Deadly Wipeout (Aloha Lagoon Mysteries Book 3) Read online

  I raised my eyebrows.

  Tony continued. "Suspending him until the investigation is over."

  "Oh, yeah. Terrible. I bet Tristan yelled at you all."

  "Huh?"

  "Well, you being security and all. Shouldn't you be keeping the residents safe?"

  Tony prickled slightly, rolling his eyes upward, a habit he seemed to have. "We're doing our best. And anyway, none of this happened on my shift. No, it was Patrick who was in charge on both nights."

  "Patrick?" Maybe I should be talking to him. Could this be the same Patrick that Mark had in his caller list?

  "Yeah. Patrick. Big guy, red hair. He's usually on day shift, and I do the nights, but lately the roster has changed to swap us around."

  "So he's not here at the moment?"

  "Maybe. His shift starts at six, so he should be around soon."

  I made a mental note to find a big redheaded man and ask him a few questions. But what would I ask? I racked my brain and thought back to all the cop shows I'd ever watched.

  "Hey, Tony," I called, suddenly remembering an episode of CSI. "Did Jeremy Gibson and Albert Johnstone know each other? I mean, Aloha Ohana isn't that big that they could have never seen each other. Is it?"

  Tony grabbed hold of his belt and jiggled it uncomfortably, once again rolling his eyes around. "Well…I can't really say. It's not like I ever questioned them about who their friends were."

  "No. But you see things. You hear things."

  Tony nodded knowledgably, puffing his chest out. "Yes, but I like to be a bit discreet about what I see."

  "You can trust me. I'm not going to tell anyone."

  Tony let go of his belt and straightened his shirt. He obviously protected the privacy of the residents because, if his body language was anything to go by, my questions sure made him uncomfortable.

  "Most people here know each other. Unless you're in the Bamboo Orchid Wing, that is. That wing is for the high-care patients who can't really communicate anymore."

  I wasn't sure what this new piece of information told me, but I filed it in my mental filing cabinet for future review.

  "Samantha, don't ask too many questions," warned Tony. "It's best to let the police figure this mess out."

  Whilst I'd been talking to Tony, Alani had walked ahead of me, and I found her in the large room with the awesome view, talking to a very stern-looking Lahela. Alani's brows were knitted together, and she stood with her hands on her hips. I watched as Lahela stood and matched her pose.

  I figured I'd hang back until needed. Hopefully, they'd forget I was even there. Taking the nearest seat, I sat quietly checking Facebook. My view of the corridor was obstructed by two potted palms, but a voice I recognized drifted my way, getting my attention.

  It was Mark, and he was talking on his cell phone. To say I was surprised to see him here was an understatement. I added ask him why to my list. Happily for me though, he'd stopped on the opposite side of the palms and continued his conversation in hushed tones.

  "Listen, I told you I would get you the damned money, and I will," said Mark. "I just need more time."

  The person on the other end of the call was obviously talking, as Mark went quiet.

  "I'm here now, waiting," said Mark.

  What was he waiting for?

  "No, I won't. So far I've done everything you asked. Now I'm asking for more time." His voice dropped, and it became difficult to hear what he was saying.

  For the first time in my life, I wished my ears were bigger. That way I might have been able to hear the rest of what he said, because what he'd said so far had caught my attention.

  It confirmed what Casey had told me about Mark having money problems.

  "Alright!" snapped Mark, almost making me jump. "Tonight. I'll be there. Yes, on the beach, the usual spot."

  I couldn't believe my luck in overhearing this much of his conversation. I didn't know what beach he was referring to though. Hmmm, how would I find out? Yes, I had every intention of following him. He was definitely up to something.

  I heard Mark sigh as he ended his call. Just as he did, a large redheaded man in a security guard uniform walked past. That had to be Patrick. I wanted to talk to him, but I didn't want Mark to know I was here. Bugger. A memory stirred of the night on the beach when I'd nearly been knocked over by a tall redheaded man. I peeked through the palm fronds to see where Patrick was going, and as I did, I noticed a look pass from Patrick to Mark. Patrick dagger-stared him and nodded. Mark paled and nodded back.

