Free Hot Money by Sherryl Woods Page B

said flatly. “I won’t allow it.”
    Hal’s unusually calm tone sent shivers down Molly’s back. She’d learned how to deal with his sarcasm. She could even defuse his anger, but this quiet finality was something else.
    “What exactly is that supposed to mean?” she asked equally calmly, refusing to acknowledge exactly how shaken she was by the unspoken threat in his voice.
    “You’re always telling me how bright you are. Figure it out,” he snapped in a tone that was more in character, but no less chilling.
    Before Molly could reply, he’d slammed the phone down in her ear.
    “Trouble?” Jeannette asked, regarding her worriedly.
    “Hal DeWitt is always trouble,” Molly replied wearily. “Sometimes I am simply amazed that I was once head over heels in love with that man.”
    “Perhaps you still have some ambivalence in your feelings,” Jeannette suggested, studying her intently.
    Molly shook her head. That definitely wasn’t what worried her. All she felt most times was irritation that she continued to allow the man to get to her at all. His vague threat had probably meant nothing, she told herself finally. It was just his way of tormenting her.
    And yet she couldn’t get it out of her mind, not until Liza called in midafternoon. It was the first time they’d talked since late Saturday night. Molly had called her apartment several times on Sunday, but either Liza had had the phone turned off or she’d been out. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d holed up, trying to get herself centered, as she explained it, whenever Molly inquired about her sudden reclusiveness. Lord knew, after the murder, getting centered was probably a very good idea. Molly wished she knew how.
    “What’s up?” she asked Liza now, determined not to plague her with questions it was obvious her friend didn’t want to answer.
    “Can you get free later this afternoon?”
    “Probably. Vince is out of the office and things are slow. September’s not the best time to be shooting films or commercials in Miami. There’s still too much heat and rain, to say nothing of the threat of hurricanes. What do you need?”
    “I want to go see Roger and I really don’t want to go over there alone.”
    “Lafferty?” Molly said with some surprise. “Are you sure you want to pay a condolence call?”
    “You remember what Caroline advised. We need to get him to agree to set up a memorial fund. It has to be done today. The services are scheduled for the end of the week, so there’s still time to get some sort of announcement of the memorial in the paper. Please, Molly. I need to take care of this and I’d really like the company.”
    There was no mistaking the odd note of nervousness in Liza’s tone. That wasn’t the clincher, though. Molly couldn’t resist the opportunity to see firsthand how Roger was taking Tessa’s death. “You want to meet me here or should I drive to the Lafferty house and meet you there?”
    “You’re on my way. I’ll come by the office,” Liza said hurriedly, then added as if she felt a further explanation were needed, “There’s no point in taking two cars.”
    “I’ll see you when you get here, then,” Molly said, more puzzled than before by Liza’s hesitancy to go to the Laffertys’ alone. Why would a woman who’d stood in front of a bulldozer to stop destruction in the rain forest be afraid to pay a perfectly normal call on Roger Lafferty? Did Liza fear that Roger would publicly accuse her of the murder, for heaven’s sake? If not that, what?
    Coming up with no logical answers, Molly swiveled her chair around in time to catch a worried frown on Jeannette’s usually impassive face. “This is not a good idea,” she said, her tone ominous.
    “Oh, come on. It’s just a duty call on the bereaved.”
    The clerk regarded her skeptically. “I read the papers, my friend. This is no ordinary situation. For all you know, this man could have killed his wife.”
    “We won’t be alone with him,