Maui Madness (Zoe Donovan Mysteries Book 7) (14 page)

“Let’s get some more avocados,” Ellie
said. “I have a craving for some chips and guacamole.”

“Those baked chips we got the last time were really good,” I added.
“I really wanted to try the onion/garlic flavor.”

Ellie stopped to sort through the produce displayed on long tables under shade canopies. “The papaya look good
, as do the pineapples and strawberries. Maybe a fruit salad for dinner?”

“Get some of the mangos
too.” I picked up a slice of the juicy fruit that had been left for shoppers to sample.

“How are we doing on tomatoes?” Ellie
asked as I tasted a variety of freshly made spreads and salad dressings.

“We could probably use a few. What should we have for dinner? They still have a g
ood selection of freshly caught fish.”

“Fish sounds good. I thought I’d make some banana nut muffins with these macadamia nuts
, and maybe a pineapple upside-down cake for dessert. The one we had at the restaurant was so good, I thought I’d try my hand at duplicating it.”

My mouth be
gan to water at the memory of the decadent cake.

“Do you think Pono and Malie will join us?” Ellie asked as she began to sort through giant ears of corn.

I shrugged. “I’m not sure, but it couldn’t hurt to buy enough corn in case they decide to. I wonder how the hearing is going.”

Ellie stopped what she was doing and turned to look at me. “Doesn’t it seem just
a tiny bit odd that Anton’s partner got a new hearing in front of a new judge so soon after Anton was killed and the judge who made the original decision to grant the injunction went missing?”

“Actually
, it seems very odd. And suspicious,” I added. “In fact, I’d be willing to bet the injunction is behind both Anton’s murder and Judge Gregor’s disappearance. I’m just not exactly sure how. If we assume the murder is about getting the new hearing, then it seems odd that
any
judge would be privy to such a thing.”

“Powerful people get bought all the time,” Ellie reminded me.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Oh look
, there’s Luana from Makani’s.” Ellie waved at a woman with dark features who was sorting through a pile of lettuce. “I see you had the same idea we did,” she said to the restaurant owner.

“I come four times
a week to get fresh produce,” Luana answered. She bent down to pet Charlie. “What a cute dog.”

“His name is Charlie,” I supplied.

“Can he have a cookie?” Luana asked. “It’s macadamia nut.”

“I’m sure he’d enjoy that,” I answered. “Did you get the cookie here?”

“They’re on the table next to the dips and dressings.”

I looked back toward the table I’d just walked away from.
“I’ll have to get some before we leave. They look really good.”

“They are. And while you
’re there, check out the pineapple salsa.”

“I will. So far everything I’ve
eaten here has been fabulous.”

“There
’s a very talented group of hardworking people who make a living catering to those of us who prefer our food to be organic and locally grown.” Luana picked up a slice of pineapple and tasted it. “Have you heard anything new about Anton’s death?”

“Not really,” I answered. “They released Pono
, although I think he’s still considered to be a person of interest. He doesn’t seem overly concerned about the whole thing, so we pretty much decided to enjoy our vacation and let the police do their job.”

“That’s probably wise,” Luana agreed.

“Look at these beautiful flowers,” Ellie gushed as we made our way to the next booth, which was covered with flowers of every color in the rainbow.

“Kala
, this is Ellie and Zoe,” Luana introduced us to the woman selling the flowers. “Kala grows all of these in her garden.”

“They’re lovely
.” Ellie picked up a bunch of red hibiscus and took a deep breath of the intoxicating scent. “I’d love to have them, but I’m on a bit of a budget at the moment.”

“I’m sure Kala would be willing to sell them to you for the
price she charges the locals,” Luana said.

“Certainly
.” Kala smiled as she suggested a very reasonable amount.

“Did you hear
, they found the boat Brian and the others were last seen sailing away in?” Kala asked Luana after she had given Ellie her change.

“Really?
Kala lives next door to Brian Boxer, one of the men who was sailing with Judge Gregor when his boat disappeared,” Luana said, filling us in. She turned back to Kala. “You said they found the boat, but what about the men?”

“I’m afraid there was no sign of them
. Poor Alana is a mess.”

“
Alana is Brian’s wife,” Luana explained. “They’re having their first child in a few months.”

“I’m so sorry,” I
said. “It must be horrible for her.”

Kala nodded.
“The not knowing is the worst.”

“
Have you heard what happened to the boat?” Luana asked.

“
Alana said there was a large hole in the side, although there didn’t appear to be anything in the area that it might have hit. The police suspect foul play since it sank about thirty miles north of where the men said they were going to be sailing. No one knows why the men were that far north. It’s really a miracle they found the boat at all.”

“Foul play?
” My interest perked up. “Do they know what might have caused the hole?”

“No one knows,” Kala answered. “The boat
was in over two hundred feet of water. Divers swam down and confirmed that there were no bodies on board, but it’s unlikely they’ll know more until they can bring it up.”

“I’m not much of a sailor,” I commented, “but thirty miles seems to be quite a ways to be off course if you
’re only out for a pleasure cruise.”

“It is,” Kala confirmed
, “especially because it was a calm day with only a gentle breeze, and all three men on board were experienced sailors. The location of the boat makes no sense at all. I’m afraid the consensus is that the men may have been attacked by pirates who they tried to outrun, only to lose in the end.”

“Pirates?” Ellie
said. “In this day and age?”

