by Eden Butler
“I can handle Lincoln,” she promised touching his cheek when it looked like he wasn’t going to leave. Lily kissed him again, breathing in his scent, teasing his tongue before she released him. “I know where you keep the baseball bat, and I have mace on my keychain. Besides,” she said, shifting her glance at Lincoln who seemed caught up in his phone, “he’s a silly mainland boy. I could take him no problem.”
“I know you could, makamae. I just don’t want you tearing up my very pristine, newly renovated mansion to do it.” Keilen waved a hand around the room—the broken tile along the backsplash and the bare wood floor at their feet. He smiled, nodding to the plywood countertop that had begun to slant to the left.
“Oh, I’ll be sure to keep the mess to a minimum.”
“Glad to hear it.” Another peck, and Keilen stepped away. He walked from the kitchen, glanced once at Lincoln to which he said, “Goodbye annoying haloe buggah,” and then he left.
“Now,” Lincoln said, when Keilen started up his Mercedes and pulled out of the drive. “Do you think you could put on something more…appropriate and come with me to my hotel?”
Lily sipped her coffee, laughing into the mug. “Uh, no. I’m not going to your hotel.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Campbell. They gave us a meeting room. The remote access has been set up, and Ellis wants us to chat with the client at one. We need to prep.”
“You couldn’t text that to me?” she asked, pouring the coffee into the sink.
“You didn’t bother to show for the call with Ellis. I didn’t want to take a chance.” Lincoln walked to the back of the room, looking out toward the beach. “You better hurry.” He looked up, squinting at the clouds ahead. “Looks like a storm is coming.”
Something deep and knowing tingled in the back of Lily’s mind and for a reason she couldn’t quite define, she thought more than the sky was building to a tempest.
Chapter Nineteen
Clara seemed nervous. Lily couldn’t quite nail down what it was, but the legal assistant kept looking away from the screen, scribbling notes on her laptop, not bothering to answer any of Lily’s answers correctly.
“Do we have any information from the security scan at the corporate office?” It was a valid question, one that should have been in the notes the clients sent to the firm. But Clara again shifted her gaze, hesitating as she thumbed through the file at her side.
“There doesn’t seem to be any information on that, Miss Campbell.”
Lily exhaled, scanning her own notes, ones she made on her personal iPad months back during meetings she and Ron Black, Reynold’s Steel’s current CEO, had to discuss the negotiation of their next takeover. He hadn’t released any information to his board or staff, but confided in Lily the plans for a takeover of his cousin’s company. But, he didn’t have all the numbers, all the facts needed to launch a real strategy. It was family, he’d told Lily, and very sensitive.
“If we knew anything about Black’s plans, anything that he might have bounced off you, Lil, we might know who’d have the most to benefit from sending in the mole.” It was the second time Lincoln subtly mentioned seeing Lily’s notes.
“No, that’s not going to help us at the moment. We’re coming at it the wrong way,” she told him, walking toward the coffee maker for a refill. The meeting room adjoined the conference room on the second floor. It was a standard room, more high-end than Lily thought it might be with several small tables around the window and along the back wall and a larger one in the center, where Lincoln had set up the monitor for the remote access conference call with both Clara, back in New Orleans and the clients in Pittsburgh.
Lily sipped her coffee, her attention returning to the monitor when the shuffle of Clara’s files sounded. In the distance, behind the large window on the monitor, displaying Clara’s office space and the window behind her, Lily had a plain view of the downpour happening in New Orleans. Through that window, the city streets were doused with thick, pelting rain, a collection against the glass and flooding the area around the building.
“Clara,” Lily said behind a sip of coffee as she returned to the PC and the large monitor, “are you safe at the office? The storm looks bad over there.”
“Might be the end of hurricane season, but no one told Mother Nature,” she said, shifting around in her chair to lower the blinds behind her. “We’re fine here, but I heard the national forecast this morning. Y’all are going to get some bad storms today, too. Be careful.”
