office with Detective Abrams.”
“I’m sure you would,” he said blandly.
She surveyed his intractable expression. “But you’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“Not until you tell me what you and Liza were up to.”
Molly sighed in resignation. When it came to sheer stubbornness, Michael would win out over her every time. “Okay. When we were leaving the Lafferty house …”
“Leaving where?” Michael said, his voice climbing ominously.
“We went to pay a condolence call, for heaven’s sake. What could be more innocent than that?”
“As I recall, neither you nor Liza were overly fond of Mrs. Lafferty. Doesn’t that make such a call hypocritical in the extreme?”
“I didn’t ask for a lecture on manners,” she snapped. “Besides, Liza needed to talk to Roger about establishing a memorial fund in Tessa’s honor.”
“And she required your assistance to make this request?”
“Yes.” Again she was reminded of the oddity of that, but she saw no need to mention her reaction to Michael.
It was his turn to sigh. “Go on.”
“Anyway, when we were leaving, we started trying to figure out who in that crowd might be going broke.”
“Why on earth would you be wondering about that?”
“Because greed is often a motive for murder, but when everyone is rich, it gets a little trickier. We decided maybe not everyone in that room this afternoon was as rich as they’d want people to believe and we figured Jason Jeffries would know all about their finances.”
“An interesting theory,” Michael admitted grudgingly. “Too bad you didn’t get there in time to hear Jason Jeffries’s comments on that very subject.”
“That’s what you were questioning him about?”
“Exactly.”
“Why you, though?”
“Abrams asked me to sit in. He had this crazy idea that since I was at that fund-raiser as a paying guest, I knew more about the players than he did. I considered explaining about Liza’s strong-arm tactics, but it would have ruined my image, so I just agreed to go along.”
“You couldn’t resist, could you? Tell the truth, Detective. This case got to you, didn’t it?”
“Every case gets to me, Molly. I get paid to investigate my own.”
“I suppose that given the fact that this particular murder involved a charitable cause, you suddenly decided you could do a little poking around for free?”
“Something like that.”
She stood on tiptoe and gave him a peck on the cheek that brought an immediate flush to his olive complexion.
“What was that for?” he demanded.
“Because you’re such a soft touch.”
Judging from his horrified expression, he didn’t consider her observation as the praise she’d intended it to be. “Don’t you dare go spreading that around,” he ordered.
“I wouldn’t dream of it. It’s enough that I know. Now what did Jason Jeffries tell you? You and Abrams looked pretty smug when you were coming out of that office.”
“Rumor has it that Roger Lafferty is up to his eyeballs in debt.”
“Roger?” Molly repeated incredulously. “Are you sure? I thought he had oodles of stock handed down through generations of Lafferty investment geniuses.”
“Maybe he did, but he’s broke now, or so the rumor goes. It’s also suspected that Tessa carried a very hefty insurance policy.” He grinned at Molly’s astonished expression.
“Sí, amiga
. The way it looks, that policy could be just about enough to bail him out.”
CHAPTER
NINE
The morning headline reporting that Roger Lafferty was now officially a prime suspect in Tessa’s murder wasn’t unexpected, but it successfully drove all remaining thoughts of her ex-husband’s disturbing call out of Molly’s mind. That was her first big mistake. Her second mistake was in underestimating the depth of Hal’s outrage over her involvement in three murder cases in a row, or the extremes to which he might go to punish her for it.
She had tossed aside the paper and was debating the merits of
“I’m sure you would,” he said blandly.
She surveyed his intractable expression. “But you’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“Not until you tell me what you and Liza were up to.”
Molly sighed in resignation. When it came to sheer stubbornness, Michael would win out over her every time. “Okay. When we were leaving the Lafferty house …”
“Leaving where?” Michael said, his voice climbing ominously.
“We went to pay a condolence call, for heaven’s sake. What could be more innocent than that?”
“As I recall, neither you nor Liza were overly fond of Mrs. Lafferty. Doesn’t that make such a call hypocritical in the extreme?”
“I didn’t ask for a lecture on manners,” she snapped. “Besides, Liza needed to talk to Roger about establishing a memorial fund in Tessa’s honor.”
“And she required your assistance to make this request?”
“Yes.” Again she was reminded of the oddity of that, but she saw no need to mention her reaction to Michael.
It was his turn to sigh. “Go on.”
“Anyway, when we were leaving, we started trying to figure out who in that crowd might be going broke.”
“Why on earth would you be wondering about that?”
“Because greed is often a motive for murder, but when everyone is rich, it gets a little trickier. We decided maybe not everyone in that room this afternoon was as rich as they’d want people to believe and we figured Jason Jeffries would know all about their finances.”
“An interesting theory,” Michael admitted grudgingly. “Too bad you didn’t get there in time to hear Jason Jeffries’s comments on that very subject.”
“That’s what you were questioning him about?”
“Exactly.”
“Why you, though?”
“Abrams asked me to sit in. He had this crazy idea that since I was at that fund-raiser as a paying guest, I knew more about the players than he did. I considered explaining about Liza’s strong-arm tactics, but it would have ruined my image, so I just agreed to go along.”
“You couldn’t resist, could you? Tell the truth, Detective. This case got to you, didn’t it?”
“Every case gets to me, Molly. I get paid to investigate my own.”
“I suppose that given the fact that this particular murder involved a charitable cause, you suddenly decided you could do a little poking around for free?”
“Something like that.”
She stood on tiptoe and gave him a peck on the cheek that brought an immediate flush to his olive complexion.
“What was that for?” he demanded.
“Because you’re such a soft touch.”
Judging from his horrified expression, he didn’t consider her observation as the praise she’d intended it to be. “Don’t you dare go spreading that around,” he ordered.
“I wouldn’t dream of it. It’s enough that I know. Now what did Jason Jeffries tell you? You and Abrams looked pretty smug when you were coming out of that office.”
“Rumor has it that Roger Lafferty is up to his eyeballs in debt.”
“Roger?” Molly repeated incredulously. “Are you sure? I thought he had oodles of stock handed down through generations of Lafferty investment geniuses.”
“Maybe he did, but he’s broke now, or so the rumor goes. It’s also suspected that Tessa carried a very hefty insurance policy.” He grinned at Molly’s astonished expression.
“Sí, amiga
. The way it looks, that policy could be just about enough to bail him out.”
CHAPTER
NINE
The morning headline reporting that Roger Lafferty was now officially a prime suspect in Tessa’s murder wasn’t unexpected, but it successfully drove all remaining thoughts of her ex-husband’s disturbing call out of Molly’s mind. That was her first big mistake. Her second mistake was in underestimating the depth of Hal’s outrage over her involvement in three murder cases in a row, or the extremes to which he might go to punish her for it.
She had tossed aside the paper and was debating the merits of
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