I stowed my phone away in my purse and rose from my chair when I saw Jamie sidle through the pool area's gated entrance. Waving, I made my way around the patio to meet her. A cluster of bikini-clad twentysomething girls were gathered together near the water, sipping cocktails and swaying to the music. They squealed when a young man in the pool tried to flirt with them by splashing water in their direction. I gave the splash zone a wide birth, not wanting to get my black leather Tory Burch flip-flops wet.
Jamie had taken a seat on one of the barstools. The straps of her yellow bikini peeked out from beneath her pink maxi dress as she patted the empty seat next to her. "Perfect timing," she exclaimed when I joined her. She lifted a slender hand to flag down the bartender, who hurried over to our corner. "We'll each take a Tequila Sunrise and one of the Hawaiian shooters that are on special." She winked at me. "Trust me. You'll love these."
"What's in the shooter?" I asked.
"Nothin' too strong," she replied. "It's like the fruit salad of booze. It's got peach liqueur, melon liqueur, orange liqueur…" She scrunched her nose as she tried to tick off each ingredient from memory.
I turned my attention to the bartender, who was filling a glass with my cocktail. He was of average height, with a slim build and dark curly hair. He met my gaze with friendly brown eyes as he slid the drink and a straw across the counter toward me. I flicked a glance at the name tag pinned to his polo shirt and felt a wide grin spread across my face. Just the man I wanted to see.
Jamie stopped counting fruity liqueurs on her fingers and glanced up. As if reading my mind, she smiled at the bartender and said, "Timo, this is Kaley."
The young man nodded at me. "You're the new girl at Happy Hula," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Not entirely new," I replied, shrugging. "I'm originally from Aloha Lagoon." I leaned across the counter toward him and lowered my voice. "So I hear you're the source for all the best resort gossip."
"I guess." Timo's lips turned up at the corners. "You hear a lot of interesting things working behind a bar." He set down two double shot glasses in front of Jamie and me. "Hawaiian shooters for the ladies."
Jamie grabbed one and then handed me the other. She grinned and clinked her glass against mine. "Bottoms up!"
I lifted the colorful shot to my lips and tilted my head back, letting the mixture of booze and tropical juice slide down my throat. The alcohol instantly warmed my insides. "That was delicious," I said, licking my lips.
Jamie set her empty glass on the counter. Her face puckered from the tart drink. "A little on the sour side though." She chased it with a sip of her cocktail before turning her attention to Timo. "Kaley has a few questions for you, if you don't mind."
He lifted one shoulder and then let it fall. "Ask away."
I leaned forward. "Do you know a bellhop at the resort named Marco?"
Timo nodded. "Yeah, Marco Rossini. Talented guy—I've heard him sing a few times. A bit of a dog with the ladies though."
"So I've noticed," I said dryly. "What do you know about his ex-girlfriend, Erin Malone? I'm trying to find her."
"You won't have to look very far." Timo nodded toward the main resort building. "She works on the housekeeping staff."
Jamie and I traded an excited look. "Good to know," I said, beaming.
A young woman slinked over to the bar and leaned on the counter. I recognized her as the redhead that had been seated in front of me on my flight to Kauai. "Aloha. Can I have a Sex on the Beach?" she asked, fluttering her lashes at Timo.
"Excuse me a sec," he said to Jamie and me. He shifted his attention to the girl, who continued to flirt with him as he mixed her drink.
I scooted my barstool closer to Jamie's. "Noa did some digging on Erin this morning too. He sent me her phone number," I told her in a low voice. I swirled the straw in my drink. "I actually tried calling her a little while ago."
Jamie cocked her head. "What did she say?"
"Nothing. I got her voicemail." I ducked my head, feeling sheepish. "I sort of panicked and left a message saying that she'd won a free charm bracelet from the boutique. I was hoping that might entice her to call me back or drop by the shop so I can talk to her in person."
"Nice." Jamie smirked. "Maybe I should ignore your phone calls so you'll offer me fancy jewelry," she added with a snort.
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. If this works, I'll buy her one of the little gold pineapple charm bracelets on the display at the front of the store. They aren't expensive. The thirty bucks would be worth it if I can find out where she was on Saturday night." I inclined my head in Timo's direction. "But if she works here at the resort like he says, I may be able to track her down even if she doesn't come into the boutique."
