I spent most of the following day sleeping on and off. I felt like I had a hangover but without the fun night to go with it.
As the clock struck three p.m., I hobbled out of bed and made my way to the kitchen, where I found Casey scrambling some eggs.
"That smells so good." I snuggled up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist.
He twisted towards me, kissing me on the cheek. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I've been hit by a bus. Oh wait, sorry! It was a car. How silly of me to exaggerate."
Casey sighed and flipped the eggs onto a waiting plate.
"I was about to bring this into you. I heard you moving around and thought you might be awake."
God bless this man.
"Will you marry me?" I asked, accepting the plate as my stomach gave a loud growl.
Casey laughed at my joke.
As I sat at the table and looked up at him, I jolted with the thought that I was only half joking.
"Are you okay?" Casey asked, his eyes rapidly scanning my face.
"Yeah. I was just worried for a second that you might say yes!" I laughed hard, the sound fake even to my own ears.
He didn't respond. Instead he busied himself picking up a fork and sharing my meal.
I swallowed hard as the air changed around me. "Sorry, Casey. I was joking."
"You shouldn't joke about things like that."
"I know. I blame the concussion. My brain is still bruised, and we both know that I'm not the clearest thinker even when I'm one hundred percent." I smiled, willing the tension growing between us to disappear.
To be honest, I was kind of upset that Casey hadn't jumped at the offer to marry me. Sure, I was joking, but he hadn't even given me a facetious yes.
I sighed and scooped a forkful of scrambled egg into my mouth, savoring every morsel. I ate in silence as Casey kept himself busy cleaning up.
By the time that I scraped the last crumb off my plate, the tension between us had been forgotten, and I sat back with a contented smile.
"Thank you. That was just what I needed," I said.
"You're welcome. I'm glad I was here to help."
"Shouldn't you be at work?" I asked, checking the clock above the stove.
"No. I swapped my shift with Owen, so I have the full day off." Casey gave me a killer grin.
"You didn't have to do that," I explained, secretly glad that he had.
"The doctor said you shouldn't be alone for the next few days."
"Mum would have been here."
Casey shook his head. "She got called into work. The stomach flu has moved to Aloha Ohana."
I groaned, thinking that the hospital was already overwhelmed.
"So you're stuck with me," Casey finished.
I reached out and took his hand as it rested on the table. Giving it a squeeze, I smiled. "So, what do you want to do this afternoon?" I asked.
"Nothing. You're supposed to be resting."
"Yeah, but I can rest in the car if you drive."
Casey sighed. "Where am I driving to?"
"Nash Brothers."
His eyes widened as his smile disappeared. "Why do you want to go back there?"
"A few reasons. One, I want to see if there are any black SUVs with red paint scratched into the hood. And two," I added, counting off my fingers as I spoke, "I want to see if we can get a better look at what's in those boxes in Shed Three."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't get a very good look last time."
"If the car that hit you is there, you need to be as far away as possible. It's a matter for the police."
"If we find it, we'll hightail it out of there and call Detective Ray. I promise." I gave him the Girl Scout thing, to which he rolled his eyes. "We don't want to wait too long," I prompted when I felt his reluctance. "With too much time, he could get rid of the car and the evidence."
"He's probably already gotten rid of it." Casey chewed the inside of his cheek, a new habit that I'd noticed he had when he was worried.
"It's not that easy to dispose of a car around here."
Casey sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. "If—and that's a big if—we go, then we're not doing anything stupid. There'll be no sneaking around in places we could get caught. If Nash was the driver of the vehicle that knocked you over last night, then I don't want you anywhere near him."
Using two fingers, I made an overexaggerated display of crossing my heart. "I promise not to do anything stupid."
Casey's lips exploded into a grin. "Why do I have trouble believing you?"
* * *
I'll admit that nerves were biting by the time Casey pulled to a stop in the parking lot outside Nash Brothers Farm.
Unlike our last visit, it was almost empty, this time of day seemingly their quiet time.
I waited for Casey to unclick my broken seat belt, and I opened the door, stepping into an afternoon breeze.
The pimply teenager was back on the gate, but as he was scrolling on his phone, I figured they were hardly rushed off their feet.
"Here again?" He grinned, showing us his crooked front teeth.