  I sucked in my breath. I had so many questions that needed to be asked, I figured I needed a notebook. Instead I opened my phone, pulled up notes, and started to write down everything I knew.

  Turned out, I didn't know much, but I did have a long list of questions, including what the heck Mark was doing here and was he the guy Patrick met on the beach? Mark had moved away from the palm and down the corridor, so I jumped out of my seat and followed him, pretending I was looking for the toilets again. When I got close enough, I yelled, "Mark?"

  He turned at his name and scowled. He was obviously having a bad afternoon.

  "Samantha! What are you doing here?"

  "Looking for the restroom," I said quickly. Probably a bit too quickly actually. It sounded rehearsed, which of course it was. I'd been saying it over and over in my head whilst following him along the corridor. "What are you doing here?"

  "I help with the residents sometimes. Take them to do their errands and such."

  Now he really had my attention. "I didn't know that you did that. Mum never mentioned to me that you work here."

  "I don't work here. I volunteer."

  "You volunteer here?" I asked, surprised.

  "Yes. Rita told me how badly they need volunteers, and I offered my help. I've been doing it for a couple of months now." That information just pushed him up the list of suspects. I now knew that he had access to the murdered men.

  "What are you doing here, Samantha?" he asked irritably.

  "Visiting Lahela. Alani is trying to convince her to move home for a few days until these murders are solved."

  He nodded but never flinched. "Probably a good call."

  "What are you doing tonight?" I asked, thinking on my feet. Not a strong suit of mine, but I was giving it a go.

  "Why do you want to know that?" he asked, his posture stiffening.

  "I was going to try to organize a family dinner. My treat."

  "That…that would have been lovely. I do have a prior engagement, but maybe we could work around it?"

  "Sure, I was thinking of going to The Lava Pot. Is that anywhere near where you need to be?"(See what I was doing there? Was I clever or what?)

  "Yes. I can probably work that out. The Lava Pot isn't too far from where I need to be."

  Great. I could follow him.

  "What time though?" he asked.

  "What time works for you?"

  "Say seven?"

  I nodded. That didn't give me much time. "I'll check with Mum and Luke and let you know. What's your cell phone number?"

  Once again Mark's posture stiffened, but he gave me his cell phone number and made excuses to leave. Fine by me. I didn't really want to talk to him anyway.

  I turned to make my way back to Alani and walked straight into Tristan, who was leaving his office in a great hurry.

  I squealed. "Sorry," I said, more out of habit than the fact I was sorry.

  "Are you okay?" he asked, putting his hand out to steady me. At the speed he'd left his office, the bump had propelled me backward slightly.

  "Yes. I'm fine, thank you." Tristan looked at me quizzically.

  "You're…Rita's daughter, aren't you? Samantha?"

  I nodded. "That's me."

  "But…what are you doing here?" He no longer seemed concerned for my well-being after nearly knocking me over.

  I sighed. Personally, I really wished everyone would stop asking me what I was doing here. Couldn't a girl just visit once in a while withou
t all the questions?

  "Visiting Lahela. Why?"

  "Well…it's not the best place for your family to be seen, is it?"

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "I'm sure I don't need to remind you that both your mother and brother are suspects in murder investigations." Tristan seemed irritated.

  Not sure if that was entirely my fault or not. "Yes, and they are both innocent."

  "That's for Detective Ray to decide."

  "It's not up to him to decide! It's the truth."

  "I'm sorry. I phrased that wrong. It's up to him to prove it."

  As I stood there, my thoughts flicked back to a conversation I'd had with Casey.

  "Tristan, did you know that those men had changed their wills to name Mum and Luke?"

  The inheritances were bothering me the most. All my theories about the murders worked except for the small fact of the money. I could believe one will being changed to name my family was a coincidence, but not two.

  He narrowed his eyes at me. "What are you doing?"

  "Asking you a question." He moved in close and stood over me.

