Seductive Reasoning (TASK FORCE HAWAII Book 1) (6 page)

Emma grabbed a pair of board shorts and then rejoined Del in her living room. Jaime had been correct. He was a luscious piece of man meat. She had never seen him dressed up, but she liked him like this. A casual shirt, dark blue that brought out the gold in his brown eyes. He looked tired. They all were probably pretty tired, but she knew he wasn’t sleeping well. It was there in his edgy expression and the dark circles under his eyes. She hadn’t seen him ever look this way. But then, they had never dealt with a case like this.

He was looking over her notes and white board.

“You think you can find something this way? Some connection?”

She nodded. “There is something there I am missing, but with only one murder and nothing else to go on, it has been slow going. And where were his other kills? Most of them had to be international.”

He glanced sharply at her. “You think this isn’t his first?”

She nodded. “This was too planned. Seriously, if someone wanted to come up with a plan to get away with murder, this would be one of the cases I would hold up as an example.”

“Are you saying we can’t catch him?”

She shook her head. “No,
you
can catch him. But it is going to take some kind of connection. That is what I have been looking for. The problem is there is not a good database worldwide of these things. They have them, and they are definitely hackable—” she broke off when he rolled his eyes. “Bloody hell, I didn’t mean to tell you about that.”

He sighed and shook his head. “Go on.”

“Alright, well, I definitely think the tattoo has something to do with it, but I have yet to find any connection to it. And it could be a new element.”

He nodded. “True.”

He went back to studying the board. Her stomach rumbled loudly again.

“Get something to eat,” he said. “I want to look some more of this over.”

She hesitated, because she didn’t like people looking over her work. It was usually a hodgepodge of things that made no sense to anyone. But she knew from experience that Del could make sense of her scribbles. Fighting the urge to explain the details, she walked into her kitchen.

The flat wasn’t small by Honolulu standards, but most people from the mainland would find it tiny. Her kitchen overlooked his living room with a three person breakfast bar separating the two rooms. She grabbed a piece of pumpernickel bread and slathered some peanut butter on it.

“Do you want anything?”

“No thanks.”

She poured herself a glass of milk and rejoined him in the living room. As she waited for the inevitable questions, she munched on her snack.

“You believe all this stuff?”

“Bloody hell, no.”

His mouth curved and she tried not to react, but her hormones were an independent lot. Her hands grew so damp, she thought she might drop the glass. She set it down on the coffee table.

“Then why do you have it listed?”

“I am trying to work in his mind. I don’t believe that much in analysis, but I do think that he does. He has a reason behind what he is doing. That, I cannot deny. No one orchestrates a murder like this, one that has all this symbolism. Especially where he left her.”

“What about it?”

“She was in view of Diamond Head, which is considered sacred to the Hawaiians. It could be nothing, but with the goddess tattoo on her back, I would venture to guess wherever he leaves them is important. I also find it odd that he picked a goddess and killed her.”

“Why?”

“In mythology throughout the world, women were often more powerful than men, or at least held the same level of power. Like here in Hawaii, you have Pele, a goddess who held her own and ruled the Earth while her lover ruled the seas. Or some similar sort of story.”

“But she did not have Pele’s face on her back.”

“Well, no, but then Grace Singh was a science teacher.”

He nodded again, and then looked at her. The moment stretched, and she tried not to fidget. Fidgeting was a sign of weakness according to Jaime.

“What?” she asked.

“Why do you live here?”

Okay, the conversation was turning weird. And when she noticed that, it was really, really odd. “Here? In Hawaii?”

“No. Here where the ocean is out your window every day.”

She glanced out the massive windows that showed her a view of the Pacific. The light waves rolled in from beyond the islands, and she sighed. Sean had asked her the same question when she bought the condo. She finished off her snack and rubbed her hands together.

“I know it’s odd.”

He shook his head without taking his gaze from hers. “No. Not odd. Interesting.”

There was something else in his voice, but she didn’t really understand it.

“First of all, Sean picked the apartment. Secondly, I don’t blame the ocean for my parents’ death. That would be illogical.”

“And you’re not very illogical, are you?”

She shook her head, not taking her gaze from him as he approached her.

“See, that’s where we differ.”

“Oh?” It was the only thing she could say. He kept looking at her like…well, like he wanted to take a huge bite out of her.

“I have all kinds of illogical thoughts. All the time.”

His voice had deepened. It set off alarm bells in her head. “Indeed?”

“Like right now, when you get that snippy tone in your voice. It makes me want to kiss you.”

“I don’t get a…” then her voice trailed off as she realized what he had just said. “Kiss me?”

