Noa fixed me with an intent stare. "What's your second theory?"
"That Erin wanted to get Marco back and decided to eliminate her competition."
Noa considered that for a few moments and then nodded. "Both seem plausible." His forehead wrinkled. "And then there's Luka."
I frowned. "Right." After my conversation with Sara, I was surer than ever that the young stockroom worker could have been involved in the crime. "I'm having trouble deciding who had the strongest motive. They're all pretty solid."
Our server arrived to make wine recommendations and tell us about the evening's specials. The nervous excitement coursing through me had killed my appetite, but I wasn't about to turn down a free meal at the fanciest restaurant on the island. Noa and I decided to split an appetizer of fruit kabobs, and I ordered the chicken teriyaki with fried rice, served in a fresh pineapple boat. Noa had the grilled shrimp skewers with basmati rice. For dessert, we shared the Big Kahuna sampler, which featured miniature versions of the restaurant's three most popular desserts: pineapple crème brûlée, macadamia biscotti, and chocolate coconut éclair cake.
Throughout our meal, I couldn't help but steal glances at the table where Erin and Marco were seated. As the night wore on, it became apparent that things weren't as peachy between the pair as they'd first seemed. Erin's posture was stiff, and she spent most of the meal with her arms wrapped across her middle. She kept nervously licking her lips and squirming in her seat. I got the impression that the young woman didn't want to be there. Perhaps she hadn't been so quick to forgive Marco for his infidelity after all. Or was Erin only drawing out Marco's groveling to punish him for cheating? I wasn't sure what to think.
"I wish I could hear what they're saying," I said, leaning in the direction of the couple's table and straining to hear.
Noa's lips curled up at the corners. "I'm pretty sure the ladies' room is that way," he said, giving me a pointed look.
"Ah." I beamed at him, nodding in understanding. "I think you're right." I pushed my chair away from the table as our server swooped by to drop off our boxed-up leftovers. Not wanting to be recognized, I kept my head down as I walked toward their table, pretending to rifle through my purse.
"Coming here was a mistake," Erin was saying as I approached. "I should have known you would overreact."
I risked a peek at Marco and found him gripping the edge of the table, his shoulders shaking with barely controlled anger. "I just can't believe you'd do something like this," he said, a hard edge to his words. "Did you really think I wouldn't be upset?"
What are they talking about? I edged a little closer, my gaze fixed intently on the arguing couple. So intently, in fact, that I didn't see the server walking toward me.
"Miss, look out!" The cry jerked my attention away from the table, but it was too late. I collided with the young man, and the tray he'd been carrying flipped forward. A bowl of gelato dumped onto the front of my dress. I let out a startled squeal as the cold dessert dripped down my skin. "I'm so sorry," the server gushed, scrambling to grab a napkin from the nearest empty table and handing it to me.
The dull chattering around the room abruptly ceased. Mortified, I glanced around to find that all eyes had turned my way. I flicked my gaze back to Marco and Erin. The pair stared up at me from their table, and I saw the recognition dawn on both their faces. Uh-oh.
"You again?" Marco clenched his jaw.
Anger flashed in Erin's green eyes. "Are you kidding me?" she demanded. "You really are stalking me, aren't you?" She snatched the napkin from her lap and dropped it on the table, rising from her seat. "That's it. I'm out of here." She stormed away from the table.
Marco stood too. "I told you to stay away from me," he said, his tone gruff. He turned and started after Erin.
I tossed aside the napkin that the waiter had given me, no longer caring about the cold, sticky dessert that coated my dress. Darting a glance at our table, I saw Noa had already risen from his chair and was heading straight toward me. I didn't wait for him to catch up but instead took off in the direction that Marco and Erin had headed.
I caught up to Marco as he made his way out of the restaurant, but Erin was nowhere to be seen. "Wait!" I called, closing the gap between us. I shrank back when Marco rounded on me, his chest puffed out and a menacing look on his face.
