Chapter Six
They managed to make it to Molly’s bed for rounds two and three.
Round two just consisted of Ryker’s face between her legs because he needed a bit of recovery time, but by round three he was up and ready to go again.
She was naked on her bed, lying on her stomach while he kissed and licked a trail from her ankles to her shoulder blades, when the sound of a vehicle in the driveway and a car door slamming popped their sexy bubble and brought them harshly back to reality.
“Oh shit!” Molly exclaimed, leaping up to her knees and scanning her bedroom for her clothes. That’s when she realized they were still out in the kitchen. “Sasha’s home.”
She met Ryker’s eyes with panic, and for a second, he seemed entirely unfazed, but when he realized she was freaking out, he jumped into SEAL-worthy action and nodded. “Throw on a robe. I’ll run out and grab our clothes.”
She bobbed her head and reached for her robe from the closet but then screamed, “Stop!” at him, as he was on the threshold of her bedroom door. “If she comes in and you’re naked in the kitchen …”
“I’ll be quick. You’ve never seen how fast I can move.” Then he ducked out and was back in a flash with an armload of clothing.
She breathed a sigh of relief as he slipped back into those alluring gray sweatpants and tugged his shirt over his head.
But her reprieve from panic only lasted as long as a heartbeat because just as the front door opened, Sasha’s voice, radiating with fear, rang through the house. “Mom! Ryker!”
Molly and Ryker locked eyes for a second, then they both dashed out to the foyer where Sasha was standing in front of the closed door, white as a ghost, staring at a piece of paper the size of a postcard in her hand.
Ryker reached her first and sidled up beside her. “What is it, half-pint?” He grabbed the paper and his face turned ashen before he lifted his gaze to Molly.
“What?” Molly asked, taking the paper from him. It had a polaroid photo taped to it. The photo was taken through Molly’s kitchen window. That night. Earlier, when she and Ryker were … together. She was naked, he was naked, and she was holding onto her thighs as he fucked her into oblivion.
The words LYING SLUT were scrawled eerily in bright red pen across the photo and on the paper.
“Oh, honey …” Molly said, sweeping in and wrapping her arms around Sasha. “I … I didn’t want … oh god. I’m so sorry you found out this way.”
Sasha shook in Molly’s arms, but she wasn’t crying.
“I don’t care about you two together, Mom. I’m … I’m happy about that. It’s about time. But … someone was in our backyard peering through our kitchen window and taking pictures. They got past the cop outside.”
“Not someone ,” Ryker said, baring his teeth and taking the paper and photo back from Molly.
“You don’t think it was Adrian, do you?” Molly asked. “He knows you’re here. He wouldn’t be so stupid as to—”
Ryker’s brows hiked up. “People do really stupid things, Moll. Really stupid.” He glanced out the window. “The cop car is still parked outside. Stay here.” He took the paper and headed out the front door, locking it from the keypad.
“Mom,” Sasha said, hugging Molly tight. “That’s really freaking creepy. Like, the cameras in the house were really bad, too. I want to move.”
Molly looked up at her daughter, whose angelic face was full of terror. “Me, too, sweetie.”
Less than a minute later, the door unlocked and Ryker, along with the police officer—Officer Linden again—returned. Officer Linden was on the phone reporting what had happened.
Ryker only gave Molly and Sasha a quick nod before he went to the French doors and outside into the dark, where the photographer had to stand on the deck to see inside the kitchen window.
“Let’s check the security camera footage,” Molly suggested to Sasha, keeping her arm around her daughter, but guiding them to the security panel in the dining room where they could review the footage.
Officer Linden ended his call just as Ryker came back inside. They huddled behind Molly and Sasha as the footage from the evening started to play.
“Whoever it was knows exactly where the cameras are because they’re sticking to the blind spots,” Officer Linden said.
“We made sure there were no blind spots when we installed the system,” Ryker said with anger—not directed at the cop. “One of the cameras has been covered.” He was gone again in a flash, out the French doors, only to return a second later with a black pillowcase. “This was thrown over the camera in the back.”
Molly and Sasha gaped at him.
“I see movement,” Sasha said, pulling all their attention back to the screen. “Right there. In the corner of the driveway.”
“There are two people,” Ryker murmured.
“How can you tell?” Officer Linden asked.
“Look at the shadows on the grass from the moon. It’s two figures.”
Officer Linden’s eyes widened. “Shit. You’re right.”
“And at least one of them is a woman,” Ryker added.
“The shadows are elongated,” the cop pointed out. “How can you tell?”
“Shoulders are narrow,” Ryker said, pointing to the paused image on the screen.
Ryker pulled out his phone and punched in a number, then walked away with it to his ear.
“So … Adrian is working with someone?” Sasha asked.
“I don’t know, honey,” Molly replied.
“I have two cops headed to Mr. Huber’s apartment now to question him,” Officer Linden said.
Molly nodded and thanked him.
“I’m going to go see if they dropped something or left footprints we can go on,” Officer Linden said, nodding at Molly before heading out the front door to look for clues.
