Deadly Wipeout (Aloha Lagoon Mysteries Book 3) Read online

  "Are you sure?" I crossed my fingers that Luke had just misinterpreted things.

  I heard his sigh. "Yes, I'm bloody sure!"

  "Okay. Don't snap. I'm sure it's just procedure." I hoped.

  Casey looked at me, his eyebrows raised. I mouthed There's been another murder to him, and I saw the appropriate amount of shock on his face.

  "Who was it? What actually happened?" I asked breathlessly.

  "One of the male patients died last night."

  The nausea settled slightly, knowing that at least it wasn't Lahela or Mallory. "So? You work in an aged-care facility. I'm sure that's a common occurrence." Wasn't it?

  "Yeah, but this guy didn't die from anything natural."

  "How do they know that already?"

  "His body was found early this morning in a dumpster downtown."

  My stomach rolled with truly threatening nausea, and for a moment I looked around for a discreet place to throw up my lunch. Then I looked at Casey, took some deep breaths, and told myself not to do anything that embarrassing.

  He must have seen the color I went, as he placed his arm around my shoulder and steered me to the nearest bench seat. The seat overlooked the grassy area near the pool, and the contrast of what Luke was telling me and what I was looking at felt surreal.

  I sat heavily on the seat and waited for Luke to finish talking.

  "But why are they searching the kitchen?" I asked.

  "They're searching everywhere, but they seem to be spending extra time in there."

  "Who died?" I asked, dread sitting heavily on my shoulders.

  "His name was Jeremy. Jeremy Gibson."

  I shouldn't have asked. Hearing about a murder was like watching a movie. It wasn't real until you put a name to it. Then it becomes a real person. One who'd had a life and a story and wasn't ready for that to end yet. I felt tears prick my eyelids.

  "Do you want us to come up and be with you?"

  "No, Mum's the last person who should be here at the moment."

  "Oh, I'm not with Mum. I'm with Casey."

  The line went silent for a moment. I pulled it away from my ear and checked that the call was still connected. "Luke? Are you still there?"

  "Yeah, I'm here. Why are you with Casey?"

  "I'm at the resort, and he was walking past."

  Luke was going to go all "big brother" on me, wasn't he? I looked at Casey out of the corner of my eye. He was so good-looking that he could have any woman he wanted, so my chances were limited, but there was no bloody way I'd let Luke limit them even more.

  "Okay. I'll keep you informed with what's happening," finished Luke, ending the call without even a good-bye. He was obviously annoyed as well as upset.

  I turned to Casey and filled him in on what Luke had told me, leaving out the silent treatment I'd gotten. I'd make sure I had a chat with Luke about that before he could open his mouth and fill Casey's head with any unnecessary thoughts. Like Leave Samantha alone—you don't hit on your friend's sister—you know, that kind of thought.

  Casey looked worried. "There've been a lot of deaths around here lately."

  "Yeah, I know. It's scary. I'll have to call Alani and make sure Lahela is okay. Maybe she should move her out for a while. She'll be safer at Alani's." I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, my hands cradling my chin. "At least they can't blame Mum for this one."

  Casey turned to me, his eyes soft. I felt my breath hitch with the compassionate look he gave me as our eyes locked.

  I wanted to sit like that for hours, totally lost in his eyes, but my phone rang again.

  I sighed and pulled it from the pocket of my shorts. It was Human Resources. David Mahelona, to be exact.

  "Hello," I said cheerily, even though my heart wasn't quite in it.

  "Samantha, this is a call to let you know your classes will begin again in the morning. Start work at eight. Your roster will be emailed to you shortly." He hung up.

  It must have been the day for no polite good-byes. I sighed and pushed my phone back into my shorts. Now I had two things to worry about. Proving Mum was innocent in the murder of Albert Johnstone and proving I could actually teach a bunch of kids to surf.

  I once again placed my elbows on my knees, but this time I hung my head in my hands and sighed. A monster headache was starting right behind my eyes.

