Paradise Crime Thrillers Box Set

by Toby Neal

  Jake looked out the windows of Security Solutions’ conference room to where he could see a sliver of ocean in the distance between the buildings. The ocean was his favorite thing about living in Honolulu; just looking at it soothed his restless soul.

  “I think we should be able to get some more answers for you,” Bix said. “A week isn’t long to be missing for a young woman of your daughter’s age. She probably met a guy and…you know.” Bix smiled. The expression perched uncertainly on the man’s stern mouth.

  “We’ve been getting that same feeling from the police department that you’re giving us now: they don’t take us seriously. They think our daughter is shacked up with some man. That’s the message we’ve been getting over and over. But our Julie is not like that,” Weathersby said starkly. “Something’s happened. Something’s wrong.”

  Jake slapped his thighs and stood up. “I believe you. I’ll go to the Big Island and find her.” He turned to look at Bix. “And I know just the woman to help. Our field agent, Sophie Ang.”

  Chapter Three

  Sophie breathed through her mouth, overwhelmed by the stench and the sight before her. “Ginger! Come!”

  The dog finally obeyed, whining anxiously over the discovery. Sophie clicked the leash onto Ginger’s collar, her eyes scanning the scene. She dragged the dog back behind an ohia tree for cover, assessing the area and its horror.

  The bodies were distorted with bloating, still dressed in their clothing. Gender and age were difficult to determine except by size, clothing, and length of hair. Five people, probably a family, had been piled into a shallow depression, but the killer hadn’t bothered to cover them.

  Sophie identified a Caucasian male and female adult along with two boys and a girl. Their clothing was better quality; the kids wore name brand shoes, and the parents’ outfits were classic middle-class garb for Hawaii: aloha shirt and jeans on the man, capri pants and a tank top on the woman. Cause of death appeared to be gunshot; one of the bodies, the little girl dumped on top, faced Sophie. A bullet hole in what had been her forehead crawled with flies. Her eyes were missing, probably pecked out by mynah birds.

  Sophie backed away, scanning the area. Most likely she wasn’t in danger; this site appeared to be a straightforward body dump. Still, she needed to get back to her pack where her gun and phone awaited, and call it in.

  Jogging back through the lush foliage of the kipuka, alive with birdsong and the green of mature trees, Sophie shook her head to clear it of a sense of unreality. She hadn’t come to the Big Island to investigate yet another crime in a remote place! She was supposed to be having a vacation!

  Who would shoot an entire family and just dump them out here?

  Sophie’d been avoiding the news lately, but something like the disappearance of five well-off white people tended to get into the news. Why hadn’t she heard about this?

  “Not my circus. Not my monkeys,” Sophie murmured one of Marcella’s sayings. But the little girl’s empty eye sockets had stared at her, making this her problem in a horrifying way.

  Sophie reached her pack, secured Ginger to a clip, and dug out her phone. She had one bar of reception and her battery was low from her overnight on the lava without charging it. She called 911. “Hi. This is Sophie Ang. I’m a hiker in Kalapana, and my dog led me to a kipuka off the trail where we discovered the bodies of a Caucasian family.” It felt good to identify herself by her legal name, now that the events of her past had been resolved. Law enforcement would run her name, and discover her background as a former FBI Agent. “I will wait for your team to arrive.”

  The sun was high overhead by then. Sophie took out her solar battery cell phone charger and hooked it up to the phone. She hiked back across the hot lava to the edge of the kipuka, where she and Ginger could wait in the shade under one of the towering ohia trees. She had given the team the best instructions she could, and it wasn’t long before she spotted a couple of ATVs roaring toward her.

  The responding detectives, accompanied by a couple of uniformed officers, introduced themselves. “Detective Kamani Freitan and Detective Fred Wong. Point us to the area of the discovery,” the female detective said.

  “Decomp has set in,” Sophie said. “You’re going to want proper crime scene wear.”

  Freitan, a statuesque woman with thick, black hair in a braid and tilted brown eyes, looked at her quizzically. Sophie met the woman’s gaze squarely. “I’m former FBI. I’d say the victims were killed five or six days ago. Family of five. Execution style body dump.”

