Black Sands (17 page)

“I’d like you to go on another underwater excursion with the dolphin when you’re done with the computer model,” Gina said. She stepped into her slippers and went toward the door.

“I don’t have a partner,” Annie pointed out. “Jillian still has the head cold, and Fawn is gone.”

Gina brightened. “I could go with you, I suppose.” She sounded eager.

Her boss took too many chances. Gina thought she was invincible in the water, and Annie would rather dive with anyone other than her. “I have some vacation coming,” she reminded Gina. “Can I take off the afternoon at least? By tomorrow maybe Jillian will be ready to dive.” She was sure Tomi would try to contact her. He needed her to go to the bank with him and try to get his money.

Gina pursed her lips. “I’m not questioning your right to be off, but I need you. It’s best for you to come in.” Gina patted her on the shoulder. “Save your vacation for when you can enjoy it. And try not to worry. Your sister will turn up. I’m positive she’s okay.”

Annie’s airways tightened. “How about if I see what I can find out from Leilani’s friends this morning? I’ll come in and do the dive this afternoon and fix the computer model. Will that be okay?”

Gina sighed. “I suppose. But you need to work the rest of the week. I know it will be hard to concentrate. Sitting in the house and worrying won’t accomplish anything.”

She obviously wasn’t going to budge on this. Annie nodded. “Okay. I’ll be in later today.”

Her boss walked toward the door. “Call me if you hear anything.”

“I will.” Annie rubbed Wilson’s head as she listened to Gina’s car start up and drive away. She glanced at her watch. Nearly ten. She dialed Mano’s number and got dumped into voice mail. She left a message asking him to come see her as soon as he was done. If he didn’t get back soon, she’d go see CeCe alone. She couldn’t just sit here and do nothing.

Jason entered the room and dropped onto the sofa. He propped his bare feet on the coffee table in front of her. She shrank back into her seat. Though she’d often wished to see admiration for her in a man’s eyes, the interest in his gaze wasn’t quite what she had in mind.

“I saw a couple of guys hanging around your house,” Jason said.

He was just now mentioning this? Though to be fair, he’d come in last night after they went to bed and likely hadn’t heard about the men who came to see her father. But he could have mentioned it over breakfast. “Really? When?”

“Night before last.”

“Any idea what they looked like?”

He shrugged. “Arabic was all I could tell. Maybe in their forties.”

She wondered if he was telling her what he thought she wanted to hear. “What were you doing in the neighborhood?”

He shrugged. “Just driving around.”

Though they’d only gone out twice, he’d been smitten with her sister from the first. Could he have been stalking Leilani? “When did you last see Leilani?” she asked abruptly.

His eyes widened. He put his feet on the floor. “So now I’m under suspicion for her disappearance? Figures. For your information, I haven’t seen your precious sister in nearly two weeks.”

“Where was this?”

He got to his feet with a sullen twist to his mouth. “I have to go to work.”

She watched him go and wondered why he was so defensive.

T
he cavelike structure was nearly fifteen feet high and nearly as wide. It had been formed in the distant past when lava rushed along this way. As the lava cooled from the outside in, it formed the tube. Once the magma chamber was empty of lava, the molten rock slipped out like water from a straw and left the tube behind. Leilani had learned all this from her sister, but knowing about it didn’t make the place less foreboding.

Water dripped from somewhere in the cave. They must have drugged her food. At least they’d taken off her blindfold. Not that it helped, as dark as this place was. She shook her head to clear it, then peered around the dim tube. Tree roots hung down from the ceiling, creating a cobweb effect. She shivered at the thought of the huge cane spiders or the lava spiders that might be lurking around here. A thin blanket under her bottom protected her from the cold stone floor, but she was still freezing. She thought about wrapping up in it.

Her gaze traveled toward the mouth of the tube, and she saw a backpack lying near the entrance. The light coming into the cave looked dim, perhaps twilight. Someone would come soon, but maybe she could get out before that. There might be a key to her shackles in the backpack. If her chain reached that far.

