“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.