  The detectives looked at each other. “Wait here while we check it out. Where is the location?” Wong said.

  Sophie pointed. “Through the trees there. Follow your noses—the smell will be your guide.”

  One of the uniformed officers stayed back with a clipboard. “I’d like to get your statement, Ms. Ang.”

  All of this was standard operating procedure, but Sophie still felt the usual suspicion coming from the investigators elicited by anyone discovering a body. She breathed through her frustration and gave her statement of events leading to the discovery to the officer as the detectives left.

  Detective Freitan reappeared, visibly pale under her tan. “I need to find a cell signal out from under these trees.” She walked a distance away and Sophie could hear her, working both the radio and her cell phone, calling for her commanding officer, the medical examiner, and crime scene investigators. Presumably her partner was still with the bodies.

  Sophie’s phone buzzed, and she jumped. Only a few people had this number. She glanced at the little window, and answered. “Hello, Jake.”

  “Hey, gorgeous. How’s the hiking?” Jake sounded upbeat and energetic.

  “Not so terrific. Ginger’s nose led me to a body dump in the lava field. A whole Caucasian family, executed.”

  “Do not discuss an active investigation!” Freitan snapped, walking toward Sophie. “Who are you talking to?”

  “My partner at a private security firm,” Sophie said, as Jake fired questions in the background. “I will not discuss it with him further.”

  Freitan folded her arms. “I’m going to want to speak to him. And your boss.”

  “I’m on leave from Security Solutions,” Sophie said. “Personal leave. I won’t discuss what I found. Can I continue my conversation, as long as it stays away from that subject?”

  “Give me the phone.” Sophie handed it over. “This is Detective Freitan with the Hilo Police Department. You are not to say anything to anyone about this discovery, do you hear?”

  Sophie overheard squawks from the phone, presumably Jake agreeing.

  “Good. If we have a leak, I will have your head. Here’s your partner.” Freitan handed Sophie the phone and turned her back, still fully listening in.

  Sophie tightened her lips in annoyance, returning her attention to Jake. “I have happened upon a situation.”

  “When do you not? Jeez, woman, you’re a magnet for trouble in paradise! But as it happens, I called to get your help on a case over there.”

  “A case?” Sophie walked a little further from Freitan. “What kind of case?”

  “Missing person. Julie Weathersby, age twenty-four, tourist-hiker, has vanished from her camping trip around the island.”

  Sophie glanced back toward the gruesome body dump. She couldn’t be totally sure, but none of the bodies seemed like a single young female. “Want me to come back on the payroll to help you here on the Big Island? My vacation trip isn’t exactly going as planned.”

  “Just what I was hoping you’d say. I’m coming over. Can you meet me at the airport?”

  Freitan turned to Sophie with a look in her eye.

  “Not sure, Jake. I don’t have a car. Call you back later.” She pushed the END button on Jake’s loud protest, and slid the phone into the pocket of her pants.

  “I ran a background check on you. Your story checks out,” Freitan said.

  “It would be incongruous to lie about being an FBI agent. V
ery easy to verify the truth.”

  “I’ve heard crazier things.” Freitan smiled. “Know anyone in the department over here?”

  “In fact, I do. Dr. Wilson, your psychologist, is an acquaintance. I am close with Sergeant Leilani Texeira. She is stationed on Maui but started her career here, I understand, under Captain Ohale.”

  “Yep, Ohale’s my commanding officer and I remember Lei. We graduated from the academy around the same time. She was a good cop.” Freitan’s attitude visibly thawed. “Weird that you found this body dump while just out hiking.”

  “Indeed it is. But not when you consider Ginger.” The dog, seated beside Sophie, pricked her floppy triangle ears at the sound of her name. “Ginger’s got quite a nose for dead things. So, was this family reported missing?”

  “That’s what’s interesting. Empty wallet with ID was on the adult male body, and we called it in. Not reported missing, but the family does have an address in Ocean View.” Freitan gestured inland. “Big area of unregulated development and small landowners. Lot of weird shit goes down there. But I shouldn’t be talking with you about it, really.”

