weekend, and she had decided to take both Friday and Tuesday off to extend the weekend, even before she'd gotten that call from Maggie. Now, she was going to be driving to Omaha and she hoped she'd be able to get everything done.
The Parker Kids had planned to take off first thing Saturday morning. It was a three-day drive if they didn't make any tourist stops or sightseeing detours. The boys, Jake and Jamie, were going to stay with Jess for a few days and then fly back to Kansas City the following Thursday.
As she drove to the airport, Lane's mind went back to the phone call from Maggie. Maggie’s son Jeff was missing. She hadn't heard from him for almost a week and neither his boss nor his friends knew where he was. Maggie was at her wits end when she'd called Lane for moral support. But, Lane offered more than that. When Lane first moved to Overland Park, she'd become friends with Ben Bellini. Benito Giovanni Bellini second generation Italian American was the best criminal defense attorney in the Kansas City Metropolitan area. He had connections in law enforcement in every community in the greater metropolitan area as well as state law enforcement in Missouri and Kansas. She hoped his reach extended to Omaha, Nebraska.
Her cell phone rang bringing her out of her reverie. She checked the readout on the screen for the number before connecting via blue tooth.
"I was just thinking about you." She told Ben. It often seemed that he had ESP or at least knew when he was on her mind because this wasn't the first time he'd called when she'd been thinking of him.
His smile came clearly through the airwaves. "So, Red what's up?"
"I'm on my way to the airport to get Jess. I have a question for you and depending on the answer, I might need a favor."
"Ask away, as for the favor, you know you only need ask."
She smiled. Ben was her best friend here in Kansas. He'd recently been hinting that they could be more than that, but he was 36 and she was closing in on 50. He was quick to remind her that she didn't look even 40. It was true, she had good genes and men and women alike guessed her age 15 years younger than her almost 49 years.
"I got a call from a friend in Omaha this afternoon. Her son Jeff is about the same age as Jake. She hasn't heard from him in a while and she's worried. Any chance your circle of friends and associates reaches Omaha? I'd like to help her if I can."
"You're in luck, Red. Didn't I ever tell you that I went to law school in Omaha? I keep in touch with a classmate who practices there. I can give her a call and see if she can point me in the right direction. I need a little more information before I make the call though. How about I drop by the house tonight? I can bring pizzas for you and the kids."
Ben went to law school in Omaha.How had that never come up? She looked at the clock. "Sure, that works. It's 5:45. I'm just pulling into the parking garage and if the flight is on time, and if Jess has carried on her luggage as she usually does, then I can be home in an hour. Let's say 7:00?"
Chapter 2
You've got a Friend in me
Jess walked out of the terminal carrying her backpack and quickly made her way toward her mother. After they exchanged a brief hug, Jess confirmed that the backpack was her only luggage. On the drive home, Jess regaled Lane with stories of her most recent acting job. Lane shook her head. Lately, Jess had practically made a career out of playing the dead body on one TV crime series after another. She'd met Dirk Jacobsen, a current heartthrob, who was a Grammy award-winning singer and was making his TV debut, on the set of Lawlessness when she'd played the body found in his hotel room.
Jess, who was 5 feet 4 inches tall, always wore shoes with at least a four-inch heel. She was used to being around men who were well over six feet tall, like her brothers both of whom were a full foot taller than Jess. She laughed as she told the story of meeting Dirk. “We had no scenes with me standing, which was good because he might be maybe an inch taller than I am. Sorry, Mom. I was a high-end call girl in this episode; and my wardrobe included a pair of five-inch heels. I would have towered over him.”
As Lane turned onto her street, she could see Ben’s black Lincoln Navigator parked in front of the house. She pulled into the garage, and she and Jess got out of the SUV. Lane got her briefcase and Jess got her backpack. The scent of pizza filled the air as Jess and lane walked into the house. They found Jake, Jamie, and Ben in the kitchen. Lane put her briefcase in her office while Jess hurried to stow her backpack in her room. The guys had set the table and had everyone's favorite sodas on the table. While Lane would have loved to change clothes, she knew that the Parker boys were starving. Had they been just a couple of years younger, Lane knew they'd be sitting at the table knife in one hand, fork in the other tapping the utensils on the table chanting something like "We want grub." or whining about being near death for lack of food. She smiled. The more things change the more they remain the same.
