“Yeah,” I admitted grudgingly. “If we take her at her word.”

“Another theory is that the Drummonds had her killed.”

“But that one seems less likely,” I said. “Based on the fact they didn’t move her body when construction began. Sure, Bart could frame Bingham for it, but I’m not sure he’d risk bringing attention down on himself.”

“True,” Marco said, “but we also need to consider where her body was buried. Who had access to that land?”

“Plus, the person who did it would have to be strong enough to carry Heather’s body to her grave site. May would’ve needed help.”

“Unless her grave site was also the site of her execution, and the murder simply had her walk there,” Marco countered.

“And what happened to Heather’s car?”

Marco grimaced. “Is it a coincidence that her body was found on the disputed land of a man who allegedly runs a chop shop?”

“So Bingham’s a suspect again?” I asked.

“Don’t rule anything out until you can prove it,” Marco said.

“I need to ask Bingham if someone sold him her car.”

“You really want to ask him that?” he asked in disbelief.

“Admitting to chopping up her car isn’t the same as saying he killed her. It just means he has a good head for business.”

“Now you’re justifyin’ his career choices?” he asked in disbelief.

“No,” I said, insulted. “But the man is the alleged owner of a chop shop, an illegal venture. Do you really think he has a moral compass when it comes to where he gets his cars? Don’t you think he just takes whatever he’s brought?”

“I don’t like the idea of you goin’ back out there,” he said, staring out the windshield again.

“Does that mean you’re not gonna give me trouble about continuing our investigation?” I asked.

He was quiet for several seconds. “I still think you should sit this out. Paul Conrad has obviously done his homework on you. He used your full name.”

“Because I introduced myself to him when I went to their house.”

“Still… he’s looked into you.” He paused. “If you keep pressing, he could have you arrested for interferin’ with an active investigation. Plus, you know he’s going to pump Mitzi for what you two talked about. Who’s to say that she won’t tell him everything? If she does, it won’t be hard for him to guess we’ll go see May next.” He turned his head to face me again. “He could have a deputy watchin’ to see if we show up.”

“I’m not stopping, Marco. I’m still lookin’ into this.”

“Then maybe we should call May instead of going to her house in Piedmont. See if she can give us some answers over the phone. We won’t be able to see her body language, so it’s far from ideal, but—”

“You want to do it anyway,” I finished.

“Yeah. I kind of do.”

“Okay, but I should be the one to call her.” I pulled my phone out of my purse, realizing my call with Marco had been disconnected. “Did your friend Darren give you a phone number too? Because if not, I can try to get it out of Molly.” Although I doubted Molly would be very cooperative.

“I can save you from that conversation. He had her number too.”

I punched the numbers into my phone as he read them off. “So just keep the questions on the fact-gathering side, then turn more personal if it feels appropriate?”

The corner of his mouth tipped up. “Look at you becomin’ a pro at this.”

“I’m gonna take that as a yes.”

His mood turned serious. “Yeah.”

I took a deep, centering breath, then pressed send and put the call on speaker.

A woman answered with “Hello?” on the third ring, and my heart leapt into my throat.

“May?”

“Yes…” she said hesitantly.

“Hi, this is Carly Moore. I’m sure you don’t know me, but—”

“Oh, I know who you are. You work with Molly at Max’s Tavern. She says you’ve been nice to her.”

I had to wonder what she’d have to say about me after our shift today.

“Molly’s been great,” I said.

“But I know why you’re callin’,” she said, her tone becoming more cautious. “Mitzi called me yesterday.”

Marco’s eyes widened.

“Honestly,” she continued, “I’ve been expectin’ to hear from you. I’ll tell you what I know.”

“Thank you,” I said. “We can meet somewhere, if you’d prefer. It’s just not a good idea to meet at your house.”

“Paul found out, didn’t he?” she asked wearily.

“I tried to be careful, so I found Mitzi at the grocery store and asked her some questions there.”

“That was a good idea,” she said, “because Paul is likely watchin’ her every move. He’s a controllin’ bastard.”

“He showed up at the grocery store.”

“Not surprisin’. He likes to check up on her to make sure she’s behavin’, like she’s a toddler who’s incapable of taking care of herself.” She paused before adding, “I’d rather talk on the phone.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “I understand. She told me that you became close to Heather after the Christmas before she left town.”

“You mean was murdered,” May said, her voice tight. “She was murdered.”

“Yes,” I conceded. “She was, but most people only just discovered that.”

“Most people?” she asked in surprise.

“Obviously the murderer knew.”

“Yeah. I guess that’s true.”

I looked up at Marco to get his take on her reaction, but his face was expressionless.

I shifted sideways in my seat, holding the phone over the console. “May, when I heard about people who hung out with Heather, your name kept coming up.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“I know she was hoping Wyatt would propose to her that Christmas. Did she ever talk about it?”

“Wyatt didn’t deserve her,” she said, “or at least she had me convinced of that. Heather was really good at convincin’ people she was right. I bought the whole ‘no one understands me like you do’ story hook, line, and sinker. She convinced me that we were best friends and she couldn’t handle her life without me. She called or showed up at my doorstep at all hours of the day and night, expecting me to give her my undivided attention. And I did, because she had this gravitational pull that had a way of grabbing hold of you and not letting go. But it seemed like a kryptonite kind of thing. The more time you spent with her, the more the need to be with her increased, but if she drew back, you started to realize you didn’t need her after all. That being around her was emotionally draining.”

“May,” I said, “are you speaking of your own personal experience or in general?”

A moment of silence, then she said, “Both. We’ve all discussed it over the past nine years. Compared our experiences with her. We think she’d have had hundreds of followers if she’d started a cult.”