He nodded as he stopped in front of her. “Yeah, I do. All the time. Have you noticed that I don’t run the meetings anymore? I can’t. All I can think is that I really, really want to kiss you.”

Her brain went numb as heat spiraled through her.

“You don’t want to kiss me.”

He nodded again, his mouth kicking up on the right side. Damn him, and damn that crooked little smile. Every time she saw it, her bones seemed to liquify. He cupped her face and bent down to brush his mouth over hers. And just like that, her world exploded around her. He deepened the kiss, thrusting his tongue into her mouth, as she slipped her hands up over his shoulders and around his neck. Pressing against her, she could feel the long length of his erection, and her body lit up like the Aloha Friday fireworks.

Yes, she wanted this. Now. He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around him. Lust flashed through her as he sat her on the kitchen bar. She let her head fall back, and he attacked her neck. His lips, his mouth, his tongue. Lord. Every bit of her body ached, needed, begged for relief.

She slipped her fingers through all that dark brown hair of his, as he kissed his way up to her earlobe. He growled as he took it between his teeth. The vibration of the noise danced over her nerve endings and sent another wave of lust rushing through her body. Hell, she was still vibrating from the simple little bite on her ear. Then, it vibrated again, against her inner thigh.

Damn. It was his phone.

With much reluctance, she pulled away. He growled, the sound thrilling her, and tugged her back.

“Del, your phone.”

It took him a long moment to open his eyes. When he did, she saw the barely suppressed hunger that made him look almost feral. Bloody hell, she had done that to him. Or with him, or something.

He didn’t take his gaze from hers as he pulled out his phone and answered it.

“Delano.”

Even if the person on the other end of the line didn’t know, she heard it there in his voice. Anger filled with sensual heat.

Then, in one moment, all the heat dissolved. Right there, she knew it was something bad.

“Okay. On my way down.”

“What?” she asked as soon as he hung up.

He sighed, regret filling his gaze.

“Del?”

He shook his head. “We have another missing woman.”

E
ven with taking
a detour to try to avoid any reporters out front, it only took Del and Emma a few minutes to make it to TFH headquarters. Del glanced at his companion. The woman had a stubborn streak worse than his. After he dropped the bomb and ruined the mood, he had tried to convince her not to come with him. She had—of course—overruled him. Del really should have seen that coming. She’d been ignoring his orders since the moment they met.

They went in through a back entrance. Since it was already on the news, the media was probably already clamoring for information. Worst part of it was, if it wasn’t for Grace Singh, some of them would not have paid a bit of attention.

Arriving in the squad room, they found his team seated at the table. Everyone turned at once as they walked in. There was a long beat of silence, and he realized they all knew he had been over at Emma’s.

“So, we have a missing woman?” he asked.

“Yes, a Susan Tanaka” Adam said. There was no teasing or joking around. A missing woman, no matter if she was connected to their case or not, was important.

“When did she go missing?” Emma asked.

“They aren’t sure.” Adam punched a few buttons. The picture of a vivacious young Hawaiian woman, dressed in the costume of a dancer from one of the luau outfits, came into focus.

“Why aren’t they sure? Her friends and family didn’t know she was missing?” Del asked.

“She lives just off UH campus with a couple of girls, but they all have different schedules. Her family had no idea that she was missing, but they live in Washington State at the moment. So, they just thought she was fine.”

“And no one noticed she’d gone missing?” Cat asked. “Not even her friends?”

“That’s what they are saying,” Adam said. “She took off this weekend from work, and skipped a couple of classes.”

“She missed class and no one noticed?” Emma asked.

“Didn’t you ever skip a class, Emma?” McGregor asked.

She shrugged. “I’ve never really been in school. It just seems odd to miss classes she’s paying for.”

Adam continued. “Her attendance is spotty at best. But, when she didn’t show up for work today, her boss called one of her friends.”

“Why is this on the news? Why didn’t we get a report?”

“When one of the girls reported her missing to the campus police, and filed a report with HPD, she didn’t get much notice. So she called Jin Phillips, thinking she might be able to help. With her reports on Grace Singh, her roommates hoped to at least get some leads. I think they were hoping that she was just off on her own, and the report would bring her forward.”

“Fuck,” Del said.

“Exactly. Instead of contacting us, she went on the air with it.”

Del settled his hands on his hips, as he contemplated the coming shit storm. “It is going to be a madhouse.”

A phone started ringing again. Adam shook his head. “Already is, Boss.”

“Okay, Cat and I will go talk to the friends. You call the parents to see if they heard anything. McGregor, Floyd, I need you to go talk to the employees out at Luau Paradise. Maybe one of them knew something about her. Adam, you hunt down the original officer who took the report. Maybe he or she can help give us a little background, especially on the state of her roommates’ minds.”

