Ben took a breath. “Bambino, I know you want this to be over. Believe me, we all do. The guys won’t know who Tanner is or that he’s following the bus unless you tell them. I’m sure there will be a virtual caravan of vehicles leaving from school and going to St. Louis today. Tanner’s SUV will just be another vehicle in the line.”
Jamie looked at his father. Sure, that was probably true, but he knew the rest of the story, what he thought of as the truth. “Okay, but tell me just how Mr. Tanner is going to protect me from another vehicle anyway.”
Ben gave Jamie what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Jamie, Roy Tanner is just going to keep an eye on the bus. He’ll check it out or have it checked before it leaves the parking lot to be sure it’s safe. He’ll be in the parking lot watching for anything suspicious, and he’ll follow the bus keeping an eye on every vehicle that comes close to it.”
Jamie didn’t look convinced, and Ben continued, “Imagine that it was Jess, your mother, or even Jake, and someone was a threat to them. What would you do?”
Jamie heaved a sigh. “Everything humanly possible to be sure that no one could get close to them.”
“Exactly. That’s all we’re doing now. No one has said you’re helpless or that you can’t take care of yourself. We’re just trying to make sure you don’t have to. You’ve done everything right so far, Jamie. Let’s keep it that way.”
Jamie looked at Ben. When he put it that way, it was hard to argue with. He laughed, and Ben looked at him.
“That’s quite a case you’ve presented. You really are a good lawyer, aren’t you?”
Ben chuckled as he reached over and tousled Jamie’s hair. “I hope I’m a good father. Because where you’re concerned, I’m a father first and a lawyer second.”
Chapter 25
Ben checked the digital readout on the clock as he pulled into the garage. Lunchtime. He wondered where the rest of the family was and whether it was all right to get everyone settled with left overs, or if Lane wanted to cook or maybe even go out. He knew that Lane usually made turkey and noodles with leftovers after the holidays, but unless Lane and Evie had made noodles, that was out of the running.
Ben parked the SUV and looked at Jamie, “Hey, Bambino, let’s go see what the lunch plans are.”
They walked through the garage and into the hearth room where Evie and Lane were sitting with Jess and Gabe. Ben kissed Lane’s cheek as he and Jamie entered the room. People often say, great minds think alike, and apparently, so do hungry stomachs. The group was discussing what to do for lunch as Ben and Jamie joined them. Ben smiled; he wasn’t sure whether the discussion was really necessary. He’d looked into the kitchen as he’d passed by and apparently, Lane (and perhaps Evie) had made egg noodles while he and Jamie had been gone. It wouldn’t take long to get some turkey stock on the stove and they’d have turkey and noodles within the hour.
When the conversation rolled back around to turkey and homemade noodles, Ben said, “You’ve been busy, I’ll start the turkey stock and cut up the turkey. I’d put carrots and celery in,” he looked around the room “if you’re a family of purists, I can leave them out.”
Lane patted his hand, “We are definitely purists when it comes to turkey and noodles.” She shook her head, celery and carrots were fine in soup, but this wasn’t soup. She had a friend who put egg droppings in her turkey or chicken and noodles. It was entirely possible that many people out there thought her way was without imagination and flavor. She stood and took Ben’s hand. “I’ll help you.” As they walked into the kitchen, she leaned close to him and whispered, “There’s something I want to talk with you about and I’d like to know how it went with the police.”
Ben went to the pantry, got the 20-quart stockpot, and brought it back to the kitchen. Under ordinary circumstances, Lane would have asked him if he thought they were feeding an army, but she already knew the answer.
Lane got the plastic containers of turkey and put them on the counter. She reached back in and got the plastic container of turkey stock and a container of chicken stock they’d purchased.
As she handed the containers to Ben, she said, “I’ll go first. Phillip called Evie this morning. He and Ralphie are getting married next month and he’s going to be calling me about the kids going to the wedding.” She took a breath. “Which brings up the fact that I’m going to have to tell him Jamie isn’t his son. I don’t know that it will be a big deal. You know the kids really haven’t had much of a relationship with him anyway, and before you ask, there aren’t any financial implications to that revelation. We had settled the child support issue before I found out I was pregnant and I didn’t go back to ask for any more money. I had a good job and I didn’t need the money, in fact, the child support always just went into the college fund anyway.”
Ben pulled her into his embrace. It seemed every day he learned more about what a strong woman she was. She’d raised three kids, one of them his, and done it, basically, on her own with practically no financial help from anyone. Well, she wasn’t on her own anymore and he was going to do everything he could to make sure she never was again.
“Tell me how you want to handle it. We could fly to Chicago and talk to him. You shouldn’t have to tell him that alone, and it might be something better done in person.”
Lane leaned back to look at him, “You have a trial starting Monday.”
He ran the back of his fingers across her cheek, “We could leave from St. Louis Saturday afternoon and spend the night in Chicago, see Phillip Sunday, and fly back home Sunday evening. I’d be back in plenty of time for court on Monday morning, but it’s up to you.”
She leaned into him again, “I love you. I’ll call him this afternoon and then we can make travel arrangements. Now, I want to hear about what happened with the police today.”
He kissed her before he released the embrace and turned toward the stove. “Duncan showed Jamie some pictures. He tried to disguise things, but the pictures were of the Evans family, Lucas Evans’ father, mother and sister along with three strangers who very well could have been cops thrown in just to even out the photo lineup.” He poured the stock into the stockpot and started dicing turkey before continuing, “It would seem that they suspect Lucas’ family. Jamie was pretty upset at the thought. I told him he just needed to concentrate on telling the police anything he could remember about what happened both Monday and Tuesday and let the police sort things out.” Ben held up some dark meat and looked questioningly at Lane.
She shook her head. “Just the white meat. Lucas is the second string quarterback, isn’t he? Do you suppose he has anything to do with what happened to Justin?”
Ben continued dicing turkey. “No. I can’t imagine Lucas being involved with anything that would harm either Justin or coach Ferguson.” He looked at Lane, concern written on his face. “You remember that crazy mother in Texas in the early nineties?” Lane shook her head and Ben continued. “She hired a hit man to kill the mother of a cheerleader so the girl would quit the squad and her daughter could take the spot.”
Lane looked at him, “You’re right, that’s crazy.”
Ben took the turkey to the stove and put it into the stockpot. “That wasn’t the defense she took though. She was convicted of solicitation for capital murder. She was sentenced to ten years, but it was later discovered that there was an issue with one of the jurors. There should have been a second trial. Anyway, she served six months in jail and the rest of the sentence on probation.”