Sasha shuddered in Molly’s arms and Molly squeezed her daughter tighter. “I’m so sorry about everything, kiddo.”
Sasha glanced up at her. “You and Ryker are … together?” Hope flickered in her daughter’s green eyes. “Is this new?”
“We are … working through some stuff,” Molly said with hesitation. “But … we have admitted that we love each other. It is new. Despite how long we’ve loved each other, admitting it is new.”
Sasha mustered a smile and wrapped both her arms around Molly. “I’m happy for you. And I’ve secretly hoped you guys would get together. For five years straight, that was what I wished for when I blew out my birthday candles.”
“What changed after five years?”
Sasha shrugged. “I really wanted a cellphone.”
Snorting a laugh and kissing her daughter on the forehead, Molly guided them into the kitchen. “I’m going to make some tea.”
Ryker returned to the kitchen, resting his phone on the island. “I’ve reached out to my hacker contact, and he’s going to dig deeper into Adrian. He only went back a couple of years and stuck to relevant information, but I want him to go deeper and further back. I have this weird feeling that there is some kind of jealousy involved in this.”
“Like Adrian is jealous of you?” Molly asked, opening up the long, shallow drawer on the island that housed all her different loose-leaf teas. She selected a calming camomile and lavender blend and filled up a few tea balls while the kettle on the gas stove made a gentle roar as it was heating up.
“Maybe,” Ryker said, his voice unconvinced. “But now that we know there are two people, I’m wondering if it’s someone else. Like an old flame of Adrian’s and she’s jealous of you .”
“Of me?” Molly stupidly pointed at herself. “He never mentioned any exes.”
“You only dated for two months, Mom,” Sasha pointed out. “How much did you tell him about your past in two months?”
Molly gave her daughter an impressed look. She’d always been mature for her age, but given everything that had happened to them in the last few weeks, Sasha was really demonstrating just how grown up she really was. It was both wonderful and sad that Molly’s little girl wasn’t so little anymore.
“I didn’t tell him much,” Molly admitted. “Only Susannah knows how Brendan—” She glanced at Sasha.
Sasha rolled her eyes. “I know Dad killed himself, Mom. You’ve tried to hide that fact from me, but I know. I’ve known for a while. I’ve heard you guys talk about it before. Plus, we all know you’re a terrible liar.”
Molly’s heart crashed to her feet. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
Sasha dismissed it with a headshake. “It’s fine. It sucks, but it’s fine.”
The kettle squealed. Molly went over to the stove and turned off the element, then brought the kettle over to fill up the three mugs. She took a deep breath. “Only Susannah knows that Brendan killed himself. Everyone knows I’m a widow, but I’ve kept his cause of death a secret. People get really weird about suicide and this town is so gossipy already.”
Ryker nodded and thanked her for the tea when she pushed the mug toward him. “How much do you know about Kate and Olivia?”
Molly’s head reared back. “No. Them? I know they seemed bitter tonight, but I honestly think that they’re just upset Sasha left the team. Especially with playoffs coming up. They know the team doesn’t have much hope with Sasha gone. They want the win more than they want their daughters to play.”
“And if they think Sasha quitting and their daughters ultimately losing is because of your relationship with Adrian going south, who are they going to blame?” he asked.
She opened her mouth but didn’t say anything. Cradling her mug on the counter with both hands, she let the warmth seep into her and soothe her tortured soul.
“Have any of your former teammates messaged you or reached out since you left the team?” Ryker asked Sasha. “Negatively or positively?”
Sasha pulled her phone out of her back pocket. “Yeah, I mean, pretty much all of them messaged me after I quit. A lot were sad and asked what happened. A few got mad and said I threw a hissy fit when I didn’t get my way, but I ignored them.”
“Who got mad?” Ryker asked, accepting Sasha’s phone from her.
“Camden,” Sasha replied.
Ryker scrolled through Sasha’s phone; his brows pinched tight.
“Are Olivia and Kate married?” he asked.
“Olivia’s husband travels a lot for work. As far as I know, their marriage isn’t great, but it’s not on the rocks, either. She doesn’t work and they just have Camden. Her life revolves around her daughter, the PTA, the HOA and the soccer team.”
“And Kate?” he probed.
“Divorced. And from what I’ve heard—because this town loves to gossip—it wasn’t pretty.” An icy chill swept down Molly’s spine and she trembled. “I don’t think they’re capable of … I mean, somebody nailed Anthony to the side of the house. You’ve got to be pretty mentally unstable to do something like that. Animal cruelty is … I just, I just can’t believe they’d do something so horrific. Kate’s vegan, for God’s sake.”
Ryker handed Sasha back her phone just as his buzzed in his pocket. He answered it and put it on speakerphone. “You’re on speakerphone, Chase. What did you find out?”
