Burning up the Rain (Hawaiian Heroes) (21 page)

Jack nodded. The last of the Helman family had died in a revenge kidnapping gone wrong, only a few miles to the south of Nawea, and a few weeks ago, but their money was evidently still doing its work.

“You know, if the money’s dirty, and the players are dirty…” Chances were some part of their so-called legal documentation was too.

Jack rose, already pulling out his phone. “I have a phone call to make. Excuse me.” He walked down the beach and punched in the number for WorldWide Kona. “Hey, Ken, this is Jack Nord. Is Sondra in?”

She was, and she wasn’t busy. In a few moments, Jack had what he wanted.

“Can I borrow your truck?” he asked Malu, who was sitting with Melia again. “I’m going in to talk to my colleague in Kona.”

“Take Melia’s SUV,” his friend said. “Easier to park.”

“Thanks.” He loped into the house and to his room, where he took a quick shower, dressed in his last pair of clean shorts and a blue T-shirt borrowed from Malu’s closet, and headed for the garage.

He didn’t think of saying good-bye to Lalei.

In Old Town Kona, Jack left Melia’s SUV in one of the brightly lit lots behind the main shopping area and walked down past the sand volleyball pits with teens in swim gear playing a desultory game, and the café lanais full of people enjoying food and drinks. He swallowed, his mouth dry as he watched a man tip back his head, draining his beer glass with gusto.

He’d stop on his way out and have a beer. Speaking of which, he didn’t want to breathe whiskey on Sondra. He pulled a piece of gum from his pocket and unwrapped it, sticking it in his mouth as he strode up onto the lanai in front of WorldWide Kona. The mint flavor was strong and sweet.

Sondra Baker was waiting at the front desk, although young Ken was gone. She’d discarded her jacket and wore a simple V-necked dress of coral and white, her hair up.

“Hi, Jack.”

“Hi, Sondra. Thanks for letting me come in. Listen, I don’t want to keep you from lunch. You want to order in, eat while we work? I’m buying, of course.”

She shrugged. “Sure. There’s a place next door that does great Asian, or—”

“Asian it is,” he agreed. “Tell you what, I’ll go pick it up, stretch my legs.” And grab a beer.

“All right. When you get back, we can get started. I’ve got the computer up.”

Hours later, Jack looked up from the computer screen and sighed deeply. Pushing himself out of the chair, he paced across the office and back again. He rubbed his tired eyes and dropped back into his chair, folding his hands behind his head. “Damn, this is like searching for a needle in a haystack.”

Of course, he’d known that coming in. He had no one to blame but himself for the hours spent poring over the real estate records of Hawaii County, specifically any to do with the area south of Kona.

“Yes, it is. And I don’t seem to have my metal detector,” Sondra joked tiredly. She leaned her head on her hands. “I just don’t know, Jack. We’ve been at this all day—except for the hour I was gone with my client.”

“I know,” he agreed dispiritedly. He checked his watch. “Damn, it’s nearly seven p.m. You must be dying to get home.”

She shrugged. “Not much to go home to, you know?”

“Yeah.” He gazed around the office. “You ever think of taking on a partner to help you keep this place open?”

The Hawaiian gave him a wry look. “You offering?”

Jack smiled at her. “I’ll tell you, I’d do it if I didn’t already have an office in California.”

He could work with her. She was smart, and she’d been a trouper, helping him navigate the computer archives of local real estate transactions for the last few years. They’d begun with the present and worked their way back. They were about to run out of rope, as the records had only been computerized back seven years.

Thunder muttered sullenly overhead, and the computer screen flickered.

“Sounds like another storm,” he said and then yawned hugely. “Sorry.”

Sondra shook her head, frowning tiredly at the screen through a pair of dark-rimmed reading glasses. “No worries.”

Then she sat up straight.

“What?” he asked.

“Well, it could be nothing. Just…look at this. This doesn’t make sense.”

