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They ate and talked. Lane looked at Colin. “You look so familiar to me and it’s been bothering me since we met. I knew a Patrick Burke back in Iowa. Do you have any relatives in Iowa?”
Colin smiled. “Not anymore, but my grandparents did live there for a while. My Dad’s name is Patrick. I think he was there in middle school maybe.”
“Oh my, it is a small world. That’s why you look so familiar. He was several years ahead of me in school. I was six or seven at the time. We were all out at noon recess and Pat Burke threw an apple core which hit me in the face, causing a bloody nose. All of the 7th and 8th grade girls, who had huge crushes on him, gathered around me to hide me from the nuns until my nose stopped bleeding because they didn’t want him to be in trouble. You know, Catholic schools believed in corporal punishment when I was little. Those nuns would have walloped him.” She laughed. “Your dad has probably forgotten all about it, but it was the only time I shed blood in the school yard. It was traumatic for me.”
As they left, Lane kissed each of the uncles and did her best to recite the one line Ben had taught her earlier. “Zio Sal, Zio Vi
“Nipote, si sarebbe un pazzo a lasciare questo angelo della valle lontano.”
While Jess agreed that Ben would be a fool to let her mother get away, she didn’t understand the Angel of the Valley reference.
After the Lucianos and Colin were gone, Jake let Meg put Abbey down for a nap on his bed and Ben and Lane sat in the living room and relaxed while the Parker kids and Meg did clean-up duty.
“It really has been a good birthday.” She leaned over and kissed Ben. “Thank-you.”
Then she rested her head on his shoulder and almost immediately fell asleep. Ben leaned his head back and within minutes he’d fallen asleep too which is where Jamie found them. He pulled the throw over them and told everyone to avoid the living room. Jamie, Jake, Meg, and Jess went into Jamie’s room and used his study table to play cards. They could keep the doors separating his room from Jake’s open so they’d know when Abbey woke up but they would be far enough that they wouldn’t wake her.
When Lane awoke, the house was almost dark and very quiet. She carefully got up so as not to disturb Ben. She walked into the kitchen and looked at the clock on the microwave. Nearly seven o’clock. She found notes from the kids explaining where they’d gone.
She rummaged around in the fridge for a Diet Dr. Pepper, got a glass and ice, and sat down at the breakfast bar pla
She was lost in thought and jumped when Ben bent down and kissed the back of her neck.
“Hey, how long have you been up?”
“Just a few minutes. I tried not to disturb you when I got up. I know you didn’t get much sleep last night and you have a trial starting tomorrow, I know you need your sleep.”
He kissed her. “We’re doing jury selection tomorrow and it should be a light day, but yeah, I need to get going. I’m really sorry I fell asleep on you. I’ll call you tomorrow after court. You’re at least going to try to see Babs and or Vi
“You’re busy, so let me see if I can call him and set something up.”
“You know why I can’t represent him, right? He tried to set you up for murder; he threatened you and the kids. Yes, he deserves a defense, just not by me. Look at your arm; it has his handprint bruised into it. For that alone I’d like to see him die a slow painful death. But, if I need to help you set up a meeting with his lawyer or his wife or whatever, I’ll do it. For you.”
She walked him to his SUV, kissed him good-bye, and stood in the driveway watching until he was gone.
Chapter 22
Epilogue
On Monday morning, Lane called Babs Edwards to set up a meeting to talk about setting up the foundation. She called Mick to get the name of Kyle Paulson’s lawyer and then called his office to explain what she wanted. She was able to talk to Kyle so she could explain that she wanted her new foundation to pay for Gracie’s treatment. Kyle signed a power of attorney to allow Lane to talk to Gracie’s doctors.
Armed with all of that, Lane called the doctor and made an appointment. She met with the doctor and with Gracie and agreed to contact them when the foundation was complete. She explained her intention to help with the medical expenses. She spoke with Babs and funded the foundation with two million dollars from her newly found trust.
Kyle’s public defender had arranged a plea deal to get the death penalty off the table. Kyle pled guilty to first-degree murder with the possibility of parole in 25 years. Craig could afford his own lawyer and was fighting the criminal conspiracy charges.
Lane talked with Jake, Jess, and Jamie about the Gardino trust. She was going to give $250,000 to each of them. Jake decided to use his money to buy a house and furniture. Jess took her money, invested most of it, and bought several pairs of shoes with a small portion. Jamie invested his in a money market CD.
Jess had gotten a call Monday morning from her agent and had to get back to L.A. early for an audition. It was for a role on a TV cop show playing a uniformed officer, which had the possibility of becoming a small but recurring role.
No one else was home when Lane remembered she still hadn’t opened the package Evie had sent. In fact, it was still in the cargo area of her Escalade. She went out to the garage, got the package, and carried it into the kitchen. She set it on the table and got a box cutter to get through the tape.
She opened the box and found a framed 18” x 36” print of an angel with strawberry blonde hair standing in a field of lilies of the valley. She shook her head as she read the note. “I saw this and you immediately came to mind. Happy birthday, sweetie.” The title of the print was Angel of the Valley.
How perfect. It was as if the picture was little Angelique Valle all grown up. It was a sign confirming that she should call the foundation. The Angel of the Valley Foundation.
Italian Translations
Lamiavitaeravuota: La mia vita era vuota: My life was empty
Ciao, Zio Sal, Zio Vi
Nipote, Ella è la visione di un angelo: Nephew, She is the vision of an angel.
Tu ci sarai: Will you join us
Unitevi a noi: Please, join us.
Si. Grazie: Yes, thank-you
Lei è sotto la mia protezione: She’s under my protection
Prima di andare, dovete sapere che il padre di omicidio vittima mettere 1,5 milioni di dollari, per la bambina dopo l'incidente. Ora è possibile aggiungere un denaro per qualsiasi motivo la polizia: Before you go, you need to know that the father of the murder victim put 1.5 million dollars in trust for the little girl after the accident. Now you can add a money motive to what the police have.