"You check out this room," Nick whispers. "I'll sweep the rest of the house."
I nod and start to go through the music on the table. It's nothing special—certainly not like the museum-quality music Alohalani had. In fact, most of it is junk—the same-old, same-old stuff we usually get as requests: "Lovely Hula Hands," "Ain't She Sweet," "Somewhere over the Rainbow"—not a lot of imaginative stuff. In fact, it's a pretty cheesy collection. It only shores up my conviction that Leilani had no imagination.
Why would she keep this cheap music around? Didn't she have it all memorized by now? No matter how many sheets I go through, it's all the same. Nothing interesting. There should be some contemporary and classical music here, but if there once was, it's now gone.
I look around. If I didn't see her ukes in here, I'd think she kept her more important music somewhere else. But her instruments and accessories are all in this room. Why would she put anything anywhere else?
"There isn't much else to the house," Nick says, making me jump about three feet in the air. Okay, so it was more like a few inches.
"Just the living room, a bathroom, and a bedroom. No basement or attic," Nick says.
"Any music or any instruments anywhere else?" I ask.
He shakes his head. "But you should go check it out yourself."
No time like the present. I don't want to stay here one second more than I have to. I step into the living room and look around. There's a small flat-screen TV on the wall opposite a shabby love seat and two club chairs. The coffee table has a remote on it but nothing else. Something strikes me as weird, but I can't put my finger on it. It may be the stark emptiness of the room. There are no pictures on the walls. No tchotchkes of any kind. No personal effects.
Everyone has some personal keepsakes in their homes. Don't they? Even if it's just one or two things. But there's nothing here to even say Leilani lived here. Were there family members who already came and got her things? I inspect the walls, but there are no faded spots where pictures once hung…not even any holes where nails might've been.
The bathroom is very small. A stall shower, sink, and toilet. One sad towel hangs near the sink, and there's a bar of soap in a dish. Nothing else. The medicine cabinet has a bottle of aspirin and a jar of face cream. That's it.
Last, but not least, is the bedroom. Apparently Leilani loved the color orange, because absolutely everything in the room is a bright, glaring version of that color. The walls, carpet, and bedspread look like a bunch of orange popsicles melted onto everything. There is one dresser that's a darker burnt orange, but everything else holds on to the neon theme. It almost hurts my eyes to look at it.
Again—there are no photos or personal effects. In the dresser there's nothing but socks and underwear. I move to the closet and look. A couple of T-shirts, skirts, and two dresses are the only occupants. One pair of flip-flops sits on the floor. A harness and some coiled rope suggest that Leilani actually did stuff outside. She must've tried rock climbing. It was odd to think of her with a hobby. But then, she'd always been pretty fit. She had to get that way somehow.
Had someone come here and started packing up? The fact that things are still on hangers and in drawers make me realize that whoever it was will probably be back. As I close the drawers on the bureau, something thuds. I find an envelope taped to the back.
"What's that?" Nick asks behind me, causing me to jump one more time.
"You have to quit sneaking up on me!"
"Sorry. What is it?" He points to the envelope.
I turn my attention back to it. The seal is broken, so we won't tip anyone off if we open it ourselves. I pull out a single photo.
"Oh, wow" is all I can say.
"What on earth?" Nick says.
There's a photo of Kua, but I get the impression that he didn't know he was being photographed at the time. There are other people in the background. They kind of look like the Sea Dogs we saw when we met Todd in Princeville.
"Why would she have this? Leilani hated Kua. And why hide it?
Leilani was following Kua and took a picture of him. But why? Was she obsessed with him? Did Leilani have feelings for Kua? If so, it never, ever showed. It didn't make any sense.
No writing on the back of the photo. Weird.
"Maybe she was blackmailing him?" Nick asks.
I shake my head. "He's not doing anything worth blackmailing." For all I knew, Leilani just took the picture to practice voodoo on him.
"We'd better put it back," Nick says, and I agree.
