“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.”
“Well, you know more than me,” he said in a dry tone.
“What do you know?”
“That she was seeing him after I was arrested.”
“From what I learned, it might have started before that.”
He didn’t respond.
“You said you knew about him. What can you tell me?”
“Like you said, I’m pretty sure she met him at work. I figured he was a client at the salon.”
“Do you have a name?”
“No.”
I tried to rein in my frustration. “Look, Wyatt, if you want me to do this, you have to be more forthcoming. I shouldn’t have to drag every damn answer out of you.”
“I knew she was unhappy,” he snapped, but then his tone softened. “She wanted me to propose at Christmas, but I wasn’t sure I loved her. I just couldn’t seem to pull the trigger. I think deep down I knew she was wrong for me.”
“So you didn’t follow through, and she found a boyfriend on the side?”
“I didn’t know the timing overlapped, but I’m not surprised.”
“What do you remember about the night you were arrested?”
“Really? We’ve already covered this, Carly.”
“No. Not completely. You said your father had you followed and arrested to drag you back into the fold. Did he tell you that?”
“No, but we weren’t exactly speakin’ at that point. I knew the sheriff got an anonymous tip. It stands to reason it was Dad.”
“What if it was someone else?”
“Who else would do it?” he asked, sounding unconvinced.
“Heather’s boyfriend. What if he had you arrested so Heather could coerce your parents into paying her not to testify against you?”
Silence hung over the line for a moment. Then he asked, “Do you have any proof of that? Because my parents
