Lane smiled and absent-mindedly rubbed her baby bump. “I know.”

Evie looked at Lane, “Are you really doing all right, dear?”

Lane smiled.  “Yes, I’m fine, feeling less fatigued every day.  Which is good because ‘that man,’ as you call him, has a tendency to pick me up and carry me to bed if I fall asleep anyplace else.”  Lane laughed.  “I fell asleep in the car Monday night and he carried me in and put me to bed.  When I awoke Tuesday morning, I told him he had to stop carrying me and he told me I’d just have to get used to it because he would not wake me up.”

Evie laughed. “He’s a good man.”

Evie hated to admit it, even to herself, but Jamie was right, Ben Bellini was a better husband and father than Philip Parker had ever been.

Evie’s cell phone rang and she excused herself to answer it.  “Hello?”

A male voice was on the other end of the line. “Hi.”

She immediately recognized the voice, “Phillip?”

“Yes.  I know you’re with Lane, can you talk?”

Evie looked at Lane, smiled, and motioned toward her room.  As she walked she responded, “Yes, what’s going on?”

“You know that the Illinois Governor signed the marriage equality bill last week.  Ralphie and I are getting married between Christmas and New Year’s Day.  I’m calling to give you a heads up and invite you.”

“Have you spoken to Phyllis?”  She asked.  Phyllis was her daughter, Phillip’s sister.

“No, I wanted to talk with you first and while you’re still at Lane’s.  Do you think the kids will come?”

Phillip hadn’t been close with his kids since he’d left their mother, and quite honestly, Evie wasn’t sure why it seemed so important to him to have them there.  She shook her head.  She’d often acted as a sort of go between for Phillip with the children, but this was something he needed to do himself.

“You do know you’re going to have to call them yourself and ask, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course I will, I just wanted to know what you think.  Ralphie really wants them to be there.”

Evie smiled, Ralphie had never had children of his own and, from what she gathered over the years, it was Ralphie who frequently urged Phillip to have a relationship with the kids.

“Phillip, you’re going to have to call them and ask.  Jess is home for the weekend, but she’s leaving the country Monday.  I don’t know where she’ll be spending the holidays.  I suggest you phone Lane.  You know she’s always been your best advocate with the children.”  She paused.  Should she tell him that Lane had married, that she was pregnant, and that Jamie wasn’t his son after all? “You should wait until after the weekend though, there’s a lot going on here.  Jamie’s football team is playing for the state championship later today and everyone is getting ready to make the trip to St. Louis.”

“I’ll do that, thanks, Mom.  Good-bye.”

Evie ended the call and stood in her bedroom looking at the phone for a moment before walking back out to the hearth room.

Lane was still sitting in her recliner reading and she looked up and smiled as Evie approached. “So, what’s going on with Phillip?”

Evie sat on the sofa adjacent to Lane, “He called to say that he and Ralphie are getting married between Christmas and New Year’s Day.  He wondered if the kids would go to the wedding.”

Lane put her e-reader down, “And he wanted you to act as go between again?  Surely he knows he needs to talk with them himself.”

“That’s almost exactly what I told him.  I hope you don’t mind, I did suggest he call and talk to you.  I think that he needs to know that Jamie isn’t his son.  I didn’t feel it was my place to break the news.”

“I guess it’s a good thing that the child support payments were settled long before I found out I was pregnant.  At least we won’t have to discuss refunding child support payments.”  Not that $150.00 per month, total not per child, really amounts to much anyway. Lane thought.  “Yes, I should be the one to tell him about Jamie.”

Evie smiled, “And, I didn’t tell him you were married, or pregnant.  Of course, with the video of Jess going viral last month, he may already know.  I told him to wait until after the weekend to call you because of Jamie’s football game tonight.”

Lane nodded, “I’ll call him.  He has my cell phone number, but he has the landline number for Parker House.  If he calls while Paul and Joey are there, and they answer the phone, who knows what conclusions he might jump to.”

Chapter 24

Before they left the house, the only thing Ben had told Jamie was that they needed to go to the KCMO substation to talk to Detective Duncan.  While Jamie didn’t seem concerned, Ben thought it might be best if Jamie had some idea of what to expect.

“Tanner called from the station.  The police may have figured out what happened to both Justin and Coach Ferguson.  They want you to look at some photos to see if you recognize anyone.  I’ll be with you the whole time; it’s nothing to worry about.”

Jamie nodded, “So they have a suspect in mind?”

“It would appear that way, but we’ll know for sure once we get there.”

The substation where they were meeting Detective Duncan was less than a 20-minute drive from their house, so there wasn’t much time to talk.

Duncan met them at the door.

“Thanks for coming by on short notice.”

The look on Detective Duncan’s face didn’t seem to match the words he was saying.  He didn’t really look pleased to see them, and Ben wondered why.

Detective Duncan led Jamie and Ben to an interview room.  The three men sat at the table, Ben and Jamie on one side, Detective Duncan on the other.  Duncan put a photo lineup on the table and pushed the six-pack, a small file holding the photos of six people, toward Jamie.

“Do you recognize any of the people in these photos?”  He asked.

Ben glanced at the six-pack and looked at Detective Duncan, “Maybe you could put some context around the question for us, Detective.”

Duncan fixed a cool stare at Ben. “Based on traffic cams and the sign in log at the school, these people may have been in the vicinity of the incidents that occurred at the school on Monday and/or Tuesday.”

Duncan turned his gaze toward Jamie, “I want to know if you saw any of these people in or around the parking lot on Monday or at the school on Tuesday.”

Ben looked at Jamie, “Take your time, Jamie.”

Jamie picked up the photo six-pack that Detective Duncan had pushed to him.  He hoped his face didn’t give away what he was thinking.  He immediately recognized the older sister of his teammate Lucas Evans.  Last year, he’d had a huge crush on Hannah Evans.  And, isn’t that Mrs. Evans in the bottom left corner? 

He nudged Ben and laid the photo six-pack on the table. “Dad?”

Ben looked at the Detective. “Can you give us a minute?”

Detective Duncan, who had thus far been less than friendly, became openly hostile.  “Sure, counselor, sure.”  He looked at Jamie, “If you know something, you have an obligation to tell me.”

Ben looked back at the detective. “We’re aware, Detective.  May I remind you that Jamie isn’t just my son, he’s my client, and we’d like a few minutes.  No one’s keeping anything from you.”

The detective let out an exasperated breath. “I’ll just be outside.”

Jamie waited for the door to close before turning to his father and pointing to one of the photos in the six-pack, “That’s Hannah Evans.  She’s Lucas Evans’ older sister.”  He pointed to another photo, “And that’s Lucas’ mom.”

Ben looked at the photos as Jamie was pointing.  The six-pack was four women and two men, and Ben recognized one of the men as Lucas Evans Sr.

“Dad, does this mean the police think Lucas’ family is involved?”

“Bambino, you can’t worry about that.  You just need to concentrate on putting yourself back at the scene and remember everything you can.”