by Dylan Keefer
"I did. A good way to get my attention."
"I wasn't planning on using it," Naia confessed. "You know that I didn't take all of those, right?"
“No, you didn't,” Raine said. She shuddered. “How do you know, Eli Samuels?” “I don't,” Naia paced around her room. “This is all too much. It's all wrong.” “He's the one that took your fiancé, and is framing you.”
Naia looked at her. “Mano told you that we worked for WAVE?” Raine nodded, patiently standing still while the girl paced around her. “I've loved investigative journalism ever since I was a young girl. Solving things and bringing them to light to the masses, exposing the truth in the dark, and bringing people to justice by typing on a keyboard. The power of the written word is something.” “Sounds like a definite passion.”
Naia bit her lip. "A passion that got me into deep trouble. When I was a junior in college, my dad worked for this big finance company. He was accused of skimming money from some of the clients and taking it for himself. He was fired and told that he would be brought up on criminal charges. I did my research. I mean, I did a ton of investigating and found out that one of my dad's co-workers was actually the one that was doing it."
"Let me guess," Raine said. "You didn't use the most legal tactics to come up with this information, did you?"
Naia looked down. "I had to save my dad. So, I leaked the information by hacking into a few financial blogs, businesses, and—apparently, the guy owed some people. Some very bad people. And they realized that their money was in jeopardy, so they arranged for him to be killed."
Raine's eyebrows rose. "You're sure about this?"
"They made it look like a home invasion. The man and his son were killed." Naia looked up. "I met Alex at the memorial service for his friend that was killed while he was at home with his family."
Raine let out a deep breath and sat down on the bed. Naia did the same. "I assume that he doesn't know."
"No one does," Naia said. "I've kept that secret locked away, and I figured that as long as I didn't tell anyone, that I would be fine. My dad was hired back at his job, and—I met a great guy."
Raine swallowed hard. She suddenly started to remember how she had gotten on Eli's radar; how he had decided to ruin her life. She had been the party girl who found the great military guy who was faithful to her. She hadn't been so faithful. She had cheated before on him, but that one night—she was drunk at Donny's birthday party, and she hooked up with one of his friends. That friend turned out to be a disturbed and angry man who made Donny pay for loving Raine despite her unfaithfulness and was hell-bent on making Raine suffer, too."
“Eli found out,” Rained said softly.
Naia nodded. "Right after Alex shipped out. I started getting these cryptic messages saying that my secret wasn't a secret anymore. I didn't know who it was or how they knew; I just knew that I was sick to my stomach every day."
Raine turned to her. “What did he want you to do?” “Expose myself,” Naia said. “I had to expose myself or else he would do it for me. I begged for that not to happen, and I said that I would do anything if I didn't have to do that. That's when I received an envelope with the name Raine Michelson on there.”
Raine's mind flashed back to several months ago. Eli, posing as her assistant, set up a speaking engagement in Hawaii for her. He had gotten her down here, and... “You were there, weren't you?” Raine closed her eyes.
“You were in the audience while I spoke.”
“I had been following you and researching you,” Naia said. “I read your book, listened to your tapes, and I figured out your story and why this person wanted to hurt you so much.” “He wanted you to expose me?” Naia nodded and started to cry. “You said something though. You said that this isn't about heroes and villains. This is about heroes and those who think they are heroes. You said that to be a hero in our story, we have to come face to face with the villain inside. And I realized that I was the villain. I’ve change. I’m not that girl anymore. So, I wouldn’t do what he wanted me to do.”
“And now he's making you pay for it.”
Raine listened as Naia stifled the tears. She was a girl who made a mistake. It was a bad choice. She tried to become the hero by letting the villain out, and people had gotten hurt. People could still get hurt.
“You see why I can't go to the police with this, right? I could only go to you.” Naia pleaded with her with her eyes. “Can you help me?”
Raine got into her car and closed the door. She quietly drove down a couple of streets before pulling over and slamming her fists on the wheel of the car. She should have known something like this could have happened. Eli had her off her game. The element of surprise that she thought was possible in moving back here was thwarted by the fact that he never stopped watching her. She was caught off guard by not considering that he would bring someone else into the mix. Malanie and her family weren't his first option. Raine couldn't even be sure that Naia was.
She sat staring out of the window at the fading sun. Several men were running by, with their shirts off and minds focused on the job ahead. Suddenly, it was years ago. Donnie was sitting in the car with her taking his shirt off.
"Come on," he said. "We've got to get this jog in. Remember, you committed to it."
"I lost a bet," she had corrected. "And I will never underestimate your skills in ping-pong again. Just so you know, if this had been beer pong, you would have been skydiving with me."
"My stomach and my mind appreciate that I'm not going through that traumatic experience." Donnie punched her in the shoulder. "Besides, you always say that you want to be motivated into getting back into pre-college, party monster Raine physique. I'm here to motivate you."
She had smiled. "Why do you love me?"
Donnie snorted. "What does that have to do with anything that we were just talking about?"
"Seriously," Raine whined. "Why? Reckless, party-animal, thoughtless me."
