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Joely gaped at her surroundings. Everything here was so vast. She could see for miles. The cows on the hills looked like little toys. Everything was shades of green and blue in the distance. Up close, it was shades of red and brown. Dust, leather, wood. It felt comforting, like home. She could see for miles. She would be able to see Timothy coming.
Holt got her bag out of the trunk and motioned her to follow him up to the ranch house.
And he’d have to get through Holt, too.
Fat chance.
She’d seen Holt back down a bunch of vicious surfers defending their turf. Timothy didn’t stand a chance. Admiring Holt’s wide back as she followed him inside, Joely felt some of the anxiety that had been suffocating her, ease away.
Shopping, hiking, surfing and the possibility of a bit of romance with her hunky crush? This was turning out to be the best vacation of her life—if only she could forget about her ex-husband.
“Auntie?” Holt called out as he opened the screen door and nodded for Joely to go ahead of him.
The ranch house was rustic, with woven tapestry rugs and driftwood on the walls. But it had modern touches here and there. The large overhead fan circled its blades in a fast pace overhead. It was a refreshing breeze from the heat of the afternoon. Joely recognized a few paintings from local artists that had been featured at Palekaiko during one of Amelia’s events.
Bustling out of one of the rooms came a beautiful woman who launched herself into Holt’s arms.
Awkward.
Joely hadn’t even considered that Holt might have a girlfriend. But no, the woman kissed him on both cheeks and hugged him more maternally than a lover would.
“You’re home. You’re home. You’re finally home,” she said, her big brown eyes filling with tears.
Holt tried to extricate himself from her embrace. “It’s just for a visit, Kala. Two weeks.”
“After two weeks, you won’t want to go back to working with those haoles.”
Clearing his throat, Holt side stepped Kala and stood next to Joely. “I’m here with my friend. Joely, this is my Aunt Kala.”
Blinking, Joely shook the woman’s hand. She really was his aunt. She had assumed Holt was using the respectful title of Auntie.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Kala said. “Tetsuo said you work with Holt.”
“Yes.” Joely tried to take her hand back, but Kala held on tight.
Originally Joely had thought Kala was their age, but looking into her flawless face she could see that she was closer to double that. Her gaze was stern and assessing. Joely could feel herself starting to sweat, even with the breeze that kicked up from the ceiling fans.
“I’m happy to welcome you to my home.”
Casting a panicked look at Holt, Joely said, “You and Tetsuo live here?”
“When we choose. He’s sorry he’s not here to greet you, himself, but he had important business. He should be here for dinner.”
“Dinner?” she squeaked. She hadn’t planned on dining with the Japanese mob.
“Uncle Tetsuo didn’t mention he would be here,” Holt said.
Kala shrugged one shoulder. “He doesn’t tell me many things either. Come, let me show you to your rooms.”
To Joely’s relief, Kala released her and led them up a grand staircase that was more fitting to a mansion than a farm house.
“This is your room,” she said, opening a heavy wooden door.
The doors of the balcony had been opened and the scent of lavender and eucalyptus floated around the room. A fresh bouquet of both was on the nightstand near an enormous canopy bed.
“It’s lovely,” Joely said, walking in. The hardwood floor was accented by a turquoise rug that reminded her of the ocean.
Holt tossed her bags on the bed, and she winced because of the laptop. But the fluffy blue comforter absorbed the impact.
“The bathroom is down the hall. Come, let me show you.”
With a quick look at Holt, who rolled his eyes, she followed Kala. The bathroom was as big as her entire apartment at the Palekaiko beach resort. There was a large claw footed tub underneath a floor-to-ceiling window. Joely couldn’t help but wonder if the paniolos could get an eyeful or if it was too far up. There was also a shower stall that easily could fit a few horses inside.
“Holt will be staying in his room on the third floor,” Kala remarked. “We don’t have any other guests, so you should have this all to yourself.”
“Sounds wonderful,” she said, amused by Holt’s frown.
“I’ll leave you to get settled in. Dinner is at six. Dress casual.”
That was good because she hadn’t brought anything formal.
“Um, is there Wi-Fi?” Joely asked. It didn’t mean she was going to use it, but it was good to know.
