by Toby Neal
“Marcella. You are the most passionate, hardworking, warm-hearted, loving, and loyal woman I’ve ever met. I can’t imagine a better future than one spent with you, doing satisfying work together and building a life filled with friends and family. Would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
Marcella’s mouth dropped open even as her eyes welled up. His speech was both smoothly delivered and heartfelt. People at HPD had always said Marcus Kamuela could sell refrigerators to Eskimos, and her frozen shock began to melt as he turned to their friends. “I think I surprised her.” A rustle of nervous laughter passed through the group as Marcella closed her mouth with an effort. Marcus took out a small black velvet box. “A tiny token of my love for you. I’d be the happiest man in the world if you’d wear it.”
The massive diamond solitaire ring resting on a black velvet cushion was hardly tiny—it was at least a couple of carats. Ridiculous. Over the top. Totally impractical. Just like Marcus to get her something a movie star would wear.
“Holy crap!” Marcella clapped her hands over her mouth as her tears overflowed. Marcus stayed on bended knee as she scolded, “You brat! I can’t believe you sprang this on me, and this rock! You could have gotten a new car!” She plucked the diamond out of the box and slid it on, throwing her arms around his solid body and bending to kiss him in a frenzy. “Yes, Marcus, yes! Of course I’ll marry you!”
Cheers, applause, and laughter swirled around them like bubbles in champagne, but all Marcella noticed were her beloved’s arms around her as he rose to crush her tight in the longest hug.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Sophie’s eyes burned as she watched the tender scene play out on the porch between Marcella and Marcus. Her heart was so full of joy—she was watching a fairy tale come true. Maybe love between a man and a woman really could work. There was no darkness in the beauty she was witnessing: only light, and love, and honesty.
But not for her. Never for her. She’d been broken one too many times.
When Marcus stood and drew his fiancée into his arms for a hug, Sophie finally blinked. Tears rolled down her cheeks, hot and unwelcome.
“Are you okay?” Jake was standing beside her—she’d forgotten he was there. His whisper raised the hairs on the back of her neck. He took her nerveless, cold hand in one of his.
“I’m just so happy for them.” Sophie removed her hand. She didn’t deserve to be touched, to be warm. Her feet were too far away, her vision telescoping. She heard words in her head, spoken in Dr. Wilson’s voice, but they came out in her own. “A dissociative episode is occurring.”
“What?” Jake stepped in front of her. He loomed, filling her vision, blocking the view of her friends. His big hands gripped her shoulders. “Sit down.”
He physically moved her stiff, unresponsive form over to a chair under the plumeria tree and pushed her down into it. “You need a drink.” He disappeared.
Sophie sat, completely isolated from what was happening. Her body felt inanimate, a robot that contained her essence as she observed the exclaiming chaos that followed the proposal, the toasts led by Egidio, the radiant smile Marcella flashed at the group as she held up her hand with the dazzling ring on it, her face alight with happiness and shiny with tears as Marcus squeezed her against his side.
Seated in the shadows under the plumeria tree out of view, Sophie just breathed, trapped in her body— and gradually her atoms reassembled themselves. One by one, Sophie’s senses seemed to reboot, drawing her back into the here and now.
She smelled the fresh-cut grass and the tree overhead. She heard the Hawaiian music and the joyful explosion of congratulations going on. She felt the plastic arms of the chair under her hands, the way the evening air wafted across her freshly shaved legs in Mary Watson’s flowered skirt. She saw the beauty and love before her. She smiled, and felt her cheeks move.
Jake reappeared with a couple of glasses of champagne. “Here. Toast.” He stood beside her and she lifted her glass as Frank stepped up to lead another toast to the happy couple.
Sophie sipped the sparkling wine at the toast. She tasted its tartness, felt the bubbles in her nose, at the back of her throat. She swallowed the last of her tears down, down, down, into the darkness inside of her. And she closed the lid on it, for now.
“I’m okay. I’m okay now, Jake.” She smiled up at him. “Thanks. I just needed a moment. And a glass of champagne.” She glanced over at the porch.