  * * *

  I should have made that three things to worry about. Pulling into Mum's driveway, I found my path blocked by Detective Ray's car. Dread weighed me down as I wheeled the bike to the back of the house and made my way inside.

  I chastised myself for thinking the worst. I mean, they could be here to tell Mum they'd solved the first murder and she was no longer a suspect.

  The second I opened the door and saw Mum and Mark sitting at the table, and Luke sitting in the lounge with the good detective, I knew my first impression had been right.

  Detective Ray sat opposite Luke, a notebook open in his hand, scribbling notes, his expression grim. Luke sat answering his questions, his expression matching the detective's.

  I moved to Mum and sat down. I whispered, "What's happening?"

  She whispered back, "He's asking Luke questions about Jeremy Gibson."

  Mark smiled at me, his way of a greeting. I gave him a tight smile back, straining to hear what the detective was asking Luke. I heard only snippets like, "Why keep it in the kitchen?" To which Luke replied, "I don't. I'm a cook," as if that explained everything.

  I looked back at Mum.

  "What's he talking about?" I whispered.

  To which Mum whispered back, "Shut up and wait."

  I sat back in my chair and folded my arms, sulking a little. I mean, I was part of this family too. I had a right to know what Luke was being asked.

  Mark turned to me and whispered, "What were you doing at the resort today?"

  To be honest, I was surprised he even knew I was at the resort.

  I replied, "I work there, Mark. What do you think?"

  "I thought you'd been suspended?"

  "What?"

  "I thought you'd been suspended?"

  "Oh. Well, I start again tomorrow." What did Mark care what I was doing there?

  Luke's raised voice floated up from the lounge toward us. Suddenly I understood why Mum had told me to shut up. I'd completely lost track of what the detective had been asking whilst I was distracted by Mark.

  "Have you ever heard of evidence, Detective?" Luke asked, sarcasm dripping from every word. "It's generally what the police need to pin a crime on someone."

  Mum instantly leaped up from her seat at the table and was across the room in less than a second.

  "Luke," she said, cautioning him with one word.

  He was red with anger, but his stare never faltered. "This is ridiculous. Come back with evidence, and then I'll answer more of your questions." He stormed from the room, slamming the front door behind him.

  Detective Ray looked at Mum. "I could have taken him to the station to question him. I didn't have to do it here."

  "I know. I appreciate that," she said, attempting to placate the detective, who was now fuming. "Do you know if Jeremy died the same way Albert did?"

  "Not yet. We're waiting for his autopsy," he replied, his words clipped. "Don't think this puts you in the clear, Ms. Reynolds. Just because you're not working at Aloha Ohana at the moment doesn't mean I won't be asking you the same questions I asked your son."

  I saw Mum suck her bottom lip in and knew she was biting it as hard as she could. Once she'd regained some composure, she asked, overly politely, "Would you like to ask me now?"

  Detective Ray narrowed his eyes. "Where were you last night between midnight and three a.m.?"

  Mum didn't miss a beat. "In bed. You can ask Mark to verify that. He was with me," she said, pointing to Mark.

  All eyes turned to him. I held my breath and waited for Mark to back her up "Do you verify that?" asked the detective.

  Mark's face went red. "Ummm…kind of. Yes. Ye
s."

  "Are you saying that you were in bed with Ms. Reynolds between midnight and three a.m.?"

  Mark stuttered, looking at his feet.

  "Mark!" snapped Mum. "You were there. Tell him."

  You could practically see the cogs in his mind working. "Yes. I was there with you. At midnight."

  "What about the rest of the time period?"

  Mark sighed. "Yes."

  "Yes?"

  I wanted to jump across the kitchen table and shake him. Mum needed him to give her an alibi, and he was stumbling. What was the matter with him? Surely he could tell the truth? It wasn't hard—unless it wasn't the truth. And if it wasn't the truth—where was he?

  "Yes, I can vouch for her. She was in bed with me. Here in this house!" He smiled charismatically at both Mum and the detective, but even from this side of the table I could see the sweat break out on his forehead.