Donnie shook his head and blushed. "Cause what people don't see is that you are the most caring and loving person there is, and you're just afraid to let that out."
The phone ringing zapped Raine out of her memories. She blinked several times before reaching for it. "This is Dr. Michelson."
"Dr. Michelson. I really like the sound of it when you answer the phone. You sound—like you really deserve that title."
Every muscle in her body tensed, and even though she tried to fight it, a gasp escaped along with what seemed to be the last of her breath. His voice, forever etched in her mind, triggered so many emotions, that the only one that emerged was fear. "You, son of a..."
"Doc, you really should control your mouth," Eli said. "You are a resident of this great state now. How about an 'aloha'?"
"How about I hunt you down, and I put you away for life," Raine said. "I know what you're doing to Naia."
"Yes, spunky, beautiful, Naia. Did you just talk to her? How afraid is she?" Raine started to say something but was cut off. "Nope, don't answer. I can imagine. Truth be told, I only chose her because—well--she reminded me of you. Party girls, wonderful men at your side, terrible life choices, and both of you received love that you don't deserve."
"If you have a problem with me, then you need to face me," Raine hissed.
"I honestly don't think you can handle it," Eli scoffed. "You're the one in your car on the side of the road banging on the steering wheel."
Raine fought to not look around. Her eyes glanced around slightly, but if he was watching, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was getting to her. Plus, he would never be in sight where she could see him. "What do you want?"
"To play a game." His voice dropped low, and she swallowed hard. "Simple really. The object of the game is to win your freedom from me. Here's how you do it. If you will prove that Naia is guilty for not only kidnapping her fiancé but also for what happened several years ago that caused that father and son's death, then I will turn myself in."
&nbs
p; Raine felt her heart sink. Naia had just asked her for help, and she had put herself in this danger because of her.
“Or,” Eli continued with obvious pleasure in his voice, “If you don't, I will kill her fiancé. His death will be on both of you, and you won't get me.”
Raine wasn't sure what to say. She felt the bile rise in her throat. Everything about him disgusted her, and she couldn't do anything about it.
“Rules to the game,” Eli continued. “If you tell anyone else about this, the fiancé dies. If you try to warn Naia about this little game, he dies. If you so much as hint that you're in contact with me to any one of your police friends, he dies. Got it?” “Yes,” she croaked. He was forcing her into this game. There was no way out of it, and somehow she believed that he did it after he knew she met Naia just to made it even more difficult to decide. “You sound really defeated,” Eli soothed. “Listen, I'll throw you a bone in the game. If you find the fiancé before time is up, I'll let them both off the hook.” It had to be a trap. Eli didn't want her to win this, at least not in a way where this couple would come out whole. He didn't want to destroy Naia just because she would do what he wanted her to do. He wanted to destroy her because she was getting love that she didn't deserve. Her sins were still hidden. “So, are we clear on the game?”
Raine closed her eyes. “I'm clear on your game, but I want you to be clear on mine,” she said finally pushing away some of the fear that had initially paralyzed her. “I'm going to stop you, and I'm going to do it for good. Understand.”
There was silence on the other end for a moment, before a small chuckled reached her ears. "Times ticking, Doc. You have until the end of the week."
Chapter Four
The plethora of girls that passed by as Micah stood waiting at the entrance to the dorm were all dressed like they were heading to a club. Low-cut dresses, high heels, spray tans mixed with suntans, and a trail of loose morals that were not going to stop whatever activity awaited that night. Micah tried to ignore the looks and comments that were given. He had been reprimanded a month ago about how he needed to make sure that he was in uniform at all times while on duty. He had hated it, but never more than he hated it right now. Something happened to girls when they saw a man in uniform. As much as the gender claimed that they had more self-control and reasoning in comparison to their male counterparts, Micah found that was not true when a uniform was in the mix.
“Wow,” one girl said. “If your date isn't up for it, you can come with me. I would love to celebrate our military.”
She hiked up her dress and pointed a finger at him. Micah kept his demeanor flat, but inside he couldn't help but wonder what would have happened to younger him if he had gone to college right out of high school inside of enlisting right away? He had only cared about getting girls and getting drunk once he graduated. If it hadn't been for the car accident that paralyzed his brother, Micah knew he wouldn't have woken up. He would have hooked up with a Naia or—a Raine, except he wouldn't have been a good one for them. He would have ruined them.
Another group of girls exited the dorm, and Micah stared down at his phone screen. She was dolled-up with make-up on, but it was Allison. The girls all turned their attention to him as he approached.
“Hey, there,” Allison smiled. “Girls, I told you that God listens to prayers. He sent me a military man.” She winked at Micah.
"Allison Gentry?" Her eyebrows rose as her interest perked up. Micah glanced at the other girls. "Can I speak to you for a moment."
Allison stepped away from the group. “Not sure what you've heard about me, but I'm not a one-night stand type of girl. If you're looking for a one-night stand, Tessa, in the stripper heels is your girl.”
“Not why I'm here. My name is Lieutenant Micah Duscane. I'm with the military police.”
