After a pleasantly warm welcome, they sat drinking coffee at the kitchen table.

“So what was she like?” Ellie asked.

“Heather was the most popular girl in school,” Gretchen said. “Every man on campus wanted her. Women wanted to be with her because she was such a guy magnet. She could have just about any man she wanted, but during those early years, she always felt she belonged to Kade.”

Ellie took a sip of coffee, which Gretchen had brewed from bold, freshly ground beans. “From what I understand, she cheated on him more than once.”

Gretchen wrapped her fingers around her coffee mug as if she needed the warmth. Her friend was dead. And talking about murder was always chilling.

“Heather needed constant attention,” Gretchen said. “Kade was busy working the ranch. She really didn’t start cheating until after they’d been married a while. To tell you the truth, it wasn’t entirely her fault.”

Exactly what Kade had said.

“Do you have any idea who she might have been seeing when she disappeared?”

“The last time we talked, she told me she had met someone, but she didn’t say who it was. I know she met him while she was here on a ski trip. She and Anna Marshall and I skied together a few times every winter. That winter I was making plans to get married. I was so busy planning the wedding, we drifted apart for a while. She didn’t tell me the guy’s name, but she might have told Anna. You think that’s who killed her?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out.” Ellie finished the last of her coffee and rose from the table. “Thanks, Gretchen. I really appreciate your help.”

The women walked together to the door. “Nobody deserves to die the way she did,” Gretchen said. “I hope you find the rat bastard who killed her.”

“Me too.”

From Gretchen’s, Ellie drove to an address near Avon and turned onto a winding road that led to a gray, wood-frame house trimmed in dark green. A petite woman, at least part Asian, opened the front door.

“You must be Ellie Bowman.” Anna Marshall smiled. “It’s nice to meet you.” She stepped back to invite Ellie into her neat, modestly decorated two-story home.

“Why don’t we sit in the living room?” Anna suggested. “There’s a nice view and still enough snow that it’s very pretty outside.”

“That sounds great.”

Anna had glossy black hair cut in a bob that framed her face, very smooth skin, and dark eyes. “Would you care for something to drink?” she asked.

“I had coffee at Gretchen’s, so I’m fine.”

They sat down on a gray tweed sofa and chatted for a while. Anna had two children, both at school and not due home for a while.