03 - Three Odd Balls (25 page)

“Tessie,” he repeated and explained, perhaps for the second or third time, that my mother had been the first to realize Chris and I were missing. And by the time Wilson and Louise returned from their hike, she was in a panic.

“I left Louise with Tessie and came down here to report the latest. I’ve been arguing with this idiot ever since.” Wilson waved an irritated hand, and I glanced at Vega.

“At least he hasn’t arrested you,” I said, and it occurred to me Chris and I hadn’t been put in shackles either. I was gearing up to feel a bit relieved when Vega spoke.

“One of you is guilty,” he snapped and pointed back and forth between Rye One and Rye Two. “I can feel it in my bones, whether or not I understand how this supposed kidnapping fits into your plans.”

“Well then, your bones are as stupid as you are,” Wilson said. He grabbed my mother’s clipboard, which he had stashed underneath his chair, and jabbed at something for Vega’s edification. “I keep telling you, it was Ki Okolo. You know Ki, Vega? The guy who does all your IT work? Your good buddy and pal?”

“You found my notes?” I asked stupidly.

“Densmore’s getting a raise the minute I get home.” Wilson spoke to me but kept his eyes firmly planted on Captain Vega.

But Vega refused to discuss his buddy the IT expert and reminded us once again what his bones were telling him.

Thinking we might set everyone straight, I glanced over at Chris. But the poor guy was in no shape to argue with anyone. In fact, he seemed to be in some sort of trance. I sat up and forced myself to emerge from my own stupor.

“We need water,” I said firmly and tilted my head toward Chris. “We are seriously dehydrated.”

Wilson took one look at his son and sprang toward the door. “Water!” he shouted. “We need water in here! Now, people!”

Captain Vega reminded us he was the one in charge. But nevertheless, two uniformed cops scurried in with two gloriously large glasses of ice water. Wilson took the glasses and handed them to us, and Chris shuffled into a more upright position.

Wilson turned to the cops. “Two more of the same, please. And keep it coming.” They nodded and left, but he thought of something else and poked his head out the door again. “If there’s any food in this place, bring that, too.”

“I’m in charge here,” Vega repeated testily, but no one was interested except Bee Bee.

He looked up from the pile of paperwork he was destroying. “I’m in charge here,” he let us know, and promptly pooped.

Vega sputtered out a long string of expletives and sprang up to gather the offensive paperwork. Bee Bee obligingly repeated the expletives, waddled over to the edge of the desk, and watched as the soiled papers hit the wastebasket.

Wilson was watching also. He blinked twice at the garbage, and then at the bird, and then at my head. “Don’t tell me,” he said.

I set down my empty glass. “I have had A Very Rough Day,” I said with a haughty toss of my purple head.

“Jessie may look like crap,” Chris added ever so kindly. “But it’s thanks to her Bee Bee even made it here. You should have seen her, Dad.”

“No, it’s thanks to Chris,” I argued. “Bee Bee trusted him through thick and thin out there. Your son carried him practically the whole way.”

“Believe it or not, I really don’t care how this stupid bird got here,” Vega muttered. While he and Bee Bee resumed cursing at each other, Chris and I were served more water and a couple of those little cellophane packets of peanut butter crackers. We ate and drank ravenously, making sure to toss Bee Bee a cracker or two.

Wilson studied us with growing dismay. “Why am I thinking your jungle adventures were even weirder than Delta Toupee’s?”

“Touchette,” I corrected.

Vega looked up from the mess of crumbs Bee Bee was spreading all over everything. “Excuse me?” he asked.

“My mother,” I said and washed down my last cracker with some more water. The nourishment must have revived my mental acuity, and I was starting to think straight. “I need to call her.”

“You can call your mommy later.”

“No. Now.” Wilson handed me his cell phone.

“She must be worried sick,” I said as I punched in her number.

“Hello?” Mother answered after only half a ring, and when I said hello back, she started to cry.

Oh, good Lord. Mother crying always makes me cry. And after the day I had endured? Let’s just say it took a few minutes to assure her I was okay. As was Chris. As was Bee Bee.

“Where are you?” I asked and was pleased to hear she was alone in her bungalow.

“Bless her heart, Louise is up at the tiki bar, trying to get some new information from Ki,” she said. “But I simply couldn’t face the world this evening. Not with you and Chris missing and in who knows what kind of danger. Oh, but I should go tell her you’re okay—”

“No!” I said in no uncertain terms. “Please wait,” I suggested in a softer voice.

