by Gina LaManna
The crowd stared back at us, probably waiting for some sort of signal from their leader. Coco must have known we’d been trying to uncover his true identity, and he had played us. I wouldn’t recognize a single one of these men if someone put them before me in a lineup thanks to their identical disguises.
“Meg, run!” I called. “Now!”
“Wait one second,” Meg said through clenched teeth. “I’m working on something.”
“Work faster!” I said through gritted teeth as the men in the audience all stood up, as if on cue.
Chairs clattered and feet shuffled, but aside from that, nobody moved. I couldn’t tell who’d given the signal, nor did I care. There were at least twenty to thirty of them and two of us, and any way I looked at it, we were on the losing end of the odds.
“What are you doing?” Alika snapped as Meg and I inched backward. “You’re supposed to be performing.”
“There we go,” Meg said. “That’s what I was looking for. Gotcha!”
She pulled a tiny device from her right coconut and held it towards the audience. I briefly wondered why everyone seemed to be using their coconuts as storage, but I didn’t have time to wonder for long. Meg pointed the device, which looked something like a garage door opener, at the crowd. Her finger hovered over the button.
“Five, six, seven, eight,” Meg said in a sing-song voice as she pressed the button. “Boom.”
There was a long pause after Meg said the word boom. The entire room waited in unity, and I sensed the slightest bit of unease from the crowd. There was a whole lot of unease coming from me, and a good bit of frustration coming from Alika.
“Dang it,” Meg said, shaking the contraption in her palm. “This thing should’ve worked. I followed the instructions I found in Clay’s suitcase perfectly.”
“Clay’s suitcase?” I muttered with trepidation.
“Well, I certainly don’t carry explosive supplies on an airplane,” Meg said. “And I couldn’t let all of Clay’s hard work go to waste after Anthony recovered his toys.”
Meg shook the device a little more and pressed the button a few times pointing it randomly at the crowd. One of the men in the front row gave a small, pleased sort of grin. We were stuck, and they knew it. Meg’s plan of escape had fallen flat, and I hadn’t even had a plan.
“Oh, there we go,” Meg said, and flipped the device over while depressing a second button on the back. “That should do it.”
This time her command seemed to work. As her thumb hit the button, a deep resounding boom sounded from the center of the room. It grew slowly, magnificently, until the blast followed a second later. Before my eyes, the three-tiered, gorgeously decorated cake exploded with impressive force. It sent men from three tables over diving for cover.
“Meg!” I exclaimed. “What were you thinking?”
“I know,” she said morosely. “I hate to ruin such a good cake, but—”
“No, I mean you could have killed people with a blast that size.”
“Nah. I set the power for non-lethal. It’s a setting Clay builds into all his explosives to make them a scare tactic. The scare will wear off really quickly. Speaking of, we should get going. I saw a golf cart out back. The chances are forty-sixty that I can get it started without a key.”
The chances of Meg hot-wiring the golf cart weren’t great, but they were certainly better than running barefoot through unfamiliar territory with my grass skirt swinging at my hips. Plus, the men in the audience had the advantage of knowing the land. We did not.
Finally, we were graced with a stroke of good fortune when I found the keys already in the ignition. “We’re good to—oof.”
“I’m driving,” Meg said, elbowing me out of the way. “Hop in the back.”
Before I could hop in as instructed, she took off. The cart surged forward as I leapt for it... and missed. I chased after it, yelling for her to stop. She didn’t hear me for at least a hundred yards. She glanced back and appeared surprised to be missing her partner in crime.
“Where were you?” Meg asked as I sprinted toward her. “I told you to get on!”
As I leapt onto the back of the cart, my feet stuck out in all sorts of awkward angles. I grabbed on for dear life as Meg hit the gas and zoomed us toward the entrance to the gardens.
“Move it or lose it, peacock,” she shouted as a particularly colorful bird trotted across the path ahead of us. “Hold on, Lace—I’ll get us out of here!”