Lily looked out of the window, something she hadn’t bothered to do all day. The meeting with the clients had been a bad one—Black was visibly upset, and not very forthcoming. He seemed more irritated that Lincoln led the call while Lily tried her best to calm the man. Curtains pushed aside, Lily caught sight of the darkening skies above them and heard the coming rumble of thunder as it rolled in the distance. The ocean beyond the parking lot and past the highway that ran in front of the hotel, was unsettled; a rolling whip of wave and current that grew higher and higher as the winds picked up.
“Lil, can we get back to this?” Lincoln said, shifting through his phone and pulling up a bound file from his briefcase. “I’ve got numbers here, a list of names, all corporations and agencies that have made offers to Black in the past ten years…”
Lily didn’t like the fierce storm stirring in the horizon or how black the skies had turned. Ignoring Lincoln, she pulled out her phone, frowning when she noticed neither Zee or Keilen had bothered to return her texts.
“If we cross reference the dip in…” Lincoln’s suggestion went silent and around them a loud shrieking noise erupted over the speakers.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the National Weather Service has issued an alert…”
Fear rumbled inside Lily’s chest as Lincoln, inexplicably, looked up at the ceiling, to the bright white lights flashing as the warning continued. It was no simple storm stirring in the ocean; more than some tropical depression that would cut power. Again, Lily looked out the window, gripping her cell tight in her hand as she thought of how long it had been since she spoke to Zinnia. Not since Ano’s party. Not since she and Keilen disappeared to swim half naked in the ocean.
“Damn,” she said, once again trying Zee’s number. Once again getting that annoying message of her to leave a message.
“Should we postpone this?” Clara said on the monitor.
“I think we can continue…”
“The power will go out soon, Lincoln, and I can’t get in touch with my family.”
Lily had already started to gather her things, feeling a little sick when she tried Keilen’s number and got no reply, no voicemail request at all.
“Lily, this is nothing. You know that. We get storms like this twice a month back home.” He seemed more concerned with whatever text he received but not enough that he stopped insisting on keeping the meeting going.
Another alert announced an update to hotel guests, this one detailing the conditions and warning guests to stay inside.
“You hear that?” Lily asked Lincoln, moving her phone between her hands as the announcement continued. “Cat three, sustained winds spinning around eighty miles an hour.”
He waved at her, a silent motion to keep quiet as he took a call. In the background, Clara went on about filings made two years before and other claims Black had issued on behalf of the company. Lily didn’t pay attention to anything. Her worry wasn’t unfounded, she knew that. Lincoln hadn’t been wrong. There were storms of this magnitude back in New Orleans on occasion; they happened so often that flooding and school and road closures were commonplace. But that was New Orleans, a city connected to land that went on for miles and miles, that lead to other cities, to smaller town, larger populations that stretched across America. Hawaii was smaller, much smaller, island and inlets that covered eight main populated places, all vulnerable to the fickle ocean and mighty storms.
In the middle of all that was Zinnia and Keilen. And Lily hadn’t heard from either of them.
Lily tried again, passing the table and Lincoln as he fired off yet another message, or whatever it was he did on his precious phone, to step into the hallway. Her hands shook and that sick feeling in her chest thickened, made breathing difficult when she dialed Zee’s number and once more got her voicemail.
“Sweetie, I know I’ve left a bunch of messages, but I’m officially worried. I haven’t heard from you since last night and now there’s a storm. I…I’m not sure what to do or where you are or…anything.” She exhaled, swallowed the thick knot that seemed to form in her throat. “Please, Zee, just call or text so I know you’re okay. I’m…I think I’m going to go home, to your home to see if you’re back.”
