Distant Echoes (12 page)

“Don’t ever scare me like that again.” Jesse tucked her against his chest and propped his chin on her wet hair. “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

“What were you thinking to go off by yourself?” Kaia asked. “We’re lucky to have spotted you in the waves. Nani was just wandering aimlessly until I saw your kayak.”

“We couldn’t find the little boy, and I saw the kayak. I thought I could save him.”

“That’s a job for grownups,” Jesse said.

“The waves got really big, and I got scared. I yelled, but no one could hear me.” Heidi’s tears began to taper off.

“How long were you in the water?” A real understanding of the close call was beginning to set in, and Kaia’s limbs trembled.

“A long time. I tried to swim to shore, but the undertow wouldn’t let me.” She looked up at Jesse. “At first I forgot what Daddy told me about how to swim if I got caught in one. I kept getting farther and farther from the shore. Then I remembered how Daddy said I was supposed to swim with the current. I tried, but it kept pulling me under. I thought I was going to drown.” Fresh tears sparkled in her eyes.

“It was strong.” Kaia wasn’t sure she could have overcome the undertow, and she was a strong swimmer. Thank the Lord Nani had been there, even if the dolphin had reacted to instinct rather than communication.

Heidi leaned over and vomited seawater on her uncle’s feet. He didn’t react much, just grabbed a towel Ensign Masters handed him and wiped his niece’s face. The ensign upended a bucket of water onto Jesse’s feet and the surrounding deck.

“Your mother is going to have to know about this escapade,” he said sternly.

Heidi nodded. “She’s going to be mad.”

“We’re just glad you’re okay,” Faye said. She seemed to be recovering some of her color. “Here, let me clean that up.” She knelt and began to swab ineffectually at the mess. She finally gave up and let the ensign use his mop.

The wind blew Faye’s black hair around her head and whipped it into her face. She brushed it out of her eyes. “Jesse, I hope you won’t hold this against me. I don’t want to give up my friendship with Heidi.”

Heidi’s eyes grew wide. “Does this mean I get to go back with Kaia?”

Faye flinched and covered her mouth with her hands. “She’s not been very happy,” she admitted. “I think she misses her mother.”

“I realize that,” Jesse said. He patted her shoulder. “If you’re still willing to keep Heidi, I think we’ll keep to our arrangement.”

Faye’s shoulders sagged. “
Mahalo
, Jesse. It won’t happen again.” Her dark eyes blinked rapidly, then she turned and gazed at Kaia. “I’ve been wanting
to meet you, Kaia. Curtis has said such great things about you.”

Kaia frowned. “Curtis has?” She couldn’t imagine what her boss could have said. They’d butted heads right from the start.

“Curtis says you’re brilliant.” The boat lurched in the waves, and Faye almost tumbled to the deck. She caught herself against the back of Jesse’s seat.

Kaia hadn’t put the two together. In fact, she found it hard to imagine the pragmatic Curtis with Faye. But maybe she was judging the woman unfairly. Just because she wore nice clothes and shoes didn’t mean she was shallow. Kaia had to admit her twinge of envy might have affected her first impression of the woman.

In fact, maybe Faye could be her ally to help Curtis understand the importance of her dolphin research. “Make sure you tell him about how Nani saved Heidi today,” she said. If only Nani had found Heidi because she’d understood the language. Still, Heidi was safe, thanks to Nani.

“Oh, I will,” Faye assured her. She hesitated for a second. “Why don’t you meet me and Heidi for breakfast when you get off work tomorrow?”

Faye could be the help Kaia had been looking for. She had to convince Curtis that the real future of Seaworthy Labs lay with research into dolphin communication, even though Nani had failed her again.

“I just might do that.”

Eight

J
esse parked in front of Kaia’s charming cottage. “Cute place,” he said. He grabbed Kaia’s knapsack. “I’ll carry this for you. Heidi’s sleeping anyway.”

Kaia yawned and nodded. She stepped over a hose and pushed open the door.

“Holy cow,” Jesse muttered. He realized he’d said it out loud when he saw Kaia’s cheeks go red. “Sorry, but—wow.” He dropped the knapsack and picked up a discarded T-shirt.

Kaia grabbed it from his hand. “It’s not like I haven’t been busy,” she snapped.