She made a sharp veer to avoid the pretty wildlife and knocked into the base of a coconut tree. One coconut fell and bounced off the roof of the golf cart. I glanced up and saw there was an indention in the plastic. It was very fortunate that the thing hadn’t hit my head.
“How ‘bout that,” Meg said, and zoomed off again.
I managed to pull myself into some semblance of a sitting position and glanced behind us. The men were in full chase mode. Some of them ran on foot, others grabbed golf carts when they could. One of them had found a tractor and was in hot pursuit.
“They’ve got guns!” I called. “Look out!”
“Well, unfortunately we don’t,” Meg said. “So, we’re just going to have to outrun them. Throw off any extra weight, Lacey. This cart is dragging.”.
“Meg! I’m wearing a set of coconuts and a grass skirt. I have nothing left to throw off.”
“It might distract them if you felt like tossing the top,” she said with an evil cackle before taking a sharp left and bringing us within sight of the front gates. “Almost there, chickadee, hold onto your coconuts.”
The first shot rang out when we were within one hundred feet of the entrance gates. Meg and I both flinched, but she didn’t stop for a glance back. I searched for something to throw from the back at the golf cart, but there was nothing. I didn’t even have a shoe.
“Five, six, seven, eight,” Meg began to count again.
“What are you counting down to?” I asked. “Just drive.”
“Counting down until we get outside of the park,” she called back. “We’re almost to the car. Once we get in that thing, we can outrun the rest of these dumbbells.”
“Crap,” I said. “My keys are with the rest of my clothes.”
“Why didn’t you store them in your coconuts?”
“Well, I didn’t realize that was a thing,” I said. “I don’t have my phone either.”
“I thought you were supposed to be a professional. What am I going to do with you?”
“You’re not going to do much of anything if Coco’s guys get us first.”
“Don’t worry,” Meg said. “I have a plan up my sleeve.”
“Another one?”
“Let’s just say I have long sleeves.”
Meg’s plan was concerning. Mostly because her plans rarely made a ton of sense. Then again, she’d come up with the cake exploding diversion, which was more than I’d done, and speaking of cake, I was beginning to realize I had bits of it splattered all over me. On a normal day, that would be a very exciting development. Under these circumstances, not so much. But that didn’t stop me from taking a swipe of frosting off my shoulder.
“It’s for energy,” I explained to Meg, when I caught her eyeing me in the rearview mirror. “Look where you’re driving!”
A second later, our golf cart hit a rough patch and skidded out of control. Next came the smoke cloud that cut down our vision almost at once. A toxic blue, potent mix engulfed us entirely, sending me and Meg into coughing fits. I scraped at my eyes, struggling to see. It was useless. We were surrounded by a blue-black fog that put us in complete blindness.
Meg barreled on ahead, not letting up on the gas. The smoke got thicker, denser, and more noxious in its fumes, like the thick scent of rotten egg. We were both gagging as the cart hurtled through the clouds.
“What sort of plan is this?” I spluttered.
“Not my plan,” Meg said.
That’s when I felt the arms surround me and pull me from the golf cart just before the
cart crashed into a tree and skidded down an embankment toward the sparkling river below.
Chapter 17
“Just out of curiosity...” Anthony began, toweling off after a shower back at our hotel room. “What exactly was your plan to get out of there?”
“We were sort of improvising,” I said. “It was a trap. I underestimated Coco.”
“Ah.” Anthony wrapped the towel around his waist and stepped out of the bathroom. “I think you owe me one.”
“I think I pre-paid the favor with the wax. In fact, I should get five favors for that. Put this one on my tab.”
I stood near Bella’s crib and watched as she played with her toes and giggled. She wouldn’t let me hold her because I still smelled like the rotten-egg smoke bomb that Anthony had tossed as a distraction against Coco’s men. He’d whisked me—and Meg—out of the cart seconds before it’d crashed into a tree and skidded down to the river.
“I still can’t believe you followed us,” I said with a huff, reaching a hand down to stroke Bella’s cheek.