Marcella was looking for her, scanning the party area, a crease between her brows.
Her friend would be worried, wanting Sophie to be okay, instinctively concerned about how her own good fortune would affect her unlucky friend. Marcella was that kind of person.
Sophie didn’t deserve Marcella’s friendship, but she had to get past herself to do right by it. She knew that much. She stood up, handed her champagne glass to Jake, and strode across the grass and up the stairs to engulf both Marcus and Marcella in her biggest, best, strongest hug. “I am so happy for you two. You give me hope,” she said into the sweet space between their faces.
And in that moment, it was true.
The Ghost ran along the night beach, the weight of his Walther PPK in the shoulder harness smacking lightly against his ribs. He didn’t find the reminder of his weapon annoying any longer—he’d been wearing it so constantly that it had become a part of him, an extension like the dog at his side.
Anubis was off leash, trotting on sand so white and fine it reminded him of sugar, gleaming silver under the stars. Here in Thailand, no leash rules bound them but Anubis’s training.
Delicate moonlit ripples splashed onto the shore, glowing blue with bioluminescence. The dark shapes of unfamiliar tropical trees and tiny offshore islands created an exotic moonlit vista. The Ghost remembered Hawaii with a pang; this was just as beautiful, but he missed Sophie’s presence as she ran with him, that lovable, unmannerly dog of hers romping ahead.
Sophie should come home to Thailand and sort out her relationship with her mother. Make peace with her past. It would be good for her to deal with those old wounds, and Thailand was a place where she’d blend in beautifully.
He allowed himself a fantasy of the life they could have far from the restrictions and prying eyes of her law enforcement background.
Perhaps Sophie would reach out to him through the software program, or the chat room they had set up and used in the past. He was a patient man. Someday she would forgive him, and they would have the future he longed for.
For now, Thailand was rife with corruption and needed the Ghost’s full attention.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Sophie settled herself into the now-familiar seat in the Bell Jet Ranger. Seated beside her, Alika handed her a helmet and she slipped it on, clipping the chinstrap and turning on the comm unit.
“Ready?” Alika’s warm brown eyes gleamed behind his face visor.
“Ready.” Sophie gave a thumbs-up.
Alika hit the ignition switch, and the chopper thrummed to life.
It had been two weeks since Sophie returned to Oahu and the case in Kalalau wrapped up. She and Ginger had spent that time at her father’s apartment recuperating: resuming her workouts at the new gym, Fighting Fit, catching up with her friends, and figuring out her next steps.
Security Solutions had offered to extend her private security contract, but she had declined for the moment. Now that the oppressive pall of possible charges against her had lifted, Sophie wanted to continue her exploration of the Hawaiian Islands on foot.
Alika, on Oahu to check in with his gym, had offered to fly her to her next destination, the Big Island. Sophie wanted to hike the many trails of that splendid and primordial island after a stop to visit with Dr. Caprice Wilson in Hilo. She was looking forward to seeing the petite blonde psychologist again, and having someone she knew and trusted help her sort through the threads of her life.
Alika lifted the collective, and the helicopter lifted as gently as if floating. Sophie sucked in a breat
h of awe and exhilaration as the chopper soared off of her father’s high-rise building and veered over the downtown Honolulu skyline.
Early morning sun gilded the east side of the skyscrapers, lighting the waves far below, already dotted with surfers in the Waikiki lineup. The helicopter tilted as they headed south, and Sophie turned her head to bid the rugged silhouette of Diamond Head, site of many of her run-hikes, goodbye.
They left the city behind. Sophie scanned the crinkled blue surface of the ocean for whale signs as her hand crept back to caress Ginger’s big square head. The Lab was tied behind her seat for safety, but had wedged herself as far forward as she could get, her muzzle aligned with Sophie’s thigh.
