The disappointment in her eyes let me know that had never happened.
“Her parents were okay with her staying?” I asked.
“At first they put up a fuss, which I’d expected, but they came around before too long. In hindsight, I suspect they realized their lives would be a lot more drama-free if she stayed behind.”
“Did Heather realize they felt that way?”
“She never said, but how could she not? She rarely talked to them on the phone, and she didn’t want to go spend the summer between her junior and senior year with them. Or the summer she graduated. She went from here directly to college.”
“Did you consider sending her back to her parents?” I asked.
“Sure, I considered it, and even threatened it, but she’d cry and plead with me to give her another chance. And then she’d follow my rules and do her chores and come home before curfew, and I’d soften, but soon it would all start all over again.”
“So you were relieved when she went away to college?” I asked.
“It seems wrong to admit to such a thing, but yeah. But then she showed up on my doorstep several years later, completely unannounced. She said she’d had a fight with her parents and asked if she could stay with me for a few days until she figured out what to do. So what could I say? I let her stay, and days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Only I’d married Phil by then, and he wasn’t too keen on Heather bein’ here. He was never so happy as the day she said she was leavin’.”
“Can we talk to Phil?” Marco asked as he handed me his stack and grabbed another.
“He died last year,” she said in a subdued tone. “Heart attack.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
She frowned. “We got six good years. I can’t complain.”
I started leafing through the pile Marco had handed over. There were several receipts and birthday cards, one of which was from Wyatt. It was a cheesy, sentimental card, which he’d signed, “Love, Wyatt,” and nothing else. There was a warranty for new tires for a Toyota and an invoice for nail supplies. Nothing of use.
Marco went through the next pile even quicker before he handed it over. It proved as benign as the first pile—a few credit card bills, a receipt from a dentist. Marco was going through the last pile when he went still.
“What did you find?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe nothin’…”
“But maybe something?”
“It’s a receipt for the Mountain View Lodge. It’s dated the week before Wyatt’s arrest.”
I squinted in confusion. “Do you think Wyatt and Heather spent the night there?”
“I can’t see Wyatt doin’ that,” Marco scoffed. “You’ve seen those rooms.”
“So she went there with her boyfriend?”
“Maybe.”
I glanced up at Hilde. “Do you think Heather sometimes spent the night with her other boyfriend?”
“She was gone a lot. She never moved in with Wyatt, and I’m sure it was because she was meeting her boyfriend on the side. Kept Wyatt from noticing.”
We needed to talk to someone who was close enough to Heather to possibly know who her side boyfriend had been. Since Mitzi was out of the question, I wondered how well Dick Stinnett knew her. Or May McMurphy.
Marco put everything back into the box with the exception of the hotel receipt. “Would you mind if I hold onto this?”
“You can keep the whole box for all I care,” Hilde said. “It ain’t like she’s comin’ back to get it.” Her voice cracked, the first sign that she was upset. “I guess I could ask her momma and daddy if they want it, but it’s just a box of paper. Can’t see why they’d care.”
“Thank you,” Marco said. “The receipt is all we need for now. But I’d appreciate it if you’d let me take a picture of the photo.”
“Of course,” she said with a wave of her hand. “You can take it if you like. Maybe Wyatt wants it. I’ll probably just end up throwing it away. I can’t imagine her folks will want all that junk.”
I was pretty sure Wyatt wouldn’t want it either, so I said, “I think this will do for now.”
Marco took the picture out of the frame and set it on the bed, then snapped several photos before tucking it back into the frame.
“Will you let me know if you find anything?” Hilde asked.
“Of course,” Marco said, getting to his feet and putting the box back on the shelf. “Thank you for answering our questions. If you think of anything else, could you call and leave a message?” He closed the door, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card to hand to her. “My personal number is written on the back.”
She took it and looked it over, then nodded. When she glanced back up, her eyes were full of tears. “Heather had her flaws, but she didn’t deserve to be killed and buried like that. I hope you find the monster who did this.”
“We’re definitely going to try,” I said.
Marco and I walked outside and stopped in front of my car.
“We need to figure out who this second boyfriend was,” Marco said.
“I wonder if Wyatt has any idea.”
Marco gave me a dry look. “Do you really think he’d tell you? He isn’t what you’d call an open book.”
“Maybe he’ll talk with an arrest warrant breathing down his neck.”
He pushed out a sigh. “Do you know where to find him?”
“I do, but I have an appointment with Bingham at ten.” It was on the edge of my tongue to tell him that Wyatt was probably there too, but
