Lethal Tide

by Beth Prentice

  Woof!

  Alani obviously got the information she needed from that, as she quickly grabbed her clothes and started to walk into the dense trees.

  "Alani, hang on. I need to put some shoes on," said Luke. I hurriedly followed Luke, grabbing my clothes and pulling them on, pushing my feet into my shoes and then running after Alani.

  Woof, Woof, Woof! Roxy's barks came louder and closer.

  "Something's definitely not right," stated Alani, picking up speed as she made her way through the trees.

  "How do you know that?" asked Luke, doing his best to keep up with her.

  "It's not her usual bark. I've only heard her like that once before, and it was when some animal-hating nut killed two of our cattle and Roxy found them. Roxy!" Alani called again.

  Roxy transmitted the information she needed to Alani, and it thankfully didn't take us too long to find her.

  But what she'd found made my stomach lurch. It wasn't a rat. It was something much larger.

  It was Ryan. But instead of searching for treasure, he was lying in the undergrowth, partially covered by a broken branch, a pool of blood streaming from a wound in his neck.

  CHAPTER THREE

  While I was busy controlling my shaking knees and lurching stomach, Luke jumped into action, attempting to help Ryan. But it was too late. He was already dead.

  I sat down on the grass before my knees gave out.

  Luke pulled his cell phone from his pocket, his hand shaking, and checked for a signal. The curse he let out told me he didn't have one.

  "What the…" I heard Alani whisper.

  Ryan's blood shone bright on Luke's hand from where he had tried to help him.

  "How did he get here?" Alani asked, almost to herself.

  I busied myself by watching Roxy as she sniffed the ground around Ryan's body.

  "Whoever did this knew what they were doing," continued Luke, his voice trembling from panic. His skin was pale against his black shirt, and his eyes rapidly searched our surroundings.

  "What do you mean?" asked Alani quietly, sitting in the long grass next to me. "He hasn't just fallen and cut himself?"

  "No. That looks like a deliberate wound to the neck."

  "How do you know?"

  "During my training as a chef, I had to do on-the-job training. The guy I worked with killed his own animals. I can tell you, from what I learned, whatever instrument Ryan was killed with, the person behind it knew exactly where to push it."

  Okay, that was enough for me. My stomach couldn't hold on anymore, and I gave in to the urge to throw up.

  "We need to get the police," added Luke.

  Alani nodded, and I concentrated on Roxy as she moved away from Ryan and made her way through the long grass. I wasn't sure where she was heading, if anywhere, as she seemed to be just sniffing her surroundings and checking things out. I decided until we got out of here, she was what I was going to concentrate on.

  I watched her pointy ears bob up and down as she jumped through the grass, moving away from us, dodging the trees as she went, seemingly sniffing her way through.

  I could hear Luke and Alani quietly discussing whether or not we were safe, what we should do, and how we should do it, but I just kept concentrating on Roxy. Ryan wasn't the first dead body I'd seen, but it was the first that was this violent.

  I narrowed my eyes and looked through the dense foliage, trying to keep up with her. She was moving towards something. Actually—what was that?

  Curious and desperate for anything to distract me from what was in front of me, I stood and moved in the direction she went, squinting. Alani moved to follow me.

  "What are you doing?" she asked.

  "Just wondering where Roxy's going. She can see something, and I thought I saw a flash of red."

  She looked to where I was pointing and whistled to Roxy to come back.

  "We don't know who did this, and it could be the killer," she said, holding my arm to stop me moving farther into the forest. "They could still be around."

  Fear spiked at her words, and the forest felt like it was starting to close in on us. I could almost feel my pupils dilating, taking in as much light as they could, hoping to differentiate foliage from a murderer.

  "Here's what we're going to do," called Luke.

  I jumped at the sound.

  "I'm going to stay here, and you girls are going to get the police," he explained.

  "No! It's not safe, Luke," I said, alarmed.

  "What choice do we have?" he asked.

  I didn't know, but Alani was right. The killer could still be around, and I didn't want Luke alone out here.