The wind was not yet up, making the flight smooth. They passed the great yellow and green hump that was Maui, and soon they were circling in to fly low over glowing red veins of trickling lava making their way through a vast blackened plain. She’d asked Alika to take her to where the flows from Kilauea Volcano met the sea on an area of newborn land. It had seemed a good place to start her latest journey.
Alika searched for a smooth landing spot, and finally set the Dragonfly down on the last bit of paved road in Kalapana, before it was buried in hardened coruscations of black stone.
He removed his helmet and Sophie hers as the rotors slowed and the engine whined to a stop. She took a thick wad of cash out of her pocket and held it out to him. “For expenses.”
Alika shook his head. “No need.”
“Yes. There is a need. I have taken your time and used your equipment. You must be compensated.”
Alika’s golden-brown gaze met hers. He reached over and hooked a hand around the back of her neck, drawing her toward him. Sophie’s eyes closed and she sank into the kiss. A long moment passed as they savored the taste and touch of each other.
She drew back into her seat. Her hand touched her tingling lips.
“All I need by way of compensation.” Alika said.
Her cheeks heated. She looked away. “I can’t be in a relationship right now.”
“I understand. I know you need time to recover from everything. Time to learn there are still people you can trust. I just want to be one of those.”
Sophie looked down and thought of Jake.
She missed Jake. He had been back on the Maui job after Marcella’s engagement party, and they’d had no contact other than a few phone calls. Jake was someone she could trust. So were Marcella and Lei. Even Waxman and Ken Yamada were people she could trust—and her father, back at his ambassador job in Washington, most of all.
Sophie was surrounded by an “ohana” of friends and family. This journey she was on still needed to be taken alone, but a tiny flame of hope rose in her that it wouldn’t always be that way.
Alika got out of his side of the chopper, and as he turned away, Sophie slid the money into a slot beside his seat. Better not to make any unspoken promises she couldn’t keep.
She led Ginger out through her passenger door as Alika lifted out her heavy backpack and set it on the road. He looked around. “No one anywhere for miles out here. I feel bad just letting you out like this. You sure you don’t need a ride somewhere?”
Sophie smiled. “I am fully capable of making my own way anywhere I want to go. Thank you for all you’ve done. I’ll be in touch.”
“You better be. Or I’ll come looking for you.” Alika smiled, but she knew he meant it.
She watched as the helicopter lifted off of the lava and into the sky, buzzing away like the dragonfly he’d named it.
Sophie hefted the backpack and shrugged into it, settling the weight on her hips. It was full of camping and food supplies, and she made sure that the side pocket containing the Ghost software and her satellite laptop with DAVID loaded on it was specially waterproofed and travel ready. She’d also brought her Glock this time, since she was traveling under her own name with a concealed carry permit, and wouldn’t be taking a commercial airline flight.
Sophie tightened the straps, picked up Ginger’s leash, and headed into the virgin lava field, a feeling a lot like joy filling her with strength for the journey ahead, wherever it might lead.
* * *
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Acknowledgments
Aloha dear readers!
I’m so excited. Sophie is on her way in a whole new direction as an independent crime solver, armed with DAVID and the Ghost software. She’s a “female Jack Reacher,” but with a backpack and a lot of friends and a good dog by her side. I can’t wait to see what she gets up to next!
This book is written in a new style, with brief chapters and several points of view. I’m always trying to surprise and intrigue you readers with new approaches, and I hope this latest journey worked for you.
Several years ago, I was intrigued by an article about a rogue group of campers squatting way back in Kalalau Valley, and the efforts by rangers and the DLNR to get them out. Not long after, I heard of a female hiker who was murdered, thrown off the trail to her death. I decided then and there I’d be using that gorgeous, remote, mana-infused valley for a story.
Growing up on Kaua’i, our family hiked to Hanakapiai on a regular basis and took a little wooden boat with an outboard all the way to Kalalau to camp when I was a kid. A great way to see Kalalau’s unforgettable majesty is from the top at the Koke’e lookout. The view down the valley to the sea is one of the most beautiful in the world.