“Yeah, sorry.” He’d never pegged her for the messy sort. It was a good thing they weren’t in a relationship. A mess like this would drive him crazy.

He stepped over a catnip mouse and looked around then realized he hadn’t thanked Kaia properly when they’d docked. “I really appreciate all you did today. You saved Heidi’s life, you and Nani.”

She didn’t meet his gaze. “That’s okay. I’m glad we were there. I was surprised you decided to let Heidi stay with Faye when she obviously wasn’t watching her closely enough.”

“I almost didn’t. But I looked at Heidi and realized she was hoping to get Faye in trouble. It could have happened to anyone. I wandered off from my mother often enough. Especially when another child was in trouble. Faye has a good heart.”

Maybe he was right. Kaia was beginning to realize Jesse had good judgment about people. She glanced out the window. “Here comes Bane.”

“I’d better go. Heidi needs to get to bed.” He exited the house, waving at Bane as he got in the Jeep. At his place, he parked and carried Heidi inside before wandering into the living room. The room felt even more sterile than usual. Beige paint, carpet, and furniture. No pictures on the walls. He’d been back on the island for three months and hadn’t bothered to unpack so much as a picture of his family. But when had there been time?

Even though Kaia’s place had been messy, it was homey and cheerful. It had character, whereas this place could have been anyone’s home. Christy had never been much for decorating either. He sighed and went to the phone. Jillian’s hotel number was right on top of the stand. The ringing went on for what seemed like forever on the other end of the line before she finally answered.

“Hello?” Jillian’s voice echoed across the line.

He glanced at his watch. The time difference was twelve hours. “Hey, Jillian, I was about to give up.”

“Is something wrong? Is Heidi okay?” Her voice rose and held a tinge of panic.

“She’s fine. But we had a scare.” He told her what had happened.

“She’s always been one for getting into scrapes. She forgets she’s only eight.” Jillian sounded worried. “I should be there.”

“You can’t; you’d lose your job,” he reminded her. “I’ve got everything under control here. I just wanted to keep you up-to-date on things.”

“I want to be with Heidi.” Her gulp echoed over the phone. “I miss her. Are you sure she’s okay?”

“She’s fine. I think she’ll listen to Faye now.”

Jillian began to cry softly. “I should just quit, find another job. This separation is too hard. How is Heidi doing?”

“She’s fine.”

“Does she ask about me?” Jillian’s voice sounded wistful.

“She talks about you.” Jesse didn’t dare tell her Heidi had been acting out some. “Don’t do anything foolish, Jillian. You worked your whole life for this job. What kind of position could you get if you quit? This time will pass sooner than you think. You can’t afford to let emotion overrule your common sense.”

“I know you’re right, but it’s so hard.” Her voice broke again.

He hated to hear either of his sisters cry. His father had always expected him to take care of them. Sometimes, though, he couldn’t. And this was one of those times. Jillian needed to do this project.

Jillian gulped again. “Who is this woman you’ve got watching her? Why isn’t Kaia keeping her?”

“That was only temporary. Kaia is helping with base security at night. She sleeps during the day. This is an older woman—in her fifties I’d guess. She’s Duncan’s sister-in-law. She’s been taking Heidi to see all the sights.”

Jillian was silent. “How is Duncan?”

Jesse propped his feet up. “Same old Duncan.”

“That sounds a little cynical.”

“You know how he is—always looking to blame someone else for his own troubles.”

Jillian was silent a minute. “I think maybe I was too hard on him. He wanted so badly to do well in college.”

“He was smart enough to do it without cheating. He said to tell you hello, by the way. You could always look him up when you get back to the islands.”

“We’ll see.” Her voice hardened. “I’m still not impressed with this Faye.”

“That’s not fair, Jillian. Something like this could happen to anyone.”

“Even you, Jesse.” His sister’s voice was soft. “Maybe you should listen to your own words. What happened to Christy wasn’t your fault either.”

He knew that. They all thought he blamed himself, and he had for a while. But now all he felt was sadness and regret that Christy’s family had turned their backs on him. But there was no way was he going there with Jillian. “Let me know when you’ll be winding up things there.”

“I’ll get out of this as soon as I can,” she promised.