With Wilson, Chris, and Bee Bee listening patiently, and with Vega looking like he was about to pop an artery, I gave Tessie a brief summary of what had happened and where I had been all day.

“In the jungle?” Mother was incredulous. “Are you alright, Jessie?”

I took stock of my bruised and bug-bitten appendages. “Sort of,” I lied.

“And you say you’re at the police station? I’ll drive right down, Honeybunch. I’ll be there in a jiffy. Aren’t we glad I didn’t return my rental car? Even after you and Wilson kept insist—”

“Wait!” I interrupted again, and she stopped. “By all means, go get Louise and come on down. But do so discreetly, okay? Do not tell anyone where you’re going. Make something up.”

She thought about what I was saying. “The culprit’s here,” she whispered. “At the Wakilulani.”

“Exactly. So other than Louise, don’t tell anyone we’ve been found. Anyone,” I repeated firmly.

“You know who the killer is, don’t you, Jessie?”

“It was Buster. Chris convinced me.”

“I knew it! I’ve been thinking about it all day.”

I frowned at the growing darkness outside Vega’s window. “Mother?” I asked.

“Yes, Jessie?”

“Drive safely.”

I handed Wilson back his phone. “Tessie and Louise are on their way.”

“Did you just say, Buster?” he asked me.

“Did she just say her mother is joining us?” Vega asked Bee Bee.

***

I was rather looking forward to returning to a zombie-like stupor until my mother arrived, but Wilson had other plans.

“Buster Okolo?” He shook his head in disbelief. “Give me motive, means, and opportunity.” He looked back and forth between Chris and me. “Convince me it was Buster.”

“It was Buster,” Bee Bee said.

“Why?” Wilson and Vega asked in unison.

“Means is easy,” I began. “Clearly Buster knows The Big House and all the grounds at the Wakilulani Gardens like the back of his hand. He knew where to find the biggest knife, where to hide it, et cetera, et cetera.”

“Opportunity is pretty easy, too, Dad. Like Jessie says, if anyone knows where everyone is at every moment around that place, it’s Buster.”

“It’s Buster!” Bee Bee again.

“He was likely planning this for a while,” I continued as my intuition began kicking in. “But he needed to have some guests staying at the resort before he did the deed—to complicate things and throw suspicion elsewhere.” I nodded to Vega. “We tourists were his decoys.”

“Jessie’s right,” Chris said. “Miss Tessie and I played right into his hand when we called in our last-minute drink order that night. I bet he was especially happy when I went up to The Big House to retrieve it.”

“That was his best opportunity,” I said.

“His best opportunity to make me look guilty,” Chris mumbled, and Wilson and Vega exchanged a meaningful look. They didn’t dispute us, but they weren’t wholeheartedly agreeing with us either.

“Buster also had the means to kidnap us,” Chris said. “He has that big old jeep, and he knows Kekipi Crater. He grew up here, right?”

“Right,” Bee Bee said.

“But Ki also knows the volcano,” Wilson argued.

“Ki Okolo?” Vega let out a snort. “Ki’s about as outdoorsy as your girlfriend.” Wilson raised an eyebrow, and Vega glanced up from where he was gathering the cracker crumbs on his desk into a nice, tidy circle. “Umm, maybe Ki and me are friends,” he admitted as Bee Bee waddled over to again scatter the crumbs.

Wilson made sure to frown and then returned to Chris. “What was Buster’s motive?”

“Jealousy,” Chris answered and proceeded to explain the Buster-Davy-Samantha Dimmery love triangle.

I reached over and tapped the clipboard on Wilson’s lap.

He nodded and spoke to Vega. “Rachel Tate and Samantha Dimmery are one and the same person, if you’re interested.”

I reminded Wilson of that raise Russell Densmore had earned, and Vega reminded him Buster’s supposed motive was pretty darn flimsy. And—there’s a first time for everything—Wilson agreed with Vega. They were arguing against the flimsy jealousy motive when the door opened behind us. Everyone jumped up as my mother and Louise rushed in.

“It was Buster,” Mother said as we all stood up.

She tossed a jumbo bottle of Advil to Wilson, walked directly toward me, and gave me what was perhaps the most maternal hug of my life.

***

“Good heavens, Jessie,” Mother said when she finally let go of me. “What happened to your hair?” Luckily she didn’t wait for an answer but stepped away to hug the dickens out of Chris.