“What are you thinking?” Adam asked.

“Listen, this could very well be our worst nightmare. Or, she could have made herself disappear for any number of reasons. There is also a chance that all three of the girls cooked this up. They could be out to gain publicity. I don’t think it likely, but let’s cover every base we have here.”

Everyone stood and started to prepare to leave, but Emma asked, “Hey, what about me?”

“Cat and I can drop you off at your condo.” He looked at Adam. “Send her all the info you have on Susan right now. And, everyone tag her when you send me stuff.”

“I can help with the girls,” she insisted, following him into his office. “There might be something I can get from the interview that you would miss.”

“No. You need to go do what you do best. Look at Susan and Grace. See if there is a connection someway.”

“But—”

He knew one way to shut her up would be to kiss her, but she would probably belt him if he did that in front of everyone. Instead, he grabbed her by the forearms and forced her to look at him.

“I need you to do this. I need your expertise. If this is the same guy, you might be our best chance to save her. As of right now, we’ve lost at least three days. Going by Grace, we could have less than two weeks to find her. This is what I need from you right now. We have no evidence, but if you can zone in on something we might be able to find her.”

She drew in a deep breath and nodded.

“Let’s go. Everyone, keep us up to date. Maybe she just decided to go off and play for awhile.”

But deep down, in his gut, Del knew she hadn’t.

“You don’t think that,” Emma said as they made their way to his truck.

“No. But, hey, maybe for once we’ll get lucky.”

“We can only hope,” Cat said.

“Hope often leaves you shattered if you aren’t careful,” Emma said, as she slipped into the backseat of his pickup cab.

Cat let one eyebrow rise and Del ignored it. He knew that Emma’s experiences taught her more than any of them would understand. And right now, he couldn’t be distracted.

Susan Tanaka was depending on them.

A
fter dropping Emma off
, they drove to Susan’s apartment. One knock and the door opened. The young woman on the other side of the door had swollen eyes, and she looked like she hadn’t slept in at least three days. She was Asian American, with long honey brown hair and dressed in what Del considered the college uniform in Hawaii: a T-shirt and board shirts.

“Captain Martin Delano, TFH. This is Cat Kalakaua. Can we speak to you for a second?”

She studied his badge, then nodded. Stepping back, she waited until both he and Cat were in the tiny apartment before shutting the door. Another young lady, about the same age, blonde haired and blue eyed, sat on a futon-type couch. She looked like she had been crying also.

“My name is Diane Fung, and this is my roommate Bethany Brown,” the first young woman said. “Please, sit down.”

After they both sat down on the available chairs, Del said, “We wanted to talk to you about Susan.”

Diane shook her head, her eyes filled with regret. “We tried to tell the police. We tried to tell them she had gone missing. We should have just refused to leave.”

“The important thing is you tried, and we are here to help,” Cat said, her voice in the same soothing tone Del had heard her use before. It didn’t seem to help this time though.

“It still doesn’t seem to be enough, though.”

“I understand,” Del said.

“No, you don’t,” Bethany said, her voice rising. “You don’t know that we just
knew
.”

Cat gave him a glance and stepped in to take over. Even with all his training with his younger sisters, this age usually still perplexed him. They weren’t girls, but they still hadn’t gained maturity.

“I can see that. College life…in each other’s pockets, right? When I was your age, we used the buddy system. I always made sure that friends knew where I was going to be if I wasn’t with them. Safety in numbers, and if you don’t have them, make sure your friends know, right?”

Bethany sniffed into her tissue and nodded. “Yes. We are all so careful. You remember that rapist they caught a few months ago?”

Cat nodded as she glanced at Del. A serial rapist had been roaming the college parts of town, preying on tipsy college girls. It had taken two months to catch him. By the time they caught up with him, he had raped at least six girls.

“So we always check in.
Always
,” Bethany said. “But she said she was going to the mainland. That’s what she said. We assumed it was to see her parents, but when she didn’t return, we got worried.”

“And you tried to call her?”

Diane nodded. “Yes. It went straight to voicemail.”

“You were worried that she disappeared when she didn’t show up to work, not school.”

Bethany offered him a sad smile. “Susan says that life was too short to worry about attendance all the time.”

“But she wouldn’t miss work,” Diane said. “We’re saving up to take a trip to Australia this summer. It is all she talked about. Missing work means missing out on money. She wants to see the Great Barrier Reef. We all do.”

“Jin said she might be the victim of the
Akua
killer,” Bethany said. “Is that true?”

