They were about to get in to Ben’s car when they heard the approaching footsteps. It was the same woman they saw earlier on the stairs, inside the Red Cow. She was squinting in the daylight, her grey eyes rimmed with red, her face puffy.

“Please, I need to speak to you about June”, she said, her voice urgent, shaky.

“Of course, Miss…?”, Ben said, as he pulled out his notebook from the inside of his coat pocket.

“Grey. Maggie Grey”, she replied, before looking around. “Not here. Do you know the café down the road from the town hall?”

When Ben told her he does, Maggie nodded and climbed into the back of the car. She was quiet, chewing on her lips the whole way.

While Ben ordered their drinks Kate led Maggie to the same table they had been sitting at just a few hours ago. There were a few people hanging around, talking in hushed voices, reading books, or just enjoying a fragrant herbal brew, but this corner was still mostly out of sight.

“Latte, no sugar and a soya chai”, said Ben as he placed the drinks in front of the two women, and sat down with his own black coffee. He took out his notebook, but for a few more moments Maggie remained silent. Ben watched her twisting her cup on the table and placed a hand on her wrist.

“Take your time Miss Grey”, he said and she let out a shuddering sigh.

“I just don’t know where to start”, Maggie said and her hands trembled as she lifter her cup to her mouth.

“Why don’t you just take a big breath” Ben said in his soothing voice, “and start from the beginning. How do you know Miss Sanders?”

Now that she had actual questions to answer, Maggie seemed a bit more relaxed. She wiped a tear that threatened to fall from her right eye and sighed.

“We worked together. But I knew her from our previous place, The Flamingo Club. That’s where we worked before the Red Cow. June is my friend. I mean she was. My friend”, her voice was quiet, but steadier than before. “I heard you talking to Tim, and that you are looking for David, but he had nothing to do with this. Tim told me this morning, what happened. David could never do such thing!”

“Do you know him well?” Kate asked when Maggie stopped to take a sip of her drink.

Maggie shrugged. “How well can you know someone, really? But I know him well enough to know he wouldn’t kill June, no matter how much he didn’t like the situation. He was upset, but murder?”

“The situation?” Ben asked as he leaned forward to see Maggie’s face better. Kate also straightened up next to him. “What exactly you mean, Miss Grey?”

“Maggie”, she said. “Please call me Maggie.”

“All right, Maggie”, Ben said, his voice even, not showing how much his interest peaked. “What happened that made David upset?”

“Oh, you don’t…”, Maggie’s eyes widened. “Maybe I shouldn’t…” She looked at the both of them, her hands twisting in her lap, her face is the portrait of desperation.

“Maggie, it’s all right”, Ben squeezed her shoulder. “Just tell us what you know. You came to us because you thought it’s important.” He could see Kate shifting in her seat. Maggie seemed to consider what he just said, but it was not enough, so he added, “We just need all the information we can possibly gather as soon as possible, that’s all.”

For a moment Maggie looked like a deer in the headlights, and Ben felt a wave of sympathy. He wanted to hold her hand and tell her everything will be all right. But who was he kidding? This woman just lost her friend. For all they know she could very well be involved in her murder. He took a sip of his coffee to compose himself and gave Maggie a reassuring smile.

“I told June this is not a good idea, but she wouldn’t listen”, Maggie started. Her words started pouring out rapidly. “I mean they’ve only been going out for what, three months? Four months? She’s been acting crazy lately. Kept going on about her thirtieth birthday coming in a few months, and that she had nobody. Then she met David, and that was it. Suddenly all she was talking about was David, and family, babies. I told her she’s going too fast, and will just scare him away, but June was adamant that they meant for each other.”

When she fell silent again, Ben did not say anything, just waited her to wipe her eyes with the napkin.

“You know what’s weird?” Maggie asked, and when the two detectives shook their heads, she continued. “David wasn’t even her type. I mean, he was thirty-three and still lived with his mother! The old June I knew wouldn’t have started with someone who was not independent, but this new baby-crazy girl was different. She was babbling about family values and traditions, and David being fond of his mother is a good sign. Sometimes I barely recognized her. So obviously when she announced to him that she was pregnant, he did not take it well.”

Ben’s face did not betray his surprise, but Kate’s cup made a rattling sound as she placed it back on the saucer, knocking off the spoon.

Maggie covered her mouth with her hands. “You… you didn’t know she was pregnant, did you? I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Ben quickly continued. “We would have found out anyway, so there’s no point in holding back information. You are helping us a great deal.”

Ben’s comment seemed to make Maggie a bit more at ease. She smiled at him nervously before she continued. “She had this whole idea that if she got pregnant, David would marry her, and they would live happily ever after in a farmhouse, raising their kids in eternal happiness, and she had to do this right now. No matter how much I told her life doesn’t stop at thirty, hell mine just started when I turned the big three-zero four years ago, she just wouldn’t listen. She wanted to tell him after the concert. Oh, how excited she was. They had this place where they met sometimes. June had her own cottage here in Hillrose, but they liked the excitement of sneaking in there… a barn of some sort on some guy’s farm.” She shrugged again.

“At the Anson farm perhaps?” Ben asked, and when Maggie nodded, he added, “that’s where she was found this morning. And you are saying she went there with David.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean anything! Why do you think he had done it?”

“Well, for one”, Kate said, “he’s still on the run…”

“He’s what?”, Maggie interrupted.

“We tried to speak to him earlier today, but apparently he did not spend the night at home and his mother hasn’t seen him since the concert. Any ideas where he might be?”

Maggie’s hands found their way to her lap where they twisted around each other, her knuckles turning white. When she spoke her voice was thick with tears.

“He came to the bar last night, and then spent the night at my place”, she sobbed. “But he left just before I got the call from Tim. He… he doesn’t know then, what happened to June?”

Or knows more than any of us, thought Ben grimly.