  "You can't stay here. I don't want that happening to you." Tears pricked. I didn't want to cry. It wasn't going to help us, so I tried to focus and breathe. That was all. Focus and breathe.

  Luke shook his head. "Listen, Sam, you need to get the police. We can't leave him alone until you do."

  "Why can't we? He's dead. He's not going anywhere." Panic bubbled in my chest, leaving me short of breath.

  "We'll all go," said Alani, placing a calming hand on my shoulder. "We can leave a marker on a tree, and then we'll know exactly where to come back to." She sounded calm, but I could see she had as much fear in her eyes as I did.

  Luke looked doubtful. "But what if whoever did this comes back and moves him and we can't find him?"

  "Yeah, that's just it—what if they come back?" I asked. "What chance do you have against someone who can do that?" I pointed to Ryan while barely breathing.

  Alani's eyes filled with tears. "Please, Luke, come with us. I don't want you here alone," she pleaded.

  That was all it took. Luke sighed and agreed to come. Looking at Alani's big brown eyes, tears brimming over her lashes, I too would have caved.

  With that Luke tied his T-shirt around the nearest tree and used his phone to take a few photos of Ryan. Then the three of us made our way towards the car park, where we would at least have a cell phone signal, Alani whistling for Roxy as we went.

  We walked silently, each of us in our own shock. Death was awful, even more so when it was so violent. Added to that, fear was screaming in my ear with every sound I heard. Was the murderer watching us? Had they already left, and we were safe? Why did they kill Ryan? Did he find something, see something? And how did he find his way here in the first place?

  The walk seemed like it went on forever. Wasn't the way home always faster than the way there? Not today it wasn't.

  We were just climbing over a fallen tree back onto the path, about halfway back to the car park, when I saw movement ahead.

  "Someone's there," I said, pointing, my heart rate spiking.

  "It's probably an animal," said Alani, the wobble in her voice giving away her true feelings.

  "But what if it's not? What if it's the murderer?" I warned. I was freaked out. Every sound I heard made me jump. Every twig snapping made me scream. I wanted to be out of here. I wanted to be at home and cuddling with Casey, and I didn't want anyone to stop me from getting there.

  We slowed our pace, and I held my breath. Luke had collected a large branch along the way, but other than that we had nothing to defend ourselves with.

  I watched Roxy as the hair on her back stood to attention, knowing how she felt.

  As we rounded the corner in the path, a flash of red disappeared into the nearest shrub.

  "Was that…"

  "A person?" finished Alani.

  Luke nodded and ran after them.

  "He'll be okay, won't he?" I asked, both of us picking up our pace to follow him.

  "Yes." Alani broke out into a run, Roxy five paces ahead of her. "He has to be," she said as I ran after her.

  Alani could run faster than I. She was fitter too. By the time I caught her, she'd caught Luke, and they'd both slowed to a steady walk. We were now on the tourist path, and the number of people had increased quite a bit. The murderer could be any one of them.

  "Did you get a glimpse of him?" I asked.


  He shook his head. "No. I lost sight of him back there a bit."

  I doubled at the waist and sucked in some air. The run hadn't been that difficult, but I realized I'd been shallow breathing the entire way.

  By the time we reached the graveled path leading back to the car, I had a stitch in my side from walking so fast for so long. I also had a headache behind my eyes, as they hadn't stopped searching for signs of who could have killed Ryan.

  Slowing our pace as we approached the car park, a shirtless tourist jogged past us from behind. He bumped my shoulder and glanced my way. He cursed then sprinted ahead, obviously in a hurry. His face was familiar, and my internal radar hummed as I looked after him. I didn't know why. I wasn't known for my ESP, so it wasn't like I had any reason to suspect him of any wrongdoing.

  I stopped as Alani pulled her phone from her pocket and checked her signal strength.

  "Working?" I asked, my fingers crossed she would say yes.

  She shook her head. "No. One bar is going in and out. I should have it once we reach the car though."

