“Yeah, well, here lies the problem—and the reason I had the dentals run a dozen times. The Jane Doe? She’s been buried in an unmarked grave for six years now.”
“Wait, what?” I frown. I don’t understand.
“Hannibal, what the fuck are you saying?” Havoc snaps as G curses and starts reading from his screen out loud. “The DNA sample we sent from Lil’s things came back. They’re not a match.”
“How is that possible?” Havoc growls.
G hits something, and dozens of pictures pop up on the wall—shots of Lil over the years, from her life here with the brothers and before, when she was married. Even the one of her and James in their wedding clothes is up there.
“The timeline. It’s too fucking close for it to be a coincidence,” Hannibal says warily.
“What fucking timeline? You’re not making any—” Havoc sucks in a sharp breath. “The coup when Snake attacked Lil.”
Delphi fidgets, but Kruger pulls her in tighter.
“But she survived that. She was alive when Sunshine and Blade took him out. She was alive later when Blade took out Bear. I remember Bear taunting her,” Midas says, shaking his head. “She was there, I’m sure of it.”
“But what about afterward?” Hannibal questions. “She mentioned to me about sleeping in her car and using the homeless shelter because she didn’t feel safe at the clubhouse.”
Probe explodes. “Well, of course she fucking didn’t.”
“What I’m saying is what if all that was true, but not for the reasons you’re thinking. What if Lil didn’t feel safe because she didn’t know any of us? Didn’t know what would be expected of her or if she could do it?”
“You’re saying this other woman switched places with our Lil, and every oddity we noticed we put down to her trauma,” Kruger states, looking like he’s been punched in the face.
“No, we would have noticed. We know Lil,” Mack protests.
“Do we?” Toot is the one to ask the question. “Before what went down with Bear and Snake, there was a definite divide between old ladies and club girls.” He looks at Delphi, who nods.
“He’s right. Lil was nice enough, but I didn’t know her other than to say hi to. We never talked, never had a friendship. As far as I was concerned, she was the best of a bad bunch,” she admits quietly.
“But that changed afterward. Maybe Delphi would have noticed it because women tend to notice that shit more, but we fucked up and pushed her away,” Toot grunts.
“And all the other old ladies and club girls left. None of us knew Lil beyond fucking her to really notice the difference,” Mack agrees.
“Wait. You’re saying the Lil that’s been with us for the last six years was an impostor?” Probe blinks.
“Is she really the impostor when you all admit you didn’t know the old Lil, only the new one?” Nevaeh points out.
“So who the fuck is she? A twin sister?” Crane asks.
“I checked. Lilian was an only child, no siblings. I even checked the hospital she was born at to make sure a twin wasn’t put up for adoption, but there’s nothing.”
“So who the fuck is the woman who has been living here in her place?” Hoops leans forward.
“Well, that’s the million-dollar question. And one neither me nor Byte can find the answer to,” Hannibal admits.
“So this doctor motherfucker is looking for her, not knowing his actual wife is dead? He’s chasing the wrong damn woman.”
“You think she left to hide the truth?” Powers asks robotically.
“No.” Legs says, shaking her head. “There was genuine fear. She didn’t run because she didn’t want to get caught in a lie. Hell, she must have been exhausted trying to keep everything straight all these years. Actually, I’m not sure she did. Occasionally, she’d contradict herself. Maybe her life and Lilian’s bled into each other, but she had her own monsters she was running from.”
“That’s no excuse,” Powers says.
“I’m not saying it is,” Legs replies, looking around the room at the women. “It’s different for us. With the exception of Delphi, none of us knew the Lil you did. We’re friends with the one who’s missing. We care about her, and I know she cared about us. You can’t fake that.”
“Not strictly true. Snake was proof of that, but this is different. Lil wasn’t here for nefarious reasons. Lord knows if she was, she had ample time to make her move. She was hiding,” Delphi ends on a whisper.