  "It's disruptive enough that the police are annoying the staff and residents with questions. If you're snooping around here, bothering anybody, I will have to ask you to leave."

  "I'm not bothering anyone." Except him obviously. He'd certainly got defensive once I'd started to question him. Maybe I shouldn't ask him where he was on the night of the murders then? "I'm just here assisting Alani."

  "Where is Alani?" he asked, looking around as if she would just miraculously appear.

  "In the lounge room. I needed to go to the restroom."

  Tristan narrowed his eyes at me again. If he didn't stop that, he was going to need Botox. "Someone as young as you shouldn't be having bladder problems, Samantha. If I was you, I'd get that checked."

  I felt the heat creep up my neck and stop at my ears. I really didn't know how to respond to that.

  "A word of advice," he continued, his tone menacing. "This place already has enough people sticking their noses in where they don't belong. We certainly don't need another one." He gave me a warning stare and walked off in the opposite direction.

  I opened my notes and added Tristan's name to my list of people with weird behavior.

  * * *

  I did try to make plans with my family, but it turned out that Luke had to work. David Mahelona had started Luke as a waiter-slash-barman, but when The Lava Pot's cook had gotten caught smoking something he wasn't supposed to be smoking, Mr. Mahelona had relieved him of his duties and given the job to Luke. Which suited Luke perfectly, as apparently his waitering skills weren't much better than mine.

  Still, it meant that Luke couldn't join us. Mum agreed to come along, as did Mark. The upside was that Casey also had to work, so I got to look at him a lot.

  "This is lovely," said Mark, putting down his knife and fork. He seemed uncomfortable, fidgeting more often than normal, not really meaning what he was saying.

  "You can't be finished already," said Mum. "You've hardly eaten anything."

  "I had a big lunch," he said in way of explanation.

  I knew the truth. His meeting time was getting closer.

  "You never told me Mark volunteers at Aloha Ohana," I said to Mum, enjoying the big fat chips served with my fish.

  "Really?"

  "Ahuh," I said, my mouth full of food.

  "Oh. Well, he does. Don't you, Mark?"

  He nodded. "Yes. I saw Samantha there today."

  "What were you doing there today?" asked Mum, looking at me.

  I quickly filled her in on Alani's plan.

  "Did it work? Did Lahela agree to move?" she asked.

  "No. She's too stubborn for her own good."

  "That she is."

  "Do you think she's safe though?" I asked, looking at Mum, genuine concern churning my stomach. I put the chip back on my plate, my appetite slowing.

  "I don't know. Two weeks ago I would have said a definite yes, but I never would have thought we would have one murder, let alone two."

  "Do you know why Albert Johnstone changed his will?"

  "He never mentioned to me that he was going to or that he had."

  "Mark," I said turning to him, "you said you take the residents on errands at times. Did you take Albert Johnstone or Jeremy Gibson to the solicitor to change their wills?"

  He shifted in his seat, nerves starting to show.

  "No, I didn't."

  Did I believe him? And would he give me an honest answer if he had?

  "But I only volunteer on Mondays."

  "Hey, Mum, when you visited Mr. Fathersham, did you get to see the will, or did he just read it to you?"

  I watched Mark for his reaction. So far he held the poker face. I did notice a small bead of sweat on his top lip, but then it was hot in the restaurant, with only the overhead fans blowing.

  "He read it to me. Why?"

  "I was wondering if you saw who had witnessed it."

  She shook her head. "Is that important?"

  "Maybe. I just wondered who drove those men to the solicitor. They may know why the wills were changed to name you and Luke."

  "Samantha, leave it alone," warned Mark. "Don't get involved in things that don't concern you."

  "But this does concern me. Mum and Luke are suspects, Mark. Suspects! Doesn't that bother you enough to try to find out why?"

  "Of course it does, but you don't know what you're dealing with."

  Was that a warning? Mum continued to eat her dinner, not even batting an eyelid at Mark's tone.

  "I won't leave it alone. They're my family, and I will do whatever's needed to prove they didn't hurt those men."

