A Farewell to Yarns

picture.
    “Sure,“ he said. “Phyllis showed it to me dozens of times.“
    “Yes, me, too, when we lived downtown so long ago, but I’d forgotten until today.“
    “I didn’t know she had a framed copy,“ John said. “Why is this kid circled in the back row?”
    “What is it?“ Mel asked.
    John handed him the picture. “It’s a shot of the high school band. Phyllis was one of the cheerleaders in the front row. See, the second from the right. She was incredibly proud of being a cheerleader. It was one of the high points of her life.“
    “So?“ VanDyne said impatiently.
    Jane said, “John, would you open her yearbook to that page? Just to make sure. These band pictures look so much alike. When I first saw it, I had the feeling I’d seen it before, but I thought it was because they all look the same.”
    John took the yearbook out of the needle-pointed case. It fell open to the page. The three of them studied it carefully. It was identical.
    “So what?“ Mel repeated. “She had a framed shot besides the one in the book.“
    “No, she didn’t,“ Jane said. “The framed one is from the Howards’ house. Look at the yearbook. What’s the name of the boy in the top row who’s circled on the framed one?”
    Mel took the book and ran his finger along the list of names below the picture. “Richard Devane,“ he said.
    Jane dragged out the book she’d just bought: Richie Divine: A Star Extinguished. She flipped it open to a page near the front she’d marked. She read aloud, “ ‘Richie Divine, born Richard Lewis Devane, was the second of two children of a middle-class Philadelphia family. He took an early interest in music. Drum and trumpet lessons from a neighbor paid off first when he got a position in his high school marching band.’ “
    “So you’re saying this kid became Richie Divine, and Phyllis had gone to school with him,“ John said, perplexed.
    “Not only went to school,“ Jane said. “I think she married him.”
    Mel had fumbled in his pocket for a small notebook. He flipped a few pages and looked up at her with amazement. “I had Bobby’s birth certificate run down. She listed the father as Richard Louis Devane. Different spelling of the middle name, but maybe she didn’t know there were two ways to spell it. Did she tell you she was married to him?“
    “No. She only said they hadn’t known each other all that well, and after the marriage was annulled, she’d never seen him again. No—no, that’s not exactly what she said—“ Jane closed her eyes, remembering the conversation. Phyllis had paused for a long time and said they’d never met again. Jane had thought at the time that she’d hesitated because she’d never considered the question Jane had asked. It wasn’t that. It was a woman unused to lying trying to come up with a truthful, but misleading answer. And she’d succeeded brilliantly. They hadn’t met again, but she had certainly seen him. Most of the world had seen him—on television, in a movie, posters, and record jackets. “She told me they had never met again. But that was before I took her over to Fiona Howard’s house.“
    “God! She moved herself and Bobby into a house next door to the widow of his biological father,“ John Wagner said.
    “Are you suggesting that Mrs. Wagner was trying to get something out of Mrs. Howard because she had given birth to Richie’s son?“ Mel asked. “From everything I’ve heard about her, it seems unlikely.“
    “No, that wouldn’t have been possible for Phyllis,“ Jane said. “There’s something else you have to know. I feel awful telling you, and you’ve both got to swear on your lives that if I’m wrong, you’ll never, ever breathe a word of this to anyone. Promise?”
    Both men nodded. It was obvious that they were surprised by the revelations so far, but not convinced they meant anything.
    Jane leaned forward and spoke so softly they could barely hear her. “Phyllis didn’t move in next door to Richie Divine’s widow and her second husband. She moved in next door to Richie Divine and his wife. Albert Howard is Richie Divine. He didn’t die in the plane crash. He was reborn as someone else.“
    “That’s impossible,“ Mel said with a laugh.
    “It isn’t. Stop being so patronizing. You’re the one who told me there weren’t identifiable bodies found. The parts of the plane were never even accounted for. Remember?“ Jane said.
    “You mean he wasn’t on the plane?“ John asked.