Allison's smile disappeared quickly. She gulped. “Police? Listen, I didn't do anything.” “You sure?” Micah said, amused at her discomfort. She was starting to panic. “You know Naia Maitai?”
“Naia? Why do you want to know?”
"You were her best friend, right? Roommates during her senior year. Your sophomore year."
"We roomed together for two years," Allison said. "She helped me get through my Freshman year without having a breakdown."
"You ever meet her boyfriend?"
Allison laughed. "Boyfriend? I guess you could call him that." She explained after seeing Micah's expression. "Listen, Naia didn't keep guys around. She liked to have fun. She taught me how to have fun. She got invited to all the parties, got hit on by all the guys, and well, she had a lot of boyfriends. Alex was cute, military, and faithful. Of course, she would keep him around."
"And that was cool?" Micah said. "He was cool about her—ways?"
"Alex didn't know," Allison said. "Most people didn't, and none of the guys she messed around with would say anything because they were afraid of her."
"Afraid of Naia? I've met her, and she doesn't seem like an intimidating person."
Allison sighed. She glanced at her group of friends who were growing impatient. “Why are you asking me all of these questions about her?” “Talk to me,” Micah said. Allison nodded. “Allison was a double major in journalism and computer tech with a minor in criminal justice. She may not have been scary as a person, but what she could do was scary. She told me her plan. Gather what dirt she could on a guy before she hooked up with him, and if he even thought about stepping out of line after that, she would let the dirt fly. And she could find dirt on anyone.”
“And she confided her plans in you?”
“Of course. She knew I wouldn’t say anything. I'm not stupid. The only other one she might have confided in would have been the most pitiful guy she strung along—a guy named Mano. They were friends from before college.” Allison straightened. “Listen, I'm not sure what you have on her, but I would prefer she not know that I'm involved. Okay?”
Micah nodded slowly. Allison let loose a deep breath and returned to her bright peppiness. She looked him up and down.
"You know, you could still come out with me," she said. "Military police are still hot, and you look like you could use a good time."
“I'm way too old for you,” Micah declined.
She laughed. “Is age really still a thing anymore?” She turned in a way that the hem of her dress flew up and brushed his pants. Micah watched her prance away and blinked. As tempting as the offer was, he could only think of Raine being the girl in the dress heading to the party. She wouldn't have been the Allison. She would have been the Naia.
***
“I don't know how you think that I'm going to help with this?” Mano said as Raine parked her car in front of the restaurant.
“You leave that up to me,” she said. “You want to help your friend, don't you?”
Mano didn't respond. He did want to help her. She wasn't the type of person that would do something like this. At least, that was what he wanted to convince himself to believe. Raine looked over at him when she turned the engine off.
“Walk me through the night?” Mano shrugged. “Alex had asked me to steal her keys and make her feel like she had lost them. I was supposed to wait until she had searched and was convinced they were gone before pulling up to offer her a ride home. She said her day hadn't been the best.” “Did she say why?”
“No,” Mano tried to remember. “She said that she was worried about Alex. He had been distant, but that was only because he had been planning the engagement. She was paranoid, but she had been paranoid lately since he came back. Between work and her relationship, she was just not thinking right.”
Of course. She knew that there was someone out there trying to destroy her. She was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Raine looked around at the restaurant. Something about it seemed familiar.
“Has this restaurant always been here?”
“Only a couple of years,” Mano said. “I know a guy who works here. That's why Alex decided to do it here. I had the
connection.”
Raine stepped out of the car and walked out into the parking lot. The building looked a little different, but she could still remember that night. “There's a patio in the back, right? It overlooks an inlet.”
“Yeah,” Mano said. “Why?”
Their schedules had been so different the past several weeks that they hadn't been able to do much. In fact, the last time they had talked, she and Donnie had been fighting. He had been furious that some guy had contacted him on social media and told him that she was too good in bed to settle down with him. He had wanted to go after the guy, but Raine had stopped him.
Now, they were sitting on the patio of a small restaurant. The conversation had been general while they waited for their food, but at some point, Donnie had reached over and grabbed her hands.
"Raine, I love you." Raine had swallowed hard. Her stomach flip flopped knowing that this talk was coming. He was going to break up with her. Her hands trembled.
"But?" she said.
Donnie smiled. "No 'but,'" he said. "I know that you and I are different, and you've had a more exciting college life than I have. I get it. I still love you no matter what, and I realized that people could say whatever they want, but—you are mine. I'm not letting you go."
Raine stood out on the patio. It was a little bit bigger than she remembered it, but it was the same patio. “Here is the manager,” Mano said as he and another man walked up. “I don't know what I can tell you that I haven't already told the police that have been here.” Raine stuck her hand out and shook it. “I'm not exactly here to ask the same questions that they are. As I understand it, the couple were the last ones to leave the restaurant, correct?”
“There was no one else in the restaurant other than myself and one of our kitchen workers cleaning. I saw them head out of the restaurant with Mano, and he left.” Raine pointed to the body of water just down from where they stood on the patio. “Where does the inlet lead to?”