  Roxy was keeping close to Alani. Maybe she could sense her distress. But once we rounded the last turn and the car park loomed ahead of us, Roxy took off at a run, her ears high, her tongue hanging happily.

  As we caught up with her, I saw the reason why. Casey was standing next to his car, his cell phone in his hand. He looked up and ran towards us, Roxy close on his heels.

  My stomach flipped—twice. The first was for seeing him (it always did that), and the second was for seeing the blood on the front of his shirt.

  "Sam!" he called, reaching me and pulling me close. "There you are."

  "Casey!" I cried, falling into him. Seeing him also shocked me. He was the last person I'd expected to see here.

  "Oh my goodness. Are you okay?" I asked him, my voice filled with concern.

  "Yeah, I'm fine."

  "But you've got blood on your shirt, and your shorts are torn."

  Looking up at him, I saw him blush. It made him even more adorable than normal.

  "I thought I'd come here and be able to find you. When I went looking, I tripped on a tree root and fell. I cut myself on a sharp rock," he said, holding his hand up for me to see. "It's okay though. It's stopped bleeding now."

  Geez, my clumsiness must have been rubbing off on him.

  He pointed to his skinned knees and cut knuckles. My heart squeezed.

  "Are you all okay?" he asked. "You look terrible."

  While Alani called the police, I quickly filled him in on what had happened. Casey's face showed the appropriate amount of shock.

  "Geez, that's awful. I didn't like the guy, but I wouldn't wish that on him."

  "How did you know where we were?" I asked.

  Casey wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in tight. "I have you on Find my iPhone," he replied coyly. "Your location dropped in and out, but I got it long enough to know where to drive to."

  I gave him a look of mock horror. "You know my password?"

  "Everyone knows your password, babe."

  Casey shook his head, releasing me and then slipping his hand into mine as we waited for Alani to finish her call. Luke stood near her as she relayed what we'd found to the officer on the other end of the phone.

  "It's been a really strange day," Casey said to me, breaking the silence between us.

  "In what way?"

  "Well, Ryan and I used to be friends. He left Portsmouth with me to do the backpacker thing. But when we were staying at the Backpackers in Sydney, we met another guy. A third guy who joined our group. His name was Travis." Casey stopped, lost in his memories. "Travis turned up in Aloha Lagoon this morning."

  "And?"

  "I haven't seen these guys since I left Sydney, and they both turn up here only a day apart."

  "Maybe they came together."

  "They didn't. I saw Travis at the gas station this morning, filling up his hire car. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he'd heard Ryan was here. He was looking for him."

  "Did he say why he was looking for him?" I asked.

  "No, not really. He just said Aloha Lagoon was something they had promised to do together and that Ryan came without him."

  "What's strange about that?" I asked.

  "Nothing. It was just a feeling I got. You know, like someone's not telling you the whole story."

  That I understood.

  "So are you going to spend some time with him now that he's here? Go over old times?" I asked.

  "No. Whatever they were up to is none of my business. He confirmed my suspicions about Ryan, and that's all I need for now."

  I gave Casey a quizzical look. There was more to this than he was telling me.

  "It's a long story," he said, his eyes sad. He pulled me close, squeezing me tight, his heart pounding loudly in my ear.

  Anxiety stirred. I had a feeling this wasn't a good story.

  "We've got time," I replied. My hand found his, and I squeezed it encouragingly.

  Only I didn't get to hear what he had to say as at that moment Alani ended the call.

  "Detective Ray is on his way. We just need to sit tight and wait."

  "What does Travis look like?" I asked, thinking of the familiar-looking tourist who'd pushed past us.

  "Short, skinny, blond."

  That didn't sound like the man I'd seen. He'd been much taller than me, bulging biceps, and almost looked a bit mean.

  "Why?" asked Luke.

  I quickly filled him in on what Casey had told me about bumping into Travis this morning. "Casey said he was looking for Ryan."

  "And?"

  "Do you remember that guy who pushed past us before? He nearly knocked me over."

  Alani nodded.

