“She was a witness in a homicide case over the weekend.”
“Of course she was,” Jeremiah said with a groan.
“What do you mean?”
“Trouble has a way of finding Cindy. What happened?”
“A local restaurant owner was murdered in his kitchen. She was the one who found the body and called 911.”
Jeremiah leaned his head against the backrest and gritted his teeth.
Cindy, why didn’t you call me?
“Ultimately she didn’t see anything, we didn’t need anything else from her. Not really.”
Jeremiah could tell by the hesitation in the detective’s voice that he wasn’t telling the whole story.
“I just hope she’s alright,” Jeremiah said.
“She was fine when I dropped her off Sunday night,” Kapono said.
“From where?”
There was a long pause. Too long. Jeremiah turned and looked at him. “Where were you coming from?”
Kapono wouldn’t look at him; he just kept his eyes fixed on the road. “So, most people would call the police if they thought something had happened to someone. They wouldn’t jump on the first plane they could and fly out here. Are you the boyfriend or something?”
“No, nothing like that,” Jeremiah said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Why, did she mention me?”
“No.”
Jeremiah was surprised at the conflicting feelings that brought. Mostly he felt relief but it was tinged with something else. It felt like jealousy. He squashed it down. No time for complications like that.
“You took her out to dinner and then brought her back to her hotel Sunday night?” he guessed.
“Yes.”
A retort about that not being very professional came to his lips but he bit it back. All he knew was that Cindy needed to stop going to dinner with guys, it got her into trouble.
More like I don’t want her to go to dinner with
other
guys
, he thought, frustrated with himself.
“How soon until we get there?” he asked.
“Ten minutes. We’re lucky, very little traffic this time of night.”
“Good.”
“You know. Lots of people extend their vacations on a whim here. We’re probably going to find out that’s what’s going on. It will be a big waste of your time and mine.”
“Time well wasted to find out that’s all it is,” Jeremiah said.
“Why you don’t think so?” he asked.
“It’s not like her. Plus, she didn’t change her plane reservation.”
Jeremiah noticed that a moment later they were barreling down the road even faster. He didn’t say anything and the two settled into silence. Jeremiah struggled not to count the minutes. He needed to clear his head. If Cindy was in trouble she would need him to be able to perform at his best.
By the time they parked at her hotel he had achieved mastery over himself. One way or another he would have answers shortly and until then there was nothing he could do but wait and prepare.
They took the escalator up to the lobby and approached the front desk.
“Aloha. Can I help you?” the lady behind the counter said.
Kapono pulled out his badge. “We need to know if Cindy Preston has checked out.”
“Let me look that up for you,” she said, eyes widening slightly. She typed the name into her computer. “No. She was scheduled to check out this morning, but she hasn’t yet.”
“We’re going to need a key to the room,” Kapono said.
“Of course,” she said, hastily moving to make them a keycard. She handed it to Kapono seconds later. “Is there anything else?” she asked.
“Not now.”
They moved to the elevator and once inside Jeremiah watched as Kapono rocked back and forth from foot to foot. He was getting anxious.
The hallway looked like any other. There was no one else around. They found her door and opened it. Kapono flicked on the lights. “Cindy?” he called.
There was no answer and he stepped over the threshold, posture tense. Jeremiah followed. Once inside Jeremiah stopped abruptly.
The place had been ransacked. The contents of her suitcase were spilled all over the room and the bag itself tossed in a corner.
“Wow, I didn’t think she’d be so messy,” the detective commented.
“Cindy didn’t do this,” Jeremiah growled.
“
You seem pretty sure of that.
”
“Very sure,” he said. He stepped all the way into the room and looked around. He wouldn’t touch anything but he needed to get an idea of what had happened. “Someone was looking for something.”
Kapono pulled a pair of gloves out of his pocket. “We’re sure she didn’t do this?”
“I’d stake my life on it. And I think whoever did this took her.”
Kapono looked at him sharply. “What makes you think that?”
“Besides the fact that she’s not back home right now? Her purse is here,” Jeremiah said, pointing to the corner. There, crumpled underneath a standing lamp was Cindy’s purse. They moved over to it. It’s contents had also been dumped on the floor.
Kapono picked up the cell phone and depressed the button. “Battery’s dead,” he said.
He put it down and looked at the rest. “Driver’s license, credit cards.”
