Directing Disaster

Lane and Ben went to the Parker house.  That afternoon, the obstetrician had explained to Ben that the baby wouldn’t be harmed from them having sex.  She had explained that as the pregnancy progressed, that they may find they needed to experiment with different positions; but as long as it was comfortable for Lane, it was safe for the baby.

It was what he wanted to hear.  Ben had lost his virginity at the age of 16 and had spent more time being celibate since he had started dating Lane, four and a half months ago, than any other time since he turned 16.  The truth was he’d have spent the next eight months being celibate, if that was what the doctor had told them was needed.

He put his phone on speaker and opened the Pandora app.  He took Lane in his arms and danced with her.  He wanted to make love to her, but there was time for that.  Right now, he wanted to hold her and dance with her.  He’d put together a reception in the ballroom of Papa’s for tomorrow night.  He would put on his tux, she would put on her wedding dress and they’d dance and eat and greet guests who, thanks to Jess and the internet, would all know that they were pregnant when they got married.  The important thing was that they were married.  She had once asked him why he’d never married and he had told her that he couldn’t imagine spending the rest of his life with any of the women he’d dated.  Right now, he couldn’t imagine spending even one minute of his life without Lane.  The weeks that they had spent apart had been miserable for him.

They danced around the house; and as he moved them toward the bedroom, he told her how much he loved her.  He’d made love to her in this room just before he’d given her that stupid line about needing space.  He’d make love to her here tonight and then they’d drive back home and he’d make love to her again in their bed. He pla

He had lifted her onto the bed and was unbuttoning her Levi’s when his phone started ringing.  It was a blocked number.  He kissed Lane and apologized before he clicked the answer button.

“Bellini.”

He listened, finally replying, “We’ll meet you there.”  He looked at Lane.  “We need to go to the Leawood Police Station.  I’ll explain on the way.”

Chapter 26

busted

Lane buttoned her jeans and put her cowboy boots on.  “What is it?”

“I don’t know all of the details, but Jess is being held on assault charges.”

“Jess assaulted someone?”  That is someone besides the now dead stalker.

They walked to the SUV and he opened her door.  He backed out of the garage.

“Whatever it is, it’s going to be okay.  Let’s just get there and let me talk to everyone.”

Lane nodded, “Whom did she assault?  Allegedly assault?”

Ben always held her hand as he drove.  He squeezed her hand.  “Well, that’s a bit unclear right now.”  Unclear was an understatement he thought.  Joey had called him; something about Uncle Sal and the hospital.

It was less than a 10 minute drive to the Leawood police station.  Ben parked and looked at Lane.  “No matter what it is, I promise everything is going to be fine.  Just let me get in there and talk to everyone.  Joey’s here.  You stay with him while I talk to Jess.  Okay?”

She loved him, she trusted him, but Jess was her baby girl and he was asking her to stand by and do nothing when her job was to protect her children.

He looked at her, “I know what you’re thinking; that it’s your job to protect her, but what she needs right now is a lawyer.  You know I’m the best.  She’s my daughter now and I will do everything in my power to protect her.  I promise it will be all right.”

He held her hand as they walked into the station where Joey was waiting.

“Pronto. Spiegare!”

“Un uomo spinto uncle Sal al suolo.”

Lane looked at them, and in an exasperated tone, she said, “English!  In English tell me what happened.  Now!”

Joey glanced at Ben who nodded.

“A guy pushed uncle Sal, knocking him to the ground.  Before I had time to react, Jess roundhouse kicked the guy.  How does she do that in those five inch heels anyway?  Pauli went to the hospital with Uncle Sal.  The guy had the wind knocked out of him and was talking about pressing charges when the cops came.”

“Where was this?” Ben asked.

“At your house.  In the driveway.”

Ben looked at Lane, “Stay here with Joey.  I’ll talk to Jess.”  He looked at Joey, “How much cash have you got on you, in case we need to post a bond?”

Joey looked at Ben.  He didn’t even move his hand toward his wallet.  “Unless it’s a murder charge, I’ve got it covered.”

Ben nodded and talked to the woman at the window.  She released the door and he walked through.  He found Jess in an interview room.  She looked up, a smile of relief on her face as Ben walked into the room.

“So, Wonder Woman, what’s up?”

“You know Wonder Woman uses a whip, right?  I don’t know what the big deal is.  The guy knocked Uncle Sal down.  What is he, 90? I was just defending Uncle Sal.”

Ben sat in the chair next to her, “Uh-huh.  And what were those two big Bellini boys doing while you were roundhouse kicking the assailant?”

She smiled, “They’ll probably say they were assessing the situation.  But I say they were standing there like a couple of old women.  The guy had it coming.”

“So did the guy say anything?”

Sure, he’d said plenty in Italian, which she wasn’t supposed to understand. He had threatened to implicate Uncle Sal in the killing of Clyde Benson, unless Uncle Sal paid him.  Uncle Sal had said he didn’t know what the guy was talking about; and that was when the guy had pushed him, saying the order came from the Lucianos.

“They were talking Italian.  You’ll have to ask Joey what they said.”

He eyed her suspiciously.  He’d suspected this afternoon when he and his brothers were talking that Jess understood at least part of what they were saying.

She held her hands up, “What?  You think I habla Italiano now?”  She asked by way of co-mangled Spanish and Italian, in as weird an accent as she could come up with.

“Sì, bambina.  I think you understand more than you let on.”  There had been something about her reaction when he and his brothers were talking about the packages the stalker had left.  It was almost undetectable, but a look passed across her face.  Yes, he was sure she understood far more than she was letting on.

“But that’s not important now.  I’ll talk to Joey.  Right now I’m going to see if I can get the charges against you dropped or at least get you bonded out.  Don’t talk without me, and don’t eat or drink anything they offer you.”

He stood, walked to the door and tapped on it.

Geeze, why did he think she understood what they’d said?  She needed to be more careful.

Ben walked back to the lobby.  He looked at Joey.

“Jess says they were talking Italian.  Tell me what the man said to Uncle Sal.”

“Voglio più soldi o devo dire che hai ordinato Benson morto.”

“Where’s the scum bag?  Please tell me they arrested him for assaulting Uncle Sal.”

“Yeah, they took him in.”

Ben went back through the secured door.  He ran his hands through his hair.  If only the video of Jess and Benson hadn’t gone viral, he could convince everyone that she was just a little bit of a defenseless thing, but there was no hope of convincing anyone Jess Parker was defenseless now.

The better thing was to bond her out, and talk to the guy tomorrow. Her bond was set at $10,000.  That meant $1000 in cash tonight.  He walked back out to Joey. If he couldn’t get the charges dropped, he’d go for self-defense.

“I need a grand.  You got it on you or do I need to go home and get it out of the safe?”

Lane sat listening to the exchange as Joey stood and pulled several one hundred dollar bills from his wallet.  He counted off 10 and handed them to Ben.  She wasn’t sure whether she was more shocked that Joey had that much cash in his wallet; or at hearing that Ben could get that much cash, from a safe she knew nothing about, in what was now her home.