"What do you want now?" he growled.
Noa appeared at my side. "Do we have a problem here, brah?" he asked Marco. Though his expression was calm, his voice carried a dangerous tone. Noa handed me the box containing our leftovers and then moved to stand protectively in front of me.
"Yeah," Marco said, scowling. "We do." He glared past Noa at me. "This nosy chick needs to butt out of things that don't concern her."
Noa took a step toward him. "That's just it. This does concern her." His shoulders tensed, and though I couldn't see his face, I could sense his anger. "Kaley's just trying to prove that her aunt didn't kill Louana Watson. If you want us to leave you alone, then tell us where you were on Saturday night."
Marco rolled his eyes. "I was at the open mic contest at Beachcomber's. She already knows that from when she freakin' interrogated me the other night."
"You didn't leave the bar and then come back?"
He shook his head. "No. If you don't believe me, talk to the MC for the competition, Jeff. When he wasn't onstage, he sat at my table. We were hitting on a couple of chicks who were visiting the island while on vacation from Idaho."
I frowned. "What about after you left the bar?"
A greasy smile spread across Marco's lips. "I took one of the girls home with me," he said smugly.
My nose crinkled in disgust. I stepped up beside Noa. "Then why were you here with Erin tonight?" I asked the bellhop.
Marco's smile vanished. "I'm done talking," he said in an irritated tone. "And I'm done with Erin. If you want to know what she was doing on Saturday, you can ask her yourself." He turned and stomped toward the open elevator, glaring at us from inside until the double doors closed.
Noa placed a hand on my arm when I started to follow. "Let him go," he said. "He's not going to tell us anything else."
"I know." I glanced up and down the hallway leading to the restaurant entrance and sighed in disappointment. "And we lost Erin." I looked up at Noa, frowning. "Did you see how angry Marco got when I asked him about her? When I was walking up to their table, I heard them arguing. He was upset with her about something that she did." I blew out a breath. "I wish I knew what."
Noa's phone beeped from his pocket. "Hold that thought," he said, pulling it out and pressing it to his ear. "Hey, Jimmy. What's up, brah? Got any good news for us?"
My chest swelled with hope. Jimmy Toki must have found something on one of the security tapes. Why else would he be calling? I held my breath as Noa listened to Jimmy's response.
"Really? Where are you now?" Noa's lips curled at the ends. "Great. We'll be right there." He pocketed his cell and met my gaze, his eyes shining with excitement. "Jimmy found something he thinks we'll want to see. He's downstairs right now in the security office." He motioned for me to follow him to the elevator.
The main lobby was packed for a Wednesday night. A shuttle from a nighttime excursion to Shipwreck Beach had just arrived back at the resort, and nearly two dozen guests in Miller Family Reunion T-shirts hustled past us on their way to their rooms.
Noa and I stepped off the elevator and waded through the crowd. I practically broke into a run when we reached the hallway and made our way toward Jimmy's office. My mind was racing. What did he find? Which of our suspects would show up in the security footage?
The beefy head of security pulled open the door before Noa had even raised his hand to knock. "Come in," he said in a low voice.
Noa and I stepped into the room for the second time that day and followed Jimmy over to the desk. "I would have called you sooner, but I was hung up with a domestic disturbance upstairs," Jimmy said as he sat down in front of the computer. He shook his head
. "A woman had a few too many Shark Bites at The Lava Pot and then got into an argument with her husband when they returned to their room. When I got there, she was pelting him with items from the minibar. There were tiny liquor bottles and macadamia nuts everywhere."
"Yikes." Noa grimaced. "That's one expensive fight."
Jimmy snickered. "No kidding. It's been a busy day. I haven't even had a chance to grab dinner yet."
I held out the box of leftovers. "How does some teriyaki chicken and pineapple fried rice from Starlight on the Lagoon sound?"
