crony

Kanae Minatoの小説 "Penance" を読んでいます。

I was sitting with my mother and a neighbor woman who'd come over and listened in on what she said, just as if I were one of their cronies. In a know-it-all tone the woman reviewed the rumors about Haruka, sounding, though, as if she couldn't believe that Haruka had turned out that way.

"cronies" は１０年以上前（10/11/2011）に取り上げた "cronyism" と関係がある単語に違いありません。
原形は "crony" と思うので、 "crony" を辞書で見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: a person that somebody spends a lot of time with: He was playing cards with his cronies.
・Collins Dictionary: You can refer to friends that someone spends a lot of time with as their cronies, especially when you disapprove of them.: He played a round of golf with his business cronies.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a friend, or a person who works for someone in authority, especially one who is willing to give and receive dishonest help: The general and his cronies are now awaiting trial for drug smuggling.

仲間、友人の意味でもあるが、取り巻きとか縁故主義（"cronyism"）の親類縁者の様にネガティブな意味合いを含んでいる様ですね。その辺の関係を次の辞書は詳しく説明しています。

・Vocabulary.com: A crony (rhymes with “pony”) is a buddy, a close confidant you spend time with and trust. Your boss might make everyone at work angry if she keeps only giving raises to her cronies.
While a crony is basically just a good pal or sidekick, the word sometimes has a negative connotation — that you and your crony are up to no good together. It also implies the idea of cronyism, or unfairly giving friends jobs or promotions they're not qualified for. Crony capitalism refers to doing that in an economic way, like people in government giving tax breaks to their friends. Crony is 17th century British student slang, from the Greek khronios, "long-lasting."