Lily’s worst fear had always been the obvious—losing Zinnia. It wasn’t a ridiculous thing to dread; she’d already lost the people she loved most in the world. Zee was it. Some nights when her niece had first started dating or going out to parties with her friends, Lily’s morbid imagination would construct the most awful scenarios, all of which ended with Lily picking out caskets or, God forbid, identifying Zinnia’s body. That immense feeling of dread would stay with her all night, would grow darker as the hours ticked by and Zee remained absent.
She hadn’t felt that dread in a long time. It had been there, ever so faintly as Zinnia went off to college, then to Hawaii, but Lily had trained herself to let some of her worse fears go. It was the only way to remain sane.
Now that fear was back and it had taken hold of Lily like never before. It had been intensified by the worry she felt for Keilen. Lily took a second to compose herself, resting her head against the wall as she closed her eyes, shooting up a silent prayer for the protection of her family and her own fraying nerves.
Breaths deep, focused, Lily tried to relax, listening to the rising beat of her heart, wishing it would clam, that the worry she felt would not overtake her. And then, the text message alert chirped twice, making her jump as she looked down at her phone.
The number was anonymous; the only thing recognizable it was the area code, 808, coming from a local number. When she opened the message, that fear, the worry and dread she felt dimmed. She still feared what might have become of Zee and Ano, but she no longer worried about Keilen. The image was dark, but showed his face and the gray shirt she’d seen him in that morning.
He wasn’t in danger. Keilen was simply occupied.
Chapter Twenty
The roads had begun to flood two miles from Welo Ridge. It was a lower-line area on the island and typically took on water when the rains were heavy. But Lily would not let the water or threat of a rough storm keep her from checking on her niece.
There had still been no message from Zee, at least as far as Lily knew. When she saw the anonymous text, and the pictures included in it, Lily tucked her cell in the inside pocket of the blazer she wore. It hurt too much to look at it.
Lincoln leaned forward, shifting in his seat to get a clear view of the road. The rain was coming sideways now and the limbs from the palms fell like crepe myrtle blossoms along St. Charles in the spring the further down the road they came.
“You sure about this? We might be going to a lot of trouble for no reason, Campbell. Your niece might not even be there.”
“Just be careful,” she said, leaning an elbow on the door as Lincoln rounded the curve on Kalahia Drive. Two streets away from the cottages, a thick swell of rain fell overhead, and Lincoln had to correct his rental to keep on the road.
Lily didn’t stop praying until they reached the driveway. Lincoln barely had the engine off before both he and Lily darted from the car and sped up the stairs leading to the second floor entrance.
“If they aren’t here…” Lily started, just barely remembering to keep the door open for Lincoln. She moved around the living room, looking for a note, for something that might tell Lily where her niece and Ano had gotten off to. “I just don’t know where they could be.”
She told herself the search would distract her. That picture flashed to the forefront of her mind when she stopped at the bookshelf next to the front window and caught sight of a picture of Ano and Keilen out on the beach. They were both shirtless, both with bright smiles and “hang loose” hand gestures as they hammed for the camera.
Keilen’s hand on her face. His expression fierce, one Lily knew well. He’d made the same face just the night before.
“I…don’t see anything at all,” she said, gritting her teeth when bile shifted and rose to the back of her throat. “I’ll check their bedroom.” She needed to be away from Lincoln. It wouldn’t do for him to see her emotional. He’d only hold it against her.
Lily shut the door behind her and she made it to Zee’s room, pacing around the bed, still looking, but consumed by those images. Despite her upset, she pulled out her phone, sitting on the bed to focus on the images again.
The picture was grainy and dark, but she could make out Keilen’s face clearly. Malini leaned against him, her fingers in his hair, arms around his shoulders and their mouths just inches apart. It was a cozy scene, them in the parking garage, so close, touching; it reminded Lily of how they’d been in high school, of how Malini didn’t care who saw them when they kissed.
She stared for a couple minutes longer, then she couldn’t look at it anymore. The ache inside her chest grew tighter, fiercer. Lily had felt this disappointment before. She knew loss, but this was something different. This stung worse. For all his professions of trust, needing it, wanting it, wanting her, Keilen was the one breaking promises. The reality of that made Lily feel sick.