"True." Jamie took a sip of her drink. "Ya know, I'm actually not surprised, now that I think about it. Most locals work for the resort in some capacity."
"Good point." I glanced in the direction of the main building as I sipped my cocktail, wondering if Erin Malone was in there at that very moment.
The flirty redhead took her drink from Timo and slipped him a twenty-dollar bill along with her number, telling him with a wink that he could keep the change as long as he called her before she flew back to Milwaukee in a few days. Then she turned and strutted back across the patio to rejoin her brunette friend. Timo made change and deposited the extra bills into the tip jar before coming back to our end of the bar. "Can I get you ladies anything else?"
"More information," Jamie replied. She hiccupped, and her cheeks colored. "And another Tequila Sunrise."
Timo set to work mixing Jamie's cocktail.
"I heard a rumor that Erin threatened Louana Watson before she was killed," I said, watching him pour the mixture of tequila, grenadine, and orange juice from his shaker into a fresh glass. Since it had come from that sleazebag Marco's lips, I couldn't be one hundred percent certain it was the truth. I was hoping that Timo could confirm it.
He handed Jamie her drink and then stooped beneath the counter to retrieve a bowl of fresh limes. "You're trying to prove your aunt didn't kill Louana," he said in that same assured tone. When I blinked at him, he said, "I hear about pretty much everything that goes on around here. People have been talking about Rikki, just as they've been talking about your divorce from that football star."
Heat spread throughout my whole body. It hadn't even occurred to me that the bartender would know about that. I glanced at Jamie, feeling embarrassed.
She gave me a reassuring smile and reached over to give my hand a squeeze. She narrowed her eyes, shooting Timo what seemed like a warning look. "Just tell us what you know about the rumor that Erin threatened Lou, okay?"
Timo looked neither embarrassed nor remorseful. He just shrugged. "That's actually not a rumor," he said as he cut the little citrus fruits into garnishes. "I heard about it from Erin herself."
If I leaned any farther forward, I would have been on the same side of the bar as him. "What happened?" I asked, my pulse quickening with excitement. This was what I'd come here to find out from the skinny bartender. I fished around in the depths of my purse and found a crumpled five-dollar bill, which I slid across the counter to encourage him to keep talking.
Timo thanked me with a curt nod and pocketed the cash. He went back to work slicing limes. "Erin dropped by here a couple of weeks ago after her shift ended. She and one of the other housekeepers, Anaida, had a few drinks right where you two are sitting. The bar was pretty busy, so I only caught part of their conversation." Timo finished cutting up the fruit and set the bowl and knife back under the counter. He looked from Jamie to me. "Erin was talking about her breakup with Marco. She'd dropped by his house without calling first one night after work, and Louana was there. Erin dumped him on the spot."
"How did Erin seem when you saw her?" I studied him carefully.
"Was she sad?" Jamie chimed in, placing her elbows on the bar. "Hurt? Or just really pissed off? If I'd walked in on my boyfriend with another woman, I'd have been
royally pissed."
I felt a twinge of hurt, recalling my own personal experience with Bryan and his home-wrecking pom-pom girls. Forcing the memory down, I returned my attention to Timo. "Well?" I asked, my tone perhaps a little too eager.
He shrugged. "She was understandably angry."
"What about the threat?" Jamie asked. "What did she say she was gonna do to Lou for stealing her man?"
"She didn't spell it out, exactly." Timo set down the dishrag he'd been using to wipe the counter clean. "But the way her voice sounded made it seem like a threat to me."
"What did she say?" I pressed, the tiny hairs on my arms and neck prickling.
Timo placed both hands on the bar and leaned toward us, the fire from the tiki torches dancing in his eyes. "Erin said that she blamed Louana for destroying her relationship. When her friend asked what she was going to do about it, Erin just smiled and said that sooner or later, Lou was going to get exactly what she deserved."
CHAPTER NINE
I stared at Timo, trying to process what he'd just told us. What had Erin meant when she'd said Louana would get exactly what she deserved? I agreed with the bartender; it did sound an awful lot like a threat. But did Erin really think Lou deserved to die? I mean, I was the first to admit I'd wished ill on the trio of cheerleaders who had ended my marriage—but I'd only hoped that maybe their hair would fall out or they'd get fat. I hadn't wanted to murder them.