She grimaced and let out a wail.
“You need a shower,” Anthony pointed out, very unhelpfully. “Why the attitude? Aren’t you glad I followed you?”
“Yes, I mean, I’m glad I wasn’t captured by a bunch of strange men, but I thought we were over this whole secret-agent following me around business.”
“I thought we were over the whole ‘arguing with me when I’ve just saved the lives of you and your best friend’,” Anthony said, leaning forward to kiss my forehead. At the last second, he pulled away. “You really do need a shower.”
“I’m getting there.”
“You’re not mad, are you?” Anthony’s eyes darkened. “Look at it from my point of view, Lacey. You’re the mother of our daughter. I’m not letting you walk into a lion’s den alone.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You would have said no. Bella did just fine staying with Nora for an hour or two. They both loved it. I don’t think I owe you an apology this time around; if I wasn’t at the luau, there’s no saying how the night would have ended.”
I gave an agreeable nod.
Anthony’s face was hard as he looked at me. “And I can’t bear to think of an alternative ending.”
“I know, I’m not mad at you,” I said, heaving a huge sigh. “The only person to be mad at is myself. You said it: I’m a mom now. I probably shouldn’t be taking these kinds of risks, but I can’t seem to help myself. I thought I was prepared, but I wasn’t. Even Meg was more prepared than me.”
Anthony gave a thin smile. “You’ve still got frosting on your eyebrow.”
“Care to lick it off?”
He wrinkled his nose.
“Yeah, yeah, I smell,” I said. “The point is that I underestimated Coco. I should never have let that happen. You wouldn’t have; you didn’t.”
“I’ve got more years of experience than you. And I’m a cynic.”
“But I’m supposed to be a professional,” I said. “I’m beginning to think everyone is letting me play a little game to amuse myself. I let myself get sucked into this case because Kai stroked my ego and said my services were famous all the way to Hawaii.”
“He said that?”
“Don’t laugh!”
“I’m not laughing.”
“I believed him, too. I’m such an idiot!” I raised a hand, massaged my forehead. “And now I’m wrapped up in this...thing. I don’t even know what to call it. I’m not even sure it’s about May anymore.”
“I don’t think it’s ever been just about May. That’s why you can’t give up and are fighting so hard to figure everything out. Your family’s life has been at risk ever since that first bomb went off, and you were determined to put an end to it. To find whoever’s behind this mess and end it all for once. That’s admirable, Lacey. Not reckless.”
“I’ve been shot at, pimped out as an exotic dancer, and chased barefoot by a flock of mobsters,” I said. “This isn’t how Meg’s wedding week was supposed to end up.”
“You’ve also cared for our little girl, you’ve made me a very happy man, and you nobly agreed to help solve a murder case on your time off. There are two ways to look at this, Lace. I’m just asking you not be upset with me for worrying about my family, too.”
“I’m not,” I said, heaving a sigh. “I’m just tired and want this over. Clay still hasn’t been located, and Coco clearly has far reaching contacts. I don’t know how he found out that Meg and I would be at his luau tonight, but the evening’s win went to him. Hands down. We didn’t even stand a chance.”
“I really want to give you a hug right now,” Anthony said, stepping closer to me. “But...”
“I get it. I smell.”
He laughed, then circled his arms around me anyway and squeezed. “Count this as favor number two.”
I hugged him back, rested my head on his shoulder, and let a wave of calmness take hold for the first time all night. “I love you.”
“I love you,” Anthony said. “Now maybe after that shower, we can return to favor number one...”
“Hold that thought,” I said as somebody knocked on the door. “It’s probably Meg trying to come take a peek at your after-shower physique.”
Anthony sped around the corner, and shortly after, sounds of a man frantically pulling on clothes drifted back from the next room over.
But when I swung the door open, it wasn’t Meg standing before us, but Kai. It took me a second to place him since I was used to running into him at the coffee shop, but when I did, I gave a confused shake of my head.
“Hey, Kai,” I greeted him. “What brings you here?”