Leilani braced herself against the wall and managed to get to her feet, but dizziness assailed her, and she nearly fell back to the hard floor. She waited until the spots in front of her eyes cleared, then began to hop toward the bag. About six feet away from her goal, she ran out of chain. She tumbled to the ground. The hard surface scraped the skin from her knees and chin. She laid her head on the cold lava and began to cry. She wanted to be home in her own warm bed, to hear Annie call her for breakfast. She wanted a hot shower and a toothbrush. But most of all she wanted to feel safe and to be free from these bonds.

A figure came toward her. It was too dark to make out the man’s features. “I hate you,” she whispered. “Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?”

“You want me to put the gag back in?” The man’s voice was harsh. And familiar.

D
o you have any idea where we’re going?” Mano turned the wheel and pulled out onto the highway. He’d gotten a replacement rental car before he came to meet her.

“CeCe’s office.” Annie rubbed the top of Wilson’s head and rattled off directions. The mongoose gave a squeak of contentment and poked his nose under her arm, then settled down.

Mano glanced at Annie. She seemed even more subdued than she had earlier in the morning. “Any calls?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. I’ve been trying to think of where Tomi might be holed up. He and Leilani used to have a clubhouse they loved when we were kids. I want to check there.”

“You didn’t like the clubhouse?”

“I wasn’t invited.” She didn’t look at him.

There was no self-pity in her voice, just a matter-of-fact statement. Mano realized he had been as bad as her siblings, taking advantage of her reliability. Good old Annie, always at their beck and call. If they wanted a fruit smoothie, she hurried to make it. If Tomi or Mano expressed a desire for pizza or anything else, she provided it. She’d been as invisible as the furniture and just as comfortable. But Mano could see her now, and he was discovering depths to her he’d never suspected.

Why had he thought her so colorless and uninteresting? She had such a strong sense of purpose and a heart as big as Kilauea. It shone from her large eyes, supported the curve of her lips. He’d been blind. Her beauty would last long after Leilani’s faded. He was an idiot to have taken her for granted. They all had been.

He cleared his throat. “Where is this clubhouse?”

“Out by Kau. It’s a cave really, not a clubhouse. But that’s what they called it.”

“Want to go there first, or to CeCe’s?”

She hesitated. “To CeCe’s. We’ve been trying to do that for several days. She has a weird shift and goes to work at eleven. The clubhouse can wait.”

“You got it.” He followed her directions and turned toward Puna. He pulled in the parking lot of Kapa Kandies. A stream of men and women dressed in light blue work shirts were filing into the front and side doors of the brown block building while an enticing aroma of chocolate flowed out.

Annie pointed toward a gold 1987 Ford Escort that sported flower decals on the doors. “There’s her car. She’s still in it.”

Mano pulled up behind the Escort, and Annie jumped out and ran to the driver’s door. A young woman got out, and the two embraced. Mano let the car roll forward slowly and stopped it in the parking space beside CeCe’s car. He got out to join the women.

CeCe was not what he had expected. She had pink hair twisted up in a roll on the back of her head secured with a pencil. Her bright blue eyeshadow overpowered the pale blue of her eyes.

“I heard about Leilani.” CeCe said, releasing Annie from the hug. “I meant to call, but I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to talk to me.”

“What do you mean? I always want to talk to you.”

CeCe’s eyes filled. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have let her go with him.”

“With who?” Annie’s voice filled with fear.

“Tab Watson.”

Annie shook her head. “I don’t know him.”

“Consider yourself lucky. He scares me. But you know Leilani. She was always up for a challenge. We like big guys.” She glanced at Mano with a come-hither flutter of her lashes.

Mano wasn’t flattered. “How did Leilani know him? Any idea where they went?”

CeCe shrugged. “They’ve been hanging around together a few weeks. He’s part of that religious group Leilani was interested in. I think it was more Tab that intrigued her, and not the religion.”

The Ku cult again. There had been no Ku worship on the islands for generations. The thought of it being resurrected made Mano uneasy. “Where does the group meet?”

“I have no idea. Leilani wouldn’t tell me.” CeCe giggled. “I think she was afraid I was after her precious Tab.” She shivered. “Cre-e-e-py. I wouldn’t take him if you paid me.”

Though her words said otherwise, Mano could hear jealousy in her voice. “You have no idea where this group met?”

CeCe hesitated. “Well, I saw them drive off toward the volcanoes a few times.”