“Look at the purse,” Jeremiah said.
Kapono picked it up. The purse had been slashed, the lining cut out. The detective whistled. “I think you’re right about one thing. Someone was definitely looking for something.”
Jeremiah walked slowly around the room, eyes roving over everything. Cindy’s royal blue shirt that he loved was crumpled on the floor by the closet next to her tennis shoes which had had the inner lining removed from them as well.
Then his eyes spotted a reflection off something shiny that was partway under the bed. “Over here,” he called.
Kapono joined him and he pointed. The detective bent down and retrieved a rectangle of plastic and held it up.
“Her room key,” Jeremiah said.
Kapono pulled out his cell phone. “I have to call this in, get a team out here to go over everything.”
“Look,” Jeremiah said, crouching down and pointing to a scrap of fabric on the floor about two feet from where the key had been. “I’d be willing to bet you’re going to find something like chloroform on that.”
“Oh man,” Kapono said, running a hand through his hair.
Jeremiah stood slowly. “I’m right.”
“I can’t argue with you. I think she’s been kidnapped.”
~
Cindy tried desperately to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, though, all she could hear was the blare of the television which had become like a drum beat thrumming in her head.
They’re trying to drive me crazy with the sound
, she thought. Sleep deprivation could make a person say things they shouldn’t and they were probably hoping to use that against her.
Suddenly a new thought hit her. What if something had happened to Mr. Black? What if he had been arrested or killed? What if he was unable or unwilling to tell anyone where she was? She could starve to death waiting for help to come.
She screamed at the top of her lungs for help, praying that someone, somewhere would hear her. She kept it up for five minutes until her voice gave out. Her throat was raw and parched.
Maybe someone heard me.
Maybe they’ll call the police.
She dropped her head toward her chest praying for rescue.
~
To their credit the police responded quickly to Kapono’s call. Once the crime scene investigators arrived Kapono barred Jeremiah from the room. That was okay. They were unlikely to find anything new. Still, he had to school himself in patience as Kapono refused to let him leave the area. Finally the detective emerged from the hotel room and grabbed his arm.
“Let’s go get some coffee and talk.”
He had known this was coming and he had been preparing himself for it. He knew that in a kidnapping the first 48 hours were crucial, but he had to operate under the assumption that she had been taken immediately after returning to her hotel from dinner with the detective. That meant that they were already well past the 48 hour mark.
At this point all he had to go on was whatever he could glean from the detective about the murder that Cindy had stumbled upon. Ten minutes later they were sitting down at a table in Zippy’s.
Knowing it would be a long conversation and a very long time before the opportunity to eat presented itself again, Jeremiah went ahead and ordered the teriyaki steak and a bowl of chili. The waitress gave him a huge grin and told him they were famous for their chili. He didn’t care. He just knew that it would stick with him for a while and it might be a long time before he ate again.
“Okay. Now, I need you to help me out here,” Kapono said as soon as the waitress had left. “Who would have wanted to hurt her?”
“Tell me who killed your restaurant owner and I’ll tell you where to start looking,” Jeremiah said.
Kapono shook his head. “There’s nothing there, I told you. She didn’t see anything. She just found the body.”
“And we’ll have a lot better chance of finding her still alive if you stop lying to me,” Jeremiah said, pinning the other with his stare.
“I’m not lying to you.”
“Well you’re sure not telling me everything.”
The man sitting across from him was nearly a foot taller and half a foot wider than him, and was not used to being challenged. Jeremiah had dealt with men that were far more intimidating than the detective, though. He knew how to dominate and he didn’t have time to talk the other man around to his way of thinking.
So he looked him straight in the eyes and let the tiger out of the cage. He let the mask of civility slip, for just a moment, and let Kapono have one brief glimpse of the real him. It was the him that no one back home had ever seen. Not Mark, not Cindy.
Kapono responded on almost a visceral level to what he had seen, moving farther away from Jeremiah. The big man blinked rapidly as his conscious mind struggled to find words to explain what his subconscious mind had instantly understood.
“Listen to me very carefully,” Jeremiah said, dropping his voice so soft that the other would have to strain to hear him. “I will find Cindy. Nothing,
no one
, will stand in the way of that.”
Kapono nodded though he probably didn’t even realize it.
“Good. Now, let’s get to work.”
Kapono nodded again, thought quickening in his eyes.