Jack shoved aside a half-empty carton of Kung-Pao chicken and picked up his large drink cup, sucking up the last of his Coke before leaning forward beside her. “Whatcha got?”

She pointed at the top of the page. “This shows section three, part of the land that TropicSun bought. It was sold back in 2009, by Mary and Joe Apala to a TrendWest Corporation. Here’s the map. But you know that a section is laid out square, as if a grid had been laid over the land, yeah?”

Jack nodded, restraining himself from shrugging. Practically every layperson knew that much.

Sondra’s dark eyes sparkled with renewed energy. “Well, compare that to this.” She toggled screens to the one they’d started with, showing the traditional view of the islands with their
Ahupua`a
divisions, from mountaintop to seashore, with the Ho’omalu land marked in red. “If we compare these two…” She busily minimized and stretched until the two views of the mountain above Nawea sat side by side. “What do you see?”

Jack leaned over, his eyes narrowed. Then he froze, and his eyes widened. “
They overlap
.” He stared at Sondra, who nodded excitedly.

With a whoop, Jack clasped her face in his hands and planted a smacking kiss on her lips. “You did it. Oh, my lord, you did it. If the section overlaps the ahupua’a, the sale of the section is invalidated.
Whoever sold that land had
no right to do so
.”

She blinked, looking a little dazed. “
We
did it,” she corrected him and then laughed at his jubilant grin.

Jack laughed with her. “Damn, you are good. And I’m gonna make sure everyone on the Ho’omalu team knows it.”

He turned back to the computer. “Okay, let’s print this screen, and then I want a printout of the 2009 transaction, including listing agency.”

As she worked, he rose, pacing back and forth, hands in his pockets. “This is great. I need to get this to the lawyers first thing in the morning.”

Thunder rumbled again. “But now I need to let you get home,” he realized. “Been a long day for you.”

Sondra rose and handed Jack a stack of printed pages. “Here you go. I e-mailed copies and all the URLs to you so you can get them to the lawyers.”

He took the papers and then looked down at her. “Sondra, you’re a wahine in a million.” Stepping forward, he gave her a hug. She hesitated and then hugged him back.

Jack stepped back, lifting the papers in a salute. “Thanks again. I’ll be in touch, let you know what happens.”

She nodded. “Okay, good. See you.”

As he walked out, she was standing in the middle of the office, watching him go. Jack thought about asking her to join him for a drink but decided against it. He’d just have a quick one and head back to Nawea.

When Lalei discovered that Jack had gone to see Sondra Baker again, she was suffused with anger at him for leaving her without so much as saying good-bye and jealousy that he’d gone to see a woman who clearly admired him. He admired the widow. In fact he seemed to think she was some kind of brave heroine for keeping her realty open without her husband.

Lalei grimaced at herself—okay, Sondra did deserve admiration for that. Just not Jack’s. ‘Aue, she was a jealous bitch. And she had better things to do than wallow in it.

Putting a smile on her face, she spent time visiting with Melia on the lanai.

She snorkeled along the reef.

She showered, dressed and worked on her computer for a while, choosing the pieces she wanted for the new show opening next month. She talked to Serge, her friend Bette, and her mother.

“When are you coming home?” Suzy asked, her voice strained. “Benton has a big business dinner coming up.”

Lalei gritted her teeth. “Mother, I will not be going to any more functions with Benton.”

“Oh, I just can’t believe this.” Suzy played the doting, bewildered mother to the hilt. “Poor Benton.”

Lalei smiled at the phone, her eyes narrowed. “Why don’t
you
go with him, Mother?”

There was a short silence. “Lalei,” her mother gasped.

Lalei rolled her eyes. “Mama, if you want Benton’s money so bad, you marry him. Now I have to go—the family’s here for dinner. Bye.”

She put her phone away and walked up across the lawn to greet Homu and Tina. Hilo was with them, which lightened her mood considerably. The aging warrior always had a twinkle in his eyes and still teased her as if she was a keiki.

