4 Maui Macadamia Madness (18 page)

“We do know a
little.” I felt better. “But, we’re running out of time. How safe would I be
back home if someone really believes I might know their identity?”

Joe shrugged. “No
idea. But if we don’t find out something soon, we’ll have no choice.”

“What do the
Wahines
say about the scam?” Ethan asked.

“Mr.
Wahine
had no idea there were rumors that he was selling.
This patch of island land has been in his family for generations. They’re
behind on taxes, but he believes he can pull out with a steady stream of
customers. He’s going to put extra effort into marketing.”

“But if someone were
afraid of losing the family land, that would be an incentive for murder.” I
chewed the inside of my lip. “I think we need to focus more on those directly
involved with the B & B.” It seemed as if all the guests were as much
victims as we were. Some, more so, since they’d been killed.

“
Manano
did confirm that the brake lines were cut on Bruce and Maryann’s rental. That
makes the body count up to three. Whoever our
perp
is, he’s racking up bodies. I don’t want one of us to be next.”

Neither did I. “So,
what do we do?”

“What if we all
choose someone to watch? Roy and Eunice take Mr. and Mrs.
Wahine
,
you and April take the staff, and
Summer
and I take
the
Wahine
kids?”

“That’s a great
idea, Ethan.” I patted his shoulder. “We’re going to solve this. I can feel it.
My question, though, is why aren’t we threatened in the daylight? Every time
we’ve been attacked, it’s been under the cover of night. I think we need to
find out when people around here go to bed. If someone constantly sleeps in and
then stays up late, they could be at the top of our suspect list.”

“Kind of an
elementary way of looking at things,” Joe stated. “But, it’s as good a theory
as any other we have.”

Well, thank you for
the left-handed compliment.

Manuel, the
gardener, strolled by with a leaf blower in his hand. He nodded a greeting and
turned on the obnoxious tool, scattering leaves and flower petals all over us.
“That’s rude.” I had to shout to be heard.

Ethan put a
restraining hand on me. “Don’t irritate any of our suspects. We’re in enough
trouble.” He picked a leaf out of my hair.

I crossed my arms
and gave Manuel’s back an evil glare. It wouldn’t do any good to complain to
the
Wahines
. Not with them being our only solid
suspects. Of course, if the
Wahines
wanted us dead,
all they had to do was poison our food. “I don’t want to eat anymore meals
here.”

“Okay, Miss Random.”
Joe stood. “I’m going to go explain our plan to the others. We’ll meet at
lunch,” he glared at me.
“Somewhere.
And compare
notes.”

“We’ll meet in the
dining room.” Ethan smiled. “If the food were poisoned, they wouldn’t eat it.
Just don’t eat anything the
Wahines
don’t eat.”

Oh, but my husband
put too much trust in people.

Chapter
Twenty-One

“What do we do now?” Since Ethan and I were assigned the task of
shadowing the
Wahine
siblings, we needed to find out
what their morning routine was.

“Camilla works the
front desk, not sure what Leroy does.” Ethan headed toward the reception area.
“I’ve seen him all over the island.”

“We need to split
up.” And I needed coffee.

“I hate that idea,
but you’re right. You take Camilla. At least there will be people around.”

“But
what about you?
You were
stuck with that dart, too.” Ethan needed to stop being a hero. We were both in
danger, possibly even the rest of the family, although no attempts had been
made to harm them.
Yet.

I gave Ethan a kiss,
promised to be careful and not tire myself too much not to enjoy the luau
scheduled for that evening, then hurried to the foyer of the main building. I
grabbed a few tourist brochures and poured a mug of coffee before finding a
plush wicker chair to spend some time in. A place where I could watch Camilla
work
at the front desk.

Luckily for me, the foyer
was also a place for guests to sit and relax. Comfortable seating arrangements
were scattered throughout the room, inviting folks to linger, so I wouldn’t
attract too much attention by sticking around.

