“Lila, what happened between us has nothing to do with my client.  I hope you won’t take out any anger you might have toward me on her.  You saw her in there with her family.  Lane Parker is a genuinely good person.”

Lila pulled the door closed.  She started her Camry and glanced at the dash clock as she called her partner.  “Didn’t the coroner say the wound to the victim’s temple could have been made by a golf club?  I just had dinner at the Parker house.  Don’t ask. I saw a set of golf clubs in the garage. We need a warrant to search Lane Parker’s house.”

Chapter 6

A Search warrant is served

It was seven-thirty Sunday morning when the persistent ringing of the doorbell awakened the whole Parker household.  Lane got out of bed, put on a robe and went to the door, where she found Detective Lila Crane, her partner, and three uniformed Overland Park Police Department officers.  Detective Hunter handed Lane the search warrant as the uniformed police entered her house. Lane asked if she could wake her kids and get dressed.  The female uniformed officer followed her down the hall where Lane knocked on Jamie’s and Jess’s bedroom doors before opening the door to her own bedroom.  The officer stood in Lane’s bedroom as she gathered clothes and went into the bathroom.  The uniformed officer either didn’t notice or didn’t care that Lane had grabbed her cell phone and as soon as she closed the bathroom door, she called Ben. As she dressed, she read the warrant to Ben.  She was still on the phone as she walked down the hall and out of the house.  Jess and Jamie were already in the drive way sitting on lawn chairs they’d pulled from the garage.  They started to ask Lane what was going on but noticed that she was on the phone.  She hit the end call button and sat in the chair Jamie had vacated as he started to set up another chair.

“The warrant gives them access to the house and garage.  The cars aren’t specifically mentioned.  Ben’s on his way,” Lane said as Jake pulled to a stop at the curb.

Jake pulled a McDonald’s bag and a drink tray from the passenger seat of his Silverado pickup.

“I was on my way to get Jess and Jandy when I got the call.  Ben’s stuck at the light on 95th.”

He handed Lane a Diet Dr. Pepper before giving the drink tray and bag to Jess.  Jess opened the bag and began handing out breakfast sandwiches.  Ben pulled to the curb and Lane met him at the end of the driveway.  She handed him the warrant and he walked into the house to talk to Lila and Hunter.

One of the uniformed officers was in the living room and advised Ben that Detective Crane was in the bedrooms and Detective Hunter was in the garage. Ben went toward the bedrooms and found Lila going through Lane’s night stand. That’s the way he saw it… not that Lila was searching the night stand but that she was snooping through the drawers of Lane’s nightstand.  He stood in the doorway, leaning against the door jamb for several seconds, watching Lila snoop, before he cleared his throat.  Lila’s reaction confirmed his suspicion.  She quickly stood and hastily closed the drawer she’d been going through.

“Detective.”

“Counselor.”

A uniformed officer tapped Ben on the shoulder and he moved so the officer could enter the bedroom.

“Detective Hunter’s finished the search of the garage.  He didn’t find any golf clubs.”

Lila moved her glance from the officer to Ben.  “I saw golf clubs in the garage last night.  What did your client do with them?”

Ben fixed icy hazel eyes on the detective.  “You’re looking for golf clubs?  And I imagine you expected to find them in the nightstand.”

Ben walked into the bedroom, stopping as Lila came to stand toe to toe with him.

Lila was five feet seven inches tall, and even in her three inch heels, she wasn’t quite tall enough to look directly into Ben’s eyes.  She tipped her head back, and growled, “I want to know where those golf clubs are, Counselor.”

Ben replied, with a forced calm in his voice. “I told you last night not to confuse what happened between us personally with what’s going on with my client.  Execute your warrant, Detective.  It’s the only thing you’ve got.”

Ben turned on his heel and strode through the house toward the garage. He’d known Lila for a few years, and until now had thought her to be level headed, a thorough and competent investigator.  But that opinion was all formed before he’d gone out with her.  What the hell, it was just him having this conversation with himself.  Who was he kidding? That was before he’d slept with her.  He’d met her for drinks after work the Wednesday before Memorial Day and the night had ended in her bed. They’d made plans for Friday night, but on Thursday he’d gotten the call from Lane about the disappearance of her friend’s son.  He’d called Lila late Friday afternoon to cancel their date and he hadn’t called Lila or taken her calls since.  God, one dinner, one lunch and why did he have to meet her that night for drinks?

Although Adam Hunter played basketball with Ben, he didn’t know him well. But clearly he needed to talk to someone who didn’t have some hidden personal agenda. If he couldn’t make headway with Hunter, he’d be on the phone to a friend in the Johnson County DA’s office.  He ran it through in his head before he got to the garage.  No matter how he phrased it, it still sounded like he was an ego maniac.

He walked through the garage to the driveway, where Lane and the kids sat.  He looked at Jake. “You came to get Jamie and Jess, right?  You were going to play golf.  Round them up and get out of here.  I’ve got this.”

The kids looked toward Lane.

“I trust Ben.  If he says y’all should go, then you should go.”  She stood and did a group hug. “I’ll be fine.”

The kids walked to Jake’s truck and left.

Lane stepped close to Ben and whispered, “You know what they’re looking for, don’t you?”

“Yes. Seems Lila saw some golf clubs in your garage last night.  If she’s looking for the golf clubs, they have to be the ones you bought at the garage sale yesterday. Where are they?”

Lane smiled.  “They just drove off.  Jake loaded them into his truck last night because the kids had an 8:30 tee time and he wanted to save time this morning.”

“In the meantime, I’m a little concerned because Lila seems to be going through your bedroom with a fine toothed comb.”

Lane gasped. “She’s going through my bedroom?”  She leaned back and looked up at Ben.  Why hadn’t she seen it Friday night?  “I believe you when you say that you and Lila have been over for months, but you left something out, didn’t you counselor? There was one diner, one lunch, and some drinks, but I think you may have omitted a little roll in the hay?”

Ben nodded and then looked toward the house as Lila exited the front door and approached them.

“Any objections to searching the vehicles?”

Lane’s Mercedes convertible, the Escalade and Jamie’s Chevy Colorado truck were in the garage.  Ben had said the vehicles weren’t specifically mentioned.  She knew she had a receipt for the golf clubs in the console in the Escalade and she feared that Lila was just crazy enough to take it.

Lane smiled at her.  “I understand that the vehicles weren’t specifically listed on the search warrant, I’d like to confer with my attorney before I make a decision.”

Lane and Ben stepped away from Lila.  “I have a receipt for the golf clubs in the console of the Escalade.  It’s hand written, dated, and lists everything I purchased at that house.  It isn’t normal to get receipts from a garage sale, but the woman gave me one.  I wrote the house address on it.  I’m so sorry I laughed the other night. She is crazy and coming after me because of you.  Is she crazy enough to make the receipt disappear?”

Ben called out to Hunter, “Since the search of the vehicles is voluntary, my client would like to request that Hunter conduct it.  She’d also like to point something out to him as he searches.”