Chapter 14
Heather’s Story
“Heather Woods was my best friend when I was a little girl,” she began. “She died of leukemia when I was six.” Heather, or whoever she really was, smiled. A sad smile that died quickly.
“My name,” she paused, “my old name was Betty Conway. When I was sixteen I met Dave Randal. He was twenty-one, and my mother hated him, but I wouldn’t stop seeing him.”
She watched her feet while she spoke. Her grip on Jim’s hand remained tight.
“My father was gone by then, I never found out where. I was pregnant before I turned seventeen, and when it started to show, my mother found out and told me to leave. So I married Dave, and he moved me as far away from what was left of my family as he could afford.”
Outside a cougar screamed. It sounded uncannily like a shri