I wanted to ask Timo if he'd heard Erin say anything else about Lou or her unfaithful ex, but a cluster of guests staggered up to the bar then, crowding around the small counter and waving hands full of cash. The bartender bowed his head to Jamie and me and excused himself to attend to the newcomers.
"Wow," Jamie breathed. "That story totally gave me the chills!" She held up her tan arms to show me the pimply gooseflesh. "Do you think that maybe Erin is Louana's killer?"
"It's possible." I sipped my drink, nearly spilling it as an overweight man in a red aloha shirt bumped into my stool. I wobbled on the seat before regaining my balance.
Instead of apologizing, the man eyed my chair and then gave me a pointed look. "You ladies about through here?" he asked. He inclined his head to an enormous woman in a rainbow muumuu waddling toward the bar from across the patio. "Mind if my wife and I take those seats?"
Jamie opened her mouth, looking as if she were about to protest, but I held up a hand. "They're all yours," I said, sliding off my stool. I turned to Jamie, grabbing her arm. "Come on. Let's take a dip in the pool."
Jamie glanced back at the large couple. "Some people are so rude," she said, rolling her eyes.
"It's no big deal, really," I told her, shrugging. My mind was still focused on Timo's story about Erin. The bartender didn't have anything to gain by lying to me. I believed him—and that meant I had found a clear motive for Erin Malone. But what about her alibi? I'd still need to try to talk to her myself to find out where she was on the night that Louana had been murdered.
I spotted a couple of empty lounge chairs near the edge of the pool and steered Jamie in their direction. "I'll grab some towels," I said, setting my purse down on the edge of one. I walked over to the shelves of folded beach towels near the pool area's gated entrance and grabbed two off the top of the stack.
Jamie had already removed her maxi dress and jumped in the pool by the time I returned. Dropping the towels on our loungers, I slipped out of my own cover-up and shoes. I glanced up to find Noa looking my way from his perch in the lifeguard chair. I could practically feel his eyes on me as I stepped toward the edge of the water, and I suddenly felt naked in my skimpy swimwear.
Despite the fact that it was a warm evening, I still dipped a toe below the water's surface to test the temperature. Satisfied, I descended the stairs leading into the shallow end. The underwater orbs of light that lined the pool walls illuminated its floor as I waded in up to my waist. The balmy night air felt good on my bare shoulders, and I sighed with contentment.
"Isn't this great?" Jamie asked, treading water beside me. She floated on her back for a few moments and dipped her hair below the surface before touching her feet to the pool floor.
We relaxed on the submerged stairs, and another server dropped by to offer us more frozen cocktails. I sneaked a glance toward the bar, where Timo was busy mixing drinks for a gaggle of middle-aged women in bright pink shirts that read I got lei'd on Harriet's Over the Hill Hawaiian Vacation.
"Thanks for sticking up for me back there," I said to Jamie. "I knew people had been talking around the resort about Aunt Rikki being accused of Lou's murder. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that people have been talking to Timo about my divorce too."
Jamie took a sip of her drink and fixed me with an apologetic expression. "I should have warned you that Timo doesn't have much of a filter. People say whatever's on their minds around him, so he does the same. I don't think he meant to offend you." She clinked her glass against mine, her lips turning up at the corners. "But it's all good. Sounds to me like you found a solid motive for Erin, and you deserve better than some philandering jock, anyway. There are plenty of hot men on this island that would worship the sand you walk in, if given a chance." She looked over my shoulder, and her grin spread even wider. "In fact, I see one right now."
I followed her gaze, blushing when I realized she was talking about Noa. I watched as he climbed down from his lifeguard chair and retrieved a drawstring backpack from a hook on the back of the seat. He rifled around in it, retrieving an Aloha Lagoon Resort polo. After putting the shirt on, he slung the backpack over his shoulder and approached our corner of the pool. "I hope you ladies don't need rescuing," he teased. "Because I'm off duty."
Jamie's lips quirked. "Nah. I'm practically part fish." She handed me her drink and dove under the surface before swimming a lap around the pool.