Outside, a crack of lightning and thunder sounded, followed by a shrieking pop and all went dark. Lily dried her wet face, hating herself for how lost she felt and moved out of Zinnia’s room, coming to a halt when she entered the living room and found Lincoln leaning on the kitchen counter and Keilen, hair soaking, button up sticking to his chest and his abdomen, in the kitchen, rummaging through a stack of papers near the microwave.
“Lil,” he said, head shooting up when he saw her. The smile on his face fractured when he looked at her, and Keilen forgot his task, dropping the mail in his hands to walk toward her. “What is it? Zee?” He touched her arm and Lily jerked away from him. “Lily…”
She tore off her jacket, feeling a sudden wave of humidity in the room and threw it on the kitchen counter, doing her best to ignore the sting she felt coming off Keilen at her quick dismissal.
“Did you look on the patio?” she asked Lincoln, nodding toward the stairs below.
“Why would I?” he asked, slouching against the counter as though he were bored.
Lincoln returned his attention to his phone again, his thumb working over the screen as Lily fingered the papers on the coffee table, upturning several magazines and a dog-eared, well-worn paperback of Erin Morgenstern’s “The Night Circus.” It was Zee’s, an autographed copy Lily had sent for her birthday last year. Between the last twenty pages Lily found an old envelope, a return-addressed medical bill that someone had used to scratch down a phone number and address. Next to the address, in Zee’s handwriting was a doodle of her name and Ano’s written into the shape of a heart with long loops of filigree and embellishments. In the center was today’s date.
“I know where they went,” Lily jerked her attention to Lincoln, who nodded once, feigning interest. “Get an umbrella and let’s go—”
“Wait,” Keilen said, grabbing Lily’s arm when she tried to walk toward the door. His size had never seemed so intimidating before, and her heart jumped in reaction to the ferocity in his eyes. Sweat dotted his upper lip, and when she lowered her gaze, her eyes involuntarily took in how his wet shirt clung to his muscled chest. “What the hell is going on? You won’t even look at me. What happened?” She shook her head and tried to push past him, but Keilen countered, stepping in front of her path to the door.
Before she could answer, her cell rang, and Lily tried to reach for it, but Keilen blocked her path there too. Lincoln, though, didn’t have a problem
answering it and, for once, Lily welcomed his meddling.
“Who is it?” she asked him, not bothering to attempt another escape from Keilen’s attention.
“Ellis,” he said, the name coming out in an exhale.
“Speak to him for me,” she said, folding her arms and Keilen copied her.
“I’ll take this outside and meet you in the car.”
She didn’t bother to acknowledge Lincoln’s exit; the anger and hurt brimming in her chest made her sense loose and her fingers tingle with the urge to lash out at him.
“Lily…”
“Today. In the parking garage. You were seen.” She figured there was no time or reason to delay the inevitable. She had to find Zee and make sure she was okay. But her disappointment in Keilen and his broken promise was great, her fury at his backstabbing greater. Any normal occasion similar to this and Lily could be cool, collected enough that her insults would be sharp and especially biting. There was no time for it today.
“Parking garage? What are you…” Keilen stopped, his face shifting, downcast features that told his shock. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“You were with Malini. Today.” She motioned toward his shirt, disgusted. “You were wearing the same clothes. You…you kissed her. From the look of those pictures, you more than kissed her.”
“That’s not what happened.” He dropped his hands to his sides, and Lily shot a glance at his knuckles. They’d gone white as he tightened his fingers into a fist. “You cannot be serious. Me and Mal…”
“You’ve never explained yourself about her. You never once told me how it ended or even when. You and I…there’s nothing—” That ache sharpened and when Keilen shook his head, when his expression moved from shock to amusement, any wells of patience Lily might have had, dried up. “You think this is funny?”