Maui Madness (Zoe Donovan Mysteries Book 7) (6 page)

“What exactly does Keoke do for a living?” I
asked.

“He’s a real estate investor.”

“So he buys houses and stuff?”

“More like commercial property. He
’s involved in both purchasing existing property as well as investing in new development.”

“Has he ever invested with Anton?”

Zak shrugged. “I’m not sure. We don’t talk specifics when we get together.”

“
How did you meet him?”

“Years ago
, after I started my business, he asked me to bid on a software program for a security system that was going to be included in a high-rise on Oahu. I got the job and we became friends.”

The path wound through the foliage and toward a sheer cliff overlooking waves crashing onto the rocks below.
The water hit the rock wall with such force that it sprayed moisture onto the path.

“Wouldn’t want
to fall from here,” I commented as I navigated the slippery walkway.

“
That wouldn’t be fun at all,” Zak agreed. “Maybe we can go for a swim when we get to the pond.”

“Sounds nice
. It’s such a fantastic day. Not too hot, not too cold.”

“Every day in Hawaii is spectacular
. I was here during a tropical storm that was pretty gnarly, though. I’d never seen waves that high before in my life.”

“I’d love to see the really big waves.” I stepped over a narrow gully that had been washed away by a hard rain with heavy runoff.

“We’ll come back in the winter. The waves on the north shore of Oahu are something else. Not as big as the ones I saw during the storm, but awesome all the same.”

I stopped walking. “What’s that sound?”

Zak listened. “I’m guessing we’ve disturbed a wild boar.”

“They have wild pigs here
?”

“Yeah, quite a few. They can be dangerous
, so if we happen to come across one, don’t approach it.”

By the time we got to the waterfall and the pool beneath it
, I was hot and sticky. The Islands were a lot more humid than I was used to. The feel of the water in the crystal-clear pool as it caressed my naked body was probably the most sensual thing I’d ever experienced. Zak and I laughed and played in the waterfall as we swam beneath its gentle flow. After we swam, we laid on a rock to dry off and then dressed and headed back through the jungle toward the house.

“Those cave paintings on the wall be
hind the falls were really interesting,” I commented as we walked through the tropical jungle.

“Yeah,” Zak agreed
as he swatted at a bug that had landed on his arm. “They looked old. I know a native tribe lived on Maui long before it was inhabited by Europeans.”

“Malie mentioned that the island is the source of several fables
, including a very romantic tale of an English sailor who became shipwrecked on the island and a beautiful Hawaiian princess.”

“I’ve heard that one
, and while it’s sweet and romantic, it doesn’t end well,” Zak warned me.

“Don’t tell me. Malie
said something similar, and Ellie and I decided we’d rather imagine that the couple lived happily ever after and had many children and grandchildren to comfort them in their old age.”

Zak laughed.

Malie had hinted that the tale was actually quite tragic, but I for one didn’t want to dwell on tragedy at this particular moment.

“I can hear the drummers,” Zak
said as we neared the house.

“I hope Anton and Pono have shown up. I can’t imagine what Leia must be going through. To let something like this happen
on the day of her engagement party makes me think less of both men.”

We
’d almost reached the main part of the property when we saw the large group gathered on the lawn, watching as drummers beat a rhythm for dancers who moved in tune to the music. There were several men stationed at the pit the pig was being roasted in. Zak and I came up to it from behind.

“It
’s time to uncover our meal,” Keoke announced. “I need to go to make a speech, but feel free to stay and watch, if you’d like.”

I was about to decline when Zak announced that he’d like to watch.

Several men began the process of removing the layers covering the pig. Once the dirt was swept away, the tarp that had covered the whole pit was removed. Several rocks were set aside before the burlap that had covered the object wrapped in chicken wire and seaweed was removed. The pig was lifted out and set on a table, where the chicken wire was cut open. As the seaweed was peeled away, I heard one of the men gasp. I’d already decided I wasn’t going to look at the eerie sight of the roasted beast, but for some reason I found that I couldn’t quite quell my curiosity. I inched toward the edge of the table and took a peek. What I saw caused the small amount of food I’d nibbled to work its way up toward my throat.

“It can’t be that bad,” Z
ak teased as I stood with my hand over my mouth, struggling not to vomit.

“Oh my
God,” a man standing next to me uttered.

Zak
frowned and walked toward the table and glanced at the charred flesh. “Get Keoke,” he told one of the men.

He covered the body and
returned to my side. “I think you should wait with the others.” He took my hand and led me down the path to the lawn, where the rest of the guests were waiting. After locating Levi, he handed me off before returning to the pit with Keoke and a few others.

“What’s going on?” Levi asked
.

“The body in the pit
wasn’t a pig.”

When I’d agreed to call Tiffany at nine o’clock in the morning
, I’d failed to take into account the time difference. She was going into work on her day off because she’d sensed my discomfort at not having anyone there with everything that was going on, so I felt I needed to get up early to make the call. The problem was that there wasn’t enough caffeine on the planet to wake me up after the long night I’d had.

The body in the pit had
been Anton’s. No one knew exactly how he came to be there. Keoke had personally overseen the burial of the pig, although he hadn’t stayed in attendance once it had been left to cook. Keoke said he and Pono had gotten up early to get the pig prepped for the day-long roasting. They’d covered the pit at around eight and Keoke had returned to the house to do some work before the guests began to arrive. He reported that he’d remained in his grandfather’s office most of the morning but had heard Pono and Anton arguing on the lawn from an open window. He hadn’t seen either of the men after that and had no idea what it was they were arguing about.