The phone rang a
couple of times, but other than that, no one stopped by the front desk. How
could Camilla stand it? At least back home in the candy shop, I had candy to
make in between customers. There was always plenty of work to do. I’d be bored
to death otherwise. I was bored now. How many times could a girl read the same
travel brochure? I sighed and picked up my mug, now cooled to where I could
take sips without scalding myself.

The view outside the
floor to ceiling windows was breathtaking. The ocean waves capped with white.
A few surfers on colorful boards.
Palm trees swaying in a
gentle breeze. What I wouldn’t give to be outside, hand-in-hand with Ethan.

“May I help you,
Mrs. Banning?” Camilla smiled, her mocha face beaming. “You’ve been here for a
while. Are you all right? Do you need something?”

“No, I’m fine.
Just enjoying the view.”
I set my mug back down on the
wicker end table. I guess an hour was too long to sit unnoticed.

“Wouldn’t the view
be easier to see from outside?” Camilla’s grin stayed in place. “I’m leaving
for lunch and want to make sure there isn’t anything I can help you with
first.”

“No, I’m fine.
Trying not to get too much sun.”
Great.
Now, I’d have something to do. I could follow Camilla, incognito, of course. I
wondered whether Ethan fared any better.

Leaving the mug on
the table, I waited a few seconds for Camilla to leave,
then
followed her, keeping out of sight behind bushes and posts. She headed for the
beach and turned right. There wasn’t going to be a lot to hide behind soon.
Hopefully, she would be focused enough on her destination not to turn around.

She
sped-walked to a cottage, just off the hotel grounds.
The little cottage needed paint, but might
once have been a nice shade of sea-foam green. Camilla knocked, a man’s voice
called out for her to go in, and she pushed open the door.

A
boyfriend, perhaps?
One
she didn’t want the family to know about,
or
did I
once again jump to conclusions?

Camilla stepped
inside, kissed the young man on the lips,
then
pushed
himself with a declaration that someone might see.
Definitely
not an approved romance.
I wondered why. The boy was attractive and
looked like a native. Was it possible the
Wahines
had
someone else in mind for their daughter? I shrugged. It wasn’t any of my
business. There were plenty of other things to take up my time.

Heading back the way
we’d come, Camilla caught me watching. I quickly studied the sand as if looking
for shells, and meandered toward her.

When I got close, I
glanced up. “I took your advice and decided to enjoy the outdoors.”

“Uh
huh.
Were you following
me?” She crossed her arms, tapping a bare foot against the sand. “You’re a
guest here, Mrs. Banning, but that doesn’t give you the right to interfere in
our personal lives.”

“I…”
Wanted to lie.
But, I couldn’t. “I’m sorry. Are you dancing
at the luau tonight?”

“Yes.” Camilla
turned her back to me and started walking. “Leroy and I always participate.
It’s a tradition that, sadly, might be coming to an end.”

“What do you mean?”
I half-skipped to catch up with her.

“Nothing.”

“It’s not a secret
that the B & B is hurting for money. After all, that’s why Jamison did the
scam.”

She cast a sideways
glance at me.
“Really?
I had no idea we were in
financial straits. You shouldn’t listen to gossip, Mrs. Banning.” Stopping, she
whirled to face me. “My family had nothing to do with Mr. Jamison’s death!” All
prettiness fled from her face. Spittle escaped her lips. “He was an evil man
out to harm innocent people. If you believe the rumors, then you are as bad as
he was.” With a swish of her flowered skirt, she dashed back to the main
building.

That didn’t go over
very well. I’d managed to make a normally placid-seeming young woman angry
enough to spit. I really did have a gift.

A glance at my watch
showed it was almost lunch time. Hopefully, the others fared better. Just in
case they did, I didn’t think it a good idea to discuss things openly in the
dining room. I waited outside while they arrived and recommended Uncle Roy’s
and Joe’s cottage since it was larger, and we could talk in private. They all
agreed. We hit the buffet and, with plates loaded down, headed toward our
meeting.

