Once again, words of comfort didn’t come easily to her. She didn’t know how to connect with someone else in grief. She just tried to extend herself to Sonya as best she could.

Sonya leaned forward and embraced Molly in an impulsive hug before pulling away. “I know. But like I said, your family has been wonderful to me. Thanks to Edna, we have a home-cooked meal every night, Robin calls often even from college, and if it weren’t for Jessie, I doubt Seth would make it through a day at school. And your father, well, he’s been my rock.” She seemed to be repeating herself intentionally, this time for Hunter’s sake.

Once again at the mention of Frank, Sonya’s face lit up with something more than gratitude, something that made Molly shift uncomfortably on her feet. “You two have such a strong history and friendship,” she said.

“I’m going to have to talk to you about the night of the murder,” Hunter interrupted in a gruff voice.

“I understand. Just say when.” Sonya tucked a strand of her short hair behind her ear.

“Tomorrow would be great.”

“Tomorrow it is.” Sonya suddenly glanced at her watch. “I really have to go. To my car,” she said, flustered. “I’m late for…” She hesitated and fiddled with her hair. “I’m late getting home. I have to bring Seth his dinner.”

Molly recalled Hunter’s impatience for food earlier and couldn’t help but grin. “Yes, I have some small understanding of how impatient men get when they’re hungry,” she said, laughing and lightly nudging Hunter in the ribs.

He rolled his eyes at her, but chuckled, too.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Hunter,” Sonya said.

“Same here.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Anytime after 10:00 a.m. is fine.” She quickly paid, took her pizza and headed for the door.

“She seems nice,” Hunter said.

“She is,” Molly agreed. “And my father adores her. She was a little off tonight, but I’m sure that’s normal given the circumstances.”

“It probably is. Are you ready to go or do you still need-”

“Just give me a second to go to the ladies’ room,” Molly said to Hunter, then rushed to the washroom.

Once inside, she washed her hands with raspberry-colored liquid soap, causing the strong smell of berries to fill the small room. She stepped to the windowsill where paper towels lay waiting, and dried her hands, looking out the window at the back parking lot.

Since the sun was setting, street lamps dotted the area with light. As if she were watching a scene straight out of a movie, a female figure moved slowly across the lot with a large pizza box in hand, stopping at one of the lampposts and resting against it. The light illuminated her face.

Sonya.

Molly expected her to look for her keys or walk to her car, but she remained where she was.

Molly crumpled the paper in her hands. She stared at the lonely figure and her heart broke for Sonya. Recent circumstances had changed her from vibrant and happy to desolate and sad. She’d have to talk to her father about doing more for Sonya and Seth, not that Molly knew what would help them except time. But she couldn’t help feeling that they needed something.

She tossed the paper towel into the garbage just as a navy Jeep pulled in to the lot. Her father had a navy Jeep. So did a lot of people in town, she reminded herself.

But only her father’s license plate read MEL629. His deceased wife, Melanie, and the date of their anniversary. According to Robin, the plate had been on her mother’s car and her father hadn’t been able to part with it when he’d sold her vehicle. The plate had passed to whichever truck or automobile the general owned or leased ever since.

At the sight of Frank, Sonya smiled. The expression of pure pleasure and joy couldn’t be mistaken. Molly’s thoughts immediately returned to what she’d seen earlier, when Sonya’s face had lit up at the mere mention of Molly’s father.

Were they more than just friends? she wondered for the first time.

No, neither of them would commit adultery. Sonya wouldn’t betray her husband or Frank his best friend. And she didn’t believe they’d started an affair in the short time since Paul’s death, either. She knew them too well to think either of them were that cold or callous.

But that doesn’t mean feelings between them don’t exist, a little voice in Molly’s head told her. She pinched the bridge of her nose, thinking of the lies that had seemingly been told tonight.

Her father was supposed to be at a V.A. event, not picking up Sonya in the back parking lot of Joe’s Pizza. And Sonya was supposed to be heading for her car so she could bring home pizza for Seth. But there were plausible explanations, plans changed. Maybe her father’s party had been boring and he’d left early or maybe Sonya had called him and asked for his company. Besides, Sonya didn’t owe Molly an explanation about her transportation.

No harm done, Molly thought, trying desperately to convince herself. But an awful feeling of déjà vu washed over her that was similar to the aura of foreboding she’d experienced last year. Right before her mother’s fiancé was shot and Molly’s world had drastically fallen apart.

Her head began to pound hard, the damning questions coming fast and furious. Why would Sonya lie about meeting Molly’s father? If the two adults wanted to talk, why not admit it? Why act like they had something to hide?

She shivered and headed back to find Hunter. She’d left him waiting long enough.

Twenty minutes later, they finally walked into the house after a long day. Too long to even contemplate, Molly thought. She hadn’t told Hunter what she’d seen from the bathroom window. Although she felt guilty withholding information, she couldn’t bring herself to reveal her suspicions. Her family unit hinged on Hunter’s representation and belief in her father.

She wanted him to trust that her father wouldn’t kill over his partner’s embezzlement, and tonight he’d admitted that Frank could possibly be innocent. Her father wouldn’t murder for money, that much she knew.

But Molly couldn’t help but wonder, Would her father kill for love?


***

HUNTER HEADED straight to the office he called his bedroom to unload his duffel while Molly played the answering machine.

“Two new messages,” a mechanical voice said.