"I'm guessing you read my text?" Noa asked.
"Yeah, and I've got a lot to catch you up on."
Jamie splashed her way back over to us and took her frozen daiquiri from my outstretched hand. She tilted her head, and her brow wrinkled. "Are those drums?"
I listened for a moment. A faint beating rhythm could be heard in the distance. "Yeah, I think so," I said, nodding.
"The luau must be starting over at the Ramada Pier," Noa said.
"Yum." Jamie licked her lips. "The roast pork with pineapple is to die for." She patted her stomach. "All this talk about food is making me hungry."
I snapped my fingers. I'd nearly forgotten about my aunt's request for takeout. "I sort of promised Rikki I'd bring home dinner from Sir Spamalot's." I met Jamie's gaze. "If you don't mind stopping by there before you drop me off," I added.
"Oh. Driving…yikes." Jamie grimaced. "I'm sorry, Kaley. I think I'm too tipsy to get behind the wheel right now." She glanced at the drink in her hand. "Timo's cocktails are really strong."
I could attest to that. For the past several minutes, my limbs had felt like Jell-O.
"I think I'm gonna head over to the Loco Moco Café and grab a bite while I sober up." Jamie's cheeks turned pink as she set her drink glass down by the pool's edge. She looked up at Noa and fluttered her lashes. "Any chance you'd do Kaley and me both a solid and give her a lift home. Please?" She laid her accent thick on that last word, stretching it into two syllables.
Noa nodded. "Sure." He smirked at Jamie. "But you owe me, Parker."
She bobbed her head. "Totally. Next time we go to The Lava Pot, the first round of Shark Bites are on me." Jamie flung her arms around my neck. "You're welcome," she whispered in my ear, though it was so loud that I was pretty sure everyone at the pool could hear. She pulled back and gave me an exaggerated wink. Jamie placed her hands on the patio and hoisted herself out of the pool before grabbing one of the towels I'd draped across our loungers. When she'd dried herself off, she shimmied back into her dress. "See y'all later," she said, giving us a little wave before flouncing toward the courtyard.
"Should we make sure she gets home okay?" I frowned after Jam
ie's retreating figure.
Noa shook his head. "Nah. She'll be fine. Jamie's pretty responsible."
"And inhumanly perky after a night of drinking," I remarked, shaking my head. "I ran into her at sunrise yoga this morning. She's like a clone of Rikki but with a southern accent and fewer wrinkles."
Noa chuckled. "I knew you two would get along."
"Yeah, she's great. And I could use a friend right about now." I climbed out of the pool and reached for my towel. To my surprise, Noa had already grabbed it and was holding it open for me. I stepped forward and let him wrap it around my shoulders.
"That's kind of why I introduced you two," he replied. When I blinked at him, his cheeks colored. "I just figure you're going through a rough patch right now. I thought maybe having someone to confide in might not be a bad thing. You know, because of…" His words trailed off, and he dropped his gaze to the ground. "Because of everything going on with Rikki," he finished.
"Or with my life in general," I blurted. I hadn't meant to say that out loud, and I immediately regretted it. Embarrassed, I turned away from Noa, making a startled squeak as I teetered on my feet. Noa's hands shot forward, and he gripped my arms to steady me. He gently turned me around so that I was facing him. "Thanks," I mumbled, feeling a blush creep into my cheeks. "I might be a little drunk."
Noa smirked. "A word of advice. Lay off of Timo's cocktails. They'll make you spill your secrets. Rumor has it he swaps out the tequila for truth serum."
"It would explain how he knows so much about everything that goes on at the resort," I muttered. I pulled the towel more tightly around my shoulders, shivering. "Can we get out of here?"
Noa nodded. "Sure. Let's go."
"Do you mind if we swing by Sir Spamalot's? I'll buy your dinner if you're hungry," I offered.
"Deal." Noa grinned. "I've actually been craving their Spam Musubi for days." He waited as I deposited the dirty beach towel in the appropriate hamper and tied my sarong around my waist. Then we worked our way toward the gate that led from the pool area back into the courtyard. "So what's the update on Erin Malone?" he asked as we walked toward his car.
Aloha Lagoon Mysteries Boxed Set Volume III (Books 7-9) Page 29