Murder at Dolphin Bay (Sand and Sea Hawaiian Mystery Book 1) (8 page)

The room was dark, but I could sense the first light of day beyond the drawn blinds. I turned slightly toward the window and groaned when I felt a weight next to me in the king-size bed where I’d slept off way too much of Luke’s expensive wine. The temptation to go back to sleep was great. I was afraid that if I opened my eyes I would see Luke lying next to me, and that was something I was definitely not up for. I was calculating the odds of sliding out of the bed, out of the room, and out of Luke’s life once and for all when I felt something wet on my cheek.

I slowly opened my eyes and smiled in relief when I saw Sandy staring back at me. A quick glance confirmed that we were the only two in the bed, which left me with such an abundance of relief that I actually felt the remnants of my hangover melting away.

I slid out of bed and pulled on the shorts and sweatshirt that were laying across the chair; I’d awakened in nothing but a bra and underwear. I remembered Cam and Kekoa leaving before Luke opened the fourth bottle of wine, and for the life of me, I couldn’t remember undressing myself. I suppose it was possible I had but didn’t remember due to my state of inebriation, but the truth was I was a slob when it came to undressing at night and tended to leave my clothes where they fell until the next morning. Chances were someone else had folded them neatly and left them on the chair.

My cheeks burned red when I realized Luke must have undressed me and put me to bed. I was beyond embarrassed, although my bra and panties were no skimpier than the bikinis I often wore, so it wasn’t like I’d really been indecent. Still, to be so totally wasted that I couldn’t even remember what had happened wasn’t the impression I wanted to make on the very together and sophisticated man I’d shared a house with overnight.

There was a large pot of coffee waiting when I finally wandered into the kitchen. Next to the coffee was a bottle of aspirin and a note from Luke, saying he’d be back soon. I took two of the aspirin with a glass of water, poured a mug of coffee, added a dollop of milk, and headed out to the patio.

It was going to be a beautiful day. Although the sun had not yet risen over the horizon, the sky was clear and the air temperature pleasantly warm. I pulled up one of the lounge chairs, turning it to face the east to watch the sun rise, then settled in while Sandy ran around the area sniffing everything in sight. I hadn’t seen any sign of Duke or Dallas, so I assumed Luke had taken them with him wherever he went.

“Well, who do we have here?” Brody teased. “Is it little Lani Pope doing the walk of shame?”

“I’m not walking and nothing happened.” I placed my hand to my pounding head. At least I didn’t think anything happened. I really couldn’t be sure because I didn’t remember much after Cam and Kekoa left.

Brody didn’t say anything as he sat down next to me with his own cup of coffee.

“Too much wine,” I felt compelled to explain.

Brody laughed. “Been there. That imported stuff Luke has really packs a punch. I’m not sure what the alcohol content is, but I’m guessing it’s a lot higher than the boxed stuff you and I are used to.”

“Do you happen to know where Luke might have gone?” I wondered.

Brody pointed to a bluff in the distance. It was higher than the piece of land the ranch was built on and must have afforded a fantastic view of the sea to the east.

“Keep an eye on that flat part at the top. I’m betting Luke and company will appear at any moment.”

No sooner had Brody said as much than Luke, sitting high atop a horse, appeared as a silhouette in the distance with the rising sun just beyond him.

“How’d you know he’d gone to watch the sunrise?”

“He does almost every morning. At least on the hot days. He likes to exercise his horses before the main heat of the day sets in. Those two little dots you see next to Luke are Duke and Dallas.”

The image of Luke sitting high atop a large, dark-colored horse as the sun rose in the background brought chills to my spine in spite of the fact that it wasn’t at all cold.

“Wow,” I let slip.

Brody smiled. “Wow the sunrise or wow the man on the horse?”

“Both,” I answered honestly.

Brody and I sat in silence as the sun rose into the sky. Once it was fully visible in the distance Luke turned and headed back.

“So how is it you happened to be here drinking Luke’s wine in the first place?” Brody asked. “I thought you didn’t like him.”

“I don’t. I mean didn’t. It’s confusing.”

Brody grinned.

“It was all very innocent. Cam, Kekoa, and I were here to discuss the Branson Cole murder. If you remember, Luke knew Cole from Texas, and I thought he might have some insight.”

“Are Cam and Kekoa sleeping it off as well?”

“No. They had to work so they left.”

Brody didn’t say anything, but I could tell what he was thinking.

“Nothing happened. I swear. I think I’m going in.”

“Before you do, I have something I was going to track you down to show you today, but as long as you’re here and we’re talking about Cole’s death…”

Brody pulled out his phone and began looking for something. Then he handed it to me. It showed a photo of the scene on the day I’d found Cole’s body. I could clearly see both the glass on the table and the redhead I’d been talking to.

“Where’d you get this?”

“Trent.”

Trent was a local who liked to surf the waves off the resort beach.

“I worked tower two yesterday and we got to chatting. He claimed to have photos of the dead guy we’d found. I asked to see them and he showed me these.”

“These?”

“Thumb through.”

I did and found a series of photos. Obviously Trent was more interested in getting a shot of the body than anything else. There were other people in the photos, but all you could really make out were body parts: a leg here, an arm there, the edge of someone’s swim trunks. The first photo—the one where you could clearly see the redhead—had been taken at a distance, but the remainder of the photos were taken using the zoom. The one interesting thing I noticed was that between photo four and photo five the glass disappeared. Photo six clearly showed I was still speaking to the redhead, so it couldn’t have been her who’d taken the glass.

The question was, who had?

“Do we know who any of these other spectators are?”

“Trent didn’t remember. You were there; don’t you remember?”

