Midnight Sea (Aloha Reef Series)

by Colleen Coble

  “Yoshi said he’d meet us at the station when you’re ready,” he told her. “He needs a statement.”

  “I can’t tell him much. I didn’t see who it was.” Her tone tried for irony but settled for despair.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I promised you’d be okay.”

  “And I was.” She lifted her head, her chin set with an “I am woman” resolve.

  “Fisher has a bloody snout,” Ben said. “I think he tangled with your attacker.”

  “Something drove him off.”

  He should have been there. She shouldn’t have had to rely on the dog.

  She tipped her head up. “Did you save the swimmer? I forgot to ask.”

  “It was just two boys clowning around. When I scolded them, they told me—” He stopped, suddenly understanding.

  “They told you what?”

  “That someone had paid them to pretend to be drowning,” he said slowly.

  Even more color leached from her face. “The killer planned this,” she whispered.

  “Looks like it.” He turned and studied the crowd on the shore. Unaware of what Lani had been through, Rina and her former hippie friends were still out surfing. They’d been all over the water. Any of the other strangers here could also be the attacker.

  A police car, lights flashing, came screaming up the lane. Ben turned and saw it skid to a stop.

  Yoshi leaned over the seat and pushed open the passenger door. “Get in!”

  Ben looked into the car. “What’s wrong?”

  “There’s been a boating accident. It’s your brother.”

  Ben felt his heart come to a stop before it began to pump blood through his veins again. “How bad?” Lani and Fisher came up behind him before Yoshi answered.

  “I want to come too,” Lani said. “I’m afraid.” She clutched his hand. “Besides, you need someone with you.”

  Ben’s hands began to shake. He realized he wanted her there, needed someone who cared. And she did seem to care. He opened the back door and helped her get in. He told Fawn to let Rina know where they went, then he hopped in the front seat. “Are they okay?”

  “We don’t know yet, Ben. There’s been an explosion. I’ve got a Coast Guard boat waiting in Kealakekua Bay for us.”

  Don’t panic. Ethan is probably fine. But his mouth went dry as he began to imagine the worst types of scenarios. He pushed away the ugly thoughts and prayed instead. God had this situation under control too.

  The car drove down the winding shoreline to the bay. Kayaks dotted the deep blue water. Yoshi killed the sirens and the lights and pulled the car to the road’s shoulder. “I’ll get Lani. You get on out there and see if they’ve found them,” Yoshi said.

  “Them?”

  “A report said Natalie and Meg were aboard as well.”

  The baby. Ben vaulted from the car and ran to the water. A Coast Guard cutter was anchored offshore, and he waved to the boat. A launch separated from the cutter and zoomed toward shore. Two men manned the Zodiac. Ben kicked off his slippers and waded out to the craft. “I’m Ben Mahoney. Have you found my brother and his family? Driscoll, it’s Ethan Driscoll.”

  “Not yet.”

  Ben turned to check on Yoshi’s and Lani’s whereabouts. They were nearly to the shore. He turned and slogged back through the water to the sand as they arrived. “No sign of them yet.” At least their bodies hadn’t been found. He could only hope that meant good news.

  “Let me see what I can find out.” Yoshi waded through the water to the boat.

  Ben had Lani grab his arm, and he helped her to the boat. Once they were aboard, the boat banged against the waves as it zoomed back to the cutter. Yoshi stood talking to the petty officer, but Ben couldn’t hear over the roar of the wind. He scanned the whitecaps but saw no sign of flotsam or debris. Yoshi hadn’t said where the explosion took place.

  They boarded, and the boat sped out to sea. Lani reached for his hand. He curled his fingers around her cold ones.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s scary to think of such a little one being out here.”

  “She’s not even two,” he said. “Sweetest little thing with big blue eyes and blond curls.” He wanted to tell her how close he’d come to taking her out of the home last week, but he couldn’t face the guilt. If only he’d followed through. Ethan had eventually kept his appointment with the rehab center, but Ben had a sinking feeling that alcohol would be found to have played a role in today’s accident. That particular monkey clung with tenacity to Ethan’s back.

  “They may have found everyone already,” Lani said.

