Veils and Vengeance

by Rachelle J. Christensen

  “I guess we’ll see what they say.” Jon blew out a breath.

  Officer Kinau was talking to the security officer when we returned to the lobby. He shook my hand, his grip firm. “Thanks for meeting me, Ms. Pyper.”

  “Thank you for coming. Jon was here when I came down earlier, and he’d like to talk to you as well.”

  Kinau nodded at Jon. “Well, that’s good because I have some questions for you too.”

  The police substation in Kalaheo was probably where Kinau would have liked to talk with Jon, but because he was at the hotel, we decided to use the security office to discuss the information I wanted to share.

  We met in a small office, and as soon as the door closed, I pulled the bracelet out of my bag. “Here’s the bracelet that Charly was wearing when she died.” I handed it to Officer Kinau.

  He lifted his eyebrows. “Thank you. This might prove to be an interesting piece of evidence.”

  We sat in folding chairs, and I purposely kept my eyes averted from Jon. The office smelled like stale french fries. It made my nose itch, but I kept my hands in my lap, worried that any movement would make me look guilty by association with the Connellys.

  “I’m interested to hear how you’re involved with this woman.” Kinau’s brow furrowed slightly as he studied Jon.

  “I’m afraid that I made a mistake in not contacting the police about my suspicions,” Jon said. Kinau listened intently as Jon struggled to tell him the details that could implicate his own father in murder. My palms grew moist with sweat, and I tried to hide the nervous twisting of my hands under the table. I reminded myself that Kinau was a good guy and that he would help us. My friend Tony was a police officer back home and he’d always told me he’d do his best to help me with anything I needed. Thinking of that made me relax, and I rested my hands quietly in my lap.

  Jon stumbled through his explanation of the day we discovered Charly’s body. Kinau listened, nodding his head and taking a few notes. I interjected with my own discovery that Charly Wilks was most likely a fake name for Stacia Fletcher.

  “That information looks accurate,” Kinau responded. “We had a tough time locating any family members and so we looked at her work. When we called Fontana Inc., they said she’d been fired and didn’t have any information on next of kin.”

  “That’s odd.” I wanted to say that it also didn’t make sense with my theory that Stacia’s company had sent her to spy on Tri-C, but Jon beat me to it.

  “That’s a load of crap.” Jon leaned forward, his fingers splayed out on the table. “Her company sent her to spy on my father’s company. We have proof that she was stealing files and may have been successful in getting some of our research information into the hands of other GMO engineers. We didn’t know who she was working for, but this all adds up.”

  “We’ll definitely be looking closer into that possibility. It will help if your father will cooperate and turn over the evidence he collected against his secretary.”

  Jon hesitated. “I haven’t really talked to my dad, but I had wondered if he recognized her as well.”

  Officer Kinau skewered him with an icy gaze. “So you say you recognized the woman but didn’t report that?”

  Jon hung his head. “It sounds terrible now, but at the time I was confused, and I didn’t want to start pointing fingers. When her identity wasn’t released, I started to doubt myself.”

  “And your father didn’t say anything about the possible identity of the woman?”

  Jon shook his head.

  Kinau tapped the bracelet, glanced at me, and then spoke to Jon. “You tampered with evidence when you took this, and because it’s been six days, this appears highly suspicious.”

  Jon’s forehead creased with worry, and he shot me a pleading glance before Kinau continued.

  “However, I understand your intent. I’ll need your full cooperation as we continue this investigation, or we may be pressing charges against you.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jon replied. “I want to help.”

  I swallowed my sigh of relief at the change in direction. Kinau wouldn’t press charges for Jon’s involvement, and he seemed to believe what we were telling him. Kinau began to ask Jon several questions about his whereabouts last week on Monday and Tuesday. Jon gave him detailed information, along with names and numbers of people that Kinau could contact to confirm his alibi.

  My throat tightened as I watched Kinau take notes. Jon glanced at me with tension in the lines around his eyes. Then Kinau looked up and nodded. “We’ll need to bring your father in for questioning. Do you think he’ll come quietly?”