  “I understand.” Sophie looked away across the lava. Hot air shimmered over the black stone. Hiking across it in the afternoon did not appeal, and the heat would likely blister Ginger’s paws. “Will you want to interview me at your station or anything?”

  Freitan’s lips tightened. “Not sure yet. Got to check in with Captain Ohale.”

  Sophie nodded and sat back down under the now-familiar ohia tree as Freitan left. She took out her canteen and poured some liquid into a collapsible pet bowl for Ginger, then drank the rest. She peeled an energy bar and gave Ginger some kibble, then rested her back against the tree’s rugged bole. The area was like an island in the sea of the lava; that was the gist of what kipuka meant, and it was aptly named.

  Sweet-singing native birds flitted among the red blossoms above her, and Sophie reached out to touch one of the scarlet, tufted flowers.

  “The legend of why the lehua blossom lives on the ohia tree is a sad one.” Her friend Lei’s voice filled her mind, telling her the story as they sat by a fire in Lei’s backyard on Maui. “The legend says that one day the fire goddess Pele, fiercely jealous, met a handsome warrior named Ohia, and asked him to marry her. Ohia, however, had already pledged his love to Lehua. Pele was furious when Ohia turned down her marriage proposal, so she turned him into a twisted tree. Lehua was heartbroken, and the other gods took pity on her. They decided it was an injustice to have Ohia and Lehua separated, and they turned Lehua into a flower on the ohia tree, so that the two lovers would be forever joined together. That’s why, if you pluck a lehua flower, you are separating the lovers, and that day it will rain.”

  A little rain might not be a bad thing—the lava was too hot to walk on. Sophie plucked the lehua blossom and tucked it behind her ear.

  “That’s bad luck, you know.” Detective Wong came out of the forest. The mixed Hawaiian-Chinese man was pale and sweating under his sterile gear. He tore off his mask. “You never pick the lehua.”

  Sophie removed the blossom from behind her ear. “I heard a legend that picking one meant rain. That didn’t seem so bad.”

  Wong fisted his hands on his hips and tipped his head back, sucking in deep breaths of fresh air. “Rain would wreck our crime scene. I thought I’d seen some things, but that was bad back there. Those kids. What the hell motive could there be for that kind of slaughter in a place like this?”

  “I know.” Sophie stroked Ginger’s head, gazing into the dog’s soulful eyes, wishing she could erase the memory of the little girl’s bloated, mutilated face. “Looked like a mob execution to me. I’ve heard there are a lot of witness protection folks hiding on the Big Island. Have you checked in with the U.S. Marshals?”

  Wong’s eyes narrowed. “Who did you say you were?”

  “Witness protection leak—not a bad theory. Fred, this is Sophie Ang. She’s ex-FBI.” Freitan addressed Sophie as she stripped off her gloves and joined them. “I called some friends and they gave the thumbs-up about you. Said you’re a whiz with tech.”

  “I am a whiz with tech.” False modesty wasn’t useful. “I am happy to help in any way I can.” Sophie didn’t want to compound her bad luck by throwing away the lehua flower, so she slid it out of sight into her pocket, regretting crushing the delicate blossom.

  “It’s weird that the victims aren’t reported missing anywhere—but they wouldn’t be if no one knew who they were, and some federal agent thought they were safely stashed.” Freitan gestured to Wong. “Let’s run this by the chief and then reach out to Witness Security.”

  “Can I get a ride to town? My partner is flying into Hilo for a missing persons job we’re going to work together.” Sophie needed to detach from the case. They weren’t going to let her be a part of it—but having found the bodies, seen that little girl . . . she always would be.

  “Sure, we can give you a lift. We were about to head back to the office anyway, now that the techs and the ME are processing. It’s going to be awhile before we have any more information than we gleaned on our pass through the crime scene.”

  Chapter Four

  Jake picked up his duffel from the checked bags section at the Hilo airport. He hated checking a bag, but carrying his weapons demanded it.

