4 Maui Macadamia Madness (17 page)

He chuckled. “So, it
has. Look, he’s moving again, and he just lit a cigarette. Do any of the guests
smoke?”

“I don’t know, and
I’m sure if the staff does, they aren’t allowed to do it out in the open.” I
sighed. I’d created a monster when I roped Ethan into helping me solve the last
two mysteries I’d gotten involved in. He said it was to keep me safe, but
sometimes I wondered. I allowed him to drag me until the man disappeared out of
sight among the buildings of the B & B.

“We’ve lost him.”
Ethan’s shoulders sagged.
“Might as well go to Joe’s.”

“You’re enjoying
this, aren’t you?”

“More than I
should.” He gave me a hug. “Just think, most people on their honeymoon
spends
all their time in their room. We’re seeing the whole
island by chasing these clues.”

“Imagine that.”

“Feeling neglected?”

“A
little.”
I forced a
smile. “Why is it that everywhere I go, someone dies?”

“Just lucky, I
guess.” He slid his hand down my arm and took my hand. “Come on. I’ll love you
until your blood boils after we drop these off at Joe’s.”

“Promises,
promises.”
Of course,
just the thought of his promise put a spring in my step.

Instead of knocking
on Joe’s cottage, Ethan pushed open the door and entered as if he lived there.
I shrugged. Since Joe and April weren’t married and shared the cottage with
Uncle Roy and Aunt Eunice, things were safe, or they’d better be. If Joe tried
anything with April, officer of the law or not, Ethan would skin him alive. I
grinned. I might pay to see that.

“About
time.”
Joe uncurled from
the sofa. “Everyone else is already in bed.”

“Wish we were.” I
clapped a hand over my mouth.

Ethan gave me a
warning look. “We were following someone we thought looked like the guy in the
photos. But we lost him.” He handed Joe the papers, folding and tucking our own
copies before stuffing them into the back pocket of his jeans.

“I’ll meet with
Manano
tomorrow and let you know what he says.” Joe set the
photos under a crystal vase.

“If he’s a crooked
cop,” I stated. “You’re putting yourself in danger.”

“Nothing
new.”
He narrowed his
eyes. “Or should I say nothing more than what you do to me.”

“You’re a regular
comedian.” I crossed my arms. I loved my cousin dearly, but must he always be
such a thorn in my side?

“You two act like
brother and sister.” Ethan took my hand and led me to the door. “See you at
breakfast, Joe.”

Breakfast!
My own opportunity to ask questions.
Why did I always take
it as a personal challenge to solve a crime before Joe, who was much more
qualified? We’d been in some form of competition our entire lives.
Time to get over it.

“Do you really think
Manano
is going to cooperate?” I asked.

“No, I don’t. The
man’s mixed up somehow, I just don’t know how.”

A strange hissing
flew past us, then the sound of a soft
thunk
. “What
was that?” I whirled, trying to see in the glow of the moon and scattered
decorative lighting.

Ethan peered at the
wall behind us.
“A dart.
The kind
that comes from a blow gun.”
He straightened and grabbed my arm.
“Let’s...”

A sharp pain stabbed
my thigh.
Literally.
I glanced down at a three inch
dart sticking out of my leg. “I’ve been shot!” Mercy! My legs buckled.

Ethan hefted me in
his arms and dashed back toward Joe’s cottage. He grunted and stumbled, but
kept going.

Since we’d left, Joe
had locked the door.
Without setting me down, Ethan kicked at
the door until Joe answered, dressed only in a pair of cotton shorts.

“What?” One look at
our faces and me in Ethan’s arms must have answered his question. He opened the
door to let us in then slammed and locked it again.

Ethan sat me on the
sofa and lifted the leg of my pants. “I don’t know if we should pull it out or
not.”

“What if it’s
poisonous?” I bolted up. “Yank it out.”

Joe bent,
then
straightened with another dart in his hand. “This was
in the back of Ethan’s calf.” He held it up to his nose and sniffed. “I don’t
detect an odor.”

“Another
warning?”
Ethan pulled
the one from my leg.

I hissed. “Someone
shot you, too?” Oh, wait until I got my hands on that someone. I was used to
getting shot at, unfortunately, but took personal offense when the target was
someone I loved.

A rock shattered the
window. I screamed and dove under the coffee table.

Joe picked up the
rock and read what was on the paper wrapped around it. “Go home.” He sighed.
“Guess I’m going to start wearing my gun.”

Chapter
Twenty

My leg didn’t hurt too much the next morning, but I was tempted to stay
in bed and pout anyway. Ethan was too worked up over our recent attack to make
good on his promise to love me into oblivion. Instead, I showered and changed
into a sundress, ready to take on a table full of suspects, I hoped. Most
people couldn’t turn down a full made-to-order breakfast, and most mornings
were no exception.

When we entered the
dining room, I glanced around before sitting at the table with the rest of my
family. True to his word, Joe’s service revolver was in its holster around his
shoulder. I wondered whether it was legal for him to carry it like that while
not on duty, but wasn’t about to ask.

The
Wahines
sat around one, the rest of the guests scattered
among the other tables, not that there were many of us left. Maybe that
accounted for the frown on our robust host’s face.

David Hatcher fit
the body build of last night’s beach wanderer, so did Leroy
Wahine
and the gardener, Manuel
Mokiao
. Of course, that
didn’t necessarily mean our attacker was a man. I was sure most Hawaiian women
could blow a dart, or was that stereo typing? And, if the darts were poisonous,
we’d be dead by now. Ugh. My mind was wandering, again. I needed a concrete
clue to follow.

