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for a moment how true that was. She resisted the impulse to look
around the place Heather lived in and wonder why Paul hadn’t fixed it up for
her.
    Heather
laughed then, as if reading Cindy’s mind. “I like my place just as it is. I’m
different from the others. I didn’t want his money. That’s why he needed me.”
     Cindy
smiled then. “I understand,” she said.
    “Paul
was an incredibly hungry man,” Heather said softly, leaning towards Cindy. She
seemed to get pleasure talking about him.  “I’m not saying I was all he needed,
but I was an important part. Very important.”
    “Were
you in a relationship when he was killed?” Cindy asked softly.
    “Are
you a detective or something?” Heather asked then.
    Cindy
nodded slowly.
    “Really?”
said Heather, giggling with delight. “It becomes you. This is your right work.
You’re soft and gentle. People sense it. You’ll find out everything you need
this way. Don’t give it up.”
    “I
don’t plan to give it up,” said Cindy.
    “You
might though,” said Heather. “You’re tangling with a vicious world. It might
not look that way at first, but under the smiles and flowers, this place is a terrifying
jungle.”
    Cindy
breathed deeply.
    “The
human heart is a jungle,” Heather went on. “You don’t know how much yet, but
you’ll soon find out.” Then she finished the rest of her lemonade.
    Cindy
drank along with her and they both put their glasses down at the same moment.
    “I
believe you’ve been sent to me to encourage you. Do you do this work alone?”
Heather asked, curious.
    “I
have a partner,” said Cindy.
    “A
guy?”
    “Yes,
another detective.”
    Heather
smiled. “He’s probably madly in love with you, pretending to be all business.”
    “Not
at all,” said Cindy flinching. It wasn’t like that and she didn’t want it to
be.
    “Of
course he is, that’s how guys are.”
    Cindy
smiled and felt a pang of pain.  “Not in this case. We’re both involved in the
work,” she said. “That’s it.”
    “That’s
what they all say,” said Heather.
    “My
husband was killed just a few months ago,” Cindy couldn’t help saying. “On our
honeymoon.”
    Heather’s
mouth dropped open. “That’s horrible.”
    Cindy
wasn’t exactly sure why she’d told her that. Maybe she just wanted to preserve
Clint’s memory and give him respect.
    “You
loved him tremendously, you adored him,” Heather May breathed softly.
    “I
did,” said Cindy.
    “That’s
why you’re here now, tracking down crimes. Oh my dear, I’m honored to meet you.”
    Cindy
was surprised by her reaction. “Thank you.”
    “Ask
me anything you want. I’ll be happy to tell you.”
    “Well,
I need to know where you were the day Paul was killed?
    Heather
smiled. She was too smart not to realize what Cindy was asking. “You’re
wondering about my alibi?” she said. “I gave it to the police already. It
checked out, thank God, because I’m often here alone. That particular afternoon
there was a design show down at the museum. I was part of the planning
committee, so I went. A lot of people from town were there, furniture
designers, painters, architects. We have it once a year. It attracts lots of
tourists. In fact, Kendra usually came as well. She woke up that morning,
feeling ill.”
    Cindy
enjoyed speaking with Heather, but realized that there was still an important
question she hadn’t answered. “Were you and Paul still a couple when he was
killed?” Cindy asked again softly.
    “No,
we weren’t,” said Heather, resigned to being questioned. “It was over for a
couple of years by then.”
     “How
come?”
    Heather
looked away, out into the woods that surrounded her small home. It was clear
she hadn’t come to terms with it, yet.
    “Lots
of reasons?” Cindy prodded her.
    “No,”
said Heather, “just one. One reason that ended it suddenly.”
    The
sound of a lone Mackay pierced the afternoon.
    “Those
birds always act up before the