"Yep. Just loved it so much we couldn't stay away." I returned his grin as Casey handed over another thirty dollars a head. Geez. We needed to find the truth before he went broke.
We were granted entrance, and I veered off towards Shed Three. Casey grabbed my hand, holding on tight and directing me towards the staff parking lot located nearby. I had a feeling he didn't want me wandering off.
Unfortunately, there were only three cars in the parking lot—a Mini, a Toyota sedan, and a Prius. None of them fit the description Casey had given me, and none of them had red paint scratched into their front bumper. If only it had been that easy.
"Maybe we should go to Personnel and ask if anyone drives a car like that?" I suggested.
"Sure."
Our feet crunched on the gravel driveway as we made a beeline for the door marked Personnel.
Once again it creaked as I pushed it open, hoping I'd meet Hayley again.
"Hello. How may I help you?" a screechy voice questioned us.
I plastered my brightest grin on my face and stepped behind Casey. If anyone had a chance of cracking the stone-faced woman standing behind the front desk, he did.
I heard his quiet breath, but he took the hint and moved forward, charm oozing out of him.
"Hi there. We were wondering if you could help us?"
"I can try."
As he introduced himself, I took the time to look around the room, noting Hayley sitting behind her desk, her phone between her ear and her shoulder. She gave me a small wave, her smile grim.
"We're looking for the owner of a black SUV and wondered if it was anyone who worked here?" Casey asked the receptionist.
"Ruth!" called Hayley, her hand over the receiver of the phone. "Sorry to interrupt, but would you mind taking this call?" She grimaced at the stone-faced receptionist. "It's Jonathan Walters again. He says he wants to talk to you. Apparently you're more qualified to give him the answer he needs." Hayley looked pained as she held the phone out towards Ruth.
Ruth released a loud breath before excusing herself from Casey.
"Hayley, if you paid more attention, you would be able to deal with this situation," Ruth hissed, snatching the phone.
Geez. I was glad she wasn't my work colleague.
Hayley blushed but simultaneously looked relieved that she didn't have to deal with the caller. Instead she clicked her way towards us, looking Casey up and down and visibly relaxing.
"Sorry about that," she commented, holding her hand out for him to shake. He accepted the gesture as she smiled at me.
"Hello again." Her grin changed into concern as she took in my battered and scraped skin. "What happened to you?"
"I got knocked off my bike."
"What?" she asked, her eyes wide in horror. "How?"
I quickly brought her up-to-date with my evening.
"Do you know who hit you?" she asked, chewing her lip.
"That's what brings us here. I was wondering if anyone owns a black SUV?" Casey asked her.
"One that has red paint all over its front bumper," I added.
She grimaced before shaking her head.
"Does Nash own a black SUV?" I asked, hoping he did so that I could give Detective Ray the good news.
"No. He drives a Mercedes."
Oh.
"How about anyone else?"
"I don't know that vehicle, but then, I don't know what everyone drives. Why do you think it's connected with Nash Brothers?"
"Because it happened right after a conversation I had with Matthew Nash."
"I'm so sorry." She wrung her hands together as she spoke, her discomfort obvious. "But you are okay, right?"
"Uh-huh. Nothing broken except my pride and a sprained wrist."
"That's good, at least. Not the sprain or anything," she hurriedly added. "It's just you could have been killed."
Casey took my hand and squeezed it tight as his jaw began to grind.
* * *
"Well, that was a waste of time," said Casey as we stood outside Personnel.
"Hayley said she'd call me if she found anyone who owned the vehicle, so it wasn't all bad."
"There's that at least. Sam, where are you going?" Casey called after me.
My gaze had fallen to Shed Three, the contents of which had bothered me since my last visit.
"I'm curious," I called back to him, my steps increasing pace.
Casey jogged after me. "We've done what we came here to do. And you promised no snooping."
I stopped and put my hands on my hips, glaring at him. "I'm not snooping! I'm just going to ask any staff who may be in this shed a valid question. And don't roll your eyes at me." I huffed and strode towards Shed Three despite his protests.
Today the forklift was nowhere to be seen, and the area was strangely quiet. I did a double-check for the hulk-like security guard and to check that all personnel were AWOL then knocked loudly on the door, secretly hoping that no one would be around and I could take a closer look.