  “I know it looks like my dad had something to do with this, but I just can’t believe it,” Jon said. “I mean his whole life has been devoted to making the world a better place, improving agriculture so that people won’t go hungry. He’s a philanthropist at heart. I know he was angry about Charly’s betrayal, but I can’t imagine him killing her. There has to be some other explanation.”

  “That may be true, but do you think your father will come in for questioning?” Kinau repeated.

  “Yes,” Jon answered. “I know he won’t like it, but he’ll cooperate.”

  Kinau nodded. “Well then, can you tell me where I might be able to find him today?”

  “He’ll be at the office. He’s busy getting everything ready before my brother’s wedding.” Jon inclined his head toward me. “That’s why Adri’s here. She’s the wedding planner.”

  “I remembered hearing that.” Kinau smiled at me and tapped his pen on the table. “I’m going to let you two go, but ask you to please contact me if you have any other information that you feel might be relevant. Anything at all.” He slid a card to Jon.

  “I brought my laptop in case you needed to look at any more pictures.” I squeezed the sides of my laptop.

  “Could you send me the photos via email?” Kinau asked.

  “Sure, I’ll send over the zipped file right now.” I popped the screen up and waited a moment for it to flicker to life. Kinau didn’t seem too worried about the pictures, and he wasn’t asking for my laptop. Perhaps they had discovered more about Stacia than they were letting on. “Okay, I just sent the pictures.”

  “Thanks again for your help, Miss Pyper.”

  My palms were clammy in Jon’s grip as we exited the security office with Kinau following us. Jon’s alibi must have been solid for Kinau to let him go. I allowed my shoulders to relax. I’d noticed the subtle shift in his posture when Jon told Kinau that Neil was at the office. I had a pretty good idea that he wasn’t at the office and that Jon and I were about to find out exactly where he was.

  Jon waited until we were in the car before he sucked in a breath and spoke rapidly. “I texted my dad before we met with Officer Kinau and asked him to meet me at the Opaeka’a Falls lookout. I told him it was an emergency. He’ll be waiting for us.”

  “Jon, are you sure we should talk to him before the police? What if it’s interfering with the investigation?”

  “I have to look him in the eye and ask him if he killed her.” Jon gripped the steering wheel tighter. “I can’t turn him over to the police without knowing the truth.”

  “And what if he lies? Do you really think you’ll be able to tell if he’s hiding something?” The tension in the air around us crackled.

  “He’s my father,” Jon spoke softly. “All I can do is try, but I owe him that.”

  My phone buzzed with an incoming text from Heather but before I could open it, she called. “It’s your mom.”

  His brows drew together. “Don’t give anything away. She’s probably calling about the wedding, right?”

  I nodded, but guilt pricked at my conscience as I picked up the call.

  “Adri, did you get my text? I’m so happy with how it turned out,” Heather said.

  “Uh, I was just about to open it when you called. One second.” I toggled through a couple screens until I was looking at the photo Heather had sent with a message about Malia and
Kyle’s welcome sign for the wedding. “You’re right. This is perfect.” I studied the image of a wooden sign painted with white lettering that read: Malia & Kyle, February 26th Forever.

  “My friend helped me with it, and I’m so glad it turned out,” Heather gushed. “Don’t you love how the sign is pointing in two different directions?”

  “That is a fun touch and works well because the luau will be in the opposite direction of the wedding.” The sign had one arrow with the words “Sandy toes” and another arrow with the words, “Salty Kisses”. Underneath the arrows, it read “Shoes Optional”. “Thanks for your help with this, Heather. I couldn’t have done it better myself.”

  “I’m glad I could help,” she replied. “Are you at the hotel?”

  I licked my lips and looked at Jon. “I’m just out checking on a few things, but I’ll be back later.”

  “Okay. Have you seen Jon? I can’t seem to locate him or his father today.”