“Took a bit of digging, but it would seem that Adrian Huber and Kate Gubler were in a relationship. They kept it pretty secret, and it didn’t last long. But I managed to pull up some footage from a security camera of Adrian’s building and it shows Mrs. Gubler leaving his apartment at two in the morning. I was also able to dig into some emails and found some pretty racy communication between the two of them. And this relationship preceded Mrs. Gubler’s divorce.”
Molly’s jaw dropped. “Kate was sleeping with Adrian while she was married?”
“Yes,” Chase confirmed. “Whether Mrs. Gubler and her husband were separated at the time, I can’t tell. But it would appear she was having an affair.”
“Any idea when the relationship ended?” Ryker asked.
“All email communication ended two weeks before Mr. Gubler filed for divorce.”
“What’s the timeline for all of this?” Ryker asked.
“Everything has happened within the last six months.”
“Has he dated any other women?” Ryker scratched at his whiskers and closed his eyes. This was getting fucking weird.
“He dated a woman named Janine Gobillot for a while. Then that ended, and he took up with Kate Gubler.”
Ryker opened his eyes and glanced at Molly and Sasha. “Do you know a Janine Gobillot?”
They both shook their heads.
“Wait, so you think that Mrs. Gubler killed Anthony because Mom dated Coach Adrian?” Sasha asked in a high-pitched voice. “So did Coach Adrian do any of what we thought he did?”
“I still think Adrian is obsessed with Molly,” Ryker said.
Chase agreed with an, “Mhmm.”
“He probably planted the cameras in the house and followed Molly around. And Kate is most likely upset by his lack of interest in her and his interest in Molly. She’s lost two men—Adrian and her husband—and is not taking the rejection well. I don’t know who is demented enough to kill a cat, but based on the fact that Molly has received two messages now calling her a slut, I would guess those were sent by Kate. She keyed your car, and she took the picture of us together and taped it to the door.”
“But you said there were two people outside the house tonight,” Sasha said. “Is she working with Coach Adrian?”
Ryker glanced at Molly and shook his head. “I think her accomplice was one of two people. Either her best friend—”
“Olivia,” Molly said as dread coiled around her gut and squeezed like a hungry serpent.
“Or her daughter.”
“Sailor?” Sasha asked with surprise.
There was a knock at the front door. “It’s Officer Linden,” he shouted.
Molly left her spot at the island where her tea of salvation resided and went to open the front door. The officer’s dour expression offered her little comfort as he stepped inside. “I found something around the far side of the house where you keep your trash bin.”
Ryker and Sasha joined them in the foyer as Officer Linden, cleverly wearing gloves, opened his left palm to reveal a small teardrop earring.
“Does this belong to either of you?” the cop asked.
Molly and Sasha both shook their heads fervently.
“I just have sleeper hoops in my ears,” Sasha said, pulling her dark hair back to show off the three holes she had in each ear that only had cute, tiny silver hoops. She had a seventh hoop in the top cartilage of her left ear, also known as the helix. She desperately wanted her nose pierced, but Molly wanted her to wait until she was sixteen.
Molly shook her head and pulled her strawberry-blonde locks away from her ears. “I’m a simple girl with simple cubic zirconia studs that I haven’t taken out in years. Just one hole in each lobe.”
“Do either of you recognize this earring?” Officer Linden asked.
Molly shook her head. So did Sasha.
“Kate was wearing them this evening,” Ryker said without hesitation.
“You remembered that?” Molly asked, gaping at him.
“I remember what each woman was wearing, each piece of jewelry—that I could see—and I know that Olivia used to be a nail-biter and probably still would be, but she gets those hideous bedazzled acrylics to probably stop herself. But the amount of times she brought her fingers to her teeth and chewed was noticeable. The woman is nervous about something. The question is: what?”
“I’ve never noticed that before,” Molly said, dumbfounded.
“You’re not trained to notice that kind of stuff. I am.”
“But Kate tucked her hair behind her ear several times and I noticed the earrings. Olivia had rose gold hoops with a small clear stone on the bottom of the hoop. Rosalie had pear-shaped diamond earrings, small and understated. Sienna wasn’t wearing earrings, and Evelyn had two studs in one ear and one in the other. I didn’t see what Susannah was wearing in her ears because she had her hair covering them the entire time. She did, however, have a white-gold necklace with a small infinity symbol in the center.”
“Okay, so we—” Molly was cutoff by the cop’s phone ringing.
“Excuse me,” Officer Linden said, stepping into the living room and bringing his voice down to a hush.
“I’ve welcomed that woman—Kate—into my home,” Molly said, that sense of dread turning into a nauseous sensation in her belly.
“One last thing,” came Chase’s voice from the counter where Ryker’s phone still sat.
“Oh shit. Sorry, man,” Ryker said, and returned to the kitchen with Sasha and Molly behind him.
“No worries,” Chase said. “It gave me a chance to keep digging. Anyway, it looks like Mrs. Gubler’s daughter was recently taken into custody for shoplifting.”
“Okayyy,” Ryker said. “What did she steal?”
“Film for one of those Fujifilm Instax polaroid cameras.”