There seems to be no reason to take it with us, and if a reason turns up later, we can always drop hints to the police on where to find it. I fasten the envelope back on the drawer and turn it back against the wall.
We work our way back to the kitchen. This is a total bust. We've broken into her house for nothing. Nothing at all. The only thing I've gotten out of this mess is the knowledge that Leilani didn't have a torture chamber in her bedroom or a scary dungeon filled with alligators in the basement. I must say—I'm pretty surprised. Leilani was somewhat fairly normal.
"We should check the kitchen before we leave." Nick looks at his watch. "It's getting late. Let's do it quickly." He backtracks, making sure we didn’t leave any trace of our visit before joining me in the kitchen.
I nod and start pulling out drawers as Nick goes through the cabinets. We find nothing but flatware, cups, and plates. I shove the last drawer shut a little too hard and something flutters out.
"It was stuck under the drawer," I say as I retrieve it. From the back, I can see it's another photo.
Nick looks out the window. "I see headlights at the bottom of the hill!"
I stuff the photo into my back pocket just as he grabs my arm and shoves me out the back door, turning off the lights before he joins me. We run like we're on fire and scramble into the SUV. Nick tears out of the drive the opposite direction from where we came. Is there anything at the other end of this road?
He turns off the lights and pulls off the road, plunging into a grove of banana trees. Nick shuts off the engine, and we wait.
"Maybe it's someone who lives up here," I say quietly.
"I hope so," Nick breathes.
A flash of light hits the road behind us, and we both duck down. We wait, but no one passes. After about ten minutes, Nick eases the SUV back onto the road and drives up the hill, continuing in the opposite direction from whence we came. There are no other houses. In fact, the road ends with a huge sign that says, Kapu! Trespassers will be shot.
"We have to go back down," I whisper. "And that means past her house."
"Or we could wait up here all night." Nick gives me a look.
Much as I'd love to hang with him all night, I'm far too worried about whoever made that sign and being discovered by whoever's at Leilani's house.
"Maybe it's her family coming to get the rest of her stuff?" Nick asks.
I glance at my watch and shake my head. "At one o'clock in the morning? I doubt it."
"What if it's the same guy from Alohalani's office? Maybe he's worried that Leilani had ideas on who killed Kua? Or he could be lying low here, knowing that Leilani isn't coming back."
I think about that for a moment. If the Terrible Trio were all killed by the same guy, what could they have that he needs?
"I think we should go," I say finally. "I'd rather drive and be discovered than get trapped here, waiting for someone to kill us."
Nick agrees and turns off the headlights, proceeding back down the dirt road. We hold our breath as we pass Leilani's house. A white car is sitting in the driveway. The lights in the house are out, but we can see a flashlight beam bouncing around inside.
"Whoever it is definitely isn't supposed to be here, or they'd turn on the lights," I say.
"Didn't you say something about a white sedan earlier?" Nick asks.
I nod. It looks like the same car I saw following me to the college. It's quite a coincidence, but it's too dark, so I can't be sure. We pause for a momen
t, wondering what to do.
"Maybe we should check it out?" Nick asks.
I really want to know who's been following me all day, but I'm completely beat, and my nerves are shot.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea…"
"Aren't you curious?" Nick asks.
I shake my head. "Quite frankly, I'm terrified."
To my surprise, Nick jumps out of the car and walks up toward the house. Whoa. I thought we were acting as a team! Is he ignoring what I think about this?
Before I can complain, Nick jumps back into the car, and we pull out.
"What just happened?" I ask a little crankily.
He smiles. "I got the license plate number. Just in case."
"We could hand that over to the detective!" I get it. Okay, I'm not mad at him anymore. That may be the smartest thing we've done this whole evening.
Nick continues to drive. It's very slow going. Without moonlight, the road is hard to see. After a couple of minutes, Nick turns on the headlights and drives faster until he meets the highway. We ride in silence, each wondering what just happened, until Nick pulls into my driveway. The lights are off in my house, which means Mom's asleep. That's the best thing that has happened all night.
