“Sure. No one from my firm, but I can give you a couple of names.” Maybe Rochelle was innocent of Carol Anne’s murder.
Ben gave her the names of two different firms who could easily handle the case. But she could have gotten that information from anyone. “Was there anything else you wanted, Liza?”
“Yes, well, I may need to retain you myself. You see, I cancelled Rochelle’s appointment last Friday and I’m afraid before Detective Crane is finished, she’ll be accusing me of Carol Anne Woods’ murder. We knew each other. You know from the stalking. I was supposed to meet her for lunch at the Club that afternoon.”
Ben shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. What was going on? Ex-girlfriend Carol Anne Woods is killed; ex-girlfriend Lila Crane is investigating; current girlfriend, no fiancée, Lane Parker is accused; and ex-girlfriend Liza Conrad may be the new suspect. If he wasn’t careful, someone would make this whole thing be about him. Cops and criminal attorneys really don’t believe in coincidence.
“All right, let me buzz my admin and she can make an appointment for you. I’d rather get the facts now than after Lila has arrested you.”
He buzzed his admin and told her to make the appointment for as soon as possible. That afternoon if Liza could make it.
He called Lane’s office. He just wanted to hear her voice. What had she told him Sunday? She didn’t need a blanket confession, she only needed to know about ex-girlfriends if there was some impact on her life now. He thought this qualified.
Meg answered the phone. “Hi Meg. It’s Ben. Is Lane in?”
When Meg met Ben a month ago, she had told Lane he was tall dark and oh my God handsome. She still thought that, but at the time she had had no one in her life and she had been a little jealous that Lane had two tall dark and handsome men in her life. Now she was dating Lane’s oldest son who was tall handsome and fair.
“She’s in a meeting. May I have her call you?”
“Sure, tell her it’s nothing important, I just need to hear her voice.”
“Will do. By the way, congratulations on the engagement.”
Ben thanked her and ended the call. His admin buzzed him to tell him she’d scheduled Liza for his last appointment of the day, 4:30. He thanked her and went back to reviewing his notes for jury selection.
It was nearly an hour later when his cell phone buzzed. “Red. How’s your morning going?” They’d been apart less than 12 hours and he’d spent some of that time sleeping, but he still missed her like crazy.
“It’s been a pretty normal Thursday around here. How about you? Meg’s note says you needed to hear my voice. Is everything all right?”
He let go with a tension filled breath. “Yeah, everything’s good now. I just wanted to hear your voice and tell you that I love you.”
He could hear her smile as she responded, “And I love you. Come on, there’s more to it than that though, what’s going on?”
“I’m probably going to be working late tonight. I have a 4:30 appointment. Do you remember about six months ago when we ran into Liza Conrad at Papa’s?”
Lane thought back. Sure, she remembered. Liza had been a beautiful woman who was about five feet six inches tall, had long brown hair and big brown eyes. She was a former KC Chiefs cheerleader who was now a Psychologist. They’d run into her with a date but Lane remembered thinking at the time that Liza would have fallen back into Ben’s arms in a heartbeat if only he’d given her the slightest sign that he was interested.
“Yes. The former cheerleader, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. It’s a long story, and I’m going to condense it. When I dated her she had a stalker. Carol Anne was a consultant for the police on the case. Liza called today to say that she thinks Lila might arrest her for Carol Anne’s murder. She wants me to represent her and we have an appointment at 4:30 to talk.”
Lane rubbed the bridge of her nose. A small headache was starting to form. It had been a short night. Ben had gone home around eleven o’clock and Jess had called around 1:00 a.m. to say she’d landed. She’d called again a couple of hours later to say she was safe and sound in her condo. Lane had tossed and turned after that, thinking about what might have happened to Ben yesterday if he hadn’t put his phone on speaker.
“Okay. Why are you telling me this now?”
“Because of our conversation Sunday. Only telling you about my past if it impacts the here and now. I think this qualifies. If you have even the slightest concern about me representing Liza, tell me and I’ll have her find another attorney to represent her.”
Lane sighed. Ben was a babe magnet. And now he was her babe magnet. Ben didn’t cheat. She’d seen that in his relationships over the last three years. They’d have to move to Montana to avoid him having contact with any of his exes. She didn’t want to move to Montana.
“I have no concerns about you defending an ex-girlfriend.”
He didn’t say anything.
“Ben?”
She heard him let out a breath. “All right. I love you.”
“I love you, and Ben, I don’t want to move to Montana.” She ran her fingers over the necklace he’d given her as an engagement gift. She knew she held the key to his heart.
“Montana?”
“It’s where we’d have to go to avoid ever having contact with one of your exes.”
He laughed, but the real joke was that moving to Montana wouldn’t guarantee anything. One of the girls he dated in college was from Billings. It didn’t seem like that had any impact on the here and now, so there was no reason to disclose that particular fact.
“I’ll see you as soon as I can get away,” he said as he ended the call.
He went back to his notes, but not five minutes passed before his cell rang again. When had he turned into a conductor at grand central? He checked the screen. It was Jess.
“Is everything all right,” he asked.
“You tell me,” Jess replied icily.
That was right, what did they say? What are the three fastest forms of communication? Telephone, Telegraph and Tell-a-Parker. He and Lane had told Jamie about Rochelle last night.
“Yes, everything’s fine. No one was hurt. Your mother wasn’t even there.”
“No, she wasn’t there. She was on the other end of the phone listening helplessly to some lunatic who was trying to get you to denounce my mother and declare your undying love for said lunatic.”
Jess had lowered her voice to just above a whisper enunciating each measured syllable. It was something he knew well. The Parkers didn’t shout when they were really pissed, they lowered their voices and forced you to lean in and listen hard to hear them. The Bellinis on the other hand were Italian. They were shouters, but he lowered his voice and matched Jess’s measured tone.
“Well, believe me, no one is ever going to get me to denounce your mother. I’ll declare my love for her with my last dying breath.”
Jess raised her voice to conversational tones again. “I believe you. This isn’t about whether or not you love her. It’s about whether or not you can protect her. I hear the lunatic may have killed Carol Anne.” She lowered her voice again. “How many more are out there, Ben?”
He couldn’t argue. It was something he’d thought about several times today. Could he keep Lane safe? Hell yes, he could keep her safe. That’s what he’d told himself every time the topic had intruded into his conscience today. Jess was a tougher audience than he was.
“What do you always tell us kids? Mom’s naïve. We have to pay attention to everything because she doesn’t always. She trusts everyone.” She lowered her voice again. “What if the next one comes after Mom instead of you?”
“Jess…”
“No, Ben you know what the right thing to do is. I know you do.” She lowered her voice again. “Do the right thing, Ben. I’ll give you until Saturday and if you haven’t done it by then, I’ll take care of it.”