“Did she marry someone local?”

“He’s from Ewing. She and her husband live in Piedmont.”

Piedmont was about ten miles northeast of Ewing.

“I know why you’re askin’,” she said with a hint of attitude. “This is about Heather Stone.”

“I’m curious,” I admitted. “I’d like to talk to her, if she’s willing.”

“Why?”

“Because I know she was friendly with Heather. I’m trying to find out what happened.”

“Why don’t you ask Wyatt Drummond? I suspect he had something to do with it.”

“I don’t believe he did,” I said. “Which is why I’d like to talk to May.”

She shook her head. “May won’t want nothin’ to do with it. She was only too happy to leave Drum and all the shit that went down here behind her, especially after what happened with Ruth.”

“What happened?” I asked, scared to hear her answer.

“Ruth’s not who you think she is, you know,” she said, her eyes flashing. “She’s no angel.”

“I have no doubt about that,” I countered. “I have no idea what she’s done in the past. But we’ve worked together practically every day since I started five months ago, and she’s a great coworker and a good friend.”

“That might be the person you know now, but it’s not the person my sister knew.”

“And I have no idea what she did to your sister, so unless you give me specifics, I can’t let that cloud my judgment.”

“How about the fact she slept with May’s first husband while they were married?”

Molly had alluded to this a couple of days ago, but I still had trouble accepting that Ruth would sleep with a married man. Especially since she’d held an almost decade-long grudge against Wyatt for kissing Heather while he was still dating Ruth.

“Is there a problem over here?” Max asked, walking over to us.

“Nope,” Molly said in a snippy tone. “We’re hunky-dory.”

Max gave her a dubious glance, then turned to me. “Ginger’s in the back changin’ into a work shirt. I don’t want her to think we’re anything but one big happy family.”

I set the saltshaker I’d just filled on the table. “I’ll go say hi and show her the ropes. Max, can I talk to you for a moment? I forgot to tell you about an incident last night.”

That wasn’t entirely truthful, but I didn’t want Molly to know I intended to grill him about her sister.

“Yeah, sure.” He glanced back and forth between us, as if trying to understand the nature of the problem he had on his hands, and we headed to the back.

“What was that about?” he asked under his breath.

“Molly’s sister. I need to talk to her, but Molly’s resistant to the idea. Plus, she claims Ruth slept with May’s first husband.”

“Ruth did sleep with May’s first husband.”

I stopped in my tracks in the hallway to his office. “What?”

“Carly,” he said, turning to face me. “May’s first husband was Tater.”

In response to my blank look, he said, “Franklin.”

My mouth dropped open as if it were hinged.

“No one told you?”

I felt sick to my stomach. “No.” I shook my head and stared at him in disbelief. “What were you thinking hiring Molly?”

Wyatt had condoned it too!

“Molly claimed it wouldn’t be a problem, and Ruth…she’s like a robot.”

“That’s bullshit,” I hissed under my breath. “Max!”

He scrunched up his face, clearly perplexed. “Do you think it’s gonna be a problem?”

“Of course it’s gonna be a problem! I can’t believe they’ve gotten along as well as they have so far.”

He frowned, then glanced in the direction of the back room. “I know you have to leave early, but can you take Ginger under your wing today?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Good, you’re in charge of the dining room until you leave,” Max said, then headed back out to the bar.

When I got to the back room, Ginger was pacing the small space in a Max’s Tavern T-shirt, radiating nervous energy. “Do you really think I can do this?”

“I don’t see why not,” I said. “You’re an intelligent woman who’s used to juggling three kids, a husband, and Hank,” I teased.

She laughed. “True.”

“Thanks for doing my laundry the other day.”

She waved it off. “You’ve been working crazy hours. It was the least I could do, although you have to know I didn’t expect to get a job offer out of it.”

“We need help, and you could use a job that works with your kids’ schedule. I see it as a win-win.”

We headed into the dining room, and I told Molly she was taking Ruth’s section, which earned me a dirty look. I told Ginger she would shadow a few orders with me, then I’d let her loose on the bar and a couple of tables, just like I’d done with Molly her first night.

I unlocked the door, not surprised to see a line outside, but not prepared for the grumbling.

“We’ve only got an hour,” one of the men griped. “You need to open sooner.”

I supposed that might be possible if Molly and Ginger worked out, but I had other things to worry about…like a group of cranky men and two barely trained waitresses.

The men got seated, and we started taking orders—Molly keeping up with the rush, and Ginger picking up the rhythm of it quickly enough for me to set her loose after only a few orders. Marco helped out by bussing tables and refilling drinks.

When we were at the height of the lunch rush, Max motioned me over, holding up the phone.

Crap. Talk about bad timing.

Molly noticed as I made my way to Max’s office, and she said, “Are you seriously takin’ a phone call now?”

“Yes. I am.” I understood why she would question the timing, but I’d been around months longer than her and had often worked the lunch shift alone. I sure as hell didn’t need her policing me.

Once I was in Max’s office, I shut the door behind me and picked up the phone, pushing the blinking button for line one. “This is Carly.”

“Is everything okay?” Wyatt asked. “Lula said you needed to talk to me right away.”

“I didn’t say right away,” I said, taking a seat in Max’s chair, “but yeah, I have to ask you some questions and I need some straight answers.”

“What do you want to know?” He sounded guarded, not that I was surprised, but I didn’t have time to beat around the bush, and neither did he.

“Tell me about Heather’s other boyfriends.”

He was quiet for several seconds. “Based on your tone and your appointment this morning, you’ve already figured out there were several.”

“Several? I only know about two, and only one by name. Fill me in.”

“I’m sure you know she had a fling with Bingham. She was up-front about that after we got back together.”

“I know about Bingham, and I know she had a boyfriend before she was murdered, but I don’t know much about him other than that he was from Ewing and she met him at the salon where she worked.”