"Hello," I called when no one answered. The roller door to my right was lifted a few feet, allowing the air to rush in under it. I got down on my hands and knees, groaned against the pain it caused, and crawled towards it, peering into the darkness.
"Sam!" called Casey.
"I'm just looking. No harm in that."
I had a sneaking suspicion his eyes were narrowed in my direction, but I didn't look to verify it. Instead, I lay on my stomach and half rolled, half crawled under the door, squelching the urge to moan as I did so. I wasn't as nimble as I usually was.
Casey's cursing followed me, but it was too late. I was already in. Seconds later he rolled in next to me.
"You promised," he hissed, taking hold of my arm.
"I promised not to snoop. This isn't snooping."
"We're sneaking around in a dark shed that we weren't invited to. If that's not snooping, what is?"
"Hello?" I called loudly. "Is anyone here?"
Casey tightened his grip on my arm.
"See? According to Dictionary dot com the definition of snooping is to go about in a sneaking or prying way." I knew that for a fact. I'd looked it up. "I'm not sneaking. I'm just looking for anyone who can help us."
"Well, there's obviously no one here."
"Yeah. Don't you think that's strange?"
"No. It's nearly four o'clock. Everyone is probably getting ready to call it quits for the day."
"Huh. Well tell me, why was there a security guard on duty last time I was here and he's not here today?"
"I have no clue, but if I'm pushed to guess, I'd say there's no tours at this time of day."
"Casey, we're talking fruit and vegetables. Hulk man had a gun. Don't you think that's a bit of overkill? Surely tourists aren't that much of a threat to bananas."
My eyes were adjusting to the limited light as I scanned the room, hoping Hulk man wasn't going to jump out at me. I noticed that the broken boxes were still in the same place they had been the first time I'd been here. Listening to Casey's mumbled response, I made my way towards them.
Casey reluctantly followed me towards the ripped cardboard but not without a lot of huffing.
"What do you make of these?" I asked him, stepping towards aisle two and pulling my phone from my pocket.
The daylight faded behind us the farther we moved into the shed, so flipping my flashlight on, I allowed its beam to swing over row after row of boxes, only stopping when it bounced off the plastic wrapping that was poking out of one of them. It was the same box I'd seen the first time I'd been here.
"That's a lot of packaging for plastic fruit, don't you think?" I commented.
Casey moved in close, reaching his hand out and pulling back some of the packaging. One of the items within slipped and clunked against the cement flooring.
Retrieving it, I noted it was a plastic elephant about the size of an apple. Its trunk was facing up, and it was kind of cute. Actually, as the light played against the creamy surface, I realized it was more than cute. It was beautiful. And heavy. I wondered if it was similar to the one Alani had had.
I was about to ask Casey what the weight of a plastic elephant should be when the clanking of a heavy chain broke the silence before the scraping sound of metal on a pulley caused my heart rate to spike. For a girl who wasn't snooping, I sure was jittery.
Hurriedly switching the flashlight off, I shoved my phone into my pocket as Casey took my arm and pulled me towards the back of the shed. Finding a stack, we hid behind it as the daylight disappeared behind the now closed roller door. A bright flashlight took its place, and my heart rate entered the stroke zone.
This had not been on my to-do list when I'd considered visiting.
I felt Casey tense next to me and knew that when we got out of this—and I stressed when—a lecture would be coming.
We pushed ourselves behind a box as the beam of light roamed the aisles. The holder of the flashlight appeared to be checking that everything was the way it should be. As it stopped on the far end of aisle two, I was positive my heart missed a whole series of beats. Casey pulled me hard against him, and we made ourselves as invisible as possible.
Footsteps echoed in the silence before coming to a halt. The light beam narrowed, and I took the chance to see who was there.
Peeking around the corner of the aisle, my eyes strained in the darkness. I couldn't make out who was holding the flashlight, but if I had to guess, the height and bulk told me it was Hulk man. I shuddered as the light prowled across the broken box. He reached out and pulled at the bubble wrap.
I tightened my grip on the elephant I was still holding, and a bead of sweat dripped between my breasts. Casey's heart was beating hard against my back, and his breathing was shallow in my ear.