  Fisher pressed his wet nose against Ben’s bare calf. “I hope so,” Ben said. He leaned forward. “I think I see some debris.” He released Lani’s hand and stood at the rail. Pieces of fiberglass boat began to appear in the choppy seas. Another Coast Guard cutter cruised the waters on the other side of the flotsam, and he could see several smaller boats as well.

  Lani joined him at the rail. “I hear a chopper.”

  He hadn’t noticed, but when she mentioned it, he heard the whop-whop of an approaching helicopter, and the rotors stirred the water. A petty officer handed him a set of binoculars, and he began to scan the waves. The choppy sea made it hard to search. Whitecaps rose and fell, and he had to try to see into the valleys of water.

  Yoshi joined them on Ben’s other side. “There are bags of coffee everywhere. The Coast Guard thinks Ethan was smuggling something. Drugs, maybe. You see any signs that he had more money than usual?”

  Ben didn’t want to squeal on his brother, but he couldn’t lie. “Yeah,” he said. “A few new things. I questioned him about it too. I saw bags of coffee in his house. He told me he had a job delivering coffee for Kona Kai.”

  “That’s why you asked me about delivery,” Lani said.

  “I confronted him, but I couldn’t get anything out of him.”

  “Why didn’t you talk to me about it?” Yoshi demanded.

  “I had no proof of anything.” He sighed and rubbed his head. “Lame excuse, I know.”

  Yoshi looked back at the floating burlap bags. “If this coffee is from Aunt Rina’s trees, I’ll bet your shooting is connected to a smuggling operation, Lani.”

  Ben lowered the binoculars and looked at her. Was someone she loved involved too? Maybe she was trying to protect someone.

  Lani’s knuckles were white where she gripped the railing. “I know you think I’m hiding something, Yoshi,” she said. “But I honestly don’t remember anything.”

  Ben hadn’t pressed her much on what she remembered, but he thought Yoshi had it wrong. If she remembered what happened that night, surely she’d say so.

  “You’re protecting someone, aren’t you, Lani? Who is it?”

  Her wide, unseeing eyes blinked in her cousin’s direction. “I can’t remember!”

  “You can’t or won’t?” Yoshi pressed with relentless persistence. “Something is going on out there at the coffee farm, Lani. You and I both know it. Just tell me what you saw.”

  Lani pressed her fingers to her eyes. “Don’t you think I’ve tried and tried to remember? If only I could identify the killer, I’d be out of danger. Someone tried to kill me today, Yoshi.”

  “We need to talk about that too.” Yoshi glanced at Ben for confirmation, and Ben nodded.

  “The accident is more important. I’m okay.” She dropped her hand. “Let’s worry about finding Ben’s family right now. This can all wait.”

  Yoshi nodded and raised his binoculars to his eyes.

  Ben blocked out everything and began to scan the water again. This section of ocean held even more flotsam. He saw bits of cushion, something that looked like part of a cabinet, and the charred remains of a cooler floating in the whitecaps. Then he glimpsed a small face in a valley before another wave hid it from view.

  “It’s Meg!” He dropped the binoculars and dove into the water. Yoshi shouted something, but Ben ignored him. Kicking through the rough seas, Ben swam t
oward the debris. Meg had been just past the seat cushion. A wave tossed a piece of the boat’s bow toward him, and he dove to avoid it. Salt stung his eyes as he surfaced and blinked the water away.

  “Meg!” he shouted. “Meggie!” He heard an answering whimper. She was alive! He swam in the direction of the weak cry. Riding the crest of a wave, he slid down the blue-green wall into the dip. A bright orange flash caught his eye. A life jacket. He struck out toward it, then saw Meg’s blond hair plastered to her head. His hand snagged the vest’s tie, and he clutched it, dragging the little girl toward him.

  Then he clasped her in his arms. She wound her small arms around his neck. “Mommy,” she said, her face puckering.

  He hugged her to his chest. “Hang on, Meggie. Let’s get to the boat.” She clung to him even tighter. He began to swim, the heavy seas breaking over his head with every fresh wave. He tried to signal the boat, but he wasn’t sure if they could see him. At least her life jacket kept her head above water, though he had to have swallowed at least a gallon of seawater as he struggled to propel Meg and himself through the waves.

