I cast a glance to Marco again and he mouthed, You’re doing great.

Marco had been right about body language. I wish I could see her facial expressions. If she was nervous or reluctant, I couldn’t tell. “When you say we, who do you mean?”

“Mitzi, Dick…Anna Faith.”

“What about Abby Atwood?”

“I met her that Christmas when she came home from vet school. She wasn’t back for very long because she had a job back in Knoxville. She was goin’ to vet school and needed the money for her rent. I remember Heather was furious about her leavin’.”

“Why?”

“Because Heather hadn’t dismissed her. She dared to leave Heather’s orbit without permission.”

“Do you know who Heather’s boyfriend was?”

“Everyone knows Wyatt was her boyfriend,” she said slowly, like someone speaking to a child.

Was she insinuating there hadn’t been another boyfriend? But if Mitzi was right and May and Heather had been sleeping together, I could understand why she’d dodge the question.

Ask about Wyatt and the tavern, Marco mouthed.

I nodded, then asked, “Did Heather tell you much about Wyatt’s plan to ask Bart Drummond for the tavern?”

“She was the one who cooked it up. She manipulated Wyatt for weeks until he gave his father an ultimatum—either give him the tavern or he would walk away from the family. Neither one of them expected Bart to call them on it, which was shortsighted on their part. Bart doesn’t let other people control him. Anyone from Drum knows that, but I think Heather had convinced Wyatt that his father had invested too much time and energy in him to just let him go.”

“It backfired,” I said, “but Heather had a plan B. Or she made one.”

May didn’t say anything for several seconds.

I decided to lie. “We already know that Heather set Wyatt up with the DUI and breaking and entering arrest.”

She was silent for longer this time, and when she spoke, her voice was shaky. “Who told you that?”

Not an admission, but it was pretty far from a denial. “Someone who chooses to stay anonymous.” It didn’t take a genius to see I was scaring her off, so I switched gears. “The Drummonds paid Heather to leave town, but Mitzi told me that Heather said she had an idea for getting a bigger payout. Do you know what it was?”

“No, she wouldn’t tell me, but she insinuated she was workin’ with someone. While I wasn’t crazy about the idea of manipulatin’ people, I was happy she might be stayin’, even if she was defyin’ Bart Drummond. She said she wasn’t afraid of him.”

I took a moment, knowing that I needed to be careful with my next question. “How would you describe your relationship with Heather?”

“I know what Mitzi likely told you, but it ain’t true,” she said angrily. “I like men. Did I love her? Yeah, in a messed-up way, because she made me alienate everyone else in my life until there was only her, but we weren’t like that.”

“May, I don’t care about your sexual preferences,” I assured her. “Who you chose to love or sleep with is your own business. I’m just making sure I have all the puzzle pieces so I can figure out what really happened.”

“Okay,” she said in a softer tone. “Heather hooked up with some guy from her salon, but it only lasted a few weeks. He broke it off after his wife found out, but she didn’t tell a lot of people because she didn’t want anyone to know he’d rejected her. She was talkin’ about someone called Peep by then. Most people thought it was some cute name for the salon guy, but I think it was the person helpin’ her. Maybe even someone she’d found to get drugs for her.”

“Drugs?” I asked in surprise. Marco looked just as shocked.

May was silent for a moment. “I heard her talkin’ to someone on the phone, telling them she needed enough to make a grown man unconscious so she could put him in a compromisin’ position without wakin’ him up.”

“She was planning to set up Wyatt?” I asked.

“No,” she said slowly. “I think she was talkin’ about Bart. She pulled me aside before she left the party. Said she’d been plannin’ to blackmail Bart, but she was startin’ to chicken out. She’d decided it would be best if she really did leave. I begged her to stay, but she said I’d been a good friend and then told me goodbye.”

“Did she tell you where she was going?” I asked.

“No, but her aunt Hilde told me that she got a postcard from Tulsa. I was so hurt she hadn’t sent me one, but then I realized it was just Heather being Heather. Honestly, Hilde was lucky to hear from her at all.” She paused. “Although I guess maybe she didn’t.”

“Do you have any idea who she was talkin’ to about the drugs?” I asked.

“No, but I know she was meetin’ someone at the Mountain View Lodge. She got Mitzi fired over it.”

“Do you know how many times?”

“Two. Maybe three…that I know about. But I think some of those times were with the guy from the salon.”

“Do you know if she knew Paul Conrad?”

“She never mentioned him,” May said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if she did. She mentioned getting stopped by a sheriff’s deputy who didn’t give her a ticket. In retrospect, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Paul pulling her over to get her number.”

Marco’s jaw tightened.

“Do you know when that happened?” I asked. “Before Christmas? Before Wyatt’s arrest?”

“Definitely after Christmas… I think before his arrest.”

“Did she ever say anything to make you think she might have been working with someone in the sheriff’s department to get money from Wyatt or his family?”

She gasped. “I never considered that, but if that’s what she was doin’, she never mentioned him.”

“Do you think she might have kept it a secret? She was meeting someone at the motel.”

She paused, considering it, then said, “I don’t know. But if it was him and she changed her mind, I can definitely see Paul gettin’ pissed enough to beat and kill her.”

I glanced at Marco, who sat stock-still.

“If you think of anything else,” I said, “could you please leave me a message at Max’s Tavern?”

“Yeah, I will.”

“Thank you, May.”

“Yeah.”

She hung up, and I set my phone down and looked at Marco, my stomach tight. “She was lookin’ for drugs.”

“You think Hank was involved?”

“Maybe not directly,” I said, “but he was still dealin’ back then. I suspect she would have gone to him, or he would have heard something.” Had she told him the drugs were for Bart? Had he thought they were for Wyatt?

“To be fair,” Marco said in an even voice, “I don’t think he was the only source around. Especially when meth came into play.”

“But she wouldn’t have asked for meth for that, and we know that he had pills, which could have included sedatives.”

Marco didn’t respond.