  Detective Ray frowned, his gaze moving from Mum to Mark. Eventually he scribbled in his notebook and slammed it shut. "That's enough for now. Call me if you change your mind," he said, his words directed at Mark.

  At least Mark had the grace to blush. Once Detective Ray had gone, Mum turned to him.

  "What was that about?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "You sounded like you were lying when you told him you were with me last night."

  "I wasn't lying. I was with you."

  "Then why did you act like that?"

  "I just didn't like the way he put me on the spot," mumbled Mark, shifting uncomfortably under the stares both Mum and I were giving him. "Anyway, I've got to go."

  "But you and I were having dinner together," said Mum, surprised.

  "Sorry. I've got to take a rain check. I've received a message that I'm needed at work urgently." He moved to Mum and pulled her in for a hug, kissing her gently on the lips. "I'll make it up to you. I promise. Tomorrow night I'm taking you to Starlight on the Lagoon for dinner."

  I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise as I watched him. Something was off. I just needed to put my finger on what.

  * * *

  I didn't know where Luke ended up. I had sent him several messages asking him if he was alright. He'd responded to one of them with a simple yes. I chose to ignore the tone I read into it, put my phone down, and watched a movie with Mum. Halfway through it, I realized what it was about Mark that felt off to me.

  "Mum, does Mark have a phone?"

  "Yes, of course he does. You know that. He left his number on the fridge for you and Luke," she replied, helping herself to the homemade popcorn. It was, at present, sitting in a very large bowl balanced on my lap, mostly because I was eating the majority of it, and that felt like the most efficient place to keep it.

  "I'm talking about a cell phone. He said he agrees with you about radiation and all that."

  "Oh, no, he doesn't have a cell phone. Sorry, I thought you were referring to a house phone."

  "Well, how did he get a message saying he was needed urgently at work if he doesn't have a cell phone?"

  "He probably checked his home messages."

  "But how did he do that?"

  "It's easy. You can call your home messages from any phone."

  "But I never saw him use the phone."

  Mum sighed, giving me a warning look. "Don't read anything into it, Samantha."

  "I'm not. I just thought it was odd." So odd I was going to ask him about it the next time I saw him. "Where does he work anyway?"

  "At the nursery I get my plants from. That's how we met."

  She smiled at the memory, her entire face lighting up for the first time tonight. Even Mr. Bean dancing across the television screen couldn't get that kind of a reaction out of her.

  I guess I needed to lighten up on Mark a bit. Growing up, Mum had never had a man in her life. As an adult, I'd asked her about it, and she'd told me she never wanted to jeopardize our family unit. Our dad had done enough damage to that already. She deserved to have love again. I just hoped Mark was the right person for the job.

  The niggly feeling in the pit of my stomach felt different about it though.

  * * *

  Surfing lessons had begun again. My confidence had definitely grown, as the practice seemed to have paid off, but that confidence dipped when I'd received a phone call from the resort's director of activities, Juls Kekoa, who was technically my immediate boss, requesting a quick meeting before my class began. I hoped it was all good news.

  I'll admit to being just a little bit apprehensive about meeting Juls for the first time. Whenever I'd seen her around, she was either running or swimming or something equally energetic. I got exhausted just watching her.

  Preparing for my class, I placed the last surfboard on the sand and stood surveying the water. I took a few deep breaths and allowed the salt air and water to calm me. I was just feeling quite zen-like when I heard a voice behind me.

  "Samantha?"

  I spun around and saw Juls speed walk over the sand toward me, her long, lean legs making it look effortless.

  I plastered on a smile and hoped my nerves weren't showing. "Yes. You must be Juls."

  She held out her hand for me to shake. "I'm so sorry that we haven't met yet. It's been pretty hectic around here, with Brad being unwell and then the death, so thank you for your patience."

  I let out the breath I'd been holding, as she seemed quite friendly.