"Hey." I sit up and look at Nick. "You said you found something in Alohalani's office! What is it?"
Nick snaps his fingers and pulls out his phone. He pulls up a photo and shows it to me. It's a birth certificate belonging to one Lori Finnegan. She was born in Canada to Irish immigrants.
"What is this? And why did Alohalani have it?" I ask.
Nick shrugs. "I don't know, but it seemed so out of character that I took a picture of it."
"What did you do with the original?"
"I put it back on the bookshelf. It was sandwiched between two sheets of music."
A heavy sigh escapes my lips, and I slump into my seat. "I have no idea if we got anything we can use. Was it all for nothing?"
"I don't think so," Nick says. "We know that someone else was at both places, looking for something tonight. I think that's because the guy who followed you to Alohalani's this afternoon is following us now to see what we're doing. That's significant. We found out that Leilani had an unnatural obsession with Kua.”
“But we’re in a different car. That vehicle followed me when I was in my car. How did they know we took this SUV?”
Nick frowned. “They must’ve been watching us. They think we know something. And we do. You found a clue.”
The photo I found in Leilani's kitchen!
I pull it out of my pocket and turn on the overhead light.
"What the…" I whisper through chattering teeth. I'm shaking. Is it because the adrenaline is gone? Or is it the fact that I'm looking at a photo of myself.
Leilani took a picture of me and hid it in her house. A picture of me sitting on my lanai with a ukulele—it's difficult to see because of the distance from which it was taken.
Why would she have this, and what was she doing sneaking around my backyard?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"Nani!" Mom's in my doorway again.
It's early. Earlier than I normally get up. I can tell by the soft lavender sky outside my window. And since I didn't get home until three thirty or four in the morning, I need more sleep.
"What?" I groan and throw the covers over my head.
"I'm out of rum," Mom says.
I peek out from under the blankets. "Are you serious? No liquor store will be open at this time." I look at my alarm clock. "Six a.m. I'll get up in a few hours and go."
I turn away from her, intending to go back to sleep.
Mom's not having any of it. "There's that twenty-four hour place on the other side of town."
"Great," I grumble. "I'll go in a few hours."
"But I want it now! Vera and I are going to go golfing, and she's coming here for a quick cocktail first!"
This gets my attention. "You? Golfing? Since when do you golf?"
Mom narrows her eyes. "I golf."
"Because I've never, never, ever seen you with so much as a golf club," I start. "Because I've never known you to play golf. Because I'm pretty sure you think the ball is made of cheese."
Mom puts her hands on her hips. "Are you going to go get the rum, or shall I?"
That gets me out of bed. Last time she went shopping, she started drinking as she went. By the time she got to the checkout, she tried to pay with Tic Tacs and told everyone that aliens had landed.
"Fine. I'll go. But next time, you have to give me more notice than this."
I swing my legs over the edge of the bed and yawn.
"Well!" Mom puts on her shocked act. "I had no idea I'd need rum today! I can't predict the future, you know!"
"That's not what you told everyone at the farmers' market when they sold all the eggs before you got there. You said you were going to run for office and make every chicken on the island lay twice as many eggs."
It occurs to me I shouldn't let Mom go out much. Maybe I should nix this golfing trip. Nah. Let Vera deal with her. It's just golf. She's not likely to decorate the country club with pink flamingos or coconuts. I've got bigger problems than that.
Unfortunately, I'm out of cash. I track down Mom's purse in the living room. The flamingos are gone. Instead, in the middle of the living room is a huge wooden tiki god. At least that's something I can put in the garden when she's tired of it. I would wonder where the coconuts or flamingos went, but I discover that I don't care.
On my drive over to the store, I think about last night. And the photo. I'll never forget the photo of me in my own backyard.
Why in the name of all that is holy did Leilani take a picture of me? And why in that setting? It couldn't be blackmail. I wasn't doing anything. Well, okay, I was doing something, but I wasn't doing anything abnormal or illegal.
