Free Hot Secret by Sherryl Woods Page A

stepped on the curb. He grabbed a chair from the next table, and wedged it between Molly and Duke.
    “Duke Lane, right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Sergeant Jenkins, homicide. Didn’t you get my messages?”
    “We were just talking about that. I figured I’d check in as soon as I got back to the hotel.”
    Jenkins glared at him. “Some police officers might view that attitude as uncooperative.”
    Duke shrugged. “Everybody’s got hang-ups. Me, I’m the most cooperative guy you’ll ever want to meet, once I’ve had my morning coffee. Before that, I can be real mean.”
    Jenkins glanced pointedly at the coffee cup. “Drink up. Then you and I are going down to headquarters for a friendly little chat.”
    Molly tried to hide her disappointment. She’d been hoping he’d go over Duke’s story right here and now. Maybe he’d get an answer to the question uppermost in her mind.
    Why the hell would Duke be lying about some woman when everyone on the set and in Hollywood knew he was gay?

CHAPTER
SEVEN
    “What was that all about?” Michael asked Molly the instant Otis Jenkins and Duke Lane left for the police station.
    “What was what all about?”
    “Don’t you dare play dumb with me,” he chided. “Your eyes will give you away every time. You picked up on something. What was it?”
    When he was regarding her with that intent, dare-you-to-lie cop look, Molly found it virtually impossible to skimp on the truth, even when she wanted to. “All that talk about Duke’s squeeze,” she admitted. “I’ve never once seen him with a woman.”
    “So he’s discreet. So what?”
    “He’s not only discreet. He’s gay.”
    Michael looked as if she’d just announced that cows flew. “Him? No way. Didn’t you see the way that waitress reacted to him? I think she slipped himher phone number on one of those little napkins she dropped in his lap.”
    Molly shook her head. “You saw what you expected to see when some heartthrob is out in public. Forget the way she reacted to him. Think about the way he reacted to her. He played the role to get her attention, but he never once looked her over.”
    Michael nodded as comprehension slowly dawned. “Okay, say you’re right.”
    “I am right.”
    “ Say you’re right,” he repeated with careful patience. “What possible difference does it make as far as Greg’s murder is concerned?”
    That stymied Molly as well, which was why she hadn’t particularly wanted to bring it up. “If he’d lie about one thing, why not another?” she ventured.
    “Maybe. Or just maybe he had a crush on the director.”
    “If he did, it was definitely unrequited. Greg’s list of conquests, female conquests , was endless. To hear some of the guys tell it, he couldn’t keep his pants zipped.”
    Michael’s brows rose. “Exactly what do you and the boys discuss in your spare time?”
    “They don’t necessarily say things like that to me. They just say ’em when I’m around.”
    “Fascinating,” he said, sounding oddly disgruntled. “If Greg wasn’t gay, then Duke Lane’s sexual preferences probably don’t matter.”
    “Unless he propositioned Greg anyway and Greg shot him down.”
    “That’s a stretch. You couldn’t build a casearound something as speculative as that, not without witnesses.”
    “At this point, I don’t see much we can build a case around. I’m grasping at straws here. Help me out. You’re the hotshot detective.”
    Michael opened his mouth, but Molly cut him off. “And if you dare tell me to leave it to the Miami Beach police, I’ll scream.”
    “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
    “Good.”
    “There is something I would like to know, though.” At her nod, he said, “Why is it that you are constitutionally unable to leave well enough alone? I could understand it when it was your condo president and we thought the murder weapon belonged to you. But this time? I don’t get it. This kind of idle curiosity can get you killed.”
    “It’s hardly idle