He gave me a grateful smile and took the box. "You're a lifesaver, Kaley. I'm starving." Jimmy arched an eyebrow as his gaze moved over the front of my dress. "What happened to you?"
I glanced down at the sticky mess left behind by the gelato, and my cheeks flushed. "It's a long story," I mumbled.
Jimmy shook his head again, chuckling to himself as he turned his attention to the computer. He set the food aside and pulled up the video recording on the monitor. "We'll start with the courtyard footage," he said. "The police have already watched this, so it's nothing new to them—but I thought you'd still want to see."
My heart thumped loudly in my chest. I huddled close to Noa as we both peered at the monitor. The time stamp on the bottom of the screen read five minutes before ten. The merchant shops had all been closed for nearly two hours, and the dark courtyard was mostly deserted. As we watched, a curvy woman appeared on the screen, walking purposefully toward the cluster of small buildings. I didn't recognize her right away, but as she approached Happy Hula, her identity became clear. "That's Louana," I breathed.
"Wow. That's ballsy," Noa remarked when Lou strolled up to the shop entrance and unlocked the door without a moment's hesitation.
"She either didn't know there were security cameras around, or she just didn't care," I agreed. A chill zipped down my spine as she disappeared inside the shop. We'd just caught the last glimpse of Louana Watson while she was still alive. I glanced at Jimmy, who had begun chowing down on the leftover food I'd given him. "She doesn't ever come back out, does she?"
He shook his head. "Not through the entrance, anyway. Based on this video, the police are estimating that her time of death is likely sometime shortly after ten on Saturday night." He set the food down again and reached for the laptop, locating the second video feed. "Here's where it gets really interesting."
Noa gently nudged me with his elbow. "Wasn't Erin scheduled to get off work at ten that night?"
I nodded, excitement mounting in my chest. I leaned closer as the recording filled the screen. Judging by the angle of the video, the security camera must have been placed in the ceiling above the housekeeper's supply closet. Though the door to the little room couldn't be seen in the footage, the camera captured anyone who walked up to it. The exit at the end of the hallway was also clearly visible in the background.
Jimmy fast-forwarded through a section of the video. "Once I knew what time Louana entered the shop, it was easier to narrow down what time window to watch in this feed." He pressed play again when Erin appeared on the screen. She wheeled her cleaning cart up to the supply closet and opened the door, apparently oblivious to the camera above her head. The young woman disappeared from view as she stowed the cart inside the room, and she emerged a few moments later without it.
As we watched, Erin's head suddenly jerked toward the exit. Though there was no sound on the video feed, it seemed as if she'd heard a noise by the door. She cast a quick glance down the other end of the hallway and then walked over to the exit.
I checked the time stamp in the corner of the video: three minutes after ten. Erin opened the exit door a crack and then stepped aside. She turned her head, and I could clearly make out the smile curving her lips. She was happy to see whoever was on the other side of the door.
Who's there? Before I realized what I was doing, I reached for Noa's hand. He didn't pull away. I squeezed his fingers as we watched the young housekeeper pull the door open to reveal the person waiting outside. Her visitor's face appeared on the screen, and I inhaled sharply.
It was Luka Hale.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Luka?" I exclaimed, gawking at computer screen. The man's face was partially obscured by the door, but there was no mistaking his dark brows and acne-scarred complexion. Lou had threatened to ruin Luka's life, and she had ruined Erin's relationship with Marco. They both had a reason to kill her. Had the pair worked together to take down the tyrant assistant manager?
I filed the thought away for later and returned my attention to the video, not wanting to miss anything. On the screen, Erin shot another look down the hallway. Then she slipped through the exit, and she and Luka disappeared from view as the door closed behind her.
"Is there more?" I asked when Jimmy paused the video. "Footage from outside the building maybe?" I let go of Noa's hand and stepped toward the security guard, unable to contain my excitement. "We have to find out where they were going."
