Black Sands (7 page)

She also seemed annoyed.

“Where are we supposed to meet Sam?” she asked without looking at him.

“At the entrance.” Mano focused on the road and narrowly missed a wild mongoose that dashed under the wheels of the car. “Look, let’s clear the air. What’s your beef with me this morning?”

She finally looked at him. “You mean other than the fact you show up here accusing my brother of some kind of espionage? Then you tell me he’s still alive, even though you have no proof.”

He flinched. “Are you questioning my truthfulness?”

“Maybe more your sanity. Maybe your guilt made you think the man who called was Tomi.”

“I know his voice.” Mano supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised at her attitude. After all, he hadn’t believed it himself at first. But didn’t she know him well enough to believe him? “He said he was coming to Hawai’i and would call you when he got here.”

“I hope you’re right. If he’s alive, then I can quit worrying about Leilani, since she’s probably with him. But until he calls me, let’s drop it. I don’t know what to believe.”

“Fine,” he said tightly. With a supreme effort, he relaxed his jaw and nodded toward the bleak landscape. “Have you ever been out here?”

“A coworker, Monica Rogers, lives out here. She loves it. Of course, she put in a generator for electricity.”

“What about water?” Mano slowed the car to a crawl as the road degraded even more.

“Most everyone out here uses catchment systems to collect rain water. It seems to work out okay.”

They stopped at the NO TRESPASSING sign, which warned of dire consequences to uninvited visitors. “I don’t see Sam,” Mano said. Hardly anything moved here. He’d expected to see children playing on this Saturday morning, but the harsh landscape, devoid of any life, stretched in all directions. Houses stairstepped up the steep lava rock hillside and seemed to peer down suspiciously at them.

“You’d better call him.”

Mano nodded and dialed Sam’s number. The detective answered and told him he’d been called to a break in. “I’ll see what I can find out,” Mano told him.

“Let me handle it.” Sam’s voice was impatient. “Look, I have to go. Don’t make any waves. Leilani will turn up.”

Mano hung up the phone without answering.

Annie raised an eyebrow. “No Sam?”

“We’re on our own,” he told her. He put the car in gear and let it roll forward. The tires clunked into ruts in the lane, and he winced. “If we get stopped, we’ll say we’re visiting your friend. You think she’ll mind?”

She hesitated. “No, I’m sure that will be fine, though I’m not her favorite person.”

“I can’t imagine anyone not liking you.” He cut his glance toward her.

She flushed but didn’t meet his gaze. “We’ve just had some professional differences.” She nodded. “Let’s stop to see her first. She might have seen something.”

Most of the houses were rustic with scrubby yards where a few chickens scrabbled in the black, sandy dirt. Some were beautiful homes that wouldn’t be out of place in the nicest of neighborhoods. The owners of those houses had made an effort to soften the rocky landscape with flowers and shrubs.

“There’s the address.” Annie pointed to a neat bungalow that perched on a hillside.

A woman was sweeping the front steps. Blond hair framed her pudgy cheeks and nose. He guessed her to be in her midforties. She stopped at their approach. Her guarded expression didn’t lighten when her gaze went to Annie. “Is something wrong at the observatory?” she asked in a high, squeaky voice.

“No, everything is fine,” Annie assured her. “Did you hear my sister is missing?”

“Leilani?” The woman shrugged. “Hasn’t she done this before? I’m sure she’ll turn up.”

Mano studied her detached expression. She seemed almost hostile. “We found a
heiau
at the park. Do you know of anyone here in the estates who might have built it?”

Her strained smile faded. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not into religion. I can’t help you. Besides, you shouldn’t be here. Only residents and invited guests are allowed on the property.”

“We really need to talk to some people involved with the Ku cult,” Annie said. “Have you seen anyone new in the area?”

“No. Look, I have work to do. If you’re not here on business, I don’t have time to blather.” The woman went into her house.

Annie pressed her lips together when the door banged. “That was a bust.”

“Let’s take a stroll and see what we can find,” Mano said. He took her arm and started toward the next house.

Annie tugged out of his grasp. “Maybe we should wait until Sam can come with us. Someone might call the cops on us for trespassing.” Annie sounded worried. “It was a stupid idea anyway. These people out here may be strange, but that’s no reason to assume they are part of that cult.”

