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“Yeah.” He squeezed her hand. “And the marshal was looking into whether she might have been involved in the bank robbery.”
She nodded. “I realized I knew a lot more about the bank robbery than I thought. I hadn’t put it together at the time. I mean—okay, there were some weird things going on with Becca back then, but I didn’t think about it because she had been killed.” She swallowed uneasily.
“Hey, just tell me. I’m not going to judge you, or her. You know that.”
She nodded. “I told you that she had all this money and everything...but there’s more. Like, she was driving around this supernice car and told me it belonged to a corporation that she was working for part-time. I mean—that’s weird, isn’t it? To be working for someone part-time and they give you a supernice car to drive around? It was a brand-new Malibu, or something like that. And I saw her with some people—people that didn’t seem like her friends. Becca had a way, that if I asked her anything about what she was doing, to turn it around as if I was prying or judging her or, I don’t know. She was always so defensive. But I really didn’t think about any of this after Becca was killed because she was dead and I had her funeral and...and stuff. I missed her.”
“Why would you think about it? It wasn’t like she told you she was going to rob a bank.”
She nodded. “Yeah. And Tommy wasn’t victim shaming her at all, so I opened up. Gave him everything—copies of her tax returns, her employment slips, her bank statements, everything I had. She had an apartment, but she used our house as her mail drop because she was always moving around. I don’t like to throw financial things away, and I didn’t know if I’d need them later.” She looked down at her hands, frowned.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’m here now—we’re going to get to the bottom of this. I promise.”
She looked at him again, tears in her eyes, nodded.
“And the FBI didn’t ask you about any of this? After the robbery?”
“No. When the FBI showed up at my house and told me Becca had been shot during a bank robbery, I just...fell apart. I didn’t ask a lot of questions, because it seemed so cut-and-dried. There was so much to do after with her funeral and all her financial stuff to deal with. Becca didn’t have a will, she didn’t have a living trust, and my house was put into probate—I had to pay her debt otherwise the bank might have sold the house to pay for her taxes. It took me over a year to settle everything. And when that was done I just didn’t think much more about it.” She paused. “I miss Becca, she was fun and smart and happy—but she was irresponsible. It’s why I’m sometimes a spoilsport and don’t go out a lot. I never want to get in over my head like she did. I mean, I just turned twenty-six. I have a will and everything. Then I feel bad for criticizing her because she’s dead.”
“Hey—none of that. Family is family. We love them, warts and all. I love my brother and sister more than anything. We were very close growing up, but they’ve both made decisions I think are foolish. So you can love Becca and recognize she made mistakes.”
Jenna was so glad that Lance understood. “Whatever she did I know it wasn’t because she was mean or a bad person or anything. Mr. Granger thought that Mike Hannigan, the robber, hooked up with Becca because she worked at that bank branch. That either he paid her or promised to pay her to help him. Mr. Granger thought that she got the box numbers of the customers that he wanted. But he didn’t know why Hannigan killed Becca. Maybe it was always part of his plan, so there were no witnesses to what he took. But they’re both dead.”
“Why are these guys afteryou?” Lance asked. “What do you know?”
“Deputy Granger had me write down everything I remembered—her friends, what she said, what she did. She’d met with one of her old employers—whose company had a box in the bank. He thought that was interesting, he said it was suspicious. Told me not to say anything, but that I may be asked to give an official statement, under oath.”
“We need to go to the authorities—”
“Who? I called the FBI, and then twonotFBI agents came to my house specifically saying they wanted to talk to me about Deputy Granger. How did they know? I haven’t toldanyoneother than the FBI agent on the phone—and I called the hotline number from the news. I didn’t just call anyone. I called the number on the news!”
“Granger was a marshal, right? We go tohisoffice. They’ll have known what he was doing.”
“He was on leave, investigating on his own time.” She sighed and let out a sob. “I know what you’re thinking. I’m a total idiot.”
“I wasn’t thinking that.”
“Mr. Granger said that the Potomac Bank robbery is connected to a death of a child, and he was going to prove it. That, I know nothing about—he didn’t talk about it. But I believe him. He was good man, Lance. I’m not a bad judge of character.”
Lance still didn’t say anything and Jenna bit her lip, worried that maybe she had read Lance wrong, that he didn’t believe her, or thought she was foolish.
“I’m sorry—I shouldn’t have dragged you into this.”
“Stop. You didn’t. I’m glad I’m here—I’m just thinking. You did the right thing helping the deputy and now we have to make sure that right thing doesn’t get you hurt.”
Lance picked at his food. Jenna stared out the window, worried about her safety, Lance’s safety, whether or not she’d ever be able to go home or back to work or see her grandma.
“I have an idea,” he finally said.
“Anything.” She was desperate.
“We’re going to find a hotel, go off the grid. We’ll use my credit card so no one can trace you there. Then tomorrow morning, I’ll go to the Marshals office, alone. I’ll tell them what happened to you. And then when it’s safe—when they can guarantee your safety—you can go in and tell them everything you know.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t ask. It’s my idea. Those two guys looking for you arenotFBI agents, which means they lied to you and to me. We don’t know what they want, but you can’t go anywhere until we know you are safe. And the US Marshals protect people—it’s what they do. They probably know more about what’s going on than you do at this point.”
She spontaneously hugged him. “Thank you.”
