It looked like the good doctor had been consulting his attorney about a divorce. And he didn’t have a pre-nuptial agreement. Which meant SueEllen could’ve taken him to the cleaners. A perfect motive for murder, don’t you think?

Just then, I heard footsteps down the hall. I sprinted back to my seat, nanoseconds before Hal came striding back into the room.

“Sorry about that,” he said.

“That’s okay,” I said, smiling graciously.

“So where were we?”

“You were going to tell me the risks involved in surgery.”

“Oh, right.”

“But before you do,” I said, “maybe we ought to discuss price. I’m not sure I can afford it.”

“Ballpark figure,” he said. “Including the anesthesiologist—eight thousand dollars.”

“Wow, that’s quite a ballpark.”

“If you do your eyes at the same time, you save money.”

“My eyes?”

“Just a tiny lift. It’ll make you look refreshed.”

“But I’m still in my thirties. Isn’t that a little young for an eye lift?”

“Not at all. Plenty of my customers are in their thirties.”

He took out a mirror from his desk and held it to my face. “See? The little lines at the corner?”

My God, he was right. I’d walked into his office with flabby thighs and now, out of nowhere, I had crow’s feet, too.

“I can do both surgeries for $10,000.”

Wow. What a bargain.

“I’m afraid it’s just not in my budget.”

“If your financial situation ever changes,” he said, snapping my file shut, “I’ll be happy to work with you.”

I figured now was as good a time as any to bring up the matter of my unpaid wages.

“Speaking of my financial situation,” I said, “I hate to bring this up so soon after SueEllen’s…um…passing, but I still haven’t been paid.”

“Oh, right,” he said, a flicker of annoyance crossing his face. “How much was she paying you?”

“Three thousand dollars a week.”

He shook his head and whistled softly.

“When I think of all the money she threw away on that book…”

He reached into his desk drawer and took out his checkbook.

“I didn’t work the entire week,” I said. “Just four days. That comes to twenty-four hundred dollars.”

He dashed off a check, and ripped it out of the book. He’d obviously written a lot of these checks. SueEllen had been an expensive trophy wife.

“Here,” he said, handing it to me.

I looked down at the check. He’d given me five thousand.

“That’s for being so kind to Heidi.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Now maybe you can afford me,” he smiled.

Was I imagining it, or was the good doctor flirting with me? Something told me those condoms of his were getting quite a workout.

“Oh, by the way,” he said, as I headed out the door. “We’re having a memorial service for SueEllen at the house tomorrow. Threeish. Please stop by if you can.”

For the first time since he strode into his office, Hal Kingsley tried to look as if he actually missed his wife.