  “I talked to Jon earlier. He said something about things being really busy at the office.” It wasn’t a complete lie, but I wished I could be forthright with Heather.

  “I’ll check over there again. Talk to you soon.”

  After Heather ended the call, I let out the breath I’d been holding. Jon reached over and took my hand. “Thanks for covering for me. She has tried to call me a few times, but I didn’t trust myself to talk to her. I don’t even want to think about what this would do to her.”

  “I’m sorry about all of this. I’m sure we’ll get it cleared up.” My voice didn’t sound nearly as confident as I hoped it would.

  Jon seemed nervous as we pulled into the parking lot, but I watched him shake it off as he helped me from the car and escorted me along the sidewalk that flanked a view of the Opaeka’a Falls. My breath hitched when I saw Neil. He stood casually, relaxing against the railing as if everything was normal and he had nothing to do with the drowning of an innocent young woman. Immediately after that thought, I wondered how innocent Charly was in the situation. She didn’t deserve to be murdered, no matter what she’d done, but what if there was much more to the story than we thought we’d figured out? As we walked toward Neil, I marveled at how he could appear so calm if he had killed her.

  “Thanks for meeting with me, Dad.” Jon gave his father a one-armed side hug. “Hope you don’t mind if I brought Adri along.”

  “There’s always room for a pretty face.” Neil winked at me, and I scolded myself for blushing. “So what’s the emergency?”

  “Let’s walk over here.” Jon indicated the other end of the sidewalk. His voice was slightly strained, but overall he was doing a good job of appearing calm and cool.

  “Sure.” Neil walked a few paces and leaned against the low rock wall.

  “I asked you to meet us because I need some answers.” Jon looked his dad in the eye and leaned forward, his voice just above a whisper. “We know that Charly Wilks is dead. More importantly, she’s the woman Adri discovered at Tunnels Beach.”

  Neil’s eyes widened and he glanced from me to Jon. “What are you saying?”

  “Dad, I need to know why you didn’t tell the police you recognized her.”

  Neil dropped his gaze. I noticed his hands were clenched. My chest constricted. I was holding my breath in anticipation of what Neil would say.

  “I should have told them, but I was worried about how it would look.” Neil lifted his head and there was concern in his eyes. “I mean, what are the chances that her employer would be the one to find the body? That’s too much of a coincidence.”

  “Dad.” Jon’s voice was firm. “I need you to tell me everything you know about Charly.”

  Neil’s face hardened. “She was stealing secrets from our company. I haven’t been able to figure out which company she worked for, but they have to be behind it. She was spying on us, gathering intel for the nutrient seed.”

  “So you killed her when you found out she was stealing?” Jon said.

  “What?” Neil shook his head. “Jon, how could you think that I—” His mouth hung open, and he looked between me and Jon.

  I decided it was my turn to speak up. “Mr. Connelly, do you remember the bracelets you brought to me yesterday at dinner?”

  He furrowed his brow. “What does that have to do with any of this?”

  “Jon saw one on Charly’s wrist when we discovered her.” I decided to leave out the part where Jon removed it to protect his father.

  “She was wearing the sample?” Neil rubbed a hand over his face, and when he did, I saw that he was also wearing the Tri-C bracelet. He noticed the thin gold band with the company logo on his wrist and twisted it around, studying it for a moment. “How could she be wearing the prototype? There were only three made. I thought—” He dropped his hand and looked at Jon with a question in his eyes. He opened his mouth, closed it, then seemed to regroup. “But why didn’t you say something about the bracelet that day?”

  “I should have,” Jon answered. “But then I started doubting what I’d seen, and when the police didn’t identify her body, I thought maybe it was someone else. But Dad, I need to know the truth. Did you have something to do with Charly’s death?”

  “No. I was just as shocked as you were to find her body at Tunnels. And I still don’t understand why they haven’t identified her.”

  I squeezed Jon’s hand as if to tell him not to share what we knew about Charly’s true identity.

  “You need to go to the police and tell them everything you know,” Jon said. “If you don’t, they’ll arrest you for murder. They know who she is now.”

