Sealed with a Kiss (Ty & Hunter 2)

Molly nearly snorted, but Hunter hadn’t removed his hand and she didn’t want to subject herself to a hard squeeze that would definitely hurt. Besides, right now she was getting more details than she’d ever imagined from Lydia McCarthy, and pieces were finally starting to fall into place regarding Paul and the money.

“But that night you realized he’d lost everything,” Hunter said.

“Yes, but I didn’t care. I saw it as a blessing and a sign that we were free. I told Paul he should take the chance he was given and run away with me.”

“He refused?” Hunter guessed.

Lydia gave a short jerk of her head. “Not only that, he said he’d never had any intention of leaving Sonya or his son. He said he had a life that he wasn’t about to give up on. Every word was like a dagger in my heart.” She clasped her hands to her chest.

Molly wanted to scream at Lydia’s theatrics, but she realized for all its absurdity, Lydia’s pain was real. Molly didn’t have to like the choices she’d made, but she had no right to judge her for them.

“What did you do?” Molly asked. What did a woman do when the man she loved suddenly turned his back on her?

What had Hunter done when Molly had turned her back on him? He’d retreated into his own private hell, she realized, looking back at the situation she’d walked in on a few weeks ago. The messy apartment, the heavy drinking and the woman in his bed who he hadn’t mentioned since showing up on her doorstep to help her dad.

Wow. Nothing like having the impact of your own actions thrown back in your face, Molly thought.

“What happened after he threw you out?” Hunter asked.

His voice brought Molly out of her painful epiphany. She hoped she hadn’t missed much and shook her head, clearing her mind of personal thoughts, at least for now.

“I left. I honestly believed he was upset over the money and Frank’s anger, and the fight with his wife. I thought he’d change his mind when he realized Sonya probably wouldn’t take him back, but I was still here for him despite everything. I decided I’d talk to him again in the morning, but when I got to the office, the police were there and Paul was gone.” She blinked, forcing back tears.

“Are you okay?” Hunter asked Lydia.

The other woman nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

Hunter rose as she walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

He turned to Molly. “How about you? Are you all right?”

She nodded, surprised and warmed by his concern, especially in light of the comparisons she’d drawn. She didn’t like what she realized about the pain she’d caused Hunter and she hated thinking what the time since she’d left had been like for him.

Nor did she know what to say, so she remained silent.

Lydia stepped back into the room. “Are we almost finished? This really is painful to relive.”

“Just a few more minutes,” Hunter assured her. “What did you do that night, after you left the office?”

“What any woman who’d just been dumped would do. I went home and cried myself to sleep.”

Hunter stepped closer to Lydia. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sure you already told all this to the police. Sometimes it just helps to hear the story from the person instead of reading the statements.”

Molly admired Hunter’s technique. He’d been sympathetic, gaining Lydia’s trust. And even after hearing she’d been alone that night, he hadn’t asked her if she had an alibi. He probably didn’t want to antagonize her and risk her clamming up on them. He was a brilliant strategist.

Lydia, meanwhile, drew a long, labored breath. “I did tell the cops, but they weren’t nearly half as interested as you are.”

Because they already had their man, Molly thought bitterly. The small-town police wouldn’t even consider the possibility that Lydia had shot her lover when he’d rejected her. But it was a notion Molly couldn’t shake.

“One more thing,” Hunter said. “If you can possibly think beyond the fact that Frank was arrested for Paul’s murder, is there anyone else you can imagine with motive? Anyone that had a gripe or an argument with Paul, either personally or professionally? You two were so close, nobody would know the answer to that better than you.”

He was buttering Lydia up, Molly thought. And boy was he good.

“I have to tell you that as much as it pains me to say so, it is possible that Frank did it. He had motive, he had opportunity and he had late-night access to the building. I’m sorry, Molly, but that’s the truth.”

Molly clenched her jaw tight.

“Just humor me, please,” Hunter jumped in before she could reply. “Is there anyone else who had a grudge against Paul?”

“It won’t do you much good, but here goes. Mayor Rappaport had a business deal go bad a few months before Molly moved to town. The Rappaports had land on the far side of town that they’d owned for generations. Paul caught wind of the fact that some developers were interested in the property. They’d been sniffing around but hadn’t contacted the mayor yet and he was knee deep in a reelection campaign, running against a young opponent who was gaining on him. He wasn’t paying attention to anything except his career, and he needed more money to finance his campaign. So when Paul offered to take the property off his hands, Mayor Rappaport jumped at the chance, just like Paul knew he would.”

“Let me guess. Paul got the land for a steal,” Molly said, barely able to contain her disgust. The more she learned about her father’s best friend, the less she liked him.

Lydia inclined her head. “Right. Then he contacted the developers and sold the land for a huge profit. Much more than the piddly campaign cash Paul paid the mayor for the land.”

“And the mayor was furious,” Hunter said.

“Do you blame him?” Lydia asked.

Molly shot the other woman a confused glance. “And you loved this man?”

Lydia shrugged. “All’s fair in love, war and real estate. Paul’s business dealings had nothing to do with me.”

Just like his marriage had nothing to do with you? Molly silently asked. She knew not to voice her question aloud. Hunter would kill her. Besides, Lydia was being punished plenty for her role in Paul’s dirty dealings and ruining the man’s marriage.

“Do the police know about the mayor’s grudge against Paul?” Hunter asked.

“I do know the subject came up in the early days after Paul’s…murder,” she said, tripping up on the word. “But the police never followed through.”