“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.
It took half an hour to get the paperwork done and get Jess released. Ben looked at Joey, “I need to talk to Uncle Sal. Get them home, Okay?” He kissed Lane, “I love you, I just need to talk to Uncle Sal tonight to get this all straightened out. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
She looked tired, and he knew she needed to get some rest. They walked outside together. He opened the front passenger door of Lane’s Escalade, helped her get in and kissed her again. He brushed the back of his hand on her cheek.
“Go to bed without me. I can wake you when I get home.”
This was nuts, when had they turned into the family who spent more time at the police station than away from it? Lane reached up and touched Ben’s hand as she looked into his eyes. “Okay, promise you’ll wake me?”
He nodded and closed the door. He pulled out this phone and called Uncle Sal. He didn’t bother with hello when Sal answered.
“Jess was arrested for assault. What the hell is going on?”
“I didn’t even know the man who pushed me. Where is the girl?”
“She’s home. There’s more to this, Sal and we both know it. They arrested the guy who pushed you. I’ll talk to him in the morning and see if I can get the charges dropped. Are you home now? Are you all right? Is Pauli with you?”
“Yes. Go home to your wife and family. There’s nothing to be done tonight.” Sal said as he ended the call.
Ben started his SUV and drove home.
Chapter 27
comes the dawn
Ben woke before dawn and dressed for his run. It was another 10 mile morning. He came home and went right to the weight room. He went through his reps, and as he finished Jamie came in.
“Did you already run, Dad?”
“Yeah, is anyone else up?”
“I passed Joey in the hall. He looks awful, like he’s been up all night. Is there something else going on?”
Ben looked at him, “Someone attacked Uncle Sal last night, and Jess jumped in the middle of it. She was arrested for assault, but I expect the charges will be dropped today. I just need to go to the station and talk to the guy.”
Jamie looked at Ben. He trusted Ben. He knew Ben had helped Jake, Jess, and his Mom more than once. And if Ben said everything would be fine, it would be. But Ben hadn’t said it would be fine.
“You didn’t say everything would be fine. You always say, ‘I’ll handle it and everything will be fine.’ I’m not a kid; you can tell me if something is going on.”
It had been the Parkers against the world his whole life; and then three years ago, even Jess had let Ben into their family circle. He had started to call Ben ‘Dad’ because, in many ways, Ben was the only father he’d known. Sure Phillip Parker was in Chicago and Jamie saw him once a year or so, but Phillip Parker wasn’t there for him or his siblings when they needed something. He hadn’t had that feeling of security until they’d moved to Kansas and met Ben Bellini. The Parker kids knew that one phone call to Ben and, no matter what was wrong, he would set it right.
No, Jamie wasn’t exactly a kid any more. Ben thought as he said, “There’s nothing else, Bambino. I will handle it and everything will be fine.”
He patted Jamie on the shoulder as he walked toward the door. He stopped and turned to look at Jamie.
“I’m just worried about your Mom. This is a high risk pregnancy because of her age, you know. Dangerous for the baby, not for her. I want to be sure she gets enough rest and, with everything going on, this week has been hard on her. But I don’t want anyone to worry. Tonight is a party and we forget everything else.”
Ben walked up the stairs and went into the kitchen. Joey had made coffee and was sitting at the table. Ben got a bottle of water and sat with him.
“The Bambino thinks you’ve been up all night.”
“How do you get any sleep around this family? I’m constantly waiting for the next shoe to drop.”
Ben laughed, “This has been an unusual week. Things are much quieter usually.”
Joey ran his hand through his hair, “Probably because Jess is usually in L.A.”
Ben looked toward the hall where the bedrooms were. “You said it yourself. She can take care of herself. Speaking of shoes, I need to order a new pair to replace the ones the police have.”
“Yeah, you and Pauli and the Jess Parker Shoe Club.”
Ben laughed again, “You forgot Tony. He’s a card carrying member of the club. I think she may have blackmailed both Pauli and Tony in. She just manipulated me. But she can be very hard to say no to.”
Ben got up and headed toward his bedroom leaving Joey alone at the table. Yeah, Joey thought, she would be hard to say no to if she ever looked up at me with those big blue eyes like she wanted something from me. He remembered the look on her face the other night just before she’d kissed him and told him never to scare her again. Well, Toots, that goes both ways, he thought.
Ben paused to watch Lane sleep before going into the bathroom. He’d closed the door, so the shower wouldn’t wake Lane. He was standing in the shower, letting the ceiling mounted shower heads rain over him. He was standing with his eyes closed and his face tipped toward the rain when he felt the hands on his back. He shook his head and opened his eyes.