The whole atmosphere felt odd. Mano wanted to lift the rock that covered the secrets and see what slugs dwelt underneath these seemingly serene homes. “Did Leilani ever tell you about who she met at the meetings?”

Annie shook her head. “She was secretive. I wasn’t even aware until I saw that notebook about a month ago that it was a Ku cult.”

Mano wasn’t sure what to do. Someone had to know about this cult. “Let’s drive around a little. No one will know that we weren’t invited.” He escorted her to the car. Annie fastened her seat belt and ran her window down. Mano drove slowly along the gravel roads, crisscrossing the mountain in silence for an hour or so.

Annie nodded toward a particularly nice house. “You’d think they’d be afraid of another lava flow through here. The last one was in 1984.”

“It could happen where you live too.” He braked at a stop sign. “We’re not accomplishing anything. No one seems to be out this morning, which strikes me as odd. Saturday is prime time for yard work.”

Annie didn’t seem to be listening. “You know, my boss lives near here. Not right in Aloha Shores, but close enough she might know something. Let’s go to her house.”

Mano followed Annie’s directions. The house was within sight of Aloha Shores’s gates. He parked by the picket fence. “Wow, look at her garden.” The anemic soil had been replaced with rich, dark dirt, and lush plants filled the ten-foot square area in sharp contrast to the scrubby vegetation in the rest of the yard.

Annie went ahead of him to the door and knocked. Mano glanced around as they waited. He thought he heard slack-key guitar music drifting from the back of the house. Whoever was playing was a master. The chords had been tuned to a major seventh note, a “wahine” tuning that was Mano’s favorite.

When no one came to the door, he touched Annie on the elbow and jerked his head. “Around back.” She followed him. The difference between the front and back yards was jarring. Back here, the ground had been left in its native condition. Hard bits of lava-rock gravel crunched under his boots. He saw a group of people seated in a circle on yard chairs. The two men and one woman all had guitars, though only the woman was playing.

His attention focused on the woman. She was nearly as tiny as Annie. Though gray streaked her sleek black hair, her skin was smooth and unlined. He judged her to be about fifty. Dressed in shorts and a sleeveless top, her small hands plucked delicately at the guitar keys. “Who is that?” he whispered to Annie.

“My boss, Gina.” Annie stepped around him and took the lead. She walked to the edge of the group.

The men looked up, and Mano noticed them eyeing Annie. He scowled at the one with the most appreciative stare, but the guy only had eyes for her. Mano stepped into the man’s line of vision, and his movement caught Gina’s attention. Her fingers stilled and the guitar’s twang faded. She raised her eyebrows.

“Annie, what are you doing here?” She rose and laid the guitar across her seat. “Is everything all right?”

“Not really. My sister is missing. I wondered if you’d seen her.” Annie’s voice sounded strained and tired.

Gina’s gaze searched Annie’s face. “Leilani? Perhaps she’s gone off with her friends again.”

“Maybe. But she’s never gone off without at least calling the next morning. It’s been two days since anyone saw her. She can be a little airheaded, but she knows how I worry.”

Gina touched Annie’s shoulder. “You take on your whole family’s problems. Leilani is an adult. She’ll be all right.”

“We found an altar out at the park,” Mano said.

A slight smile tugged the corners of Gina’s lips. “Offerings to Pele aren’t unusual. What does that have to do with Leilani?”

“This wasn’t just a food offering. It was an actual
heiau
, and an animal had been sacrificed. Leilani was going to meetings of some kind of Ku cult. Have you seen anything like that going on at Aloha Shores, or anywhere else?”

Gina frowned. “One always hears rumors of radical cultural activities. Maybe this is nothing more serious than that. Just because some natives are exploring their ancient heritage doesn’t mean Leilani is in danger.”

“A bloodstained shirt like hers was by the altar.”

Gina inhaled sharply at the revelation. “You’re sure it was hers?”

“Well, no, not really. But with her missing and then finding the necklace . . .”

Gina patted her hand. “A coincidence about the shirt then.”

Mano could tell the woman was fond of Annie, and that raised his estimation of her. “Have you ever met Annie’s brother, Tomi?”

Gina’s dark eyes widened. “Tomi? No, he was away when I moved here, then later . . .” She looked away.

He nodded toward Annie. “We wondered if Tomi might be hiding out here.”

