“Jenny would never give us up. Besides, she couldn’t—not without reporting on herself. I trust her. With everything.”
“What if she was offered a deal? With the police? Or one of the gangs? She could’ve set us up in Ivrea for them.”
I knew I was grasping. But I couldn’t bear the idea that I had brought more trouble to our door. That my weakness at needing to seek out professional help could’ve flung us further into the deep.
“The other night, with Danny—Jenny was the one who told me to head out there. It was her lead, remember?”
Haze kept staring at me. “And exactly why would she be doing all this?”
“Maybe she’s scared of going to prison, of getting caught, and so she’s sacrificing us for her own safety.”
“You’re being ridiculous. Jenny is family. She’s in this with us. She has just as much to lose if we get exposed.”
“No, we lose more! We’re the killers; she’s just the help. They’d let her off to betray us!” I jabbed my finger at her.
“You really believe all this?” Haze took a sip of her tea.
“I…I…” I took a breath. “Okay, no. Not really. I’m just saying itcouldbe a theory.”
I didn’t know what I was trying to achieve here. All I knew was that now was definitely not the time to mention that I’d tracked down Haze’s father—and that he wanted to meet her next week.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Haze
What a fucking mess.
We couldn’t trust anyone in our lives, and it seemed like we couldn’t trust each other. He was really coming after Jenny? I knew he didn’t like the idea of Sally being a plant, but to try and accuseJenny?
We didn’t have time to thrash it out properly, as Bibi needed picking up from school and Reggie was waking up from his nap. A temporary truce. Our arguments needed to be scheduled.
I let Fox deal with a cranky Reggie and headed out to pick up Bibi, as at least that got me out of the house. The painting I’d started after Clark Dixon’s death was nearly finished. I was pretty confident it was one of my best yet. I was excited to share it with Hamish at the gallery and hear the flood of praise I needed to feel good about myself. The large check when he eventually sold it would help too.
I was ten minutes early to pickup. I stood a little further away from the gates than the clusters that were already beginning to form. I looked up from my phone when I sensed someone standing next to me. A little too close.
I turned to see Diana Morgan staring at me. “Hello, Hazel.”
“Hello, Diana.”
We stood in silence as we watched the other groups of mothers laughing and talking.
I just needed to keep quiet.
Keep quiet.
Fuck it.
“Ted pulled any hair recently?”
She was straight back. “Bibi punched any faces recently?”
“My daughter only attacks threats.”
“Maybe she’ll grow up to be a lawyer.”
“Oooh yeah, lawyers are scary.” I scoffed.
Diana looked at me with a small smile. “You’ll see.” The gates opened, and she strode purposefully toward them.
