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THE NEXT MORNING I woke up at seven a.m., much to my annoyance. I hadn’t slept well. The rain had been hammering on the roof all night, and the power had gone out sometime during the early morning. Pat and Emma were still asleep. I dragged the portable generator out of the garage and plugged the refrigerator in. I hoped I wouldn’t have to throw any food out. I went back into the garage to look for our long extension cord, but just as I found it, the power came back on. When I came back into the kitchen, the digital clocks on the stove and the microwave were blinking and needed to be reset.
Emma popped her head up from the couch.
“Molly, you’re up early. I slept good, you know.” She stretched her short arms over her head.
“I wish I could say the same.”
“Eh, I forgot to tell you. You know those papers you were worried your students were buying? I got a lead for you. Check out OutsourceMyHomework dot com. That’s the one that everyone’s...oh no, Molly.”
Emma flung her blanket aside and hopped off the couch.
“Whoa, Molly, you look bad.”
“Thank you?” I said.
“I know how it is. You get older, no can hold your liquor so good.”
“It’s not that, Emma, I just didn’t get to sleep—”
“Eh, I got my sweatpants on already. I’ll get us breakfast at 7-11. You like Spam musubi?”
“Yes please.”
I wasn’t on death’s door; I was simply tired. Also, Emma had seen me before I had a chance to put on any makeup.
I wound up the power cord on the generator and dragged it back into the garage. By the time Emma got back I had made coffee for myself and was feeling better. Emma had a bag of Spam musubis, a 12-pack of Mehana Red Ale, and a copy of the County Courier.
“Check this out.” Emma pushed the paper across the table to me. The headline above the fold read: Social Media Star Disappears, Husband Detained.
“Howdy Howell has the byline,” I said. “I thought he was just doing upbeat human-interest stories.”
“Things are a little different now with the husband in jail,” Emma pointed out. “Eh, I know you got your problems with Harriet Holmes, but you gotta admit, she knows what she’s talking about. She knew about Ladd going to jail before it was in the paper.”
“Emma, I do not have a problem with Harriet. She’s highly qualified and Mahina State is lucky to have someone of her caliber. Although I do have to ask, what kind of person gets sent to sexual harassment training and then makes improper advances toward one of the facilitators?”
“Maybe she took ‘sexual harassment training’ literally.”
“Funny, Emma.”
“It wasn’t unwelcome improper advances, at least,” Emma reminded me.
“Oh, I am aware. Now my headache’s back. Ow.”
“You stay right there, Molly. I’ll get your ice pack.”
Emma took the newspaper back and read to me while I pressed the cold pack against my eyeballs. No one had seen Jandie leaving Mahina, according to Howdy Howell’s story, and she was well-known enough to be recognized. She would have had trouble leaving town without anyone noticing.
The one ray of hope was the fact that no body had been discovered. Ladd hadn’t posted bail, and he wasn’t talking.
“Maybe he figures he’s safer in custody,” I said.
“Oh yeah, he’s right about that,” Emma replied. “Jandie’s fans wanna dismember him.”
Pat came over to join us at the table.
“You’re a fan, Emma. So does that mean you want to dismember him?”
“Not if it means I gotta touch him. Ew.”
“Good morning Pat,” I said.
“Oh, no, Molly. Headache again? You want some hydrocodone?” he asked.
“No thank you. Makes me queasy.”
“Eh, check this out.” Emma handed Pat the copy of the County Courier.
“Walking around the airport with a one-way ticket?” Pat said. “That’s funny. Almost like he wanted to get caught. Who is he protecting?”
“That guy, protecting someone?” Emma countered, “I think he’s just a moron. Criminals aren’t always masterminds, you know.”
“It’s almost lunchtime,” Pat said. “Don’t you guys have to be at work or something?”
“It’s spring break,” I said through the ice pack I had pressed to my face.
“Pat, you got somewhere to be?” Emma asked.
“Kind of. I’m meeting Howdy Howell for lunch.”
“Tell him we all liked his reporting this morning,” I said.
“Where are you meeting?” Emma asked.
“Not sure. We were gonna meet at the Pair-O-Dice, but I just found out the whole street’s still closed off because of the flooding. We were gonna compare notes on the Jandie Brand disappearance. Not sure we wanna call it a case yet.”
“Have him come here,” I said. “I have a big pan of char siu fried rice in the freezer so as long as everyone’s okay with that.”
“You’re okay with him coming here again?” Pat asked. “Last time you hid in your bedroom.”
“If it makes things easier, Pat, I am happy to have you invite your colleague here.”
“In other words,” Emma said, “Molly’s anti-socialness is defeated only by her nosiness.”
“Okay, first of all, thank you for putting the most negative possible spin on my gracious offer of hospitality. Second, it’s not ‘nosy’ to want to find out how my own tenant disappeared.”