I get out of the car and stomp sullenly into the store. A 24/7 box store, it has everything you could ever need at any time of day or night. I pick up a bottle of rum and head to check out. Why is the line so long so early in the morning? There are four people in front of me. In Aloha Lagoon at sixish in the morning, that's a stampede.
"Excuse me," a man's voice says. I swivel to see Robby Lugosi standing behind me. His wife is nowhere to be seen. A little shiver runs through me. This is quite a coincidence. Is this guy following me? Weird.
"Aren't you that musician from the other day?" he asks with more animation than he'd had at his own wedding.
"Yes, that's right." I hide the bottle of rum behind my back. "How's the honeymoon going?"
"Oh, okay," he says. He's holding a container of whipped cream, duct tape, and a package of pencils. That's a weird combo for so early in the day. Hell, that's weird for any time of day. But I couldn't say much with a bottle of booze behind my back.
"Do you know the area very well?" Robby asks.
Great. The man was a blob at his wedding, but now he wants to make small chat.
"I've only lived here a year," I answer apologetically. Yes, I know the area well. No, I don't want to get roped into being some kind of tour guide for the Lugosis.
"It's just that I was thinking of trying surfing. Up in Princeville. Do you know anything about that?"
I look him up and down. This is the last person on earth I'd ever picture on a surf board. And it sounds like he isn't taking his new wife with him.
"There are beaches down by the resort. They even have instructors, so you don't need to go all the way to Princeville."
I turn back to face the register. I hope he gets the hint.
He doesn't. "I've heard about a dangerous gang called the Sea Dogs. I hear they aren't too happy with beginners. Surfers, that is."
"I'd stay away from them then." I turn only halfway to face him. "In fact, I think they usually surf in Princeville. So you really should stick to Aloha Lagoon."
Secretly I will the checkout clerk to go faster so I can get away from this guy. Either that or I'll have to break out the r
um and start drinking now. Mom wouldn't like that.
"Did you know those two ukulele players who got murdered?" Robby says. This guy really can change the subject at the drop of the hat.
"Three." I step up to the checker. Finally.
"Excuse me?" Robby asks behind me.
I pay for the booze and pick up the bag. "Three. There have been three murders here—all ukulele players." Now why did I tell him that? It's so early I can't think straight.
"Sounds like you're in a dangerous line of work." Robby stares at me with a blank face.
I get the distinct impression that he's not joking. Pastor Dan should start screening couples for weirdness or insanity.
"Nice seeing you." I nod as I race out to the car.
I start the engine and hit the gas. I can't get away fast enough. What was that all about? The man wouldn't shut up. Maybe he's just lonely, and with a wife like that I'd believe it. But talking about the Sea Dogs and recently deceased? I…
An image pops into my brain. I pull into a parking lot and turn around, full steam ahead for Nick's place. I need to talk to him. Right now.
Vera answers the door. "Nani! How nice to see you! I'm just heading over to your house."
"Here." I shove the bag with the liquor into her arms. "Mom needs this. Is Nick home?"
"Nani?" Nick steps up. He looks like he's ready to go to work. "Come in!"
Vera excuses herself and takes the bag with her.
"What is it?" he asks.
I tell him about my strange encounter in the store with Robby Lugosi.
"That is weird," he says. "But I don't get what you're doing here."
"The Sea Dogs! Remember that photo we found behind Leilani's dresser? The Sea Dogs were in the picture!"
Nick's eyes grow wide. "That's right. I remember that now."
"Well, maybe Leilani was blackmailing Kua for his involvement in that gang! Maybe he was running drugs or something!"
"That might explain why Leilani's dead," Nick agrees. "The gang could've killed Kua to cover up their activities and Leilani to keep her quiet…permanently. But it doesn't explain why they framed you or killed Alohalani."
Ukulele Murder: A Nani Johnson Aloha Lagoon Mystery (Aloha Lagoon Mysteries Book 1) Page 15