Clicking off the phone, Jesse knew Jillian wouldn’t go back to sleep. She would probably get up and reorganize the hotel room dresser. Cleaning and organizing was generally her way of coping with worry. If he were a betting man, he’d bet she wouldn’t last the month out before she’d be back for her daughter. She was a good mother. Until then, looking out for Heidi was his responsibility.

A
re you ever coming to bed?”

Curtis
sounded petulant, but Faye couldn’t bring herself to leave the bathroom and mollify him. Staring at herself in the mirror, she told herself she deserved nothing less than what had almost happened today. Maybe it would have been better to have been exposed for the fraud she was. Better for Heidi at least.

She rinsed the expensive cleansing cream from her face, taking care not to stretch the fragile skin around her eyes. Slathering on a special nighttime mixture with a light floral scent, she tipped her chin to the right and the left. Not bad for a woman of fifty-five. People told her she looked forty, but she had watched the lines around her eyes and mouth advance and knew they were being kind.

One of these days it would be easy to see she was ten years older than Curtis.

“You’re not talking.” Curtis stood in the bathroom doorway.

The pale green silk pajamas she’d bought him had been a mistake, she thought, turning to look at him. They were the wrong color for his florid face, and they were too tight across his stomach.

Curtis sighed and reached out to draw her against his chest. “I see that look in your eyes. You’re not running away from this, Faye. We’ve come too far to back out now. And I’ve plowed too much money into Seaworthy Labs to just walk away. You wanted this, and now you’re going to stay here and face it.”

“I know, I know,” she murmured against the silk pajama top. “You’re so good to me, Curtis. So much better than I deserve.”

He leaned her away from his chest and gave her a gentle shake. “Quit that kind of talk. You’re deserving of so much more than I can give you, Faye. This is going to work out—you’ll see.”

She nodded and laid her head back against his chest. The beat of his heart thudded against her ear in a steady, rhythmic beat that calmed her like a baby laid against its mother’s breast. “I met Kaia today too. I wasn’t sure it was ever going to happen. So something good came out of the day.”

The hand he’d been petting her hair with grew still. “What did you think of her?”

“She’s beautiful, more lovely than I could have imagined. Smart and strong too. You should have seen the way she dove into the water and went after Heidi. She seemed almost as much fish as human.”

“She’s really remarkable. Her affinity with the dolphins is going to make her famous someday. And Seaworthy Labs too, she says.”

“She’s meeting me and Heidi for breakfast in the morning.”

“Here?” Curtis drew back. “Do you think that’s wise?”

“Wise or not, she’s coming here when she gets off work in the morning. Don’t worry. I’ll be good. She’ll never suspect a thing.”

K
aia shifted restlessly in her seat aboard the navy cruiser. A misty rain had fallen earlier, a remnant of the system that had blown in during the afternoon with the large swells. The clouds had dissipated, and the stars had come out around one o’clock in the morning. The two SPs Jesse had assigned to accompany her spent their time at the helm and largely ignored her—a state of affairs she welcomed. They were both older and married, which helped put her at ease.

Tonight they were anchored just off Nohili Point, south of Barking Sands. The waves had died down to gentle swells. She sat under the overhang and looked out over the water. There were hardly any lights along the shore here, and she felt alone.

She hadn’t wanted to have Nani in danger again, but she had to try to figure out what was going on so she could protect Mano from himself. She was certain Pele Hawai´i was involved, and if they were behind the break-ins, Mano might be too.

Nani chattered from just off the bow, and Kaia got up to speak to her. “What’s the matter, girl? Are you lonely?”

The dolphin flung herself into the air and splashed Kaia. Nani chattered again as she danced along the waves. If Kaia weren’t so tired, she’d join Nani for a swim. Heidi’s rescue had taken a lot out of her. She could curl up on the deck and take a nap.

Now was as good a time as any to do what she had to do. After Nani’s failure to realize she needed to find Heidi, Kaia had come to the conclusion she had to do what Curtis suggested: train Nani and the other dolphins to jump through hoops and perform the tricks that brought in more people. If enough money came in that way, maybe they could continue the research long enough to make the communication connection.

She turned to get the equipment she’d brought when she became aware of the sound of a boat engine in the distance. The lights were out as though they didn’t want to be seen. She doubted they could see the navy boat sitting quietly in its anchorage. The other boat hugged the coastline as close to shore as possible without running aground. In a few minutes, the hum of the engine fell silent.