  Flying commercial was such a buzzkill.

  Security Solutions was expanding its transportation fleet, but it looked like it would be a while before the company jet was whisking anyone but their CEO, Sheldon Hamilton, around the world.

  As soon as he picked up his rented Jeep, Jake phoned Sophie.

  To his surprise she answered. “Jake. I’m on my way into Hilo with some detectives. Where can we meet?”

  His heart didn’t just give a great big thunderous squeeze at the sound of Sophie’s sexy accented voice. No, his hands weren’t sweaty, gripping the steering wheel at the mere thought of being alone with her. He hadn’t just jumped on this job so he’d have a reason to track her down. Nope. Not at all.

  Jake cleared his throat. “Let’s meet wherever they’re taking you. We need to start working with the local PD on this missing persons case, anyway. What station are you headed for?”

  He listened to a muffled conversation, then Sophie said, “I will meet you at South Hilo Station in an hour.” She hung up.

  Sophie often hung up on him.

  What did it say about their relationship that she was usually either hanging up on him, leaving him, or getting a new burner phone with a number he didn’t have?

  But he had this phone number. Her latest number. He’d memorized it immediately.

  Jake glanced down at the inside of his forearm where she had written a series of digits in ink. She crossed her sevens and drew a line through her zeros. Only a faint tinge of blue still showed. Not that he had been consciously trying to keep the number from disappearing or anything—that area up there by his elbow was just out of handwashing range.

  Jake remembered that moment in the restaurant vividly. She’d written the number on his arm with a ballpoint pen from the hostess stand; he’d said something funny and as she finished writing she froze suddenly, holding his wrist. He heard the deep inhale of her breathing. Electricity surged between them. She held his arm for a long moment, the pen pressed against his skin, not moving.

  The atoms in him streamed toward the atoms in her—it felt weirdly metaphysical.

  “Sophie,” he whispered.

  This wasn’t the only time attraction had zapped them out of nowhere. They’d almost crossed that invisible line several times.

  They’d saved each other’s lives more than once. Saving someone’s life tattooed the person on your heart a little bit—especially when that someone was so utterly awesome.

  Sophie had flung his arm down and practically ran out of the restaurant. Jake was so repulsive to her that she’d jogged away to join that bastard Alika with his helicopter and smooth moves.

  He was fooli
ng himself, imagining that he could be the one to get past the ways Sophie’s sick, abusive ex had messed her up.

  He’d tried to get over Sophie on their last job together by having a thing with Antigua, the estate manager at their client Shank Miller’s.

  Antigua was great: gorgeous, a wonderful cook, hot in the sack, a really quality person. She’d given him the heave-ho after a month. “Make a move on Sophie, Jake. I won’t be anyone’s second choice.” Ouch. The lady was right.

  He had to make a move on this trip. Sophie was still on the rebound from her boyfriend Todd Remarkian’s death. She was going to get scooped up by that rich player Alika if he didn’t do something.

  Jake’s belly knotted. He’d already been stung by the nettle of rejection more than once when Sophie shut down his flirting. He’d never had trouble getting a woman he wanted before; but Sophie had ignored or refused his various tried-and-true gambits, shit that always worked with chicks in the past.

  Jake was stuck in the friend zone, trapped between the pillars of work partnership and the way he annoyed her.

  Yeah, he was too restless. Too loud. Too impatient. Had too much energy. Always wanted to take the lead. None of that was going to change.

  Tough. They’d find a way somehow to rub along and give each other space—they already had, as partners. And he’d make up for how irritating he was by being so fucking good to her in bed she wouldn’t be able to walk or do anything but sigh and say, “Oh, yes, Jake. Yes.”

  Jake missed the turn onto the highway because he was so caught up in his thoughts. He shifted in his seat, hot and uncomfortable, and pulled the Jeep over onto the side of the road to put down the soft top and get some more air, since the AC didn’t seem to be working.

  “Dream on, Jake. She’s not into you. Why are you torturing yourself?” She was making him crazy. He was talking to himself like an idiot. He never got this twisted up about women!