The flashlight zipped my way, and I ducked back just in time, saying a silent prayer that Hulk man wouldn't walk towards us.
Casey obviously had the same thought, as he gently tugged me away from the light that was now making its way in our direction. Every squeak of Hulk man's rubber soles against the cement floor was like thunder to my ears, only competing with the thump of my blood pressure.
In the darkness, I only had an idea of how long the aisle was and tried to assess whether we could make it to the end and turn the corner before the flashlight caught us.
Casey was using one hand to lead the way, feeling his way along the stacks of boxes. I had a firm grip on his other hand, and my breathing seemed to have ceased.
The light reached the end of aisle two, and I had no idea how far we were away from our next hiding place.
Looking behind me, I needed to know when the light would fall on us, alerting security to the fact that I was indeed snooping. There was no way I could explain my way out of it.
A pain shot through my chest as the beam of light turned the corner, and I waited for our discovery, but instead Casey yanked my arm and pulled me behind another box. Just in time.
It was only as the footsteps carried the light in the opposite direction that the pain in my chest subsided and breathing resumed.
* * *
Casey didn't say much on the way home.
I wasn't sure if he was angry with me or with himself for allowing me to talk him into something so dumb. Either way, I gave him the time he needed to get his thoughts under control. Was I a good girlfriend or what?
Only when we reached the edges of Aloha Lagoon did I pluck up the courage to speak.
"Would you mind if we stopped by Lahela's Surf? Alani's doing a revamp on the shop, and I wanted to see if she needed a hand."
"Revamp?" Casey's jaw was so rigid I was surprised it moved.
"Yeah. She thinks that Nathan's dead body has left cooties in the shop, and she wants to eliminate them before reopening."
"The police tape has been removed, then?"
"Yesterday. The cleaners should have come in this morning, so it's safe for her to reopen."
Casey turned in the direction of the store. As we pulled up at the curb, the sunlight hit the glass on the front door, reflecting a warm welcome despite the closed sign. I waited for him to unclick my seat belt (I was sure he'd get it fixed one day) then stepped into the late-morning air.
The sound of the surf crashing the beach blasted towards me, and I used the time waiting for Casey to join me peering out to the ocean.
"Let's go for a walk," I suggested, knowing that both of us could use the calming sounds of the waves to soothe our nerves and clear our heads.
"I thought you wanted to help Alani?"
"I do. But she won't mind us taking half an hour for ourselves before we head in."
We headed up the beach in silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts.
Mine started with the murder investigation and how it was all going, but as the ocean worked its magic and I started to relax, my mind moved towards the gorgeous man at my side.
Casey was my rock. He was my world, and I never wanted to be anywhere but right where I was with him. I noted that his shoulders had dropped back to their natural position and his breathing had slowed and evened out. The late-afternoon sun reflected in his eyes that looked back at me like I was the only girl in the world. We stopped walking, and he pulled me close, holding me tight against his chest. His heart beat strong as his scent surrounded me, and I melted in his embrace.
"Let's watch the sunset," he suggested as I spun in his arms. "I know how much you love the flash of green on the horizon."
I smiled and allowed my head to fall back against his chest. "I do. When I lived in Sydney, I always thought it was a myth. The first time I saw it I thought it was magic."
"You know it's just the refraction of sunlight, right?"
"Sure. But magic is so much nicer."
I squinted against the glare of the orange sun as it kissed the ocean, and within minutes it had dropped out of sight. But not before that millisecond of green flashed bright.
A contented sigh whispered past my lips before Casey placed a delicate kiss on my temple.
"Please, no more stunts that could get you hurt," he pleaded.
I closed my eyes and held back the emotion that was overwhelming me. "Okay. No more stunts."
He turned so that I was facing him. "Promise?"
"I promise," I whispered, accepting the kiss that had almost drowned my words.
* * *
"Knock, knock," I called, slowly pushing the door to Lahela's Surf open. "Can I come in?" I didn't want to barge in, as it might give Alani a fright. She was already freaked out about the place as it was.
At Alani's request I pushed the door all the way open, and Casey followed me inside.
"Hey, guys." She smiled as we approached. "You remember Abigail, don't you?"
I spotted the woman in question sitting on a stool behind the counter. Abigail's long hair was piled high in a messy bun. Her mascara was bold, and her eyeliner had the little flicky wing thing that I could never get the hang of.
