“Sweetie, you’re so right,” I gushed.

“I told you this would be perfect. Exactly like it was five years ago.”

The woman at the front desk watched us with interest. “Can I help you?”

“I sure hope so,” Marco said with a cheesy grin as he hopped toward her. “Jessica and I were here on our honeymoon. We’re celebrating our fifth anniversary, so I told her I wanted to come back and relive the magic.”

“Oh, isn’t that sweet,” she said, beaming. I could tell she was a fan of romance. “And with you on crutches too!”

Marco leaned against the counter. “The thing is”—he glanced down at her name tag and lowered his voice—“Sarah, Jessica and I are goin’ through a rough patch and we’re tryin’ to recreate our honeymoon, so please tell me that room 134 is available. That’s where we stayed before, and we loved the view of the woods through the window.”

I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and leaned my temple against him. “It would be awesome if we could have that room. Please tell us it’s available.”

She frowned. “I’m so sorry, but that room is already taken.”

“What?” Marco said in dismay. “You didn’t even look. Are you sure?”

“Unfortunately, very.”

“Will it be available tomorrow? Or any time this week?” He tilted his head and gave her a pleading look. “We really want to stay there.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “But it’s a long-term rental, and I have no idea when it will be available. The manager rents it out month by month and it’s paid up until after the first of the year.”

“Is that even possible?” Marco asked. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Tell me about it. We’ve never done anything like that before, and what’s weirder is the beds never look like they’ve been slept in.”

“Do the guests make them themselves?” I asked eagerly, like I was excited to get some juicy gossip.

“No!” she exclaimed. “The room never looks used at all. Not even the toilet paper, but the phone gets messages and someone shows up to listen to ’em. The weirdest thing I’ve ever seen here, and that’s saying something.”

“Must be some rich bozo,” Marco said. “Who else could afford to rent a room they never use?”

She leaned her head closer and whispered. “It’s the local funeral home director, only I shouldn’t be tellin’ you that. At first we thought he was bringin’ his mistress here, the one he was screwin’ this summer, but we ain’t seen hide nor hair of her. Just him. And like I said, lately the beds are never used.”

I shook my head as if disgusted. “I bet she has platinum blonde hair and is barely out of high school.”

Sarah’s mouth dropped open. “You’re right on both counts. It’s like you’re psychic.”

“Nah,” I said, “I just know from experience. Most home-wreckers are blonde, and if he’s a bigwig, he’ll want her in his bed.” I shot Marco a glare, hoping he’d pick up on my cue.

Marco’s body stiffened and he said in a tight voice, “Jessica. I told you I wasn’t havin’ an affair with the blonde from accountin’. I swear to all that is holy that I have no idea how photos of her naked boobs got on my phone.”

I turned to him with a glare. “Are you pullin’ that same bullshit again? This second honeymoon is officially over.”

I spun around and stomped to the door but then waited for him, shooting him an aggravated look as I waited for him to limp out.

“I hope you two work things out,” Sarah called after us, her voice trailing off at the end.

We got into the Explorer. Marco waited until he’d pulled out of the parking space and was headed toward the highway before he turned to me in amazement. “That went better than I could have hoped. Not only did we find out that Mobley’s rentin’ the room by the month, but thanks to your quick thinkin’, we got confirmation he brought Lula here this summer.”

“Sure, we found out that he’s usin’ the room to get messages, but we still don’t know where Lula and Greta are.”

“But we’re closer to findin’ them than before,” he said.

“So what do we do now?” I asked.

“Next we stop by the nursing home and try to bluff our way into getting contact information for Charlie.”

“Okay,” I said, “but we have to make one short stop first.”

“Where?” he asked.

“The Dollar General.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Greener Pasture’s parking lot was busier today. Turned out that Sunday afternoon was an active visitors’ day. Everyone attended church in their finest, went out to eat for lunch, then came out to the nursing home to do their familial duty.

The crowded recreation area meant the staff was busy, and I wasn’t sure if that would play in our favor or not. Judging by my last visit, they weren’t overly helpful at the best of times.

“Where’s the photo?” he asked.

I led Marco down to the hall of headshots and he frowned as he looked over Charlie’s photo. “We need his employment file.”

“I suppose they won’t just hand it over, will they?” I asked.

He pursed his lips as he scanned the other photos. “Maybe if I flashed my badge, but I can’t do that since it’s not an official investigation.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“Try anyway.”

“I might know someone who can help us. Let’s go back out into the rec room and see if I can find her.”

He gave me a questioning look. “And does this source have anything to do with what’s in the bag?”

Marco had stayed in the Explorer for my Dollar General errand, and I hadn’t told him what I’d purchased.

I glanced down at the plastic bag. “Let’s just say I’m not above bribery.”

“I like how you think.”

We headed to the recreation room, and I quickly found the two women I’d spoken to the day before. Grumpy Lady was sitting at a table with a middle-aged couple and two teenage girls, looking even grumpier than the day before. Cotton Ball was sitting by herself at a small four-person table, working on a jigsaw puzzle of a covered bridge.

I headed straight for her.

She glanced up at me in surprise. Then her gaze drifted to Marco behind me and her eyes lit up with excitement.

“You came back.”

“I brought a friend with me,” I said, taking a seat at her table.

Marco stood next to her and extended his hand. “Hi, I’m Marco.”

“Gladys,” she said as she shook his hand. Turning to me, she said, “He has a firm grip. Is it true what they say about firm hands?” She winked. Subtle insinuation clearly wasn’t her strong suit, because she followed up with, “The firmer the handshake, the stiffer the boner.”

My cheeks started to flush. “I… uh…”

Marco laughed as he sat next to me, easing onto the chair and leaning his crutches against the table. “A lady never screws and tells, Gladys.”