Hannah waved from the doorway to the kitchen, her smile wide and welcoming. Kelly should have known that they’d never get in and out for lunch without talking to her old friend. It wouldn’t take long. The place was busy with the lunch rush.
"Change of plans," she murmured to Ben as they sat down at the booth.
"Roll with it," he replied quietly. "Might be useful."
Maybe. Kelly wasn’t thinking about telling Hannah about what they’d learned. Hannah knew all the good town gossip because…Hannah was a gossip. If this got around town, the truth coming out might spook the murderer.
There was also a part of her that still wanted to protect Lori, even though her best friend had been gone for a long time and didn’t need protecting anymore. They were long past that. Nothing the good citizens had to say about Lori could hurt her now.
You probably forgive them, don’t you? You were always a better person than me.
A waitress showed up at the table at the same time as Hannah slid in next to Kelly.
“The salmon is good today,’ Hannah said. “And of course, our burgers are the best in the county.”
Ben ordered a grilled chicken sandwich, and Kelly ordered the salmon. The waitress left to put in their order, leaving the three of them to talk.
“I saw your face when you walked in,” Hannah said to Kelly. “You looked like you’d seen a ghost. What’s the deal? Is the wedding off or something?”
For a moment, Kelly had forgotten that the wedding was the reason she was here in Bergen. They were supposed to attend the rehearsal dinner tonight and then the actual wedding tomorrow afternoon.
She kept her gaze on Hannah, not wanting to give anything away by looking at Ben. She wasn't ready to share what they'd learned from Mrs. Whitfield.
Not until she'd processed it herself. Not until they'd spoken with Cal.
"We've discovered some things," she said carefully. "Nothing concrete yet, but something that puts a new spin on things."
Hannah nodded, seeming to accept the vague answer.
"You’re being quite vague,” Hannah said. “Is it bad?”
“I’m not sure it’s good to discuss something when we haven’t had a chance to decide what, if anything, it means in this investigation,” Kelly carefully replied.
Hannah’s eyes narrowed, and then she nodded, a smile playing on her lips.
“For what it’s worth, I don’t think it has anything to do with Lori’s murder,” Hannah said. “In the long run, it’s meaningless, right? Just a blip. Meaningless.”
Hannah was looking at Kelly like sheknew. But…she couldn’t know, right? Unless Lori had talked to Hannah. They were close as well, good friends. But Kelly couldn’t believe that Lori talked to Hannah first.
But I’m getting surprised at every turn, so what do I know?
“Meaningless,” Kelly echoed. “A blip.”
The waitress returned with three iced teas before bustling away again to another table.
"I’m guessing you found out Lori was cheating on Cal that summer and fall, right?"
Kelly's glass froze halfway to her lips, her knuckles whitening around the handle. The words hit her like a physical blow, knocking the air from her lungs. She felt Ben place a steadying hand on her thigh, but it seemed far away, disconnected.
Lori. Cheating on Cal. And pregnant.
What in the ever-loving hell?
“Yes,” she heard Ben reply, although his voice sounded like it was coming from inside a tunnel, far away and faint. “Although, as you can expect, we couldn’t be sure of it. We’re not planning on discussing it until we know hard facts.”
"Well, I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I’m pretty sure,” Hannah said. “But I get why you’d want to not say anything. I don’t think it has a thing to do with her murder, though. Looking back, she was just doing what teenagers do. Have some fun and push some boundaries. It was really just mostly a summer fling, I think. I confronted her about it a few weeks after school started. She was acting strange, canceling plans, and being secretive with her phone. Very unlike her."
"What did she say when you confronted her?" Kelly found her voice again, though it sounded strange to her own ears.