"Yes, I remember." How could I forget? "Hi," I added politely.
"And Abigail, have you met Casey?" Alani asked.
"Sure have," she purred as she looked him up and down.
"So what are you doing here?" I asked her, not meaning to sound as accusing as I did.
"I was driving through town and saw the shop door was open. Thought I'd stop in and see how Alani is holding up." Abigail turned to Alani, her eyes full of sympathy and compassion.
"Yes, she's about to help me rid the place of Nathan's bad juju." Alani held up a bowl containing a thick stick that looked like it was made up of dried leaves tightly woven together.
Abigail jumped from the stool, pulled a lighter from her shorts pocket, and held it to the end of the stick.
"What is that?" Casey asked.
"It's called smudging," Alani explained as the dried leaves started to smoke. "Basically we burn white sage to remove all negative energy and evil spirits. If Nathan has left anything behind, this will get rid of it. Well…according to YouTube anyway."
As smoke started to pour from the dried leaves, I didn't think it was only negative energy she was going to get rid of. I was considering running from the room myself.
Alani then extinguished the flame, and the smoke kicked up a notch.
Within seconds I was regretting stopping by. Judging by Casey's wide eyes and scrunched-up nose, I figured he was feeling the same.
Abigail held Alani's phone, turning the volume up on the YouTube video as the smudging expert directed them around the store, instructing Alani on how to waft the stick. To be honest it didn't look difficult, but I'd say that Alani was thorough as she blew smoke into every crook and crevice, Abigail trailing behind double-checking with the precision of a bloodhound.
When Alani stopped in front of me, her eyebrows raised.
"What?" I asked, afraid of her answer.
She looked unsure.
"Alani, wave the stick around Sam. You need to rid her of any negativity," Abigail explained, stepping up alongside me.
Alani grimaced but did as asked, the smoke swallowing both Abigail and me.
Alani coughed. "Geez. Should it be this intense?"
"It does that when the negativity is high," Abigail explained, waving the smoke away from her face.
Humph.
"I'll go and open the door," said Casey, jumping quickly from his spot on the stool behind the counter before Alani could smother him.
Cool air rushed in, forcing the smoke to swirl away from my eyes. God bless Casey.
Only when she had covered every square inch of oxygen in the room did Alani smile.
"That's better already," trilled Abigail.
It was?
"There was a lot more smoke than I anticipated," said Alani.
"That's because there was a lot of bad energy in here."
"I guess so. Can we be confident that it's gone?"
Oh geez, I hoped so. If we had to sit through that again, I was going home.
"Yes. For now. But tomorrow we'll have another feel of the room and reassess. You want it cleared before you reopen to the public." Abigail's eyes darted around the room, as if she was afraid bad juju was going to jump her.
I sighed and added stay away from here to tomorrow's list of things to do.
"Should I be calling the fire department?" a tiny female voice called.
I spun on my chair and came face-to-face with Hayley.
She looked to me and surprise flashed. "Oh! Hello again. I didn't expect to see you here."
"Me either!"
"Can I help you?" Alani asked.
"I saw the lights on and the door was open, so I thought you might have late-night sale. I'm looking for a surfboard for my brother's birthday. This shop was highly recommended to me." She looked to me and grinned.
"I'm sorry, but we're not open yet," explained Alani.
Disappointment flashed across Hayley's face as her grin disappeared. "No problem. I just work every day and can't get here that often. I was visiting my brother tonight and thought it was a great opportunity to stop in. I should have known my luck wasn't that good."
"Sorry."
"No problem. I'll have to think of something else."
"It would be an awesome gift," I added, thinking her brother was one lucky guy.
"When are you reopening?" Casey asked Alani.
"Tomorrow, but I'm worried no one will turn up."
"It'll be okay," I tried to reassure her. "Nathan isn't the first dead body to turn up in Aloha Lagoon. Business always recovers." I knew that firsthand.
I still had the plastic elephant that I'd taken from Nash Brothers in my pocket, but as I moved, it slipped out and hit the floor with a crash. I hurriedly kicked it under the counter, not wanting Hayley or Abigail to see that I had it. However, I wasn't quick enough. Alani spotted it before I could push it out of sight.
