Ellie slanted him a look. “If I tell you this stuff, I want your word you won’t mention where you heard it, and you won’t confront the people who told me. Once I break their trust, I’ll never get it back.”

He frowned. “I don’t gossip, never have. Whatever you say goes no further.”

“Fran said Heather liked to make men jealous. She said you pretty much ignored it because you didn’t want to lose her.”

A muscle jerked in his cheek. “She was my wife. I took a vow. I planned to keep it.”

“But there is only so much a person should have to take. I know because I divorced my husband for cheating. And I don’t regret it one little bit.”

He turned his head to study her from beneath the brim of his hat. Why a man would want to cheat on a woman who looked like Ellie he couldn’t imagine.

He slowed the truck and pulled into the parking lot of the Coffee Springs Café. “Maybe if Heather hadn’t been murdered, I wouldn’t regret it, either. Unfortunately, I’ll never know.”

Ellie’s eyes, green as spring hay, shot to his. Today she’d pulled her glorious auburn hair into a pony tail that swung appealingly back and forth across her back. He tried not to imagine what those shiny curls would look like spread over his pillow.

They climbed out of the truck and went into the café, which had old-fashioned molded-tin ceilings and branding irons on the walls. Kade waited till Ellie slid into one of the red-vinyl booths, sat down across from her, and picked up a menu, though he knew it by heart.

“So what else did you learn?” He perused the menu, trying to appear casual. He didn’t really like hearing what people said about him. It was none of their business how he ran his life, but he needed answers, and it looked like Ellie might actually have a chance of getting them.

“Well, I met Jonas Murray when I was getting groceries. When I asked Frances about him, she said he was a real hound dog. That’s the reason his wife divorced him.”

“I could have told you that.”

“Jonas asked me out. He said Mabel came in at least a couple of times a week. I’ve got a lunch date with him the next time I come in for groceries.”

The news hit him like a punch in the solar plexus. Jealousy was an emotion he’d learned to control when he was with Heather. He’d thought he’d buried it completely with his late wife. “What the hell?”

“Take it easy. There’s a chance he had an affair with Heather. If he did, that puts him on our suspect list.”