Once we’d settled
into the comfortable chairs and sofas at the large cabin shared by my
relatives, I made a motion for prayer. “We seem to be heading into this
investigation without asking God for direction. If I’ve learned anything from
the past, it’s that not asking Him is a big mistake.”

Aunt Eunice patted
my knee. “I agree. See, Roy, we did raise her right.”

Was there any doubt?
I frowned, wondering, exactly, what her comment meant. Of course they raised me
right. If not for their love after my mother’s death when I was five, I knew I
would have perished. Not once in the last twenty-five years have I ever felt
unloved.

We held hands while
Uncle Roy prayed. “Heavenly Father, we ask for your guidance. Without it, we’re
nothing but a bunch of chickens running around. We need to find this killer
before he kills one of us. Amen.”

Uncle Roy’s prayers
were nothing if not short and simply stated. We all sat. Joe, the showoff, had
notes. Fine, he could take charge. I sat back and folded my hands in my lap.

“Roy, Eunice, what
did y’all find out?” Joe poised a pencil above his notebook.

“That the
Wahines
are boring.” Aunt Eunice shook her head. “The Mrs.
scurried around like a mouse putting last minute touches on the luau. Mr.
Wahine
stayed in the library crunching numbers on that old
dinosaur-of-a-computer. When I went in on the pretense of looking for something
to read, he glared at me the whole time.” She huffed. “The man has two
personalities. He’s like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

Joe scribbled
something on his paper. “Roy?”

“Nothing more than
what Eunice said. They don’t seem up to much at all.”

“Well,” Joe flipped
a page in his notebook. “The gardener is busy getting the place ready for the
luau.
Didn’t do anything out of the ordinary.”

“Neither did the
maid,” April injected. “But she is a nervous little thing. Flitted in and out
of the pantry several times, counting the boxes of nuts.
Almost
like she was afraid of a reoccurrence happening on her watch.
I think
she’s clean.”

“Leroy did gopher
work all day. He checked the pig roasting pit, which smells heavenly.” Ethan
grinned. “And set up tables and chairs on the beach. But,” he held up a finger.
“He does smoke. So, he’s most likely the man we saw on the beach the other
night. I asked him about the use of that old sofa, and he said he dragged it
there years ago because he liked to sleep out under the stars.”

“Then, he’s our
killer!” I clapped.

Joe shook his head.
“Just because he smokes and resembles the shadowy figure in the photos, doesn’t
mean he’s our guy. Lots of young men on this island resemble that picture.”

The air went out of
my balloon. “The only thing I learned about Camilla is that she has a temper
when cornered and a secret boyfriend.”

“Maybe the boyfriend
is our killer.” April leaned forward. “What did he look like?”

“Like a young,
handsome Hawaiian.” Tears stung my eyes. “We’re no farther than we were this
morning.” Someone else would die before we caught the murderer.

“Not necessarily. The
Wahines
are still our top suspects.” Joe closed his
notebook. “Leroy is our smoker, Camilla has a temper, and the maid acts as
guilty as a kid caught filching cookies.”

“Are you going to
contact
Manano
?” I asked.

“No.” He looked like
I’d asked him to jump off a cliff. “He wouldn’t do anything anyway, so why
share our hard work?”

Yep, my cousin’s ego
was showing.

“No, we’re going to
bring this culprit down ourselves.” Joe gave a nod to emphasis his point. “This
mystery was brought to us. For once,
Summer
didn’t go
looking for it and stick her nose where it didn’t belong.”

“Thanks, I think.” I
moved to the window. The noon day sun sparkled on the sand and water, making me
realize I hadn’t swam in two days. I hadn’t even put my feet in the water. Now,
workers ran back and forth in preparation for the night. Swimming now would be
anything but relaxing. “What do y’all want to do for the afternoon? Snorkel? We
haven’t been up to the nearby resort yet.”