"Oh my goodness!" screamed Alani. "Was that my elephant?"
"No," I replied, taken aback by her outburst.
"Where was it?" It was as if she hadn't even heard me.
"Alani, it's not your elephant," I pressed, pushing it out of sight and simultaneously giving her the evil eye to shut up.
Abigail shook her head, suggesting I was crazy, and Hayley looked confused.
My eyes darted between them, hoping to convey to Alani that I didn't want to talk in front of them. Thankfully she took the hint.
Hayley gave a small sigh, her grin disappearing. "I probably should get going, then. I need to think of something else to give my brother."
"Can't you sell her a board while she's here?" I suggested, wanting to move the attention away from what I'd dropped.
Alani glanced towards her. "Sure. I can do with the money anyway." Turning her attention to Hayley she asked, "So what did you have in mind?"
I used the time to retrieve the elephant from its place under the counter. Only once Hayley had chosen a board, paid for it, and said her good-byes, seemingly one happy sister, did Alani turn back towards me and readdress it.
"Why the secrecy?" she asked, pulling the elephant from my pocket.
"Well, I don't know Hayley, and I may or may not have come into possession of it in a way that may be a bit dodgy," I whispered.
"Are you sure it's not mine?" Alani asked, inspecting it, her back to Abigail.
"Positive."
"But mine was exactly like this. Where did you get it?"
My eyes flitted to Abigail, and I tried to indicate that I wasn't really that comfortable spilling the beans in front of her, but Alani waved her hand dismissively and declared that we were all friends here.
Hmmm, so why did I suspect Abigail?
But as my options seemed limited, I explained our afternoon at Nash Brothers, making our actions sound a lot less suspicious than they really were. Not sure how successful I was, because Abigail started to fidget, obviously uncomfortable.
"You broke into Matthew Nash's property and just took it?" she asked, her eyes wide.
"Borrowed," I quickly added. "I accidentally borrowed it by forgetting to put it back before we left. But I will. Take it back, that is. Because stealing is illegal, and I would never do anything illegal."
Abigail's eyebrows were somewhere near her hairline.
"Okay!" I yelled, throwing my hands in the air. "So, I entered a shed without permission, but it's not like it was locked and bolted, so that's kind of okay, right?" I looked around the group, but no one was giving me any kind of reassurance. Humph.
"Are you sure your elephant was the same?" asked Casey.
I gave a sigh of relief that the attention had moved away from me.
Alani nodded. "Uh-huh. It even feels the same. Really smooth and heavy."
"I was wondering about the weight," I added. "To be honest, I didn't expect even solid plastic to weigh that much."
Casey nudged me from my position on his knee and stood. He then took the elephant from Alani and examined it closer.
"I don't think it is plastic," he said. Without any warning, he tossed the sculpture towards me. Luckily, I caught it, but I will confess that it was a close call.
"What do you think it is?" I asked once it was safely cocooned between my fingers.
"Ivory."
My mouth hung open as I gasped. "That's horrible." I almost dropped the elephant in my haste to put it on the counter. I shivered.
"So it's real elephant?" Alani asked, looking as horrified as I felt.
"I think so."
"I've come across ivory before," he commented. "It was a long time ago that I saw it, but yeah, it could be."
"What happened to the one you had?" Abigail asked Alani hurriedly. By the time Alani had explained that it had been stolen, Abigail had sat heavily on the stool, staring at her freshly painted toenails.
"Oh. Do you know who took it?" she asked.
She obviously wasn't as bright as she looked. Or was she covering her guilt with a lie?
"I believe that whoever stole it is the murderer," I added, crossing my arms over my chest as I stared her down.
Casey ground his teeth so hard, I thought I heard them crack.
"Why would Nathan have given me an ivory elephant?" asked Alani.
"He worked at Nash Brothers, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"And that's where we found this," I said.
"I reckon they're trading it," explained Casey.
"So do you think Nathan stole it from them, or do you think he was involved?" Alani asked, her voice just above a whisper, her eyes wide.
"I'm unsure. What I don't get is, why did he come back to Aloha Lagoon?" asked Casey. "And why did he leave it with you in the first place?"
