The group finished up dinner with a round of coffee and desserts, then they started to drift away. Leilani also got ready to take off for the night.
"I'm out of here," she said. "I have a date later on, but first, I want to go home and do a quick edit on the videos. I'll bring over what I have in the morning. What are you doing tonight?"
"Um, I'm meeting Jake at The Lava Pot for drinks," I said, feeling my face turn red.
Leilani smiled and started to laugh. "Really? It sounds like you two are hitting it off."
"It's too soon to tell for sure. But this will sort of be our second date of the day. I think it's a good sign."
"Well, you know I'll want a full report. It'd be great if you could find someone special. I know you've been looking for a while. Maybe we could double date sometime?"
"Are you still going out with that surfing instructor, Brad?"
"Nah, he turned out to be a total loser. He's handsome and has a great body, but he knows it. I'm back to one of my awkward nerds. He kisses better and always seems grateful to get a date."
Leilani took off, and I changed out of my resort polo. I then strolled over to The Lava Pot, finding an open table on the deck, three places down from where Roxanne and Eddy were sitting.
Eddy looked somewhat tentative, but Roxanne was leaning in and smiling, her fingers resting lightly on his arm. I didn't want to interfere with their evening, so I purposely ignored them. I pulled out my tablet, ordered a ginger ale, and waited for Jake.
After I'd had my second refill, I glanced at my watch and saw it was already a few minutes after nine. I sighed a little.
It seemed like Jake was the type of person who always ran late. Not ideal for me, since I was always early, but it was something I could possibly work with.
Benny Hoku and his Ukulele Wahines played traditional Hawaiian music inside the tiki bar. Fortunately, the big doors were open to the deck, and I could hear them clearly, even over the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. It gave the place a peaceful and romantic feeling.
My phone started ringing, and I pulled it out of my bag. I smiled when I saw it was Jake.
"Hey," I said. "I'm out on the deck. I've saved you a seat."
"Um, thanks," he said. His voice sounded a little strained.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah," he said, his voice still sounding weird. "The proposal ended up being a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. But I have everything straightened out now. I'll be right over."
* * *
Jake showed up at The Lava Pot ten minutes later. He seemed to be in a better mood, and we both ordered a Lava Flow. It had been a long day, and I knew a drink would hit the spot.
As he sat next to me, I caught a trace of his cologne. As always, it evoked an almost unconscious physical response.
Jake began talking about his proposal and how the client wanted a lot of contradictory things. I followed along the best I could, but the subtleties of designing a corporate marketing strategy were lost on me.
The waitress dropped off another round, and I ended up telling Jake more about my time growing up in Denver and my wedding planning business in Arizona. Jake was a great listener and seemed interested in what I had to say. He said he'd been to the mainland several times and was always impressed by how big everything seemed to be.
When the waitress came by and asked us if we wanted a third round, I declined and handed her a few bills.
"Thank you," Jake said, impressed that I'd paid but sounding a little disappointed that our date was over. "Do you need to take off?"
"Actually, the moon will be beautiful tonight. I was thinking about taking a walk along the beach."
"The beach?" he asked, seemingly confused. Then his face brightened as he caught my meaning, "Would you like some company?"
"I'd love that," I said, giving him my best smile.
We stood and stepped off the deck, onto the sand. I slipped off my shoes and found room for them in my bag. Jake was wearing his beach sandals and just left them on.
We took a few steps toward the water, and Jake started veering towards the left.
"Would you mind if we went the other way?" I asked, eyeing a loud party going on about a quarter of a mile away. "They built a bonfire on the beach. I don't want to be near it when the cops shut them down."
"Um, okay," he said, and we turned to the right to angle down to the Pacific.
We reached the waterline and slowly walked down the beach. The waves were gentle, and the warm water splashed over our feet. The moon was nearly full and had already come over the horizon, giving us plenty of light to see.
We spent the next few minutes talking about some of the crazy things that happened to me as a wedding planner, and he spoke of his adventures in photography. As we chatted, I felt Jake's arm slip over my shoulder. With my heart pounding, I responded by putting my arm around his waist.
As we continued to stroll, a group of seven or eight noisy teenagers came up from behind us, and we stopped to let them pass us by. Rather than continuing our walk, we stood and watched as they went farther down the beach.
Feeling the moment was right, I slowly turned and found myself looking up at Jake's handsome face. He looked down at me, and he knew what I was about to do.