  "All you're going to do is get more people hurt!" said Mark, his voice agitated even more.

  "How? How is me asking a few questions going to get people hurt?"

  "What if whoever did it comes after your mother? What if they come after you to shut you up?"

  "How do you know I'll even find anything?"

  "Exactly! You're not a detective, Samantha. You are an intelligent young woman who needs to focus more and get a job she is actually qualified to do. You need to mind your own business!" He stood so fast his chair fell back. He didn't even pick it up before storming out.

  "Now look what you've done!" said Mum. "It'll take him days before he comes around again."

  "What?" I said, standing and picking up his chair.

  Everyone in the bar had turned to look, and I hated being the center of attention like that. I felt my face burn.

  "Listen, Samantha. I know you have good intentions, but you need to stay out of it, like Mark said."

  "Mum, I think he's up to something," I said, taking my seat once more.

  Mum's brow creased, and she sucked in her bottom lip. Carefully considering her words, she said, "Mark is a good man. He's never been married, has no children, and has no real concept of what any of that is like. He sulks when he's angry and often disappears for days without me seeing him, but he treats me well, and I like that. It's been a very long time since I've had any attention from a man."

  My heart sank for her. Placing my hand over hers, I said, "I'm sorry. I just think he's not being honest with you."

  "Honest?" she said, snatching her hand away. "Do you have any idea what a real relationship is like? Of course we all have our secrets. I have them, you have them, and Mark has them. We just need to ask ourselves if we can live with them. A very long time ago I felt I couldn't live with the secrets your father had, so I ended it. To this day I wish I'd kept my mouth shut."

  I felt a jolt to my chest at her words. Mum never spoke about Dad. Never. "Why?"

  "Because then you and Luke would have had a family to grow up in."

  "But, Mum, we did great. You did great. We were happy."

  Her eyes filled with tears. "Really?"

  "Yes, really. We had an amazing childhood."

  She nodded and wiped her eyes. "Okay then."<
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  I wanted to say more about Mark, but the look of vulnerability I saw in her dark eyes blew the wind out of my sails. If I was going to break Mum's heart with the news that Mark was up to something, I needed proof.

  Which was exactly what I was going to get. I'd organized for Alani to accompany me so that I wasn't alone whilst following Mark, and as only a true friend would, she was standing at the door, eyeing me to hurry up. Mark had already left The Lava Pot, and while I knew she'd been watching where he was going, he'd be out of her sight if I didn't speed things up.

  "I'm sorry, but I've got to go," I said, standing. "Casey's going to make you a cocktail, and I'll be back before you know it."

  "Don't worry about me," said Mum. "I told Rebecca what we were doing tonight, so she was coming down to join me for karaoke. No one else will sing with me."

  Yeah, there was a reason for that. Mum couldn't sing. I didn't mean just that she was out of tune. I meant it sounded like someone was killing the cat.

  I smiled and kissed her cheek, waving to Casey as I went. Earlier I'd filled him in on what Alani and I were going to do. He hadn't liked it and had wanted to come with us, but he had to work. He even offered to call in sick for the night, but I told him we'd be fine. We were only going to follow Mark and not get involved in anything else. I'd even pinkie promised.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Okay. Following someone was harder than it looked. Mark had made his way down to the sand, turned right, and headed up the beach. Alani and I had been following him for a good couple of kilometers, trying our best to stay close to the dunes and the scrub. The moon was past being full and was working its way around again, only giving us minimal light to see by. I had no idea how Mark could see where he was going. He obviously ate more carrots than I did.

  "Ouch," cursed Alani.

  "Sorry," I replied. "I can't see where the heck I'm going."

  "Haven't your eyes adjusted yet?"

  "Yours have?"

  "Sure. I can see just fine."

  Humph. She obviously ate her carrots too.

  "Surely he can't be going too much farther?" I said in a whisper. Even though Mark was a good twenty meters or so ahead of us, and the waves were crashing loudly, we didn't want to risk him hearing us.