  Neil straightened and his face turned pale. “How do you know that? Have you already talked to the police?”

  Jon frowned. “Yes, and they’ll probably be at your office when you get back. Please do the right thing, and go with them to answer their questions.”

  Neil twisted the bracelet on his wrist and looked at Jon with an expression full of hurt. “Did you set me up?”

  “No, Dad. I came to warn you. The police would be angry if they knew I was here talking to you, but I needed to know if you killed Charly.”

  “And did you get your answer?”

  Jon looked out at the vista before us and blew out a breath. “I want to believe you, but all I see is a good motive for murder.”

  “But I fired her last week. We cleaned up the files she was trying to steal, encrypted them, and sent her out the door. The last time I saw her was Tuesday.”

  “I wonder when she died.” Jon looked to me, and I shook my head.

  That information hadn’t been shared with us yet, but if Neil was telling the truth, he hadn’t seen her since three days before her body was discovered. I looked Neil Connelly in the face. “How do we know you’re telling the truth?”

  Neil planted his feet on the sidewalk and his eyes hardened. “I’ve been working my tail off at the office, and the rest of the time I’ve spent with my family, preparing for Kyle’s wedding. There wasn’t much opportunity to commit murder.”

  “She’s not saying you did it. We’re just asking because the police are going to ask you the same questions.” Jon reached out and squeezed Neil’s arm. “Would the lawyer at Tri-C be able to help you?”

  “Yes. I’ll have him come with me to the police station.” Neil straightened and took a step away from us. “I’d better get going. I don’t want the police causing a bunch of problems at the office when they don’t find me there.”

  “Good point.” Jon stepped in the path of his father and hugged him. “I’m sorry this happened.”

  Neil hugged his son, but his shoulders slumped as he stepped back. How much had Jon just damaged his relationship with his father by asking him about Charly’s murder? I watched Neil walk briskly to his white Lexus and drive off. Jon turned back to the wall, pushing his hands against the rocks and staring out at the falls.

  The Opaeka’a Falls were a brilliant white in the distance and the green vegetation surrounding the area was on par for Kauai�
�s beauty. I hadn’t taken a moment to appreciate the scene before because my insides were churning. I sidled up next to Jon and allowed myself to take a deep breath. He put his arm around me and gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze.

  “That really hurt my dad.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” I wrapped my left arm around his waist, and he pulled me into his chest.

  “Did I do the right thing? Maybe I shouldn’t have talked to him.”

  I leaned my head back. “What do you think?” It was a loaded question, asking much more than the words indicated.

  Jon swallowed. “I don’t think he did it, but it doesn’t look good for him if he doesn’t have a solid alibi for whatever the time of death was.”

  “What is it that makes you think he didn’t kill her?”

  “He’s my dad. I just—it feels like a betrayal to even consider it.”

  I nodded and rested my head against his chest. Jon held me, and I tried to sort through the conversation we’d had with Neil. It was terrible to think that he might have killed her just before family started arriving for his son’s wedding celebration. It was horrid to think of him killing her at any time, but it didn’t make sense to me that he would risk something happening to his family during such an important event. Unless he was confident he’d get away with it. Is that what killers thought? Did they always feel so confident that no one would discover their heinous crimes?

  “What are you thinking?” Jon moved his head, and the stubble on his chin brushed against my cheek.

  “Um, I was thinking about Charly, and I just thought of something.” I stepped back to look at Jon. His eyes appeared greener today, and I focused on the goodness I saw in him as I thought about his father. “It doesn’t seem like a powerful enough motive for your dad to kill her over stealing files. If he caught her, then wasn’t the problem solved? And if he did kill her, he would never have suggested that we go snorkeling at Tunnels.”

  The way Jon looked at me, with hope in his eyes, made me wish I hadn’t vocalized my thoughts. It would be so painful if the police arrested Neil and charged him with murder. Or would it hurt worse if Neil confessed to the crime?