  "Well, he looked familiar. I think I saw him in the bar last night. I wondered if it was Travis." I'd remembered the man at the bar who'd taken Martin's seat when he got up to take Lori home.

  "Was it?" asked Casey.

  "No. That guy looked quite different than your description of Travis."

  "What do you think Travis's doing here?" Alani asked Casey.

  "I don't know. I used to know him quite well, and I never thought he'd be capable of being a killer. But like I said, it's been a long time."

  "Do people change that much?" I asked Casey.

  "I suppose it depends on what's pushing them."

  * * *

  Detective Ray Kahoalani, a formidable-looking islander, stepped out of the dark blue sedan, a flashing police light the only indication of the car's purpose. Two marked police cars pulled in behind him.

  He frowned as he made his way towards us, his expression in complete contrast to his bright yellow Hawaiian shirt with the red hibiscus flowers. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants and pulled out a tattered notebook.

  "Samantha, Luke," he said, nodding towards me. "We meet again." Yes, it wasn't the first time the detective and I had met. Last time he'd very nearly arrested my mother and Luke for murders they didn't commit. My heart stuttered. I certainly hoped he wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

  "Hello, Detective Ray," I said.

  "It seems you have a knack for finding dead bodies."

  Technically, last time I hadn't found the body. It found me.

  "Not a favorite talent of mine," I replied.

  Detective Ray eyed Casey's bloodstained shirt and the dried blood on Luke's' hand, before turning to Alani. "So where is this body you found?"

  "He's in the forest," she said. "We left Luke's T-shirt tied to a tree so we'd know where he was."

  The detective raised his eyebrows questioningly as he looked at Luke.

  "Luke was with us the entire time," I quickly interjected. "He couldn't have killed him, if that's what you're thinking."

  "At this stage I'm not thinking anything, Samantha. I'm merely logging facts."

  He said it kindly, but I couldn't help feeling prickly.

  Two uniformed police officers dressed in
black walked in behind Detective Ray, their gun belts weighing their hips down, their badges displayed on their left breast pocket.

  He acknowledged them and then nodded to Alani. "Show us the way," he said, his expression somber. "You can fill me in with the details as we walk."

  CHAPTER FOUR

  It had been a really long day. I wanted to go home to bed, spoon with Casey, and have sweet dreams that didn't involve seeing Ryan's dead body. But I couldn't.

  Two reasons. The first was that Casey, Luke, and Alani all wanted to go to The Lava Pot and have a necessary drink. Second reason I couldn't go home to bed was that it was only 2 p.m., and it was generally frowned upon to be twenty-eight years old and in bed by that time of the day.

  Detective Ray had questioned us all endlessly on our journey back to Ryan's body. He wanted to know what we were all doing there, how we managed to find the body, and how it was that Luke and I were once again involved in a murder. I did tell him Luke and I weren't involved with this murder. We just happened to find the body, which last I checked wasn't a crime.

  Anyway, after he had all the information he'd needed and we'd shown him the body, he told us we could go home.

  The Lava Pot was quiet when we walked in. As always the large timber-and-glass doors were pulled back, opening the bar to the boardwalk running along the front of it. The salty ocean air blew in on the breeze, and I instantly felt my soul relax. The ocean had that effect on me. Well, at least I thought it was the ocean. It could also have had something to do with Casey's strong hand refusing to let go of mine and his gorgeous blue eyes constantly scanning to check that I was okay. Either way, I felt a whole lot better than I had an hour earlier.

  Owen was working the bar as we pulled up a seat at one of the tables.

  "What do we all want to drink?" asked Casey, ever the bartender.

  "I'll have a Bud Light," replied Luke. Alani and I both had our usual, the Lava Flow cocktail.

  Alani still looked the same as she had at seven o'clock this morning. Her hair was still tied neatly in a, albeit still slightly wet, ponytail, and her clothes were clean. The only part of her that showed even the slightest stress was the rosy glow of her cheeks, and all that did was make her look even more gorgeous than ever.