The only people on the island prior to the arrival of the first boat filled with guests at two o’clock
had been Keoke and his grandparents; Anton and Leia; Anton’s best man, Jeffrey Highlander, who Keoke hadn’t met prior to that morning; Leia’s best friend and maid of honor Cora Bell, who Keoke had known for years; Pono; the household staff and plantation workers; and four men from the catering company who’d arrived early to set up. Additionally, the florist and her assistant had stopped by but left after dropping off the flowers.

The police didn’t want anyone to leave until everyone
had been interviewed, so it was well into the early morning by the time Zak, Levi, and I returned to the house on Maui.

The last I heard
, they still hadn’t located Pono, but that was hours ago, so there might very well be a reasonable solution to this horrible murder by this point.

Zak, Levi, and Ellie were still sleeping soundly
, so I made coffee and took it out onto the deck. Charlie sniffed around on the beach while I sipped the dark brew and willed my brain to work. It was light, but the beach was still deserted. The only sign of life I saw other than a boat in the distance was a school of spinner dolphins out for a morning swim. It was peaceful and relaxing to watch their antics, but deep in my gut I knew that this trip, which had started off so peacefully, had suddenly become much more complicated.

I knew that Anton’s death was
n’t my business. I’d never even met the man, but I’d seen the depth of despair in Leia’s eyes and the realization of his cousin Pono’s probable detainment on Keoke’s face. I’d promised myself and everyone else that I absolutely, positively would not get involved, but everyone knew that my promise was more likely than not empty.

“Hey
, Tiff.” I was yawning when she picked up.

“I’m surprised you called. When I suggested nine o’clock
, I forgot about the time difference.”

“No worries
. I was awake,” I lied.

“
How was the luau?”

“It was
. . .” I paused to look for a word that could sum up the events of the previous day. “Eventful.”

“So tell me all about it. Was the island beautiful?”

“It was exceptional. I even got to swim under a waterfall.”

“Wow, I’m jealous. How was the pig?”

“Missing, actually.”

“Missing?”

I decided to fill Tiffany in on the less pleasant events of the day.

“The dead guy
was in the pit where the pig should have been?” Tiffany said. “How could that have happened?”

“I don’t know. People were around most of the day
, although Keoke did say that he hadn’t stayed to guard the pit once the pig had been buried, and there were only a handful of people on the island during the morning hours. The pit was set back from the house and shielded by large shrubs, so it’s reasonable that someone could have made the switch and not been seen, especially if they had help lifting the pig out and putting the man into the hole. I guess the whole thing was a fairly complicated process, so the person who made the switch must have had help.”

“That’s just so wrong. His poor fiancé
e.”

“Yeah, she was kind of a mess.”

“Well, I should think so. Was the man dead before he was baked?” Tiffany asked.

“I don’t have lot of information
, but I did get a pretty good look and there was a knife in the man’s back. Hopefully, he was long dead before he was lowered into the hole in the ground.”

“He was facedown in the pit?” Tiffany asked.

“Yes, thank God.”

“
Are there any suspects?”

“At this point
the prime one is the bride-to-be’s brother.”

“Oh no. Th
at poor woman. If I’d uncovered a pit and expected to find a pig but found a man instead, I wouldn’t be able to sleep for weeks.”

“Yeah, it was pretty bad.
I talked to Salinger.” I decided to change the subject. There wasn’t anything I could do to help Anton, Leia, Pono, or Keoke at the moment, and the image of the dead man in the pit was already engraved in my brain. Talking about it was making it ten times worse.

“Did he have any insight on the dead animals?”
Tiffany asked.

“No
, but he promised to look into it.”

“Do you think he will
?”

I yawned
again. “Probably not. Did the dogs from Bryton Lake show up?”

“
They arrived yesterday afternoon. Scott came over to give them all full exams. He said they seemed fine but agreed that we should keep them isolated for a few days.”

“Speaking of Scott
, did you ever ask him out?” Tiffany had confessed to having a thing for our local vet and I’d recommended that she ask him out. She’d agreed to do it, although I suspected she hadn’t.

“Not yet,” Tiffany admitted. “Asking a guy out is
hard.”

“And you don’t think guys feel the same way?” I asked.

“You think they
do
?”

“Sure
, if they really like the girl they’re asking. My feeling is that he’ll say yes, but even if he doesn’t, at least you’ll know where he stands.”

“I know you
’re right. I’ll do it before you get back.”

“Good.”

“I called your mom yesterday to warn her to keep her dogs in. She said she ran into one of the women she knew from her birthing class who told her that her cat died for no apparent reason a few weeks ago. It could be an unrelated incident, but with the other dead animals, I thought I should mention it.”

“
Did my mom give you a name?”

“No, she didn’t say.”

“Maybe I’ll call her later to see what I can find out. With everything that’s going on, it’s probably a good idea to follow every lead.”

“You’re going to be busy if you
’re going to investigate the strange happenings here, solve a murder in Hawaii, and make sure all your friends are happy and having a good time.”

A truer
thing had never been said.