by Toby Neal
Sophie exchanged a glance with Jake. Any investigation that could be done online, such as tracking a money trail, was a strength for Sophie. “Tell us more.”
“It’s all very sensitive. The event is so culturally important that…well, even asking questions about something like where the money went…I could get plenty pilikia.” Kim slipped into pidgin, the Hawaiian creole dialect Sophie was becoming familiar with.
“Don’t know pilikia, but I get the feeling it’s not good,” Jake said. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the police with your concern?”
“Oh no. No!” Kim recoiled. “Everybody is related to everybody else on this island and has connections—word would get out we’re looking into it for sure if I went to the Hilo PD, and we just aren’t ready with anything concrete.” She took a deep breath, calming herself with an obvious effort. “Let me begin at the beginning. The reason I chose Security Solutions was that you’re new in town, and no offense, but you’re haoles.” She looked Sophie up and down, clearly taking her golden-brown skin into consideration. “Outsiders. That’s what haole means, and that’s what I need. A confidential team, with no local networks, to dig into where the money’s going.”
“How much money are we talking about?” Jake leaned forward, brows knit over steely gray eyes.
“A hundred grand. That’s just the Hawaii Tourist Advisory board money. There might be more that’s missing, I don’t know. The Merrie Monarch competition is supported by a lot of bigger businesses such as Hawaiian Airlines. I work for them, too, and liaise with their charity office to facilitate support of the Festival.” Kim coughed a little, hiding her mouth with a hand. “Maybe I need something to drink, after all.”
Jake stood up with his usual restless, coiled energy, clearly needing to move. “Let me get you some tea. Sophie, anything?”
“Hot tea would be fine. Thank you.”
Jake disappeared. Through the office door, Sophie heard the rumble of his voice bantering as he spoke with Felicia at her desk.
She met Kim’s eyes. “I don’t know much about the Merrie Monarch Festival. I will have to research it. As you may have noticed, it’s only been a week since we officially opened our doors. But we have all the resources of our parent company on Oahu behind us. Would you like to know a little about my background?” Kim nodded, and Sophie went on. “I’m a former tech agent with the FBI. I can find most anything online. I love tracking money trails.” She cracked her knuckles and rippled her fingers as if using an imaginary keyboard.
This seemed to help put Kim at ease, because the woman smiled. “You both seem…impressive.” Her gaze tracked over Sophie’s body, dressed in the simple black polo shirt and nylon combat pants that she and Jake had decided would be their “uniform” unless they were undercover. “Like you two work out a lot.”
“We do. Part of the job. We need to be prepared for any sort of emergency. Jake’s ex-Special Forces with much investigative experience. And you are right in your assessment. We are outsiders here in Hilo. I’m glad that, for once, it’s a strength.” Sophie shrugged. “We enjoy using our skills to help people.”
“You have an accent. Where are you from?” Kim raised her brows curiously.
“I’m American and Thai. I grew up in Thailand and was educated in Europe. I only came to live in the U.S. five years ago.”
Jake returned with Felicia in his wake. The pretty blond grad student from the University of Hawaii carried a tray with tea makings on it. She had been sent over from the temp agency Security Solutions had contracted with to help get the agency’s satellite office going, and so far, Sophie found her personable and smart.
Felicia set the tray, with its mismatched collection of mugs, on the edge of Sophie’s desk. “Anything else I can get you?” Her gaze was fixed on Jake in mute adoration.
Sophie felt a twinge of something unpleasant tighten her gut. Felicia must not know she and Jake were involved. Sophie bogged down mentally trying to figure out how to tell her; she’d have to just kiss Jake in front of the girl or something. “Thanks, Felicia, that will be all.”
The receptionist left, shutting the door behind her, and Jake dealt with the tea until all of them had what they wanted. Sophie wrapped her fingers around her hot mug as the beverage steeped, warming her hands. “Kim. Please continue. When and how did you begin to suspect something was wrong?”
“I helped facilitate the grant to the Festival. I’m not on the Festival Board, so I don’t have access to the financial reports. But it seemed to me the same sponsors were being featured, and the budget is available to organizers to view, and it’s roughly the same. Only this year, PR and advertising wasn’t nearly at the same level as in the past. Everywhere I turned at the planning meetings I was hearing that we didn’t have the money, but I knew the Tourism Board had given the same amount, and like I said, the overall budget was similar to last year’s.”
Jake frowned. “So you don’t have anything more tangible than that?”
Kim looked down at her hands in her lap. “That’s why we can’t go to the police yet. And when I say ‘we’ I’m talking about me and my kumu hula, Esther Ka`awai.”
Sophie jerked, feeling as if she’d been zapped with a red-hot wire. Esther, a well-known Hawaiian wise woman, was Alika Wolcott’s grandmother; and Alika was a painful subject to be avoided at all costs. “Isn’t Mrs. Ka`awai on Kaua`i?”
“I am studying under her. Esther provides cultural advisory oversight to the event. She was the one to put the pattern together and really bring it to my attention. She is able to do a lot long distance.” Kim was apparently oblivious to Sophie’s discomfort. “She and I decided to try to get more information without tipping anyone off that we were looking into it.”
Sophie squelched her apprehension at the thought of interacting with Esther Ka`awai. “So which of you is the client?” Sophie looked down at the application in front of her. “And to put it bluntly—who will be paying the bill?”
“The Tourism Advisory Board will be hiring you. I went to them with our concerns, and they gave us a budget.” Kim named a figure. “Can you work with that?”
“We certainly can,” Jake said. “And to start, we will need all the names and contact numbers that you can give us for everyone involved with the Festival.”
“I have that on computer. I’ll email it to you.”
“We need to get eyes on the different players and areas involved,” Jake went on. “Do you have a plausible way to introduce us, bring us around to meetings and such?”
“Something closest to the truth is always the best,” Sophie said. “Jake tends to stand out as a cop or investigator no matter what. Bringing him around as a private security expert to help make sure nothing’s stolen or unsafe makes sense. My skills lie behind a computer. I’ll be looking for the money trail from the bank. Let’s come up with a plan and timetable on how to proceed.”
“I’d like us to get started right away,” Kim said. “The Festival is in a month, and the sooner we find out where the money went, the sooner we can get it back and put it to work to make this the best event ever.” Her brown eyes shone almost feverishly. “We owe it to our people.”
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About the Author
Kirkus Reviews calls Neal's writing, "persistently riveting. Masterly."
Award-winning, USA Today bestselling social worker turned author Toby Neal grew up on the island of Kaua`i in Hawaii. Neal is a mental health therapist, a career that has informed the depth and complexity of the characters in her stories. Neal's police procedurals, starring multicultural detective Lei Texeira, explore the crimes and issues of Hawaii from the bottom of the ocean to the top of volcanoes, and are so popular that they've spawned a licensed fan fiction world on Amazon. Fans call her stories, "Immersive, addicting, and the next best thing to being there."
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Lei Crime Series
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