“You gonna bring the rain and spoil our dinner?” he asked her, giving her a big hug. “Maybe we should go swimming now, if we gonna get wet anyway.”

“I will bring a special little rain cloud, just for you,” she threatened, to hide the nerves his remark brought.

Hilo laid his huge hands on her shoulders. “Hey, nani girl. It’s okay, your old uncle knows a thing or two about suddenly discovering you have the power. It will be okay, yeah?”

She smiled up at him, even though her heart was thumping double-time. “If you say so.”

He raised his heavy, silver brows at her. “‘Aue, now if I could just get my clients to say dat, yeah? Don’t wanna believe their boat needs
big
repairs, just
small
ones.” He laughed heartily, and Lalei couldn’t help but join in. Hilo owned a small marina at Honokohau Harbor west of Kona and had a devoted group of boaters who would bring their crafts to no one else.

Melia’s SUV rounded the curve of the driveway and slowed to a stop beside Homu’s bigger one. Lalei tensed as Jack stepped out, looking tired but happy. She stepped back, wrapping her arms about her middle as Homu and Tina greeted him fondly.

Then he turned to shake hands with Hilo, and finally to smile down at her. With a vague smile, she turned away to follow the older people toward the house.

Jack walked close beside her. “Miss me?”

“Oh, were you gone? I’ve been so busy, I didn’t really notice.”

His warm hand settled on her waist and tightened, swinging her around into him as the Ho’omalus disappeared into the house. He gave her a knowing look. “Yes, you did. Sorry I couldn’t hang out. I was working.”

She flicked a glance over him and sniffed. Anger fired deep in her breast. With elaborate casualness, she reached up and rubbed her thumb over his face, just under his mouth. The bristles of his five o’clock shadow roughened his smooth skin. Lifting her hand, she made a show of looking at it. “Working? Really, Jack? Then why do you have lipstick on your chin?”

He blinked and reached up to swipe at his face, a red flush under his skin. “Hey, that was—I can explain that. I just—”

Lalei shook her head. “Don’t bother. Unless Sondra held you down and mauled you, that means
you
kissed
her
. While you two were having drinks, from the smell. And you know what my teachers always dinged me for in kindergarten, Jack?” She sketched little quotes with her fingertips in the air. “‘Does not share well with others.’ Still don’t.”

Glaring at him, she turned on her heel and marched away.

“Yeah, thanks for listening to my side of the story,” he snarled behind her. “Appreciate your open mind on that.”

She smacked the door open with the flat of her hand and hurried through. It closed behind her, leaving him on the other side. And if it felt like part of her was still there with him, she’d deal with that. She was never, ever going to be with another player.

Dinner was served on the beach lanai. Bella and Joel arrived bearing a huge green salad from their garden.

Lalei got herself under control, channeling her years of social training. She helped Tina and Leilani dish up the rice dish, fruit, warm rolls, platter of grilled mahi mahi with fresh pineapple salsa and then carried the food with the others down to the table. Ignoring the empty chair next to Jack, she slipped into one at the far end of the table beside Hilo.

As she leaned forward to take the rolls from Joel, she glanced down the table and found Jack watching her. He gave her a level stare, his blue gaze full of…hurt? Accusation? Then he looked away, dismissing her, and tossed back the rest of his drink. It was his third one since he’d arrived.

Lalei sat back in her chair, feeling as if he had stabbed her with the long fork from the fish platter. Why was
she
feeling guilty? He was the one who’d been kissing that woman.

“Jack, you have some news for us?” Homu asked.

“Hell, yeah.” Jack began to talk, holding everyone’s attention as he related his afternoon’s work. He told them about the long, tiring search through years of records and what he and Sondra Baker had discovered about the conflicting property boundaries. He was expansive, gesturing with his hands and smiling.

Lalei’s stomach sank, even as her heart fluttered with foolish hope. Oh Pele, he really had been working, and on something important to her family. Maybe he and Sondra had simply stopped for a quick drink after that.