Thanks go out to my awesome copyeditors Don and Bonnie, who try valiantly to get the Paradise Crime books in shape for my typo hunters Shirley and Angie. Thanks also to my faithful, hardworking Tricia and creative new helper Jamie, for all your PR efforts. I appreciate everyone on my team, and couldn’t do all this without you.
Special love and kisses to my husband Mike as the two of us embark on a new chapter of our lives, living in California for a season on the Russian River. Until next time, I’ll be writing! Keep reading for an excerpt from Wired Justice, Paradise Crime #6.
Much aloha,
Toby Neal
Excerpt Wired Justice
The best place to think about life was on a volcano. Sophie tried to hold that thought as she held a hand up to shade her eyes. Alika Wolcott, ex-coach and possible lover, had piloted the chopper that had dropped her off in this desolate lava field, and now she was on her own hiking adventure with her faithful dog, Ginger.
Kalapana on the Big Island was a place of stark contrasts. The deep blue sky arced overhead, depthless and unbroken. Desolate as a moonscape, acres of black lava, some areas barely cooled, stretched away in every direction to the ocean, where a restless sea beat against the fresh stone. The only sign of human presence was the remains of what had once been a two-lane highway, engulfed periodically by shiny black rock that gleamed iridescent in the sun of high noon.
“Come, Ginger.” The dog had been nosing for smells around a rock, and came to Sophie’s side. Sophie attached the Lab’s leash to her belt with a clip and tightened the straps of her backpack once more, settling the weight so it rested evenly on her hips. She set off toward the area of active flow that she had been able to see from the chopper.
A road of sorts had been made across the fresh stone by all the tourists visiting the lava flow area. It was easy to follow their tracks, and as the morning wore on, she encountered people riding rented bikes, other hikers, and tourists of every stripe, age, and build. A quad even rumbled past her, towing a flat trailer loaded with tourists.
Sophie reached a crude viewing area taped off with yellow caution tape and found a good vantage point, slightly out of the gusty wind that whipped over the wide flank of the volcano, hitting the ocean like a cat batting with its paw. The lava ran in a sinuous, slow moving, hypnotic glowing river to the edge of the cliff. Molten, glowing chunks dropped into the sea in a relentless stream, causing explosions of steam and a crackling sound like breaking glass as extreme heat met its match.
Sophie watched from beside a stone bulwark, one hand on Ginger’s ruff. The dog whined in e
xcitement, but calmed under her hand. Hours passed with no sense of time as Sophie watched the blood of the land ooze forth, hit the water in sizzling bursts, and slowly and inexorably build the island.
Sunset came spectacularly. The tourists mounted their bikes, shouldered their toddlers, and headed back to the parking area some miles away. Sophie ate an energy bar and fed Ginger her kibble, still watching the lava trickle into the sea, the glow brightening as darkness fell. She felt no urgency to leave or do anything more. This was all, and it was enough.
The stars came out and the moon rose. Sophie undid her bedroll and sleeping bag and lay down with her dog close against her, and her eyes on the lava’s pageantry.
The soft breath of the morning breeze caressed Sophie’s face, waking her. She had come to no conclusions nor had any deep insights, lying there on the cliff and watching the lava drip into the ocean—but she reveled in that elusive sense of freedom she’d been seeking. She finally rolled up her sleeping bag and headed out.
She didn’t feel ready to deal with people right now, and was glad of the early morning emptiness of the area. Off in the nearby ocean as she and Ginger walked over the raw lava, she glimpsed a whale spout.
Ginger was off leash, and the dog gave a sudden bark, signaling her interest in something, and lunged off of the foot path worn over the fresh stone. Sophie grabbed for her collar, but the Lab galloped away across the rough surface.
“Ginger, no!” Sophie cried, worried that the dog’s feet would be cut on the razor-sharp lava. “Ginger, come!” She scrambled after the Lab, continuing to call as she ran as fast as her forty-pound pack would allow. Ginger could be impulsive, but this level of disobedience was rare. Sophie finally dropped the backpack to gain speed in running after the dog. “Ginger!”
