Directing Disaster

Lane Parker Mysteries #4

By Kate Kane

Directing Disaster 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.

Directing Disaster

Kate Kane

Copyright Kane Communications 2014

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Edited by Kade Kane

Beta Reader Jennifer H

Cover images courtesy of Canstockphoto.com

Cover Design by Kate Kane

Dedication

While the Parker, Bellini, Luciano and Kelly families were born in my brain, I have to thank my own family for their encouragement and help.

Thanks to all of you for listening, laughing, and encouraging me as I talk about the disasters and dilemmas my other family faces.  And thanks for telling all of your friends where to find the books.

Visit Kate Kane’s website katekanewrites.com

Author’s Note

I love hearing from my readers you can contact me by clicking this link.

Just a note about the use of Italian dialog between characters.  When the Bellini and Luciano families talk to each other, they almost always speak Italian.  When they speak Italian in front of non-Italian speaking characters, the dialog appears in Italian.  I do this to help my readers feel the frustration and exclusion that the characters in the book feel during exchanges they don’t understand.  As an avid reader myself, I hate it when an author uses words, phrases, or complete sentences in a language that’s foreign to me and leaves me wondering and often searching the internet to figure out what the character is saying.  So, for my readers, I provide a hyperlink from the Italian dialog to the translation for it.  The translation has a hyperlink that returns the reader back to the spot in the book where you were before.  I hope you find this helpful.

Other Books by Kate Kane

The Lane Parker Series

Favor for a Friend

Family Secrets

Lunch at the Club

Coming Soon:

Murder, Mystery, and Merlot – The Book Club Mysteries Coming in 2015

Apparently solving mysteries is contagious.  Lane’s Book Club members have joined the club, need I say more?

The Chronicles of Gate’s Keepers Coming in late 2015

Chapter One - Reconnecting

Chapter Two - Trial of the Century

Chapter Three - Feeling Sick

Chapter Four - God How Tiring

Chapter Five - A Proposition

Chapter Six - Off the Merry-go-round

Chapter Seven - Truce?

Chapter Eight - That Stain’s Never Coming Out

Chapter Nine - Reunion

Chapter Ten - Paparazzi

Chapter Eleven - The Prosecution Rests

Chapter Twelve - Confessions

Chapter Thirteen - A Merry Chase

Chapter Fourteen - The Eyes Have It

Chapter Fifteen - The Bells Are Ringing

Chapter Sixteen - Tabloid Lies

Chapter Seventeen -That’s Not Funny

Chapter Eighteen - Retail Therapy?

Chapter Nineteen - Wasn’t I Just Here

Chapter Twenty - Dead is Dead

Chapter Twenty-One -That Makes No Sense at All

Chapter Twenty-Two - The Defense Rests

Chapter Twenty-Three - Friday Afternoon

Chapter Twenty-Four - Keeping Secrets

Chapter Twenty-Five - Tossing the Ball

Chapter Twenty-Six - Busted

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Comes the Dawn

Chapter Twenty-Eight - That Makes Three

Chapter Twenty-Nine - The Reception

Chapter Thirty - Sunday Brunch

Chapter Thirty-One - California Here I Come

Italian Translations

Dedication

About the Author

Other Books by Kate Kane

Coming Attractions

Kate Answers your Questions

Preview Lane’s Next Adventure

Chapter 1

Reconnecting

It was Monday of the second week of October.  Lane Parker hadn’t heard from her fiancé, Ben Bellini, in weeks, though she had seen him on the news once or twice.  Ben was a criminal defense attorney, and his current trial, which started just before he told her he needed a break, was going into its sixth week and was making headlines on both the local and national levels.  Rumor was that Kathleen Greene, a former judge who now has her own show on the Justice Channel providing commentary on high profile legal matters, was coming to Kansas City; a sure sign that Ben was about to become famous.

Maybe that was why he’d told her that he needed a break.  This was such a high profile case and Lane worried that perhaps he was afraid that his winning streak, zero losses and who knew how many wins, was coming to an end.  She wished she could comfort and encourage him, but he’d been clear.  Nearly six weeks ago he’d suggested they needed some space and she was giving it to him.

She still wore the engagement ring he’d given her.  He hadn’t said he wanted to break things off, only that he needed space.  She ran her finger over the diamond and platinum filigree heart necklace he’d given her as an engagement gift.  It had a key dangling from it, and when he’d given it to her, he’d said it was to remind her that she held the key to his heart.  If he didn’t get over this need for space soon, her heart would break.

Her assistant Meg, who was dating Lane’s oldest son, came into Lane’s office.  “You have a call from Detective McGuire.”

A few months earlier, Lane had been involved in a murder investigation.  Well, more like she’d been the prime suspect and Mick McGuire had been the investigator.  Mick was a friend of Ben’s; they played basketball together once a week in a league consisting mostly of cops.  In the end, when Lane had been held hostage by the real murderer, both Ben and Mick had come in to rescue her, with guns drawn.  Then, last month, when a delusional woman had broken into Ben’s house, Lane had called Mick.

She looked warily at Meg. “I’ll take the call.”

Meg looked at the carafe of hot tea on Lane’s desk.  “Do you need some more tea?”

Lane had been feeling tired and a little sickly.  She’d been treating the flu symptoms with tea and crackers and it seemed to be working. She nodded to Meg as she picked up the phone.

“Mick, hi.  What can I do for you?”

Mick took a breath.  He hadn’t spoken to Lane in over a month, since the night Ben had taken him to her house for dinner.  He’d forgotten how much he loved the sound of her voice.  When is she going to come to her senses and realize that Bellini just isn’t the right man for her?

“There’s a hearing scheduled for Rochelle Jones next week, and I wondered if you had heard anything from the prosecutor about testifying?”

Rochelle Jones was the lunatic who had broken into Ben’s house last month.  Lane had been on the phone with Ben when Rochelle had broken in and waived a gun around at Ben as she declared her love and devotion.  Lane had called Mick via three-way calling and he’d heard the whole thing.  Rochelle was also suspected of killing a woman who was an ex-girlfriend of Ben’s, and had been put in a treatment facility but apparently now there was going to be a hearing.