The first was Lucinda, still giddy but happy and thanking Molly and her dear friend Hunter, and Edna who had finally shown up after Molly’s exit from the closet, for helping to make her birthday special.

The party seemed like a year ago, not just this morning, Molly thought as she left a note for the commander to call Lucinda in the morning.

The second message was from Jessie. Since there was so much background noise, Molly played the message again so she could hear. “Hi, Dad, it’s me. I know you’ll remember, but I still just wanted to remind you to pick up me and Seth at eleven from Sarah’s house. And if you want to come a few minutes early that’s okay. Seth’s not doing so good and I don’t mind leaving, either.”

Molly shook her head. Oh, no. No. She really didn’t want any more proof that her father and Sonya had deliberately lied to her.

“I thought Seth was home waiting for his pizza,” she said aloud. Sonya had said so.

But Sonya had also said she had to get to her car, when in reality she was waiting for Molly’s father to pick her up from the secluded back lot. Molly blew out a deep breath and ran a shaking hand through her hair. Was her father in love with Sonya and vice versa?

And if such a thing were true, just how long could Molly keep it from Hunter?

Within minutes the commander arrived home, followed by a foot-stomping Jessie. As it turned out, the commander had picked Jessie and Seth up at the party, not her father-which pretty much cemented Molly’s hunch that there was something going on between Frank and Sonya.

Something that Molly didn’t want to face or deal with tonight. Tomorrow, she’d listen while Hunter interviewed Sonya about the night of the murder, and she’d decide afterward just how important her news was to the case, or whether she could keep their secret a little longer. Hunter was finally making progress in the general’s case-she didn’t want to give him a reason to doubt her father’s integrity and honesty now.

Tonight, she planned to finish what she and Hunter had started earlier today.

After everyone turned in to bed, Molly took a long, hot shower. She tried to convince herself it was to wash off the grime of the day but she knew better. She was getting ready for a seduction. Not that she thought Hunter would need much to succumb, but she wanted to look her best when she made her move.

She didn’t own sexy lingerie but she did have one little number that Liza had bought her for Christmas. Since Liza had a steady guy she’d been dating for over a year, she never failed to mention Molly’s pathetic love life and had bought her this gift in hopes of spicing it up. Molly had had no need for the provocative outfit. Until now.

As for the family, the commander took Ambien and slept straight through the night. Jessie never left her room and besides, she’d shut her lights almost as soon as she’d come home from the party. As for her father, well Molly didn’t know if he was asleep or not, but she did know he was in his room and she doubted he’d disturb Hunter in the middle of the night.

Molly was counting on it.

CHAPTER NINE

HUNTER PLACED his hands behind his head and leaned back against the propped pillows, staring at the bird who sat quietly in his cage. Edna had instructed him to cover it each night, and it was almost time for him to tuck the bird into bed. Unable to sleep or work, he’d figured avian company was better than no company. He’d hoped the bird would distract him but so far the macaw had remained uselessly quiet. And Hunter couldn’t stop thinking about Molly. His hand nearly inside her, her heat and dampness on his fingertips. He was rock hard just remembering it.

A soft knock startled him. He wasn’t wearing anything but his briefs, and had no time to dive under the sheet on the pullout bed before the object of his fantasies slipped through the door. She shut it behind her and if he wasn’t mistaken, he heard the click of the lock being pushed into the doorknob.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” the bird said.

Hunter rolled his eyes. “Now he speaks.”

Molly smiled. With a gleam in her eye, she walked to the cage and draped the white covering over the bird. “Night, Ollie.”

Then she stepped toward his bed, wearing a long silk robe that covered way too much skin.

“So what are you doing here? Get lost on the way to the kitchen?” he half joked, needing to know her intentions.

She pursed her glossed lips and shook her head. “I’m hungry, but not for food.”

Her meaning couldn’t be clearer and his heart raced rapidly in his chest. “I could definitely go for some dessert,” he said, his voice rough with desire.

He couldn’t hide his erection and at the moment he didn’t want to. One step at a time, he told himself. He already knew Molly could rip his heart out and understood the importance of protecting his emotions, but right now nothing mattered but burying himself in her willing body and sating the pulse-pounding need he held on to by a thread.

Bracing his hand on the mattress, he shifted his weight to one side so she could join him. The pullout dipped beneath their joint weight. But, he noticed, the springs didn’t squeak, which gave him hope they wouldn’t get caught by anyone in her family.

She bent one knee and the bottom of her robe parted, giving him a glimpse of bare skin. Never before had he found a woman’s knee so damn sexy and he placed his palm there. “That robe is much too long and covers way too much,” he told her.

“And if anyone saw me coming down the stairs, they’d think I was getting a cup of tea.”

Molly inclined her head. The ends of her blond hair brushed her shoulders. She looked sexy and tousled, but he wanted her bare beneath him.

She reached down and opened the sash and let the robe part, revealing the sexiest outfit he’d ever seen in yellow lace that complemented her fair skin. The material covered her breasts but pulled up around her shoulders like a halter, revealing a mouthwatering amount of cleavage and he could only tear his gaze away to take in the short, ruffled edge of her nightgown. His imagination grew ripe with images of what lay beneath the barely there lace. And as his eyes traveled lower, he was shocked to see clear stiletto sandals on her feet.

His body stiffened at the sight. “And how would you have explained those to inquiring family members?”