That wasn’t exactly how things had gone down, but his eyes lit up. “Did she now?”

“How long have you two been a thing?” Sasha asked. I could practically hear what she wasn’t saying: And how long until you’ll be movin’ on? Because I’d like to submit my application.

Or maybe my imagination was getting away from me. She didn’t look overly flirty.

Marco looked like he was about to burst out into laughter.

Before he could correct her about our relationship, I said, “I told her you were taken.”

If possible, his smile spread even wider. “So you’re ready to share us with the world now?”

“You’ve been keepin’ your relationship with this man a secret?” Abby asked behind me. “Why?”

“I can’t say that I blame her,” Marco said. “I do have a reputation for cycling through the ladies, but I don’t plan on ending things with Carly anytime soon, so she and I will need to have a discussion about me posin’ for anything.”

I stared at him in shock, then quickly realized he was backing up my story. “I wanted to make sure he stuck.”

He gave me a sweet smile. “I’m good and stuck.”

This was getting cheesy quick, so I walked around to the passenger door and got in.

Marco started the engine.

“I’ll be sure to get back to you…?” His voice rose at the end.

“Sasha,” she said. “You can call me here at the clinic. Or stop by.” She batted her eyelashes.

“Will do, Sasha,” Marco said as he rolled up the window. When he backed out, Sasha was still standing there, waggling her fingers, but Abby had headed back inside.

Marco headed toward Drum.

“So you told them we were a couple?” he asked with a grin.

I nearly told him I’d only done it because they’d wanted him to pose half naked, but I didn’t want to lie, especially after his proclamation that he wouldn’t lie to me. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You know word’s gonna spread,” he said.

I felt my cheeks burning. “Feel free to tell people we broke up. In fact, I can spread the word tonight at the tavern. I’d hate to put a damper on your love life.”

“I haven’t been out with anyone in months,” he said. “No damper.”

Months. I’d noticed this last month or so, but I hadn’t realized it had been that long.

“Why not?” I asked, scared to hear the answer.

“Dunno. I guess I’ve cycled through everyone.” He shot me a grin, having used the phrase he’d used with Sasha.

“You haven’t cycled through Sasha or Abby.”

“I’m runnin’ out of women,” he said with a chuckle. “I decided to pace myself.”

I glanced in the rearview mirror. “Looks like Wyatt’s back.”

“Oh, he never left. He drove past the clinic, then turned around and parked down the road.”

I shook my head.

“Did Mitzi agree to meet with you?”

“Yeah. I got her address and phone number. As soon as you drop me off at my car, I’m going to head to Ewing to meet with her.”

“And where will you go after that?”

“I’ll have some time to kill, so I might stop by the nursing home.”

He flashed me a smile. “You bringin’ Gladys another puzzle?”

“Maybe.”

I’d met Gladys in December, on a visit to Greta’s grandma, Thelma, at the Greener Pastures nursing home. Gladys had given me and Marco information about one of the nursing home’s employees. I’d taken to visiting both of them whenever I was in Ewing, but today I had an ulterior motive. Today I planned to finally ask Thelma—who seemed to know a lot about the happenings in Drum decades before—what she knew about Heather.

“Tell her I said hello.”

“I will.”

As he crossed the bridge over the creek into town, he said quietly, “You said you had time to kill. That means you’re plannin’ to see Emily Drummond, doesn’t it?”

I didn’t hesitate. “Yeah.”

“Please be careful, Carly. And call me as soon as you get to the tavern. Since I’ll be out on patrol, I likely won’t get the call, but I’ll check my messages as soon as I get to a spot with cell reception.”

“Okay.”

He was silent as he pulled into a parking spot a few spaces from my car. “You must be nervous about Drum opening to the rest of the world.”

I gave him a wry grin. “I suspect Drum isn’t opening to the world—it’s Bart Drummond’s resort. Do you think cell service is going to extend to downtown Drum?”

“Good question,” he asked. “I have no idea how far those towers send out signals.”

I laughed. “Can you imagine how many people are going to start hanging out at his resort—people who aren’t paying customers?”

He grinned, but it quickly faded. “Maybe more of a reason to leave.”

“And go where? How many remote towns will be as accepting of me as all y’all have been?” I shook my head. “No. I’m taking a stand, and it’s starting with Bart.” I reached for the door handle. “But this isn’t your fight, Marco, so maybe you should stay out of it.”

Because I couldn’t stand it if something happened to him—again—because he was trying to protect me.

I opened the door and got out before he could answer, but he rolled his window down and called out to me as I walked toward my car. “You can’t say something like that and just walk away!”

Turning to face him, I gave him an imploring look. “Just think about it, okay?”

His jaw set. “I don’t need to.”

I wasn’t going to argue with him from the sidewalk, so I waved goodbye before I turned to walk the rest of the way to my car.

He remained in place until I pulled out of my parking place, then followed me to the turnoff for Ewing before branching off and heading toward the state park.

I continued out of town, not surprised when Wyatt’s truck came into view two cars behind me, but I had more important things to think about than my tail. Like what I was going to say to Mitzi. I made a mental list of things to ask her and decided to wing it from there.

Part of me wanted to take notes, but I’d rethought the wisdom of that after talking to Marco. A gossip didn’t take notes, and it would be hard to write things down on the sly, without drawing the attention of the people I was talking to. Still, I worried about forgetting things, and my junky cell phone didn’t have the capacity to take audio recordings. Maybe I could get a smartphone at some point, just so I could use it for taking notes and pictures, something I’d also been missing, but for the time being I didn’t have enough money to justify the expense.

I decided I should try to find a handheld recorder instead, so my first stop in Ewing was at the Helping Hands Thrift Store.

I approached the woman at a register and asked, “Do you know if you have any handheld recorders?”

She gave me a strange look. “Why would you be wantin’ one of those?”

I shrugged, playing dumb. “I’m trying to record my husband talkin’ in his sleep. He keeps sayin’ another woman’s name and I want to prove it to him.”