  "No worries at all. The time off has given me more preparation time."

  "That's good. We did throw you in the deep end expecting you to start the very day after you were hired."

  I smiled and hoped I portrayed professionalism. You know what they say? Fake it till you make it!

  "I know you're about to start teaching, so I won't take up too much of your time, but I just wanted to go over the roster with you." She pulled a folder from under her arm and opened it, showing me a very complicated looking spreadsheet. Geez, who knew there were so many things to do in a resort. I was glad I didn't have her job.

  "We have suspended the adult lessons for now, waiting to find out what's happening with our usual instructor, Brad, but as you know, we're continuing with the children's lessons. Unfortunately, due to recent events, numbers for those classes have dropped. I've tried to condense those lessons so that you're not teaching just one child at a time." She handed me the roster. I took it from her, secretly wishing that I did only have one child to teach. "That's your copy. If you have any concerns about it, please let me know. My direct number is on the bottom, so feel free to call me anytime." She stood back from me and smiled, her dark eyes reflecting her islander heritage.

  "Thank you. I'm sure it will all work perfectly."

  "Okay. Well, I can see that you have students arriving, so I'll leave you to it. It was a pleasure meeting you, Samantha." She once again held out her hand for me to shake.

  I accepted her hand and smiled. "You too, Juls," I said, thinking that was the fastest meeting I had ever attended.

  * * *

  It turned out I wasn't so bad at teaching after all. Don't know what I'd been worried about. Juls was correct when she'd told me that cancellations were pouring in since word had gotten around about the body washing up in the surf and a possible murderer running around Aloha Lagoon.

  On the one hand, that was good for me, as it meant my audience wasn't so big. On the other, it meant I got through the lesson a lot faster than I wanted to, as I didn't have as many children to get through. I was happily making my way through YouTube videos of Learning to Surf lessons nicely, and I seemed to be remembering it all.

  The kids were actually progressing a lot better than I expected them too, and I did wonder if I had a natural ability at teaching.

  I gladly waved good-bye to the last of them, and even though I was exhausted, I gave myself a secret high five that I'd made it through my first full day as a surfing instructor. Yay me! I was even going to treat myself to a cocktail later.

  My happiness disappeared as Luke walked to
ward me, his scowl visible from fifty meters away.

  "Hey! What's up?" I asked as he approached me.

  "What's up? I'll tell you what's bloody up. Bloody Tristan suspended me without pay until these murders have been solved, that's what's bloody up!"

  It took me a moment for my brain to catch up with what he was saying. "What? Why?"

  "Because apparently," he said, doing air quotes, "it's not a 'good look' for the Aloha Ohana when two of their residents are murdered and the suspects belong to the same family."

  "Huh?"

  "You heard me. The police are looking closely at me for the second murder." Luke ran his hands over his face, fatigue causing dark rings under his eyes.

  "Why are they looking at you? That's ridiculous."

  "I know. That's what I told them. Just not in those words. Jeremy Gibson's autopsy showed he was killed with rat poison. And they found rat poison with my fingerprints all over it."

  "How were your fingerprints on it? Do you use rat poison as a cook?" My mind was starting to race. There had to be a good explanation.

  Luke looked at me like I was an idiot. "No! Of course I don't use rat poison as a cook. But I did throw some out the day before last."

  "Why? Where was it?"

  "I found it behind the bin outside the kitchen and figured whoever threw it there must have missed the bin. So I picked it up and got rid of it."

  Oh, well that was a good explanation.

  "Anyway," continued Luke, "the autopsy also showed that the poison was injected, not ingested, but that's not what finished him off. Suffocation did that."

  "So surely that would get you off the hook?" The knot in my stomach started to unravel. "You don't know one end of a needle from the other."

  "Yeah, but Tristan thinks it doesn't look good."

  Tristan was an idiot. "What about the police? What do they think?"

  "They're still investigating and haven't made an arrest. 'Yet' is what Detective Ray told me."

  "They can't really believe you're a suspect, can they?"