“Sure,” Luana
said. “There are still men who prey on the rich, although it doesn’t make sense that they’d sink the boat. Normally, they kill the passengers but keep the boat.”

By the time Ellie and I returned from the farmers market, the others had arrived. Zak and Levi were sharing a beer with Pono and Malie on the back patio. I helped Ellie put away the food we’d brought before opening my own beer and joining them.

“How was the surfing?” I asked.

“Awesome,” Levi answered.

“And the hearing?” I turned to Pono and Malie.

“Anton’s partner, Kingsley Portman, managed to talk Judge England into reviewing the injunction Judge Gregor had placed on the project.” Pono sighed. “He is going to make a decision on Monday.”

I frowned. “Does this whole thing seem a little too convenient to you?” I asked. “First Judge Gregor goes missing for no apparent reason
, and then Anton’s partner manages to get a new hearing in record time.”

“You think Anton had something to do with Judge Gregor
’s disappearance?” Malie asked.

“Maybe.” I explained what we’d discovered about the boat.
“What if Anton sabotaged the boat so that he could bring the project in front of a new judge?”

“Okay
, then who killed Anton?” Pono asked.

I had to stop to think about that. There were a lot of people who seemed to want Anton dead
, and it was very possible that his death wasn’t connected to the missing judge or the development, but if they
were
connected . . .

“What if Anton’s partner is the one responsible for the
judge going missing?” I offered. “Anton found out what Kingsley had done and made it known that he wasn’t okay with what had happened, so Kingsley killed him.”

“Kingsley wasn’t on
the island when Anton was murdered,” Zak pointed out.

“So maybe Kingsley was working wi
th someone who was at the party,” I reasoned.

Malie frowned. “I don’t know. It seems like a long shot. If someone wanted Judge Gregor dead
, why not just break into his house and kill him, or jump him as he walked to his car? Why go to all the trouble of sinking a boat with three men on board?”

“What if whoever sank the boat wanted all three men de
ad?” I postulated. “If each man had been killed separately, there would be an obvious connection that the police would easily identify. Maybe the killer felt that connection could lead the police back to him. But if a boat sinks during a recreational cruise and all three men aboard happen to die, people would look at it quite differently.”

“Zoe has a p
oint.” Ellie sat forward. “We spoke to Luana and a woman selling flowers at the market named Kala. There was a suggestion that pirates could be responsible for the fate of the boat.”

“Pirates don’t normally sink the boat they steal,” Pono
said.

“True
, but I think the fact that pirates are being discussed makes a point. If the men had all been gunned down in their homes or offices, we’d be trying to identify their common enemies.”

“Okay, so say that someone
did
want all three men dead. Why?” I asked.

“Gregor probably made many enemies as a judge,” Pono pointed out. “Brian Boxer is an environmental attorney and Trenton Baldwin a developer.
It’s possible the three men were working on a project that might have posed a threat to Anton and his partner.”

Malie bit her thumbnail as she appeared to consider Pono’s theory.
“I don’t know. I realize that Anton wasn’t popular among a certain segment of the population, but I don’t buy the fact that he’d kill three men over money. There has to be something more going on. Anton could be ruthless, but I can’t believe he was a killer.”

“And Kingsley
Portman?” I asked.

“I don’t know him all that well,” Malie
said. “Anton knew how I felt about the development of our sensitive lands and made a point of not talking business with me when we were dating.”

“I still can’t believe you dated that guy,” Pono complained.

“Yes, well, what about Sheila?” Malie shot back.

“Sheila never killed anyone.”

“That you know of.”

“So back to the missing men
. . .” I said. I had no idea who Sheila was, but I assumed it was someone Pono dated of whom Malie didn’t approve. It was easy to see there was tension between the two friends where certain subjects were concerned. “Is there a way we can find out what Brian and Trenton were working on? If we can find a link between the attorney and the developer, maybe we can link it to the judge as well. It could point us in a direction.”

“I thought we were going to leave Anton’s death to the cops so we could focus on the treasure hunt,” Levi
said.

“Yeah, we did
say that,” I admitted. I thought about Brian’s pregnant wife; even though I’d never met her, I had a strong desire to help find the answers that would give her a small amount of peace. Not knowing what had happened to the man you loved must be the worst.

“I know Brian’s assistant
, Rebecca,” Malie offered. “I can call to have a chat with her. Maybe in light of everything that’s happened, she will be willing to discuss the matter.”

“It’s too late to dive today
, but I say we go ahead and go tomorrow as planned,” Pono said. “I have a feeling deep in my gut that we’re right on the brink of finding something.”

“I’d like to go diving,” Levi agreed.

“Zoe?” Zak asked me.

“I’d like to hear what Malie comes up with
, but unless it’s something concrete that we can act on, I’m good with diving as well.”

“I’ll go inside and call Rebecca right now
to see what I can find out.”

I watched Malie get up and walk across the patio toward the open wall of the living area.

“I’m going to go in to grab another beer.” Zak stood. “Anyone else?”

“I’ll take one,” Pono decided.

“Anyone else?”

“I’m getting hot,” Ellie
announced. “I think I’ll go for a swim.”

“I’ll go with you,” Levi offered as Ellie pulled off the shorts she’d put on over her swimsuit.

“Last one in is a rotten egg,” Ellie challenged as she took off running toward the surf, Levi following close behind. By the time they’d made it to the waves, they were frolicking like puppies as each tried to gain the upper hand over the other in some sort of imaginary contest.