Threads of Suspicion(113)
“I’d like you to believe me, but I know it’s not your job to believe or not—it’s your job to find out what happened to Jenna. Maybe what she was doing with me points to another guy she was playing. I wish I had even a glimmer of an idea to suggest. I don’t. And it’s not for lack of hours spent trying to figure it out, or lack of a few thousand innocent-sounding questions asked of those who drink my coffee.”
Evie thought for a moment and went a different direction. “Why did you break up with Lynne? Her mom said that after you, Lynne went out with a Brad Nevery for a while.”
Jim shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
“Come on. If you can’t tell a cop, who can you tell?” Evie teased gently.
“I just confessed to being the last person to see Jenna alive, and the cop wants to know how come I broke up with my girlfriend.” He gave a half laugh as he stubbed out the cigarette. “For the record, it was easier to tell you about Jenna than to tell you this, but yeah, you’ve got a good reason for asking.
“Lynne and I are both neighborhood kids. It’s got its own code to it, when the college is right there and this place gets overrun nine months a year with people from everywhere but here. Part of that code is you can’t ever dump a neighborhood friend. You can have disagreements and disputes and even some bruises, but you can’t break up and schism things, can’t split your circle into factions.
“I had it out with a guy I went to high school with. He said some things, I said some things back, he shoves, I throw a punch. We don’t shake hands at the end of it and settle the peace. Instead, we’re walking opposite sides of the street, our friends are having to choose. It gets back to Lynne. She’s tied up tight with the guy’s sister since second grade. And I’m like making her choose. So Lynne dumps me—she’s hanging in with Kelly and by the unspoken rules, with Kelly’s brother—because that’s the code. I’m twenty-five and back in grade school with my girl in a huff over the fact I had a fight. Embarrassing is what it is, the mortifying kind. Lynne’s not shy about making her decision known either. I pull out a chair at the table with her and Kelly to try to make peace, and Lynne picks up her coffee and finds herself another table.
“So you bite your tongue and go do what the code requires. Rick and I have a make-up meeting that degenerates into both of us throwing some more fists. Followed by another that is about as scorching. The third attempt we lay down enough peace we shake hands on the matter. Now Rick and I are fine. But Lynne’s still got me stuck in some Siberian doghouse for disrespecting how things were, are, and ever shall be. And she puts a cherry on it by deciding she’s going to see Brad Nevery for a while.
“I’m working on the problem. Lynne’s type of anger is more a deep hurt and it’s slow to cool off. She’s at least not seeing Brad anymore. And she’s back wrapping newspapers at Laura’s come Saturday mornings—even when I’m there. The rest is pretty slow-going. I broke faith with what we are, which is a neighborhood that sticks together. That Lynne’s perception isn’t precisely reality, it’s more a wishful hope, doesn’t particularly weigh in on the matter. I shattered the confidence she had that I understood what matters. For Lynne, loyalty to friends is everything.”
Evie considered that and found it fascinating. “What happens when a true friend breaks faith with Lynne?”
“Lynne gets bewildered. She applies the fault to herself, something she did, and it’s painful to watch.”
Evie could see that. “Anything more you want to tell me?”
Self-deprecating humor filled Jim’s face as he shook his head. “No.”
“You can’t tell Lynne you told the truth to a cop today, maybe get back in her good graces by this brave act, because then you’d have to tell her what the truth was. So you actually did a selfless thing.”
“Noble—that’s me.” Jim sighed and dumped the pack of cigarettes back into the drawer. “I started smoking after Lynne called it quits. Yet another reason she looks at me with pity in her eyes. For her there are only three vices in this neighborhood—drinking, smoking, and not loving music. Make that four and add disloyalty.”
Evie couldn’t help but laugh. She rose to her feet.
Jim asked, “How much is that truth going to cost me?”
It was a fair question, Evie thought. “It’s going to be uncomfortable having cops looking at you, but if you’re innocent, the truth is out there, and it’s something a lot better than simply we couldn’t prove you did it. Go talk to Lynne’s mom, tell her what you told me. David or I will be in touch. There are going to be more questions. Just answer them truthfully, and to some extent, trust that we are good at our jobs. We will figure out what happened to Jenna Greenhill. I know for a fact the case is breaking and rolling toward an answer. And to the best of my knowledge, I’ve never arrested someone who wasn’t guilty.”