Jimmy's regret showed on his face. "Sorry, Kaley." He shook his head. "Unfortunately, the security camera outside that door was down on Saturday. I had someone come by to fix it on Monday, but I'm afraid we can't recover any of the video feed from the weekend."
My hope deflated. "Does that area lead anywhere besides the employee parking lot?"
Jimmy grinned. "As a matter of fact, it does. There's a path to the left that cuts through the brush behind the lagoon. The trail ends on one of the utility access roads." His lips twitched. "And that road leads to the alley behind the merchant section of the courtyard. That's how the garbage and delivery trucks get back there."
I was so happy I could have kissed him—not that I would have, of course. "This is the best news I've heard all week!" I exclaimed, beaming at Jimmy. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Thanks again for the grub." He picked up the box of food and ate another forkful of rice.
Noa and I left Jimmy to enjoy his dinner. "Come on." I motioned for him to follow me as soon as we were out in the hall.
"Where are we going?"
"To check out that trail." I reached the exit first and pushed it open. "If Luka and Erin knew about it, they might have used it to sneak toward the alley behind Happy Hula." I turned around in the doorway to face Noa. "The housekeeping supply closet is right across the hall from the security office. What if Erin overheard Jimmy or one of the other guards mentioning that the camera on this side of the building was broken? Then she would have known that she and Luka could sneak down the trail and reach the alley undetected."
"It's possible," Noa agreed.
We stepped out into the balmy night, and the door closed heavily behind us. My gaze traveled first down the path that led behind the lagoon. "That's the shortcut to the employee parking lot," I said, pointing. I shifted my attention to the second trailhead. Unlike the well-lit, concrete walkway that led toward our car, the path was dark and unpaved. "This must be it." I dug my phone out of my purse and turned on the flashlight app. "Let's check it out."
Noa moved closer to me, and I held out my phone in front of us to light our way. We pushed aside the frangipani leaves that hung low over the trail and pressed onward. After five minutes of stumbling through the soft dirt and underbrush, we reached the end of the path. It opened onto a wide paved road, just as Jimmy had said it would.
"Why didn't I think of this before?" Noa stepped in front of me. "I knew about the utility roads—I've just never actually seen them. They run behind the shops and other parts of the resort so that electricians, garbage truck drivers, and other workers can travel around the resort without shattering the whole 'island paradise' illusion for the guests."
"I'm pretty sure Happy Hula is this way," I said, heading to the right. Sure enough, less than a minute later, Noa and I were staring at the entrance to the alley. A police car was parked in the way of the opening, and yellow crime scene tape still served as a barrier to prevent entry into the dark roadway.
"Here we are," I whispered,
not wanting to attract the attention of the cop. "And that took us less than ten minutes." I grabbed Noa's arm excitedly. "On the tape, Erin and Luka walked outside at four minutes past ten. That totally fits the timeline Jimmy told us."
"Uh-oh," Noa whispered. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back just as a beam of light passed over the ground where I'd been standing.
I whipped my head around in time to see the officer walking toward us from his car, panning his flashlight across the road. Crap. I really didn't want to explain to the cop on duty why we were sneaking around the alley at night. As quietly as possible, Noa and I hurried back down the road to the little trailhead.
When we emerged near the resort's main building again a few minutes later, we turned onto the concrete path that led to the employee parking lot. "So you think Luka and Erin were accomplices?" Noa asked as he pulled the Jeep onto the main road that ran in front of the resort.
"I do." Luka and Erin both had motives, and now we knew they'd both been at the resort at the time Louana had been killed. "Do you think that could be why Marco was so upset with Erin tonight at dinner? What if she confessed to him what she and Luka had done?"
Noa shot me a sidelong glance. "Why would Marco be upset that Lou was dead? He hated her."
My forehead wrinkled. "You've got a point." Another question wormed its way to the forefront of my brain. "How do you suppose Erin and Luka know each other?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," he said. "It's a small island, and they look to be around the same age. Maybe they went to school together."
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