Louise also greeted us with her own brand of enthusiasm, and while Wilson divvied up the Advil to anyone in need, Captain Vega attempted to get everyone to sit down. His office had reached its maximum capacity, but we made do. Wilson gave his chair to Tessie, and found a spot at the windowsill to lean on. And Chris offered his chair to Louise, but she was happy to sit on the edge of Vega’s desk and play with Bee Bee.

“It was Buster,” Mother repeated when everyone was more or less settled.

“Buster!” Bee Bee wholeheartedly agreed.

“We just saw him,” Louise said. “He was busy with the early dinner arrivals, but I made sure to let him know we were off in search of you two.” She pointed to Chris and me.

“Wasn’t that clever of Louise?” Mother asked. “She has Buster thinking we’re driving all over Kingdom Come looking for you.” She nodded stoutly. “It was him alright.”

“Why?” Vega and Wilson asked.

“Well now, Buster was jealous of Davy wasn’t he? Over the cute desk clerk that Bethany wasn’t very fond of.”

“I love, love, love the love-triangles theories,” Louise told Bee Bee, but as usual, Wilson was not so keen on jealousy theme.

“Sorry, Tessie,” he said. “But it’s not enough.”

Mother sighed. “I suppose not. But when Jessie came up missing this morning, I put my thinking cap on.” She tapped her temple. “And I’ve decided Buster’s problems with Davy went a bit deeper. This was about the proprietorship of the Wakilulani Gardens, wasn’t it?”

“Was it?” several of us asked.

“Buster is trying so hard to give the place a fresh start, isn’t he? And poor Davy Atwell was the very last remnant of the old staff under Pono Okolo.” She stopped and glanced at me, as if this explanation had clarified everything.

I blinked twice. “Okay, soooo Buster wanted everything new…”

“That’s right, Honeybunch. New beds, new décor.”

“New pool table.”

“New Christmas tree ornaments,” Louise added.

“New everything,” Chris concluded.

“New staff,” I said and turned to Wilson. “New. Staff.”

“What?” he said. “You’re telling me Buster wanted a whole new staff, so he killed the old bartender?”

“Why not just fire him?” Vega asked.

“I imagine because Ki wouldn’t let him,” Mother answered. “Without Davy, Ki has to be the bartender, leastways until they hire someone new.”

“And we all know Ki isn’t happy about that,” Louise said. “They should make Bethany the bartender. Someone who knows how to mix a decent pink dri—”

“Let’s not forget Davy was paying Carmen Dupree child support,” Mother interrupted. “Without his job, Davy wouldn’t do that anymore. Ki must have instructed Buster not to fire Davy.”

I thought about Derrick Crowe. “When Buster fired the old chef, the guy fell off the face of the earth, and now Carmen receives no child support from him.” I offered Wilson a meaningful glance. “Buster learned a lesson from that.”

“Jessie,” he said impatiently. “You can’t get child support from a dead guy.”

“But you can get an inheritance,” Mother argued. “And Buster so wants to please his big brother.”

“By killing someone?” Wilson shook his head. “Sorry. I’m still not buying it.”

But Rye Junior was. He helped us out. “Carmen gets happy about an inheritance from Davy Atwell, and so that makes Ki happy, and so that makes Buster happy.” Chris shrugged at his father. “It kind of makes sense.”

Wilson took a deep breath. “So let me get this straight. Ki wouldn’t let Buster fire Davy, so he killed him instead?”

“I know it sounds crazy,” Mother said. “But I do believe that’s what happened.”

I reminded Wilson that he himself had been insisting the killer had gone off the deep end.

“This is pretty crazy,” he conceded.

“Crazy to you and me,” Mother agreed. “But I’m afraid Buster isn’t as logical as the two of us, is he, Wilson?”

My poor beau. He scowled, perhaps pondering the disconcerting notion that his logic and my mother’s were somehow comparable.

“What about the kidnappings?” Vega switched topics and waved an index finger between Chris and me. “Why take these two?”

“Buster just wanted to confuse the issue,” Mother answered. “He wanted you to think Wilson or Chris were responsible for all these terrible things. You have focused on the two Rye boys haven’t you, sir?”

“But he kidnapped Chris,” Vega argued, and my mother slumped.

“That does seem odd, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it does.” I sat up straight as my intuition kicked into full gear. “But Buster didn’t intend to kidnap Chris at all. He meant to take you, Mother.”

“What!?” everyone asked at once.

“Think about it,” I said. “Chris and I were both lured into the jungle with a few ‘Bee Bee’ calls.”

“Bee Bee,” Bee Bee said, and my mother jumped.