all that stuff you told us about your dad leaving and your mother being in a commune was all a lie?” Harriet asked. “You really had two parents who lost their daughter at the age of fifteen?”
“I know it sounds awful, but believe me, Bobby was the only one who would have cared, and he had his own problems. If they’d paid any attention to us at all, Bobby wouldn’t have been growing and selling drugs, and I wouldn’t have been his drug mule.”
“Before, you said the robbers told Bobby’s group about the bank robbery. Now you say he didn’t know,” Lauren said thoughtfully. “Which story are we supposed to believe?”
“You were all pressuring me, and I was trying to rewrite history on the fly so that my part of it didn’t exist. Cosmic might have known, but believe me, his uncle would never have trusted the rest of the group with that.”
“And you’ve never told anyone?” Harriet asked.
“Not a soul,” Jenny said, and for once, Harriet believed her.
Chapter 30
Lauren took the teacups downstairs and returned a few minutes with refills of fragrant orange spice tea. Jenny and Harriet sat, each lost in her own thoughts, while she was gone.
“I thought the spicy tea would go better with the gingersnaps,” she said.
“Given all that you’ve just told us, you must have some idea who’s been killing people,” Harriet told Jenny.
“Yeah,” Lauren chimed in. “And you must have some idea if you’re the target.”
“I think the shooting of Pamela Gilbert leaves no doubt Jenny was the target,” Harriet said.
“Who did the shirt belong to?” Lauren asked.
“I don’t know,” Jenny said. “And that’s the truth. All the guys wore shirts that looked vaguely alike. Everyone used that car. It wasn’t like it is today, where most of the kids get late-model cars when they turn sixteen. The back seat of that old car had everything from jackets to bikinis, with bags of granola alongside Twinkies and cans of soda. I grabbed what was handy.”
“My guess is someone recognized their shirt. Your centerpiece is pretty distinctive,” Harriet said.
“Why would they wait so long for revenge?” Jenny asked. “All of them that got arrested would have gotten out decades ago.”
“With your change of identity, they probably didn’t know how to find you,” Lauren suggested.
“I suppose,” Jenny mused. “Still, if even my brother had cleaned up, surely, everyone else would have grown up and moved on by now.”
“If they haven’t, and they figured out you were the snitch, it would be a pretty good motive for revenge.” Harriet said.
“Now you just have to figure out which one of the group it is,” Lauren said. “I can help you with that if you can tell me the names.”
Jenny clamped her lips shut and furrowed her brow.
“That could be a problem,” she said.
“How so?” Harriet asked.
“Remember I referred to people as Cosmic, Tranquility, and Paisley? There was also a Cedar, a Sunshine and an Einstein. I never knew their real names.”
Lauren covered her eyes with the palms of her hands, tilting her head downward.
“You’re not making it easy to help you. I guess I can try to find more newspaper articles and public records regarding the robbery, although if any of them were minors, they wouldn’t print their names.”
“At least it would be a start,” Harriet said.
“Thank you so much for being willing to help me after all the lies I’ve told you,” Jenny said.
“You need to call Detective Morse and come clean,” Harriet told her.
“I will, but I think I owe it to the rest of the Threads to tell them first.”
“As long as you tell Morse before anything else has a chance to happen,” Harriet said.
“Not to sound like your aunt,” Lauren said to Harriet, “but you’re looking a little gray. I know you think you’re superwoman, but I think you need to do what everyone’s been telling you and take a nap.”
“I need to go get a pain pill, and then I promise, I will take a nap.”
“Stay put,” Lauren said. Scooter and Fred got up to follow her. “I supposed I have to feed you two little wretches while I’m downstairs, too. I am turning into Beth.”
“Don’t forget,” Harriet said to Jenny. “This isn’t over yet. You may have shared your past, but someone dangerous is still out there. You and Lauren need to stay together until you can connect with Robin or DeAnn or somebody. And I’m guessing you get it that you can’t go home.”
“I’ll need to go get some clothes,