“No. The redheaded woman walked up and I spoke to her until Kekoa came over, at which point I turned my attention to her.”

I looked at the photos more carefully. There was a man with blue swim trunks standing near the victim’s head. I knew it was a man only because the legs that were featured in the photo were clearly those of a man. There was also a woman in a red bikini standing somewhat farther back but still close enough for the camera to pick up her torso from the waist down. None of the partial knees, elbows, or shoulders were identifiable at all. I tried to remember whether I’d noticed the man in the blue trunks or the woman in the red bikini at the time, but I was coming up blank.

“Will you send me a copy of all these photos?”

“I already did. I guess you haven’t checked your phone since last night.”

“No,” I admitted, “I haven’t. Do you recognize any of these body parts?”

Brody shook his head. “There isn’t enough of any one person to be able to identify them. The body was low to the ground. Trent must have been standing on something because it appears he was aiming his camera down toward Cole. With the exception of that first photo, no one is visible from the waist up.”

The photos told me the redheaded woman hadn’t taken the glass, and that was important. I just wasn’t sure how I was going to figure out which knee, elbow, or leg belonged to the person who had.

When Luke returned from his ride he made a fantastic breakfast for all three of us. I have to say that Luke’s cooking went a long way toward curing my headache. I asked Brody to talk to Trent again if he saw him at the resort today. Maybe Trent recognized someone in the crowd. He’d had the advantage of seeing the whole person and not just the knee or elbow he’d photographed. Maybe he remembered seeing someone he knew. At the very least I was willing to bet he’d noticed the girl in the red bathing suit. There was no way Trent would see that body through the lens of his camera and not stop to take a closer look.

“So what sort of plans do you have for today?” Luke asked after Brody finished his meal and left to get ready for work.

“Senior bingo.”

“Come again?”

I explained about providing Elva with a ride to lunch with her friends and senior bingo on Mondays. “You can come along if you want. I’m sure the seniors won’t mind.”

Luke shrugged. “I don’t have any specific plans. It might be fun. When I was a kid I used to go to senior bingo with my grandmother. It was a blast.”

“Perfect. I usually pick Elva up at eleven.”

“We’ll take my car. You can just leave Sandy here with the boys. He really seems to enjoy the company.”

“Yeah, he does seem to like it here. If I had a bigger place, I’d get a second dog to keep him company when I’m at work.”

“Sandy is welcome to come to visit any time. Even when you’re working.”

“Thanks; I might take you up on that sometime.”

Elva was thrilled to be escorted to lunch and bingo by a handsome cowboy who lathered on the southern charm to make sure she felt as if she were the most beautiful and fascinating woman in the world. The coffee shop at which the Monday afternoon bingo group always met was really just a run-down diner that offered simple food in abundant quantities at reasonable prices. Because it was well off the beaten path, more often than not it was locals who patronized the clean but shabby eatery.

“Woo wee. Where did you women get this fine piece of eye candy?” asked Wilma Goodwin, the fifty-four-year-old owner of the coffee shop. Wilma was as loud and outspoken as she was ample, but she’d been a fixture in the area for so long that most people considered her presence as comforting as the food she whipped up every day.

“He’s a friend of Lani’s,” Elva answered.

Wilma looked directly at me and winked. “You go girl. Always wanted to sleep with a cowboy.”

“We’re just friends.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet you are.” Wilma chuckled. “What can I get you, sweetheart?”

“I’ll have the grilled cheese and fries with a side of ranch,” I ordered.

“And how about you, babycakes?” Wilma asked Luke.

“I’ll have the same.”

“I’m single, ya know. In case you were wondering.”

Luke simply smiled.

Wilma gave Luke a glance that was certain to convey her interest in a hookup of the physical kind before turning her attention toward Elva, who ordered a cheeseburger and onion rings.

I know it may seem gross that a fifty-four-year-old woman would be so blatantly coming on to a thirty-two-year-old man, but Wilma comes on to everyone. I can’t really explain it, but Wilma’s flirty outer core seemed to work for her, and more often than not her intended victims were more amused than offended.

Once everyone at the table had ordered Elva began the introductions. “Luke, I’d like you to meet Susan, Connie, Beth, Janice, Lucy, and Diane.”

All six of the women smiled at Luke as they individually greeted and welcomed him to the group. When I first began accompanying Elva on Mondays I was expecting to be bored by the conversation in which seven senior women were likely to engage, but I found out rather quickly that they were both intelligent and hysterically opinionated.

“So, Luke, what do you do for a living?” Susan Oberman, the youngest member of the Monday afternoon group at sixty, asked.

“At the moment I’m focusing my energy on remodeling my home and establishing my stable.”

“So you have a lot of time on your hands?”

“I wouldn’t say a lot, but, yeah, I guess I have more than most. Why?”

“I’m the chairperson for the upcoming coastal cleanup day and we sure could use all the help we can get. Especially a man with your particular build who can help with the larger items. Interested?”

“Absolutely. When is it?”

“A week from Saturday.”

“Okay, I’ll try to make it.”

Susan was a happily married woman who had delivered and raised four children, but when Luke agreed to help with her project she grinned in a way that reminded me of a cat who’d managed to capture the tastiest mouse in town.

“I could use some help with my rain gutters,” Lucy Sanchez hastily added. “Maybe sometime this week? I can make us lunch. With pie for dessert. Apple. I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that you cowboys like apple pie, being that it’s so American and all.”

Luke shot Lucy a smile as well. “I’d be happy to stop by.”

I could see the fine women of the Monday afternoon bingo group were going to monopolize all Luke’s time if I didn’t intervene. Apparently
no
or
I’m busy
were not in the man’s repertoire of possible responses.