  He thought he heard a motor, then saw the Zodiac cutting through the swells. With the seas heaving him up and down, he thought the men might have trouble finding them. He waited until the next wave lifted them to the crest, then shouted and waved. Yoshi sat in the small boat with the Coast Guard and acknowledged Ben’s yell. Yoshi gestured to the pilot, and the Zodiac bounced over the waves toward them.

  The boat reached Ben and Meg in a few seconds. Ben started to hand Meg up to Yoshi, but she shrieked and wrapped her arms and legs around him more tightly. “It’s okay, Meg. I’m coming too.” He finally succeeded in handing her up into the boat, but she continued to cry.

  Exhaustion left him sinking in the waves without the strength to climb up himself. Two seamen grabbed him and helped him clamber into the boat, where he lay spent on the rubber deck. Yoshi put a squirming Meg down, and she flung herself onto his chest. “Mommy,” she wailed.

  Ben gathered her close and sat up and looked at Yoshi.

  Yoshi looked away. “Nothing yet.”

  Ben’s eyes burned, and he gulped. He sat with Meg in his arms. “Want some gum, Meg?” That usually distracted her.

  Her tears stopped for a moment. “Gum?” She stuck her fingers in his mouth.

  “In a minute,” he mumbled past her salty, wrinkled fingers. The waves slammed into the rubber Zodiac, and it jolted over the tops of the whitecaps as it sped back to the Coast Guard cutter. A few minutes later they were all safely aboard. A smattering of rain began to fall, smacking into the water and onto the deck of the boat.

  Ben’s gaze found Lani by the railing. The wind whipped her hair around her head, tangling it around her throat like a noose. A shiver radiated along his spine at the image. The day’s events included a murder attempt on her. Could someone have put a bomb on his brother’s boat? The coffee implied some kind of connection. Or was he grasping at something that wasn’t there? He didn’t want to believe Ethan would put his family at risk by drinking on the boat, but may-be it was just that simple.

  A seaman brought him a blanket, and he wrapped Meg in its warmth. Her lips were blue, and her eyelids fluttered, then closed. He settled onto the seat with her in his arms. He should put her down and let her sleep, but he didn’t want to let her go.

  Lani and Fisher moved to the seat beside him. “How is she?”

  “Okay. Exhausted, of course.”

  “Poor baby.” Lani groped toward him, found his arm, and followed it down to where Meg lay sleeping. She caressed the little girl’s wet hair.

  Yoshi joined them. “We fished some coffee bags from the water.”

  “And?” Ben asked. “Anything there?” Yoshi held out his hand palm up. Several pieces of deep blue coral lay in his palm. Ben picked up a piece. “It’s beautiful.”

  “What is it?” Lani asked.

  Ben took her hand and pressed a piece of coral into it. “It’s dark blue coral.”

  She went still as she fingered it. A frown crouched between her eyes. “Something about this,” she faltered.

  “Sir.” One of the seamen gestured toward Yoshi. Yoshi walked over to speak with him.

  Ben touched Lani’s arm. “Could you hold her a minute?”

  “I’d love to.” Lani held out her arms, and Ben deposited the toddler into them.

  “Thanks.” He kissed Meg’s forehead, then joined Yoshi. “Is there news?”

  “I’m afraid so, Ben.” Yoshi put his hand on Ben’s shoulder. “They’ve found Natalie’s body.”

  Ben slumped against the railing. How did you comfort a two-year-old who wanted her mommy? “Ethan?” he whispered.

  “Nothing yet.” Yoshi’s eyes were sympathetic.

  “I’m not an idiot. I know the odds aren’t good. It’s a miracle Meg survived. They always made sure she wore a life jacket, but Ethan and Natalie hardly ever did.” He realized he was speaking of them in the past tense and swallowed.

  “Any ideas about the coral in the coffee?”

  “There’s a moratorium on selling blue coral. It’s the richest color I’ve ever seen. Collectors will want it in the worst way,” Ben said.

  Yoshi nodded. “Orchid smuggling just down the road from the coffee farm, and now this. I feel certain Pam’s murder is connected. I’m going to talk to Aunt Rina. Maybe she knows something. She won’t like ratting out one of her friends.”