Kala frowned. “Yes, but I don’t know the password.”
“I do,” Holt said. “It’s a long one. I’ll text it to you.”
Waving her hand, Kala said, “Too much technology. Come, Holt, wait until you see what I’ve done to you and Mikey’s room.”
“Mikey?” Joely mouthed.
Holt waved his phone at her. “Call me, if you need anything.”
“I’ll be fine. Kala, thank you so much for letting me stay here.”
“Of course,” she said. “You’re the first girl Holt has ever brought home.”
“Really?” Joely said, smiling wide at Holt’s mortified expression.
“Auntie, is there anything to eat? I’m a little hungry,” he said.
“Of course, there is. I have some saimin left over from lunch and some poke. Joely, would you care to join us?
“It sounds delicious, but I don’t want to spoil my appetite for dinner. I think I’ll just get settled, and take a rest.”
Kala nodded in approval and walked away.
“If you don’t hear from me in a half hour, call in the cavalry,” Holt said, leaning in to mutter in her ear.
Shivers tickled over her from his breath and she bit her lip. “I wouldn’t even know who to call.”
“Wish me luck, then.”
She gave him the shaka as Kala called out, “Holt? Where are you?”
“Be right there, Auntie.” He walked Joely back to her room. “I’m sorry about this. I thought we’d have the place to ourselves. She’s usually at her condo in Wailea.”
“Hey, it’s okay. You guys are doing me a big favor. I just don’t want to drag even more people into my drama with Timothy.”
“It won’t get to that. But even if it did, my money is on Aunt Kala. I’ll see you later.”
He brushed a quick kiss over her cheek and was gone before the gasp left her mouth. Rubbing where his lips touched, she went into her room and closed the door. Leaning against it, she nearly sagged to the floor.
She was safe here. She could sense it. She was truly off the grid here. And that had its pros and cons. But Joely was savvy enough to know that this was only temporary. If she wanted to go back to work at the Palekaiko Beach Resort, she had to make sure that Timothy didn't leave any spies to watch out for her. Unfortunately, there wasn't an easy way to do that. Her skills were rusty and she didn't have the latest and greatest equipment.
But she did know Timothy. Even if he had changed his passwords, she knew she could hack into to his email and voicemail.
Joely spent the next half hour setting up the laptop. When Holt texted her the Wi-Fi password, she thought long and hard about connecting to it. Did she really want to do this? It was a slippery slope. She wasn't a criminal anymore. She gave up that life when she gave up her identity as Annie Andrews.
It wasn't like she was going to sell any data that she found. She was just going to see who Timothy was talking to and what he was planning on doing.
Sighing, she logged onto the internet for the first time in five years.
It took her longer than she expected to get back into the swing of things. Digging out a notebook, she wrote down things she would need to buy at an electronics store. Or she could order it online if they would ship it to the ranch.
She cracked Timothy's password to his Gmail account in no time and as she scrolled through the past day and a half, she didn't see anything helpful. He hadn’t changed his passwords on any of his social media, so she got in there and poked around too.
Bo-ring!
Still, he was dumb enough to post pictures of Lahaina, advertising to everyone that he wasn’t in his Minnesota home at the moment. Hopefully, the thieves over there were paying attention. If they wanted to rob him, chances are they wouldn’t run into anyone home.
Scrolling through them, she saw that he really was on vacation first and foremost. He wasn’t letting a little thing like looking for his ex-wife stop him from sightseeing.
What she really needed was remote access to his computer. Joely could compose a phishing email, but there wasn’t a good chance that he’d see it in time or even click on it. She nibbled on her lip. If she could access his laptop, she could install a key logger on his computer in addition to giving herself remote access.
All she had to do was sneak back into his room at Palekaiko and install some software. Heart pounding, she considered it. She cursed at herself. Like the last time she did that, it ended so well. Timothy caught her and beat the shit out of her, smashing her laptop across her face. Rubbing her jaw, Joely didn’t feel afraid. She was angry.
It wasn’t going to go down like that again. She’d be more careful. But how?