“Leilani hated the volcanoes!” Annie’s voice quivered. “She wouldn’t go there.”

“They may not have gone that far,” Mano said. “There are other places at the park that are no danger.” He took her hand and squeezed her fingers. The gratitude on Annie’s face brought a sense of shame when he realized how little she expected from anyone.

“I know,” CeCe said hastily. “No way would Leilani go out there. But that’s the direction they went.”

“Do you know where Watson works?” Mano asked.

“He’s a bouncer for Shark Head Bar. That’s where me and Leilani met him.”

Mano knew of the place. He winced to think that Leilani had been hanging out in a dive like that. “Does he work every night?”

“Most nights. He was there last night. I wanted to ask him about Leilani, but he avoided me.”

Annie dropped Mano’s hand and embraced CeCe. “
Mahalo
, sweetie. It’s not your fault. We’ll find her.”

She was such a little mother hen. Mano thought she’d take anyone hurt or in pain under her wing. He began to wonder if he could find shelter there himself.

“I’ve got to go to work.” She sounded despondent. “Will you keep looking?”

“You know I will.”

“Call me if you hear anything.” CeCe waved and followed her coworkers inside.

“I’ll see if I can find this Tab Watson.” Mano was beginning to think he’d do just about anything for Annie Tagama. “How about dinner tonight?”

“Dinner?”

“Yeah, as in food. You have to eat, and we never got our dinner last night with all the problems. I bet you never even ate at Gina’s.”

She gave a faint smile. “You’re right.” She chewed on her bottom lip, then nodded. “Okay. You can bring me up to date on what you find out today.”

“I’ll pick you up at six.” He realized he was going to miss her this afternoon. That wasn’t a good sign.

Fourteen

A
nnie drove her Pathfinder into the parking lot by the water and shut off the engine. She was in no mood to dive. Gina was supposed to meet her, a fact that Annie found less than encouraging. She’d dived with her boss one other time and sworn she’d never do it again.

She grabbed her dive gear out of the back and walked down the narrow path to the rocky shore. She saw a woman by the water and recognized Fawn by the bright blue beads in her hair. “I thought you were going to be gone this week.”

“The vibes were bad at my brother’s. He and his fiancée broke up this morning. I didn’t want to hang around for the postmortem. Gina dropped me off so I could ride back with you.” Fawn’s gaze traveled over Annie’s face. “You okay? You look pale. Any word on Leilani?”

“Nothing. I’m really scared.” Confessing her terror brought the sting of tears to her eyes. She was so tired of being the strong one.

Fawn enveloped her in a tight hug. “God’s in control here, Annie.”

Annie sniffled and pulled away. “I wish I could believe that.” She was envious of Fawn’s calm assurance in the face of any problem. “I—what if she’s dead?”

Fawn’s comforting pat on Annie’s back stilled. “Why would you say that?”

Annie didn’t try to stop the tears that began to flow. “I just can’t get that phone call out of my mind, that creep saying we’re all going to pay for something Tomi did. I think someone has hurt her.”

“What does Sam say?”

She shrugged. “He thinks it’s just some sick prankster trying to shake us up. He says it happens all the time; someone hears about a missing person or a death and calls and makes claims that aren’t true.”

“He might be right. You’re just tired and scared.”

Annie rubbed the moisture from her face. “I hope you’re right. But I’m terrified.” She hesitated. How would Fawn react to her news? She’d had a crush on Tomi as big as Annie’s on Mano. Annie should have told her sooner. “Fawn, I have something to tell you. It’s wonderful news, but it’s hard to grasp.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about Tomi. He’s alive.”

“What?” Fawn’s fingers squeezed hers. “Tomi? What are you saying?”

“That’s why Mano came. He said Tomi had called him. Tomi called me a few days later, and we met yesterday. He’s in some kind of trouble and wanted everyone to think he was dead.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? You know I—” She broke off, and her face drained of color. “He’s alive?” she breathed. Tears filled her eyes. “I can’t believe it. What happened?”

Annie didn’t want to tell Fawn about the Iranian girl or that her brother was mixed up in espionage. She tried to sugarcoat it. “I don’t really know everything. It has something to do with the Iranians. They want him to spy for them.” Her lips trembled.

Fawn gasped. “Tomi wouldn’t do that!”