Chapter 1
A Friend in Need
Lane sat in her office glancing out the window overlooking the expansive trimmed lawn, her hand still resting on the phone. She'd just hung up after talking to her best friend from childhood. Maggie Donaldson and Lane Parker had lived next door to each other and had been best friends from diapers through junior high school. After that, their lives had taken different paths and some thirty-five years later, they'd somehow lost touch.
The summer Lane turned thirteen, her Aunt Marta had sold the house Lane had grown up in, and moved her to Omaha. Through tear filled eyes, and cracking voices, she and Maggie had vowed to stay in touch. It was before email and cell phones though and the girls had tried to stay touch through cards, letters, and phone calls. For a while, they even managed to spend a weekend with one another every month or so; but Maggie was playing sports and had basketball practices, softball practices, and track meets while Lane was busy with piano lessons and recitals. Before long, they'd each made other friends, and the phone calls, cards, letters, and weekends became fewer and farther between.
A tap on Lane’s office door brought her back to the present. She looked up to find her administrative assistant, Meg Kelly standing in the doorway.
"You need to pack up if you're going to make it to the airport in time to meet Jess's flight."
Lane nodded. "Thanks, Meg." She said as she powered down her laptop.
"You seem a little preoccupied. Are you worrying about Jess driving back to California alone?"
Lane’s daughter, Jess, was a student at UCLA majoring in Theater. She'd been going on more auditions and getting more parts and Lane had flown to L.A. over spring break and helped Jess find a condo. After a great deal of consideration on Lane's part and fussing and feuding on Jess's part, Lane had agreed to let Jess take her car back to school at the end of the semester. As much as Lane wished time would move a little more slowly in respect to her children, the end of the semester had arrived.
Lane laughed. "Well, as it happens, my sons have convinced me that they should accompany their sister back to California, so she won't be going alone after all. I guess I'm just getting a preview of what my empty nest will be like when my youngest goes off to college. Maybe I'm not ready for it."
Now Meg laughed. "Well, it hasn't happened yet. Maybe he’ll live at home and attend Rockhurst University."
Lane shook her head as she loaded her laptop into her wheeled briefcase, added some reports she wanted to review over the weekend, and zipped it up. It was Memorial Day weekend, and she had decided to take both Friday and Tuesday off to extend the weekend, even before she'd gotten that call from Maggie. Now, she was going to be driving to Omaha and she hoped she'd be able to get everything done.
The Parker Kids had planned to take off first thing Saturday morning. It was a three-day drive if they didn't make any tourist stops or sightseeing detours. The boys, Jake and Jamie, were going to stay with Jess for a few days and then fly back to Kansas City the following Thursday.
As she drove to the airport, Lane's mind went back to the phone call from Maggie. Maggie’s son Jeff was missing. She hadn't heard from him for almost a week and neither his boss nor his friends knew where he was. Maggie was at her wits end when she'd called Lane for moral support. But, Lane offered more than that. When Lane first moved to Overland Park, she'd become friends with Ben Bellini. Benito Giovanni Bellini second generation Italian American was the best criminal defense attorney in the Kansas City Metropolitan area. He had connections in law enforcement in every community in the greater metropolitan area as well as state law enforcement in Missouri and Kansas. She hoped his reach extended to Omaha, Nebraska.
Her cell phone rang bringing her out of her reverie. She checked the readout on the screen for the number before connecting via blue tooth.
"I was just thinking about you." She told Ben. It often seemed that he had ESP or at least knew when he was on her mind because this wasn't the first time he'd called when she'd been thinking of him.
His smile came clearly through the airwaves. "So, Red what's up?"
"I'm on my way to the airport to get Jess. I have a question for you and depending on the answer, I might need a favor."
"Ask away, as for the favor, you know you only need ask."
She smiled. Ben was her best friend here in Kansas. He'd recently been hinting that they could be more than that, but he was 36 and she was closing in on 50. He was quick to remind her that she didn't look even 40. It was true, she had good genes and men and women alike guessed her age 15 years younger than her almost 49 years.
"I got a call from a friend in Omaha this afternoon. Her son Jeff is about the same age as Jake. She hasn't heard from him in a while and she's worried. Any chance your circle of friends and associates reaches Omaha? I'd like to help her if I can."
"You're in luck, Red. Didn't I ever tell you that I went to law school in Omaha? I keep in touch with a classmate who practices there. I can give her a call and see if she can point me in the right direction. I need a little more information before I make the call though. How about I drop by the house tonight? I can bring pizzas for you and the kids."
Ben went to law school in Omaha.How had that never come up? She looked at the clock. "Sure, that works. It's 5:45. I'm just pulling into the parking garage and if the flight is on time, and if Jess has carried on her luggage as she usually does, then I can be home in an hour. Let's say 7:00?"
Chapter 2
You've got a Friend in me
Jess walked out of the terminal carrying her backpack and quickly made her way toward her mother. After they exchanged a brief hug, Jess confirmed that the backpack was her only luggage. On the drive home, Jess regaled Lane with stories of her most recent acting job. Lane shook her head. Lately, Jess had practically made a career out of playing the dead body on one TV crime series after another. She'd met Dirk Jacobsen, a current heartthrob, who was a Grammy award-winning singer and was making his TV debut, on the set of Lawlessness when she'd played the body found in his hotel room.
Jess, who was 5 feet 4 inches tall, always wore shoes with at least a four-inch heel. She was used to being around men who were well over six feet tall, like her brothers both of whom were a full foot taller than Jess. She laughed as she told the story of meeting Dirk. “We had no scenes with me standing, which was good because he might be maybe an inch taller than I am. Sorry, Mom. I was a high-end call girl in this episode; and my wardrobe included a pair of five-inch heels. I would have towered over him.”
As Lane turned onto her street, she could see Ben’s black Lincoln Navigator parked in front of the house. She pulled into the garage, and she and Jess got out of the SUV. Lane got her briefcase and Jess got her backpack. The scent of pizza filled the air as Jess and lane walked into the house. They found Jake, Jamie, and Ben in the kitchen. Lane put her briefcase in her office while Jess hurried to stow her backpack in her room. The guys had set the table and had everyone's favorite sodas on the table. While Lane would have loved to change clothes, she knew that the Parker boys were starving. Had they been just a couple of years younger, Lane knew they'd be sitting at the table knife in one hand, fork in the other tapping the utensils on the table chanting something like "We want grub." or whining about being near death for lack of food. She smiled. The more things change the more they remain the same.