“Joe, can I go with
you to talk to
Manano
?” I stabbed my fork into a
chunk of pineapple.

“No.” He downed the
rest of his coffee and stood. “I don’t think he likes you.”

“That’s never
stopped her before,” Uncle Roy joked.

“Ha
ha
.”
I folded my arms and dropped my head on them. “I haven’t a clue,
literally. I’m going to the bathroom.”

Wanting to be alone,
I shook my head when April made a move to follow. I needed to do something, and
it wasn’t the restroom. Instead, I ducked out the back of the main building. If
one of their employees smoked, there’d be an ash tray. There was, and a few of
the butts had lipstick on them. Still, the person on the beach last night had
been a man, I was certain. So, tonight, I’d come back and find out who smoked.
Then, I’d pounce on them with questions. I didn’t have a lot of faith in
Manano
. If Joe wanted to do things the proper way, well,
good
for him.

Instead of returning
to the table, I stopped right outside the double doors. Luckily for me, the
Wahines’
and Susan and David sat close enough for me to
eavesdrop. So far, no one was speaking. I rubbed my leg where the dart had
pierced me. It didn’t hurt, really, not nearly as much as the knowledge that
someone would take down Ethan to get to me.

Footsteps alerted me
to the fact someone was either leaving or joining one of the tables. I froze
and held my breath.

“This is out of
control,” Susan hissed.

“I know.”
Manano
! “I thought when Jamison was found dead, things
would settle down. Instead, they’re escalating and I have no idea who’s behind
it.”

“Not that Banning
woman?”

“No.”
Manano
scoffed. “I just used her to set the real killer off
guard. She’s not smart enough to head up an operation like this.”

Whatever.
I could head up anything.

If
Manano
had no idea of the killer’s identity, and either
Susan didn’t either or she was a very good actress, I was back to square one.
The idea didn’t sit well with me. With only a few days left on the island, I needed
to get to the bottom of all this. My gut told me it had something to do with
Jamison’s scam to get people to buy into a timeshare. Obviously, the list from
the box was a list of those people.

Except,
Uncle Roy wasn’t listed.
Maybe because he hadn’t actually paid any money yet.

Another set of
footsteps caused me to stumble backward. I tripped over a planter and landed
square on my bottom. Goodness, I was a graceful as a turkey. I stood and rubbed
my aching
tush
.

“Summer,
if you’re finished goofing around, would you mind stepping inside so Officer
Manano
and I could have a word in private?”
Joe stared, brow furrowed.

“Sure.” It didn’t
take a rocket scientist to know I’d been eavesdropping. Sigh. I started to head
back to the dining room and changed direction. I needed some quiet time with
the Lord.

A conversation with
Him was long overdue. I wanted to smack myself in the head. Like the other
times, I plowed forward without asking for His guidance. When I finally did,
pieces would start to fall into place. Why should this time be any different?

I popped back to the
patio, asked Joe to tell Ethan I was headed to the beach,
then
hurried off before anyone could stop me. I desperately needed some prayer time
alone.

In clear view of our
cottage, I plopped into an empty beach chair and watched the sun glimmer on the
waves. Outside, in God’s creation, was the best place to get close to Him, in
my opinion. Walls built by human hands left something out.
A
bit of God’s glory, perhaps.

I bent my knees and
pulled the skirt of my dress to cover them. The morning wasn’t cold, but a bit
of a chilly ocean breeze blew, kissing my face and playing with my hair.
Closing my eyes, I lifted my face to the sun.

No words were
needed.
Just an open heart.
God knew my worries, my fears,
my
needs. I allowed myself to empty in His hands.
Soon, the breeze carried more than the salty scent of the water, it held His
promise to never leave me. Tears rolled down my cheeks, not sad tears, but ones
of happiness. Strange, not how wonderful prayer made me feel, but that I took
so long to take the time to worship.

Drying my tears on
my knees, I stood and stretched. I turned to see Ethan sitting a few feet
behind me.
My guardian angel.
I should’ve known he
wouldn’t let me too far out of his sight. Without speaking, I moved to him and
slipped my hand in his.

He kissed me and
whispered that he wanted to make good on his promise. I warmed hotter than the
volcano and let him lead me to our room.

###

Later, Ethan and I snuggled on our deck and watched Joe trudge toward
us. I guessed he finally had some information for us.

He stopped and took
an empty deck chair. “Well,
Manano
is an idiot.”

I giggled. “That’s
no surprise.”

“I have no idea how
he became a cop.” Joe sighed. “I showed him the
papers,
he took them without looking at them, and then promptly told me that I had no
jurisdiction on Hawaii and to stay out of his investigation.”

Now, my cousin knew
how I felt on a regular basis. “And he promptly told you he has no suspects, am
I right?”

“I guess you
gathered that much from eavesdropping. The only thing of value he told me was
that Susan and David aren’t talking about you being a hassle.” He narrowed his
eyes. “And this goes no farther than this deck. But, rather, they’re talking
about David’s wife.”

“His
wife?”
I straightened.

“Seems
she found out about their little affair.
They were buying a timeshare so they’d have a safe place to get
together. Anyway, Mrs. Hatcher has the ability to ruin Susan’s reputation.
Seems she’d the daughter of her town’s mayor.”

Oh, what tangled
webs we weave. “We’re back at square one.”

“Pretty
much.”

“Except.”
Ethan spoke up. “We’re pretty sure the
murderer is a man. We also know Jamison died by poisoned nuts of the same
variety the hotel gives out. We also suspect our killer might be a smoker.”