Heather pulled her car into JC’s drive and shut off the engine, just looking at the house.  It didn’t look any different, maybe that woman hadn’t had an opportunity to change anything yet.  Heather still couldn’t bring herself to believe that JC was married or even think about her name.  Heather couldn’t even begin to describe why she was acting or feeling this way toward JC’s wife.  She knew it was completely irrational, but found she couldn’t help herself. 

Heather got out of the car and retrieved her overnight back from the back seat.  She was grateful that the motion light on JC’s house had come on.  It was much later than she had planned to arrive.  When JC was out of town, Heather often stayed at his house, maintaining a presence so the house wasn’t empty for long.  Even though JC had sent her a terse message saying she wasn’t needed, Heather decided to go anyway.  She thought if she could just get JC alone, she could show him that this marriage wasn’t a positive thing, he would come around.  While she was staying in her normal room, she thought she might do a little snooping to find any kind of dirt that she could on that woman. 

She locked the door behind her and quickly punched a code in the beeping alarm system.  All she wanted now was a bed.  Not bothering to turn any lights on, she climbed the stairs, but was drawn to JC’s bedroom.  He must have left in such a hurry that he hadn’t remembered to shut off the light.  She shoved open the partially closed door and froze in her tracks. 

Liz was lying in the bed fast asleep, a book open on her chest. 

This was an interesting turn of events.  Why would JC leave his new bride all alone in Florida while he was all the way across the country?  Was there trouble in paradise?

Heather quietly set her bag down in the hallway and toed off her shoes.  In just her stocking feet, she crept into the room, not making a sound.  Taking the opportunity she headed into the room’s walk-in closet, sending frequent glances back to the bed to make sure Liz was still asleep.  Heather looked through all the clothes that Liz had in the closet, but didn’t find anything incriminating.

On her way out of the room, she happened to notice that Liz’s cell phone was on the nightstand.  Did she dare?

Yes, she did. 

She snatched the phone up, grimacing when she saw that the phone was plugged in.  Carefully unplugging the phone, she shot a panicked look at the bed when Liz shifted in her sleep.  Taking no more chances, she took the phone with her and left the bedroom. 

Settling into the comfortable chair in the bedroom she used while she stayed at JC’s, she threw off any feelings of guilt that may have had.  There was no turning back now.  JC would forgive her when she proved that his wife was only after his money or his fame.

Nothing stood out to Heather as she looked through the phone.  But Liz had apparently just erased a lot of texts and e-mails.  There was nothing older than a couple of days. 

Frustrated, Heather was ready to toss the phone in the toilet when a thought suddenly came to her. 

What were the odds that Liz had JC’s phone number memorized?  If Heather changed one digit in JC’s phone number, would Liz even notice the difference?  Heather would bet that when Liz called or text JC, she would just call up his saved number instead of dialing from memory. 

Thinking quickly, Heather tried several different combinations of JC’s phone number, changing just one number at a time until she found a number that had been disconnected.  Smiling to herself, she saved the change and tiptoed back down the hall. 

After plugging the phone back in and setting it down on the nightstand, Heather took one more quick look around to make sure that nothing was out of place and Liz would never know that someone had been in the house.  Pulling the door halfway shut behind her, she grabbed her bag and shoes and left the house. 

She was headed to the airport, off to see JC.  She needed to get her hands on his phone as soon as possible.