Ben was out of his chair and heading toward the door as he asked, “Where are you?”

Jamie’s voice was still a whisper as he responded, “At school.”

“Don’t worry; everything’s going to be fine.  Don’t say anything else to anyone.  Don’t eat or drink anything and don’t touch anything.  I’m on my way.” He ended the call, grabbed his suit jacket, and strode out of his office.

“Stephanie, I’ll be out for the rest of the afternoon.  Is Sal in his office?”

Sal was Ben’s uncle and one of his partners in the law firm.  Salvatore Luciano was also a criminal defense attorney.  Ben walked into Sal’s office.

“Il bambino trova un corpo a scuola, vieni con me.” He said.

Sal stood and followed Ben out of the office, and onto the elevator.  Ben was first or second generation Italian American depending on whether you were counting from his Mother’s side of the family tree or from his Father’s.  The Bellinis and Lucianos usually spoke Italian to each other.  It was especially true if they didn’t want the rest of the world to know what they were saying.  Ben clicked the remote to unlock the doors on his Lincoln Navigator and the two men got into the SUV.

Even alone in Ben’s SUV, the conversation was entirely in Italian.

“Tell me.”  Uncle Sal said.

“Jamie found his football coach dead.  He called me, saying he’s afraid the police will think he did it.  If anyone’s hurt my kid, I may need a lawyer.”

“Nephew, we need to be calm. You know this.  What else did the boy say?”

Ben took a breath.  “Last night after football practice, Jamie found a friend, Justin Harper, unconscious in his Jeep.  The boy has a peanut allergy and when we got the Jeep opened, there was a faint smell of peanuts.  Today all he said is that the football coach is dead and he’s afraid they’re going to think he did it.  That’s really all I know.  Except that there is no way Jamie would be involved in any of this and if this ruins his appointment to West Point, it will break his Mother’s heart.  They are my family and it’s my responsibility to protect them.  Right now, that’s all I can think about.”

Ben ran his hand through his dark, wavy hair.  “Lane has a doctor’s appointment this afternoon; we’re having our first ultrasound.  I can’t tell her about this and I can’t miss the appointment.  That’s really why I need you.”

Sal nodded.  He and his twin brother Vinnie had met Lane when she was only four years old. They loved her then and they loved her now.  She was the daughter Sal never had.  He would personally have the head of anyone who caused her distress, especially now while she was pregnant.

“It will be fine, Nephew.  The Bambino did nothing and the police will see that too.”

Ben nodded as he pushed his blue tooth.  “Call Tanner.” He said.

The line barely rang when the investigator picked up.  “Tanner.”

“It’s Ben.  There’s been another incident at school.  Jamie’s football coach is dead.  He’s afraid the cops will think he did it.  Sal and I are on our way there now.  See what you can find out.”

Chapter 5

Jamie was sitting in the principal’s office waiting for Ben.  Cops, in uniform and in suits, surrounded him but he wasn’t behaving in typical teenager fashion.  He wasn’t intimidated as he sat there quietly.  Ben told him not to talk to anyone and so the only thing he’d said since he hung up the phone was, “My Dad’s on his way.”  He hadn’t had anything to eat or drink and had kept his hands to himself just as Ben had instructed.

Detective Duncan was looming over him.  “Jamison, we just want you to answer some simple questions about how you happened to find Coach Ferguson.”

There was a knock at the door.  The secretary opened the door.  “Jamison’s father is here.”

Ben strode into the room followed by Sal Luciano.  Detective Duncan turned and saw the two lawyers both of whom he recognized.  “Great, we have the lawyers.  Where’s the Dad?”

Ben smiled and extended his hand.  “Detective, I’m Jamison’s father.”

The detective looked at the principal who nodded.  “Yes, Mr. Bellini married Jamison’s mother recently and became his legal guardian.”

Ben didn’t take his eyes off Jamie as he spoke, “Detective, I’d like to talk with my son privately.”

Ben smiled at the principal.  “Brian, do you have another office we could use for a few minutes?”

Detective Duncan grimaced. “We’ll let you have this one,” he said as he waved his partner and the two uniformed cops out of the office.

The principal stood.  “I’ll be outside.  Jamie wouldn’t let us call his Mother.”

Ben nodded and smiled again.  “Thanks, Brian.”

He waited until the door closed and then he turned back to Jamie.  “All right, tell us what happened.”

“I had just finished lunch and wanted to talk to Coach about Justin.  I know the locker room is out of bounds for students during the day, but I got permission to go because I wanted to know if Coach knew about Justin.  I wanted to know if Justin could at least suit up for the big game, if he’s out of the hospital.” Jamie paused and took a breath. “His office door was slightly ajar.  When I knocked, it swung open and I could see him sitting in his chair with his head tilted back.  It, sort of, looked like he’d fallen asleep.  I said his name and walked over to him, his eyes were open, but he didn’t move.  So I tapped his shoulder and he slumped forward.”  Jamie shuddered and shook his head.  “It was awful; the back of his head was bashed in.”

Uncle Sal looked at him.  “This is really important, Jamie.  Did you touch anything in the office? Anything besides the door and the Coach?”

Jamie shook his head.  “No, nothing.  I went back into the hall and dialed 9-1-1 from my cell phone. Then I called Dad and waited for the police to come.”

Sal nodded and looked at Ben.  “Are you ready to talk to the detective?”

“Not quite.  Bambino, your Mother, and I have a doctor’s appointment later this afternoon.  If I have to leave, Uncle Sal will stay with you.  If that happens, just do whatever he says.  Understand?”

Jamie nodded, “Sure, taking care of Mom and the baby is more important.  It’s okay.”

“No, Bambino.  It isn’t more important than you are.  That’s why Uncle Sal is here.  I can’t be both places at the same time.  Uncle Sal can be with you, but he can’t go with your Mom.  I’ll be with you as long as I can and hopefully, we can get you out of here before I need to leave anyway.”  He nodded at Uncle Sal who opened the door.

“Detective, we’re ready now.”

The detective and his partner came into the office followed by the principal.

Detective Duncan stood next to Jamie; too close as far as Ben was concerned, but as long as he didn’t touch Jamie, everything would remain calm. “Jamison, tell me how you happened to find the Coach.”

“After I finished lunch, I got permission to go to the locker room to talk with Coach about Justin Harper.”

“Who is Justin Harper and why did you need to talk to the coach about him?”  Detective Duncan raised his voice, but kept his tone just this side of civil.

“We’re playing for the state championship Friday.  Justin’s our starting quarterback.  He’s in the hospital and I wanted to talk to coach about it.” Jamie explained.

Detective Duncan scanned the faces in the room, “What happened to the quarterback?”

Ben looked at the detective.  “He has a peanut allergy and had a reaction.  He was taken to the emergency room last night.”

“I wondered if Coach had heard about Justin and I wanted to see if he knew whether Justin would at least be able to suit up for the game.”

Detective Duncan checked his notes before going on, “What time did you go to see the coach?”

The principal looked at the detective.  “Jamison came to my office and got permission to go to the locker room at 12:45 p.m.”