"She didn't admit it outright," Sarah said. "But she didn't deny it either. She just said she and Cal were having issues and probably wouldn't last past Homecoming anyway."
Pretty much what Cal had said.
Kelly forced herself to take a sip of iced tea, concentrating on not choking while doing so. She was so shocked, she wasn’t even sure what to do or ask next. This hadn’t been on her Lori Powell Murder Bingo Card.
"Did she say who?" Ben asked.
At least Ben hadn’t lost the ability to think and speak. Thank goodness she’d had the good sense to bring him along.
“Not specifically,” Hannah said with a shake of her head. “But she made comments about how there were other guys out there that were better. How Cal was leaving for college and didn't want to be tied down anyway. I remember she said something about finding someone who actually wanted the same things she did."
The same things.
Like marriage.
Like a family.
And a father for her unborn child?
"When exactly was this conversation?" Kelly asked, trying to piece together a timeline in her head.
"Maybe three weeks before she died? It was after the Harvest Festival but before Homecoming preparations got into full swing."
Lori had been acting strangely, but Kelly had assumed it was about the stomach flu that wouldn’t go away.
Scratch that…the morning sickness.
"Did anyone else know?" Ben asked.
"Not that I'm aware of," Hannah replied. "Maybe her aunt that she was staying with that summer? I never told anyone. Didn't seem right after she died, you know? It would have just hurt Cal more, and what would be the point? In the long run, it wasn’t important at all. You know, it’s kind of a relief that you know now."
Kelly nodded mechanically. images of those weeks before Lori’s death filling her head. She understood her friend’s reasoning all too well. Bergen protected its own, buried its secrets. Just like Dr. Whitfield had buried the truth about Lori's pregnancy.
"Did Cal ever seem suspicious?" Kelly asked.
"Not that I noticed. He was pretty wrapped up in football and college visits that fall." Hannah’s expression softened with sympathy. "Let’s face it. We all pretty much didn’t notice because we were self-involved teenagers who didn’t look much further than ourselves. The only reason I even sort of noticed was because Lori’s flakiness was inconveniencing me. If it didn’t affect you, why would you think that something was going on? Look, Kelly, I know this must be hard to hear. Lori was your best friend. But nobody's perfect, not even her."
"I know that," Kelly said sharply, then immediately regretted her tone. "I'm sorry. This is just... a lot. Are you sure she never actually admitted to cheating? She didn’t say anything else about it later?”
"She never said she was cheating, but it was pretty clear from how she talked.”
Kelly's mind was already racing through possibilities. Who in their small town would Lori have turned to? Someone who wanted what she wanted. Someone who might have fathered her child. Someone who might have killed her when things got complicated.
That didn’t narrow down the field much.
Who had her friend been seeing that summer? This was a brand new version of Lori that Kelly had never seen. Cheating on Cal. Seeing someone else. Planning to break up. It was like learning about a stranger wearing her best friend's face.
"You've kept this secret all this time?" Kelly asked, her voice barely audible above the restaurant’s background chatter.
Hannah shrugged, taking a sip of her iced tea before answering.
"What good would it have done to tell anyone after she died? It would have just tarnished her memory. And I’m not the type to rat out my friends. I wasn’t going to tell anyone, and I told Lori that even when she didn’t outwardly admit it. She actedlike it didn’t matter. And her parents were devastated enough. I didn’t want to add to that."
The Powells. Robert Powell's insistence that the pregnancy be kept out of the autopsy report. What else had they known? What else had they hidden to protect their daughter's reputation?
"Besides," Hannah continued, "it wasn't my story to tell. If Lori wanted people to know about her relationship issues, she would have told them herself. Look, we were all young. People make mistakes.”
"This doesn't sound like Lori at all," Kelly said, her voice cracking slightly. "I guess I didn’t really know her. I thought she loved Cal."