One of the men snickered. Gina gave him a warning glance. “I must apologize for my son, Jason. His manners aren’t the best.” The young man’s nostrils flared, and he looked away. “I don’t understand. Are you saying Tomi is alive?”

“Yes, it looks that way.”

She nodded to the other man. “This is Evan Chun. He’s teaching us to play slack-key guitar, though I confess I don’t have much aptitude for it.”

The man nodded. Chun was close to Gina’s age. His sleek black hair fell over one eye, and he had a gold dragon earring in one ear. His bony knees poked from below his shorts, and he reminded Mano of an oriental Ichabod Crane. The guitar he held in his long fingers was a Gibson, an expensive one.

Gina turned her gaze back to him again. “So explain this about Tomi and what you’re doing here.”

“I got a call from Tomi last week.”

She didn’t show any surprise but just nodded. “I see. And what makes you think he’d be in Aloha Shores?”

“It’s a good place to disappear.”

“Maybe.”

“Have you seen anything?” Annie put in eagerly.

Gina shook her head; then her eyes widened. “I’ve seen signs of occupancy at the cottage at the end of Pali Road.” She turned to Evan. “Have you sold or rented that place to anyone?”

Evan nodded. “A John Smith rented it from me last week.”

Mano straightened. With a generic name like that, it could be Tomi. “What did he look like?”

“Never met him. We conducted the transaction over the phone,” Chun said.

“We’d like to go out there.” Annie took a step away from the circle.

“Let me check it out for you,” Gina said. “Only residents are allowed to wander the grounds, but no one ever stops me. I think they believe I live there.”

“I want to come,” Annie said firmly. “You’ve only seen pictures of Tomi. If he’s disguised, you might not recognize him.”

“Okay. But we’ll take my Jeep. Everyone knows it.” Gina turned to Jason. “I’ll be back in half an hour. Don’t go anywhere. I have some things for you to do today.”

Jason rolled his eyes, but he said nothing. He picked up her guitar and carried it toward the house. Gina led the way to her Jeep, an army green Cherokee that had been recently waxed. Mano took the front passenger seat. Gina pulled out of the driveway and bar-reled over the rough potholes. They went airborne several times.

Mano glanced back to make sure Annie was surviving the rough ride. She’d been staring at the back of his head. She flushed and looked away. He turned back around and resolved to have a talk with her at some opportune moment. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but the strain between them was getting to him.

Gina jerked the Jeep to a halt at a path that led through scrubby shrubs. It wound around a hill and disappeared. “This is as far as we can go. The rest is on foot.” She got out and slammed the door.

Mano jumped out and moved the seat for Annie to exit the Jeep. “Does she always drive like that?” he whispered. A dimple appeared in Annie’s cheek, and he realized he’d been watching for her smile.

She nodded. “She likes to live dangerously. She thinks it keeps her young.”

“She’ll be lucky to hit sixty.” He held out his hand, but she ignored it and moved past him. He stifled a sigh and followed her. Gina walked nimbly along the narrow path. She led them around several piles of boulders and up a steep hill. At the top of another hill, he saw a small cottage.

“That’s it,” Gina said.

She increased her pace. Annie and Mano jogged behind her. As they neared the cottage, Mano’s optimism faded. Some of the window panes were missing, and the door looked like a stiff wind would detach it from the structure. The place hadn’t seen a paintbrush in twenty years. Surely Chun was wrong. No one would rent this derelict place.

Gina stepped briskly up to the flimsy door and rapped. To Mano’s astonishment, he heard footsteps from inside, and the door swung open. He didn’t expect the familiar face that peered out. Noah Sommers.

Noah’s eyes widened. “Mano, what are you doing here?”

“John Smith, I presume,” Mano said dryly.

Noah flushed. He pushed open the screen door and stepped onto the step. “Is Jillian all right?”

Interesting that his first thought was of Jillian and not Heidi,
Mano thought. “She and Heidi are fine. I’m actually looking for someone else. Are you staying here alone?”

Noah hesitated, then nodded. His eyes flickered away from Mano. He was lying; Mano was sure of it. “Sorry to disturb you then,” Mano said. As they walked back to the Jeep, he wondered what Noah was trying to hide.

Gina returned them to Mano’s rental car and then drove off. “What now?” Mano said, more to himself than to Annie. They wouldn’t find any information here about the cult. If Tomi would only call, they might be able to let go of their worry. “Any other ideas where your brother might be hiding if he was on the island now?”