  Ben knew the interview wouldn’t be pleasant for Yoshi. Rina was one of his only relatives. “When?”

  “As soon as we get back.”

  Ben frowned and focused his attention on the sea. A fast-moving boat approached, slamming into the crests of the waves. It slowed as it reached the Coast Guard cutter. He could see something lying in the bottom. Natalie? But as the boat pulled up, Ben looked down into his brother’s face. Ethan was quite dead.

  Lani fingered the coral in her hand. The memory wouldn’t come, but she knew she’d seen this coral somewhere. Her pulse fluttered whenever she tried to push past the darkness shrouding the recollection. Rolling the piece around in her fingers, she finally gave up. The harder she tried to remember, the more it eluded her.

  “No!” A hoarse cry that sounded like Ben came over the roar of the wind and sea.

  Lani tightened her grip on Meg and wished she understood the sudden hubbub. Had they found the rest of the family? She heard footsteps. “Who’s there?” she asked.

  “Seaman Lowell,” a young male voice said.

  “Can you tell me what’s happening?” she asked.

  “They’re bringing aboard the little girl’s daddy. He didn’t make it.”

  Tears sprang to Lani’s eyes. Other sounds came to her ears now—the harsh sounds of a man trying to choke back sobs. This had to hit Ben hard. The thought of losing her own brother or sister made her shudder. Ben was a good man, and a Christian. Why would God allow something like this to happen to him? Was her new faith a lie? She’d been trying hard to straighten out her life, and God had walloped her with blindness. And now he’d callously killed Ethan and Natalie and left Meg orphaned. What kind of God did something like that?

  She knew she should pray for Ben, but the words died on her tongue. Why even pray or trust God when he brought this kind of trouble? Her life had been better before she became a Christian. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone out with friends for a night of fun. Was this all her life was supposed to be about now—church, futile prayers, and misery? If only Annie were here to talk to. Lani felt lost and alone. She understood so little of this new life.

  She heard feet shuffling on the deck, then a hand touched her shoulder. “Who’s there?” she asked.

  “It’s me.” Ben’s gruff voice choked out the words. He sat beside her on the bench. “He’s dead, Lani.”

  “I know. I’m so sorry, Ben.” She felt for his hand and found it. His fingers clung to hers, and she felt him shudder.

  “Can I have Meg back?” he whi
spered.

  She held the little girl out to him, and he slipped Meg out of Lani’s arms. The shoulder that touched hers shuddered again, and he began to rock back and forth a little. Lani wished she knew some comforting words, but found nothing worth saying. Maybe God could comfort him, but she couldn’t.

  Chapter Ten

  Thresh stood under the monkeypod tree wearing a smile of satisfaction. The death of her son should bring Peekaboo running. After all these years, she would finally pay for her sins.

  Kato walked to the tree. “Why’d you sink the boat?”

  “I can’t stand whining. You are not to question my actions. Just follow orders.”

  The big man looked down. “You might let me in on it. Our most important shipment was on that boat. And the mother is missing. I think Ethan took it.”

  Cold rage gathered in Thresh’s belly. “What? What happened?” If the greatest of all treasures was at the bottom of the sea, someone would have to answer for it.

  “I don’t think it was aboard the boat,” Kato said quickly.

  The churning in his stomach began to settle. “Find it. Search his house—tear it apart if you have to. But find it.”

  Ben clutched Meg to his chest. She was all the family he had now. He couldn’t believe, couldn’t grasp the fact that he would never see his brother again, never hear his laughter. The shudders that wracked his body had finally stopped, but he felt cold, so cold.

  He sat in the backseat of Yoshi’s squad car. Meg should have been in a car seat, but Ben did the best he could and strapped her into the seat belt between him and Lani. Rina had promised to run by his brother’s house and pick up Meg’s car seat along with some other things for the toddler. Ben wanted to do everything right, to fill in as best he could for his orphaned niece.

  Lani ran her fingers over Meg’s curls, dry now but still flattened against her head. “At least she’s sleeping.”

  He nodded and pushed back his grief. If he didn’t dwell on it, maybe the pain would begin to ease. His gaze lifted to her face. “How are you feeling?”