“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.”