He blinked, looked at Cat, then back at the girls. “The what?”

“That’s what they are calling the man who killed that schoolteacher. The Goddess killer. Why do you think they call him that?”

“Do you think he abducted Susan?” Diane asked.

His mind went blank. They had kept that little bit of information to themselves and no one, not even her family, knew about the tattoo.

Cat stepped in when he fumbled. “We really don’t know anything yet. It might all be a misunderstanding. If she caught a way to make money some other way and just forgot to tell you. So, remember, if you hear from her, you call us first. We’ll make sure we call Jin and tell her all about it.”

Both the girls nodded. They left them with their cards, hopeful they would stop talking to Jin, but he had a feeling they wouldn’t. They were both genuinely upset, but Jin would use them, and in return, they would become celebrities of a sort.

“Did you let anyone know outside of TFH about this?” Cat asked as they walked down the hill to his truck.

He shook his head. “We need to check in with everyone on the team. This was not supposed to leave the office.”

If it did, they would lose that tiny leverage they had right now.

“
H
ave
you made it out here for a luau?” Marcus asked as Graeme pulled into the parking lot.

He shook his head. “I keep meaning to, but I never seem to find the time. We should do a TFH night here or something.”

“Well, without Emma. She doesn’t like crowds.”

Graeme chuckled. “Oh, she will deal with them. Don’t you remember her going on and on about Disneyland a few months back? Her brother took her and she would not shut the hell up about it. Besides, I have a feeling if Del is with her, it won’t bother her much.”

Graeme parked up front and they both got out of the truck. It was so damned hot out today. Hawaii usually had mild temps even through the summer, but the trades weren’t really great today. Add in the higher than usual temps, and it was making him long for Scotland in the dead of winter.

“Damn bloody heat.”

Marcus chuckled. “Dude, you’re going to have to chop off all your Goldilocks.”

He grunted but didn’t respond. He walked into the pavilion area. He lived over on the North Shore, and hadn’t made it out to what some called the West End of Oahu that much. It was drier, and while all traffic on Oahu sucked, it could particularly suck on the West End. One downed pole over the highway, and people were cut off.

This area was populated by newer homes and condos, along with Disney’s newest resort.

“Can I help you?” a young woman dressed in a luau costume asked.

“We need to talk to the manager, or someone in charge of the dancers,” he said as they both flashed their badges.

She nodded. “This way.”

She led them to a tiny hut that looked like it would be blown away in a stiff breeze, but once they stepped inside, it was all modern.

“Danny, these policemen need to talk to you,” she said.

A tall Hawaiian man stepped out of the back room giving them a smile. He wasn’t as tall as either of them, but he was built like a stone statue. And apparently, he had no problem walking around half naked.

“Danny Aiona. How can I help you?”

“We’re looking for some information about Susan Tanaka.”

His smile faded. “Of course. I can’t tell you much about her. I’m the supervisor, and therefore the enemy, but she’s a good girl. Always on time, never misses work. That’s why I was so surprised.”

“Do you know if she was seeing anyone?” Marcus asked.

“No. But then, the girls don’t share with me. Let me get some of the girls here so you can talk to them. They’ll definitely know more than I do.”

“Thanks,” Graeme said.

He picked up the phone and punched a couple buttons. “Hey, Lani, could anyone who knows Susan well come to the office? There are some policemen who would like to speak to them. Thanks.”

He hung up and smiled at them again. “So, how’s Cat Kalakaua doing?”

“You know Cat?” Graeme asked.

He chuckled. “We went to school together, and she gave me my first speeding ticket.”

“So, got any horrible stories about her?” Marcus asked.

“Many.”

C
harity had
Jack Johnson’s latest single blasting in the lab when Del showed up.

“About time you got back,” she said. He offered her a cup of coffee and she smiled. The team members of TFH knew just how to get her to work for them.

“What do you have for me?” he asked.

She clicked a few buttons. “What I have is a possible bastard sighting.”

The screen showed an SUV roll to a stop.

“I went back and found out that this SUV stopped somewhere right off McCully.”

“He didn’t park on the bridge?” Del asked, obviously looking at the screen.

She shook her head. “There is no parking on the bridge, so he might have been worried that he would draw more attention to himself.”

She punched a few more keys, and the video picked up someone walking along the street, then turning onto the bridge. There was a large bundle over his shoulder, but it could have been anything. Then, he was out of frame.

“That’s all I have.”

“Could you follow the SUV after it left?”

She nodded and brought up that bit. “You can watch him here…then he pulls over here and leaves it. He walks into that alley and just disappears.”

“
Fuck
.”

“Oh, but I have something for you.”