We were so close to each other that my lips seemed to move on their own. I closed my eyes and waited for our first kiss.
From up the beach, one of the teenagers screamed. It wasn't the good-natured squealing the girls had been doing. Something had frightened her. That was followed by the group talking loudly all at once.
I opened my eyes. Jake was looking over at the commotion. Several of the teenagers were using their cell phone flashlights to light up something on the beach at the high-water line.
"Come on," he said. "Let's make sure it's not a sea turtle."
We hurried down the beach toward the group. They were clustered below the big lava rock that marked the end of the resort property.
As we walked, I slipped my hand into Jake's. He didn't seem to mind.
That's nice. But I'll still need to kiss him soon.
I squeezed his hand tightly, but not from affection. As we got closer, the thing on the sand slowly became visible.
It was the body of a man. From the angle of the limbs, it was obvious he was dead. When we were ten feet away, I saw a distinctive handlebar mustache.
Oh no.
The world went fuzzy, and I dropped to my knees. Tiny black spots started dancing in front of my eyes, and I began to hyperventilate. It then took several moments to get myself under control.
For some reason, this new body affected me a lot more than when I'd found Alex. Jake had his hands on my shoulders, looking down at me with concern. He really did have a handsome face.
"I'm alright," I said as he helped me up.
"Did anyone call this in?" Jake asked the teenagers.
"I'm live-streaming it," one of the boys announced proudly as he kept his cell phone pointed toward his face, the dead body visible in the background.
"The body behind me appears to be a white or Hispanic male, approximately fifty years old," the boy narrated to his internet audience. "Although we made sure not to touch the body, it doesn't appear the victim has been here for more than an hour or two."
"I'll call Detective Ray," I said to Jake. "I have his number."
I pulled out my phone and scrolled down until I found the listing for the detective. It troubled me that I needed to have that kind of information now.
The phone rang three times before Detective Ray answered. "Yes, Miss Piper," he said in his tired, monotone voice. Apparently, the detective had my number in his contact list as well. "What can I do for you tonight?"
"I'm out on the beach below the big rock at the end of the resort property. We just found the body of a man on the beach."
"Do you know who it is?"
"No, but he's been at the resort all week. I think he's a guest, and I think he's been following the wedding party."
I heard the detective groan in frustration. "Fine. I want you to keep everyone away from the body. Make sure no one touches it or disturbs the sand around it. Tell everyone it's an official police crime scene. I'll be there as soon as I can."
I disconnected and then called out to the teenagers. "The police have made the area around the body a crime scene. Everyone will need to back away. The police will be here in a few minutes."
The teenagers moaned about being told to do something by an adult, then backed off eight or nine paces. The live streamer made sure to get in one more shot of his face with the dead body sprawled out behind him.
I then scrolled down my contact list and called Jimmy Toki.
Yet another person I never expected to call tonight.
"Hey, Kristy," Jimmy said in his bright voice. "You're calling kinda late tonight. What's going on?"
"Jimmy," I said. "It looks like there's been another murder. It's the guy in the picture I sent to you earlier. I think he's a guest of the resort. He's been following us around all week."
I heard him let out a long breath. "Man, I'm starting to think you're bad luck. Where are you?"
"Jake and I are on the beach, by the big rock. I've already called Detective Ray."
"Okay, keep everybody away. I'll need to make a couple of phone calls. Then I'll be out there."
* * *
I was still holding Jake's arm for support when I spotted the lights of one of the resort's beach buggies coming toward us. When it stopped, Jimmy Toki and Detective Ray climbed out.
Both men walked up slowly to stand next to Jake and me. We all looked down at the body, now brightly lit by the vehicle's headlights.
"The sand around the body has been disturbed," Detective Ray grumbled, looking at me like it was my fault.
"We weren't the first ones here," I exclaimed as I motioned to the teenagers, now clustered twenty feet away. The one boy still had his phone out, narrating the scene to his live-stream audience.
"It appears that a detective from the Aloha Lagoon police department has arrived at the murder scene," he spoke in the flat but urgent tones of a news reporter. "We'll see if we can learn what he finds out about the dead man."
Jimmy pulled out a flashlight and spent several moments scanning the area. He must have seen something of interest because he began to drift up the slope of the beach to where the sand ended at a cluster of coconut palms and tropical foliage.