One of the pictures he had on his Facebook wall was near the Sunset restaurant, which was on the water in Lahaina. It was a nice place, but Timothy was cheap. He wouldn’t have forked over the cash for a sit-down dinner when he could get something to go. Not on his dime anyway. Not when Palekaiko included dining room meals with most of their vacation packages.
That’s it. That’s how she’d get him away from the resort.
Setting her computer aside, she crept to the door and opened it. She could hear faint voices down the stairs, Holt’s deep rumble and then feminine laughter. Closing the door, she took out her cell phone and dialed Sunset.
“Aloha,” Joely said in a perky fake voice, when a woman answered the phone. “I’m Marjorie Pierson with Go Go Hawaii. We’re a marketing group from the Big Island and we’ve chosen your restaurant to host one of our contest winners. I’d like to purchase a hundred-dollar gift certificate for him to use for Thursday night. Only good for Thursday, though, okay? That’s when we have our publicity set up for.”
The woman agreed and Joely gave her Timothy’s name and where he was staying. Reluctantly, she pulled out her credit card and gave her the information. She kept her fingers crossed and hoped that they wouldn’t verify the name on the card. Luck was with her when the charge went through.
When that was taken care of, she went online and quickly banged together a cheap website using stock photos and opened up an email account for Go Go Hawaii and the fictitious Marjorie Pierson. Then she drafted a congratulatory email, using details from Timothy’s travel agent and the airline confirmations in order to make it look legitimate.
After she sent it, she masked her cell phone with a random Hawaiian phone number and labeled it Go Go Hawaii. That way if anyone called it or she called anyone it would show a different name and number than hers.
Now, it was just a matter of waiting to see if the fish would take the bait.
Just like old times.
If Timothy went to the restaurant, she’d have a good time frame to sneak into his room and gain total access to his computer and files. Joely could see who he was contacting and what he was planning. She could stay one step ahead of him. But more importantly, she would know whether or not she could stay safely on Maui. Or if she’d have to start all over with another identity.
Speaking of which, she should contact Sammy just in case. It took a while to put together passports, birth certificates and other paperwork to fool the government.
Joely sent out emails to the three accounts that she knew her sister checked. Then against her better judgement, she put a classified ad in under the roommates’ section on Craig’s List.
It was a risk. There was a good chance that her parents would see it and also contact her. But Joely was desperate, so she put in an ad designed by her family to contact each other when they were separated and possibly compromised. She felt like a criminal even using it.
“I’m not doing anything wrong.” She glossed over hacking Timothy’s computer. That was self-preservation. She remembered their family’s code as if it had been five minutes instead of five years.
Alexandria – Luxury Living
Why Alexandria? After the library that was destroyed in ancient Egypt. It symbolized things had hit the fan. Luxury Living was a reference to their grifting and the good life they were all supposed to have.
Joely shook her head. One sister in jail. One on the run, and one working outside of the law. Yeah, this was the life.
$1198.50
That one was easy. The rent was who needed assistance. In this case, Joely used her real name Annie. A was the first letter of the alphabet. N was the nineteenth. You only counted the first N otherwise the number would be too long. I was the eighth letter of the alphabet and E was the fifth. So, Annie spelled out that way was 11985.
That was her code number. Her sisters and parents had their own code based on the letters in their first names as well.
1 bedroom
She was alone.
1 bath
She was in priority one hot water, meaning she was in trouble and needed assistance immediately.
Fireplace
She was burned, meaning her identity was compromised.
Balcony
People were watching her.
Parking
But she was safe for the moment.
Near Public Transportation
She needed an exit strategy that included long distance travel.
Wired for High Speed Internet
The best way to reach her was online.
Holt knocked on the door and she almost tossed the laptop on the floor in surprise.
“Come in,” she squeaked.
“You ready for dinner?” He poked his head in and gave her a smile.
Guilt flooded over her. She shouldn’t be here. She was putting him and his family at risk. Not just from Timothy, but if her parents answered that ad there would be no stopping them from trying to steal from her friends. Joely was better off just leaving.
“Sure. Just give me a second.”
“You got it.” He closed the door behind him.
She read the ad over once more and pressed the button to make it live. There was no turning back now. She’d get a response within a day, maybe even sooner.
Joely hoped it would be Sammy.