And he was listening to dead air.
She was directing again, but that didn’t make her wrong. Lane had told him a story of Jess at about two years old. Lane was pregnant with Jamie, and Jake and Jess had been riding a tricycle through the house from one end of the house to the other. It was raining and they couldn’t go outside. Finally Lane had enough and she’d told them to stop. Jess had gotten off the back of the trike and stood toe to toe with Lane. Hands on her little hips she had said “you can’t talk to my brother that way.” Lane had told him she barely made it into her bedroom where she buried her face in a pillow so she could laugh.
Could he protect Lane? Could he keep her safe or was the very fact that he loved her putting her in danger?
So Jess was giving him until Saturday to do what? Break her Mother’s heart? And his? Because you’re still alive with a broken heart. Hadn’t he just told her no one could get him to denounce his love for Lane? He didn’t know what Jess would do, but he did know that if anyone ever made Lane choose between him and her kids, the kids would win every time.
He’d try to reason with Jess, but he’d wait until after her audition on Friday. He knew she didn’t need this worry right now. Why the hell had the Bambino called her?
Chapter 21
One Bellini two Bellini
His admin, Stephanie, showed Liza into Ben’s office. He stood and reached across his desk, shook her hand, and motioned for her to sit.
“Let’s get right to it, shall we,” he said.
Liza nodded.
“Tell me why you think Detective Crane might arrest you.”
“I cancelled all of my appointments for last Friday afternoon. As I told you on the phone, I was supposed to meet Carol Anne at the Club. She was the CSW consulting on my stalker case, do you remember?”
Ben nodded. Carol Anne was a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and consulted with the police to create a profile for Liza’s stalker. Carol Anne had said the stalker was most likely a woman who wanted Liza’s life. She was a cheerleader for a professional football team, she was beautiful, she was smart and she was a student getting an advanced degree. As he recalled, it was the stalking incident that had prompted her to go into clinical psychology.
“So had you and Carol Anne kept in touch after the stalking incident?”
He’d dated Carol Anne a year after the incident and she’d never mentioned Liza even though she had to have known Ben and Liza had dated.
“Yes. Especially after I decided to go into clinical work.”
“All right, so you stayed in touch, became friends. You were supposed to meet her for lunch last Friday. I still don’t see how that might implicate you in her murder.”
“Oh God. Fine. She called me and asked me if I’d help convince someone to be a sperm donor because she wanted to do in vitro. I thought she must have been talking about you, since we’d both dated you. But she’d called me Friday morning and told me who it was. I thought she was crazy. Not clinically mind you, just nuts, you know? She wanted me to help her approach your brother Tony. She knew the way the two of you broke up that you wouldn’t do it. Your fiancée is Lane Parker, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Dear God, Carol Anne wanted his brother to be a sperm donor. What, so she could have a Bellini baby?
“Carol Anne was almost obsessed with your relationship with Lane. She said it was why you broke up.”
He didn’t want to discuss this with Liza. It had nothing to do with her. “So, Carol Anne wanted you to help her approach Tony. Let’s forget trying to figure out why she chose Tony. Why would you have any influence with him?”
Liza shook her head. “I’ve gone out with Tony a few times over the years. Nothing serious, but Carol Anne thought I might be able to introduce them and she’d take it from there. I’d agreed to meet her for lunch, but the more I thought about it, I came to realize she really was a bit unbalanced, so I blew her off.”
Ben was the oldest of five children. He had three brothers and a sister. Tony was number two of the five of them. He was 15 months younger than Ben. He’d been two years behind Ben in school. He was the head chef at the family restaurant, Bellini’s. And apparently he’d been dating Ben’s ex-girlfriends. The Bellini brothers all looked very similar. Tall, between six feet three inches and six feet four inches tall, with dark hair, dark eyes, olive complexions. Any one of them could have been George Clooney’s younger, better looking brother.
But Liza thought Carol Anne was unbalanced and she’d been dating his brother. It sounded a bit like the pot calling the kettle black. He couldn’t imagine dating the sister of any of his exes, but apparently the Bellini brothers were interchangeable.
“That’s all very interesting, but I still don’t know why you think you might be implicated in the murder.”
“I don’t know that I will. I just want to know that, if and when I have to talk to Detective Crane, that I can call you and you’ll come with me as my attorney.”
“Liza, a defense attorney doesn’t normally ask this, but did you do it? Did you kill Carol Anne?”
She shook her head from side to side. “No.”
“Yeah, sure. Call me. I’ll accompany you.”
He was remembering why he’d broken it off with her after only two weeks and a handful of dates. She was manipulative and needy. He needed to talk to Tony, but there was no rush. Hell, if Tony was having a good time with her, then more power to him.
He walked Liza to the door of his office. She leaned as if she were going to hug him, but he extended his hand. He handed her off to Stephanie, hoping that Lila would never call Liza in for questioning.
“Liza, you’ll probably have to testify if Rochelle goes to trial over the incident at my house. You don’t need legal representation for that, and I couldn’t represent you anyway. Our agreement is only good for Detective Crane questioning you about Carol Anne’s murder. Are we clear on that?” He waited until she nodded then he closed his door.
He called Lane as he walked to his car. “I’m on my way home. I’m going to stop at my house and change before I come over. Do you need me to stop anywhere, bring anything?”
What had he told her when he proposed? He loved her more than the air he breathed. She was his heart, his life. He’d wasted the last three years with every wrong woman he could find and now Jess wanted him to what, rip his heart out and stomp it. He’d promised Lane a month ago that she wouldn’t lose her best friend by dating him. What the Hell was he going to do?
“It’s Thursday, so I’m just going to heat up the left overs tonight. It’ll be just Jamie and me.”
Which is what it was most nights since Jess was at UCLA and Jake had bought his house and moved out. That wasn’t quite right. Since she and Ben had started dating three months ago, it was the three of them: Ben, Jamie and Lane. She looked at the engagement ring on her finger. He’d been her best friend for three years and soon he’d be her husband. How had she gotten so lucky?
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you. See you soon.”
When Ben pulled into his driveway, Mickey McGuire was waiting.
“Rochelle Jones copped a plea and the DA’s cutting her a deal involving treatment. I don’t believe she killed Carol Anne. By the way, the gun she had wasn’t even loaded.”
“Yeah, I wondered. She didn’t threaten me with it exactly, but you know it’s never wise to agitate crazy. You want to come in? I’m just here to change.” Ben walked through the garage.
“She said that I only date pretty, rich, famous women like cheerleaders and radio personalities. Did you know her therapist is Liza Conrad? She’s an ex and a former cheerleader. Carol Anne Woods is an ex and a radio personality. It was weird, you know?”