The three of us watched as Jimmy spent several minutes examining the area. He then returned to where we were standing and reported to Ray. "It looks like two people came from the resort. They stayed close to the trees rather than near the water."
The detective nodded and scribbled a few lines in his notebook.
"The sand is messed up next to those coconut palms," Jimmy continued as he pointed his flashlight to the tree line. "I'd say they had a scuffle. It looks like the victim then staggered towards the water and collapsed on this pile of kelp at the high tide line. The perp returned to the resort."
"When the murderer went back, was he walking or running?" Detective Ray asked.
"His strides were consistent with walking, both coming and going. To anyone looking up from the beach, he'd look like a guest out on a stroll. That close to the tree line, he'd be in the shadows pretty much the entire time, even with the bright moonlight. I doubt if we'll get any witnesses."
"Did you see anything else?" the detective asked.
"Yeah, I want you to look at a couple of things I found," Jimmy said, while making hand motions for us to stay put.
Jimmy and Detective Ray marched up to the trees. By now, Detective Ray had his flashlight out as well. They spent several minutes discussing what they were looking at and pointing their lights at the sand.
When they returned to the body, Detective Ray pulled out his phone and made a call. Jimmy walked over to Jake and me.
"It looks like we found the murder weapon," he said, lowering his voice while eyeing the teenagers. "There's a chunk of driftwood up by the trees with blood on it. The killer must have bashed him in the head, just like the last time."
Ray got off the phone and walked over to us. I couldn't help but notice the glare he was giving Jake. "Mr. Hunter," he said. "I'd like to speak with Miss Piper for a moment."
"Sure," Jake said as he drifted over to the teenagers. The one boy who was live-streaming began to interview him.
"Excuse me, sir," I heard the boy ask. "You just spent several minutes with the police as they began their investigation. What can you tell us about the dead body on the beach? Have they definitely concluded it was a murder?"
"Miss Piper," Ray said as we stepped away from the body. "Do you know who that man is?"
"No, but he's been following us around all week. I sent a picture of him to Jimmy earlier tonight," I said, feeling a little numb.
"When was the last time you saw him alive?"
"He was watching us when we were having drinks at the Rainbow Lounge. That ended three hours ago, maybe a little longer."
"The detective looked at his watch. "So, a little after seven, something like that?"
"About then. I don't know the exact time."
"Did he argue with anyone while your group was there, or did you see anyone follow him as he left?"
"Nothing like that. Things were peaceful all day. People in the group seemed to be getting along well with everyone. I can't say I noticed when he left, only when he was there."
"Were you with Jake Hunter the entire time?"
What? Are you kidding me? He can't be serious.
"Well, no. Not the entire time. Jake was with us, taking pictures when the group had drinks and appetizers at the Rainbow Lounge. After that, he worked on a marketing proposal for his business somewhere at the resort. We met at The Lava Pot for drinks a little after nine."
"So, you can't account for Mr. Hunter's whereabouts for a little over two hours?"
"Um, no. But I'm sure someone at the resort saw him working."
"You and Mr. Hunter found the body?"
I shook my head. "The teenagers over there found it," I said, motioning to the group that was still huddled on the beach. "We were about forty or fifty yards behind them. One of the girls screamed, and we came up to see what had startled them."
"One more thing. What brand of camera does Mr. Hunter use?"
"Nikon," I said. Now more confused than ever. "Is that important?"
"Thank you, Miss Piper," he said in his monotone voice. "I'll next need to speak with Mr. Hunter, but I'll let you know if I have any other questions."
* * *
Detective Ray talked with Jake for about ten minutes. Then they both got in the beach buggy and took off in the direction of the main building. Not knowing how long they'd be gone, I walked back to the central part of the resort.
I found Jake after searching for about fifteen minutes. He looked a little shaken. "What did Detective Ray want?" I asked.
"Not a lot. He mainly wanted to know where I was while I worked on my marketing presentation. I showed him, but it was kind of out of the way, and I don't think anyone else saw me there."
"That's not good, but you had no reason to kill that guy. We don't even know who he is."
"There was one more thing," Jake said. "He asked me about my camera and wanted me to show it to him. We went out to my car, and I let him look at it. He then wanted to know about my lens and wanted to see the lens cap."
"That's a little weird," I said.
"Yeah, but when I went to show it to him, the cap wasn't on the lens. I looked, but it also wasn't in my pocket. I must have put it down somewhere in the Rainbow Lounge while I was shooting the group tonight."