He pulled a baseball cap lower over his face and glanced up and down the hall. I realized he was in disguise and nervous, so I gestured for him to step into the room and quickly closed the door behind him.
“Thanks for that,” Kai said, removing his cap and holding it in front of his rotund stomach. The man looked especially massive standing in the little hotel doorway. “I hate to disturb you, but there’s some information I need to share with you.”
“Not this again,” I groaned. “What is it?”
“It’s not that simple, Miss Luzzi,” he said. “You’re going to have to come with me.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t think so, mister. I just got back from a trap Coco had set. How do I know this isn’t another?”
Anthony emerged from around the corner as I asked, his eyes landing on Kai’s and taking him in with a snap gaze. He looked intimidating in black track pants and a black V-necked T-shirt that showed off his post-shower physique in a fine way. It was easy to see why Meg was always hankering for a peek.
“Er, hi,” Kai said to Anthony. “I’m Kai. I’ve been working with your wife.”
“I know who you are,” Anthony said simply.
Kai gave a shaky nod before turning back to me. “I need you to come with me. This won’t take long—thirty minutes tops. I’ll give you a ride and drop you off.”
“No,” Anthony said before I could respond.
“I can speak for myself, thanks!”
“It’s not a trap,” Kai said to Anthony, ignoring my grumblings. “I’d swear on my own life. On my grandmother’s. On Java Hut’s entire existence.”
“What’s so important that you can’t say it here?” I asked. “I have no interest in going anywhere tonight. I am interested only in a shower and bed.”
“Are you what I’m smelling?” Kai asked, taking a deep sniff. “I thought the sewage was broken in here.”
“Moving along,” I said, gesturing with one hand. “What’s so important it couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning?”
“It’s not so much of a what as it is a who,” Kai said. “I have Samuel...ah, ready to talk.”
“Great, but I already spoke with him.”
“He didn’t tell you everything. I think you know that.”
“Well, I don’t think he is feeling especially fri
endly toward me after I ran away from his house screaming like a lunatic,” I said. At Kai’s curious expression, I explained. “There was a spider. Let’s not get into it.”
“I think you’ll find Sam is motivated to talk this time around.”
“What sort of motivation?” I asked, exasperated. “Be straight with me, Kai.”
“They have him locked up somewhere,” Anthony said. “Ready to spill his guts or...face a particular set of consequences.”
I gasped. “Kai!”
“We’re not torturing him or anything,” Kai said quickly. “He’s at my friend’s shaved ice shop. We told him if he talks to you, he gets off scot free.”
“And if he doesn’t?” I asked, alarmed.
“Well, we’re not going to hurt him, but we’ll think of something. You let us worry about that.”
“How do I know this isn’t a trap? For all the twists and turns this case has taken, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that you’re Coco.”
Kai gave a brief smile and looked at his feet, contemplating for a long moment. Only the gurgles of Bella finding her toes fascinating and superbly delicious broke the silence.
“I’m racking my brain for a way I can prove this isn’t a trap,” Kai said finally. “I thought of giving you the keys to my shop or the password to my bank account, but then I figured your husband can probably get either of those things if he really wants.”
“Probably right,” I agreed.
“So, the only thing I have left,” he said with a shrug, “is honesty. I’ve been pressed for cash for years. Running a coffee shop isn’t exactly a get-rich-quick scheme. Add in the payouts I’ve been making to Coco, and I’m always short on cash. I’m sick of it, and so is everyone else in this town. We’ve all wanted it to stop, but nobody’s willing to stand up to Coco except for you. I’m sick of being a coward. I want to help.”
“And getting Sam to talk is helpful how?”
“He’s involved in this whole mess. He’s hinted he might know what happened to your cousin.”
“Clay?”
At Kai’s nod, I already knew my answer. If a visit with Kai to the shaved ice shop would help get the groom-to-be back in his tux before the wedding march began, I’d do it. For Meg, for my family, and to salvage what was left of this vacation.