The Four Sisters

Chapter 20

   So Spencer was no longer friends with Henry which hurt, but she told herself it had to be this way. He avoided her now. She missed him, and she could tell that Parker was slightly mystified at why Henry didn't want to come over to their house any longer, but she chalked it up to him being busy or all the new women in his life.

   To keep her mind off Henry; Spencer tried to concentrate on her work at the Java Bean as she was moved up to manager, and she was given a raise. She also tried to spend more time with Dave which could be difficult due to his busy schedule, and he always wanted her to stay over, but she preferred to go home and sleep in her own bed. She could feel she was holding herself back with him now, and it was upsetting them both, but she didn't know how to stop.

  "I'm not sure what I'm going to do," she said to Erica one night as they hung out at her house; having a glass of wine. "I can't... I can't stop thinking about Henry, and I hate myself for it. When did I become some pathetic teenager who can't get over a boy? Because that's what I feel like."

  "It'll get better," Erica said gently. "You know this is the best though. He's just too young and immature for you. Dave is one in a million so hold onto him. You're probably just fixated with Henry because you know it can never work. That crush is safe while Dave is real. He's the guy you marry and spend your life with. Henry is not that person."

  Spencer knew her friend was right, but it didn't feel right when she was with Dave. It didn't matter though as she spotted Henry and various girls around town the next month. Sometimes he was holding their hands, or he had his arm around their waists. He was moving on, and that was good, but it still stabbed at her whenever she saw him. So she again put her head down and focused on work, her family and getting the back yard ready for the wedding.

  Rose was also having some success as Martha opened up, and she admitted she was with Greg that night. She said she hadn't wanted her husband or children to find out, but she finally realized that it was stupid to hide it after all these years – especially if it was making them think she was hiding something more serious.

   Martha said she had an old journal where she wrote about what happened, and she'd hide it in the crawl space. The girls had looked and found the journal, but it was molded and almost down to nothing so it was no use. Rose believed Martha now, and Rose decided Martha had nothing to do with the case especially after she had went to visit the police, and they let her look at a limited amount of evidence that they had on file.

  "They have his clothes," Rose said when she got back from the station, and she was clearly shaken up. "They have his t-shirt and jeans. It's a red t-shirt and these old blue jeans with his name written in black sharpie on the tag. I bet his Mom did that. He used to go to camp every summer, Martha said."

  "Whoa!" Parker was stunned. "You could see his name written?"

  Rose nodded. "I asked about the DNA testing they have now, and they kind of blew me off. They said there was no money in the budget, but maybe if someone sees my story they'll look into the case, you know? They could at least do some testing. That can't hurt anything."

  "So did you see any other evidence?" Parker asked.

  "They have the rope he was strangled with," Rose said which made them all go silent for a moment. "They didn't let me see that though. They would only show me a picture of it."

 "Holy shit," Parker said in a whisper.

  Rose shook her head. "But there was nothing else at the scene except for his bike, and they don't have that any longer. There wasn't any room for it. There aren't any valid witness reports either. No one saw anything that night. It was like Henry just vanished. They found him in a ravine so there was trash everywhere, and they had never had a murder case before.