During dinner, the conversation bounced from Jess's recent auditions, to Jake's job offer, to Jamie's summer plans and the excitement the three Parker Kids had about the drive to California. The Parker Kids quizzed their mother about her plans while they would all be gone. Lane talked about getting a call from Maggie but didn't share with the kids that Jeff was missing. There was no reason to upset them or distract them before their trip.
Lane smiled. She loved her family and loved to have them all together around the kitchen table. Her smile faded as she remembered her conversation with her old friend. What if it was Jake? She looked at Ben and tilted her head toward the door. She picked up her soda and headed toward the den.
"I called Liz. Just to give her a heads up." Ben said as they sat on the sofa in Lane’s home office. "I'd like to talk to your friend to see if we can get some more info."
Lane nodded. "Let's call her. I imagine she's going to be sitting by the phone until she hears from Jeff." Lane stood and walked to her desk where the speakerphone sat. She hit the speaker button and dialed Maggie's number by heart.
Without even saying hello, Maggie answered on the first ring and began talking. "Lane, I haven't heard anything more since we talked earlier."
"Maggie, you're on speaker. I have my friend Ben Bellini with me. I know you only called me for moral support, but I'd like to do more. Ben's a lawyer and he has a friend in Omaha to whom he can reach out. Tell us exactly when you last heard from Jeff and what he said."
Maggie took a breath and in a worried tone, she said, "He sent an e-mail at 9:47 p.m. last Friday night. He was supposed to pick me up Saturday morning and drive me to Nebraska Furniture so we could pick up a new patio set I'd bought. You know how I hate to pay the delivery charges on things. He sent the e-mail saying that he'd had truck trouble near Gretna and was waiting for a tow truck. I expected him to call me Saturday to let me know what happened, but he didn't call. By Sunday night, I still hadn't heard anything, so I called his house. No answer, so I called his cell. It went straight to voice mail. On Monday, I called the office for the construction company where he's a project manager. I left a message asking him to call me. I've called both his house and his cell several times every day. His voice mail boxes are full at both numbers now."
"Hi, Maggie, this is Ben. Have you called the police to report him missing?"
"No. I'm worried, but I'm afraid I'm over reacting. What if he's been with a girlfriend and I've called the police? He'll be upset, say I'm smothering him."
Lane felt her friend's angst. As a mother, she'd often walked the same tightrope. "Oh, Maggie. It's been six days. Even a kid would understand if you called the police now." Lane told her friend.
Ben looked at Lane "Maggie, how about if I call my friend? Her name is Liz Collier. We can give her the information. She has an investigator she uses who can start digging into things without involving the police. Would that make you feel better?"
"I can't afford to hire a private investigator."
Lane wanted to help her friend, but was worried that the conversation was making panic set in. "Maggie, don't worry about the money..." Lane began.
"No, Maggie, don't worry about it. Liz has owed me a favor for quite a while. She'll be glad to have the obligation lifted. No money will exchange hands on this. Can you send Lane an e-mail with Jeff's full name, his birthdate, his social security number, his cell phone number and the carrier's name, his home address and work address? A recent photo if you have one would be good too. I'll get the info to Liz and let her get started on it. If you don't mind, I'd like to stay in the loop on this. Meaning I'd like for you to agree that Liz and her investigator can share information with me and Lane."
Lane could hear Maggie exhale almost as though she'd been holding her breath since the conversation began. "Ben, thank-you. You don't know how much I appreciate this. Lane, I've sent the e-mail to both your personal and work e-mail addresses."
"Maggie, the kids are leaving first thing Saturday. If we haven't found Jeff by then, I'll drive up. I don't know that I can do anything except offer moral support, but you shouldn't be alone right now." Lane was opening her laptop and booting it up as she talked. She looked to Ben. "Ben, Is there anything else we need to know right now?"
"No, that's it for now.” Ben smiled at Lane and continued, directing his comments to Maggie. “As soon as Lane gets into her e-mail, I'll call Liz and relay the information. I’ll give Liz your phone number too, in case she or her investigator has questions that I haven't thought of."