"Maybe it was a gift," I said, noting Alani's cheeks starting to glow. "Or maybe he was gathering evidence to take to the police," I suggested, not wanting to make her feel worse about Nathan than she already did.
"But why leave it here?" Casey pushed.
"I don't know!" I almost yelled. "Maybe something spooked him and he was coming back at a later date. He did take Alani's money, remember. Maybe he was worried that Kalei would hunt him down and kill him." Which I was really hoping hadn't happened.
Alani sighed and sank down onto the nearest chair.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
"I don't know, but it was just after Nathan gave me the elephant that he suggested we go overseas."
"So what are you getting at?" I pushed.
"When he asked me to go, I jumped at the chance. No hesitation, and he told me the very next day that the tickets were booked. From then it all happened within a couple of days. I gave him the money, and then he disappeared."
"So he could have gotten spooked by something and decided to take your money and run," Casey said.
Alani nodded.
"But what about the other women he conned?" Casey asked. "A con like that is planned and calculated. Could he have pulled it all off that quickly?"
"Maybe we should ask Kensie," I suggested.
"Or maybe you should stay away from her and leave this all to the police," stated Casey, his tone nonnegotiable.
"Whatever the story is, we should get this to Detective Ray," Alani suggested. "If nothing else, it might give him some clues as to what was really going on."
"This all sounds really farfetched, Alani," stated Abigail, her eyes searching the room.
"It's not farfetched," I cried.
"Really?" she sneered. "You know what I think?"
Not really, but I had a feeling she was about to tell us.
"I think you should lose that elephant and pretend you never stole it in the first place. In my opinion Nathan's death was an accident."
"If that's the case, then why has Detective Ray charged Alani with murder?" I countered.
Abigail shrugged and absently picked some fluff off her shorts.
I sighed. "Look, I haven't figured it all out yet, but I think we're getting closer to the killer. Otherwise why was I knocked off my bike?" I wasn't a fan of Abigail's, but my irritation towards her was growing more and more by the second.
"It was probably a hit-and-run," she added.
I sighed. "Alani, tomorrow do you want to come with me when I track down Kensie again?" I didn't care about the glare that Casey was giving me. Kensie had some answers that I needed.
"I can't. Sorry, Sam. Tutu's having her operation tomorrow, and I need to be there. I'm spending this evening with her getting everything ready. She's quite nervous about the whole thing."
"What? Tutu's unwell?" I asked.
"Calm down. She's just having a small hernia repair," explained Abigail.
Hurt pounded behind my eyes as I looked at Alani. "You never mentioned it."
"Sorry, Sam," she whispered, her head hung low. "My mind's been all over the place lately."
Yeah, that was understandable.
"What are you going to do about the shop?" Casey asked. "You said you're reopening tomorrow."
Alani rolled her shoulders before rubbing her face with her hands. "Ummm, I don't know. I just had a delivery that was supposed to be coming. My mind is so jumbled, I have no idea what's what."
"Alani, we're all going to the hospital to be with Tutu. Don't worry about the shop," said Abigail.
Alani's breathing became shallow as it increased in speed. Her eyes were wide, and I noticed the hysteria just sitting within them. "This is all just really overwhelming." Tears brimmed behind her lashes. "I'm trying really hard to concentrate on the shop and push the murder charges and worrying about Tutu to the back of my mind, but I'm not doing a very good job of it."
My heart broke as her tears spilled.
"It's okay," I said quickly. "I can open the shop for you and be here for the delivery. That way you don't have to stress about it. You can just concentrate on Tutu," I offered, wondering why the heck Abigail was going to the hospital. "And as far as the charges go, we'll sort this out fast, and life will go back to normal before you know it."
Alani bit her quivering bottom lip. "Thanks, Sam. But don't you have to work?"
"I don't have any lessons until the afternoon, so I can be here."
The hysteria faded, and she brightened. "You could? That would be awesome. I've been waiting for these boards to arrive and didn't want to delay it any longer, as I have orders for them. Customers were complaining about the delay before the whole Nathan debacle. It'll be so bad for business if they have to wait any longer. If you could call them to come and collect them, you can close the shop afterwards."
"Sure. It's no problem at all. And afterwards I can take my new board for a surf. By the way, where is it?"
Alani gave me a small smile as Abigail huffed. Sam one, Abigail twenty-seven.