"Maggie, I've got the e-mail. We're going to let you go now so Ben can call Liz. You know how to reach me and, it goes without saying, you know you can call me day or night."
After hanging up, Ben made a call to his friend Liz and Lane forwarded Maggie's email to both Ben and Liz. Ben could see the surprise on Lane's face as he told Liz that he'd see her in Omaha on Saturday. He flashed what Lane called his mega-watt smile. "You didn't think I was going to let you handle this mess alone, did you?"
Chapter 3
No one packs like a Parker
Friday morning dawned early for the Parker kids who spent the debating how best to pack Jess's things into her Toyota Rav4 making sure to use every cubic inch of space still leaving room for three people. Lane had planned to sleep in, but with the racket going on inside and out, those plans didn’t last long. She listened to the banter as they loaded the Rav4. Lane had never been good at cramming things into small spaces. It was all about eye hand coordination and spatial concepts. At least that's what the kids had told her for years.
Lane showered, dressed, and made her way to the kitchen. When the kids were young, she’d gotten in the habit of making a hot breakfast on the weekends. She stood in front of the open pantry as she internally debated her options; French toast, pancakes, or just eggs, bacon and home fried potatoes. Home fried potatoes swung her decision. She reached into the potato bin and grabbed four large potatoes. She was standing at the sink scrubbing them as the kids bantered their way back into the house for another load of Jess’s “stuff.”
“How hungry is everyone?” She asked as she moved to the chopping block and began slicing the potatoes.
Jake was the first to answer, “I could eat.”
Jamie chimed in, “If you’re making home fries, I’m in.”
The boys, as Lane called her sons, were six feet four inches tall and each weighed between 195 and 200 pounds. They seemed to have hallow legs the way that they ate. Jess on the other hand was five feet four inches tall, and weighed maybe 105 pounds soaking wet. All three kids seemed to burn calories as fast as they consumed them.
“Okay, take this load out, and breakfast will be ready when you come back in. I plan on scrambling the eggs unless anyone wants a special order.” Lane called as the kids walked back through the house and out to the driveway.
The family rule was that the person who cooked, usually Lane, didn’t have to do kitchen clean up, but Lane gave the kids a pass this morning, so they finish packing. After loading the dishwasher, Lane got her e-reader and settled in her favorite recliner in the hearth room. She was in the middle of a book by a newly discovered mystery writer. The author was new to Lane, but had written several books; which was fine with Lane. She was a voracious reader and was always thrilled when she found a multi-published author she’d never read before. It meant she didn’t have to wait months and sometimes more than a year to find out what the characters go into next.
Ben came by late in the afternoon and was amazed that the Parker Kids seemed to have packed everything but Jess's furniture in the SUV still leaving room for the three passengers and the luggage they needed for their three-day excursion.
For as long as Lane had known him, Ben reserved Friday night for date night, yet here he was and he was staying for dinner. She thought about asking him why he didn’t have a date, but decided it didn’t matter. She was happy to have him there to help her. While the Parker kids took Lane’s Cadillac Escalade and drove to Jess’s favorite barbecue restaurant to pick-up dinner, Lane and Ben phoned Maggie again.
Maggie answered the phone on the first ring. “Lane. I still haven’t heard anything from Jeff, and it’s been a week now. I’m at my wit’s end.”
Lane couldn’t even begin to imagine the stress level that her friend must be experiencing. “Ben’s here with me. I’m sure you’re totally stressing, all I can say is that I’ll see you tomorrow and I promise we’ll get this figured out.”
Ben watched Lane as he spoke into the speakerphone “Hi, Maggie. Have you heard anything from Liz yet?”
“Yes, I’ve spoken with her and with her investigator. I can’t thank you both enough for everything you’re doing for me.”
“Hold the gratitude until we have Jeff back home. I look forward to meeting you in person tomorrow.” Ben nodded to Lane, pulled out his cell phone and said, “I need to handle this, so I’ll leave you two alone to chat.” He pointed toward the garage. He walked through the house and made his way through the garage toward the driveway as he clicked away on his phone.
