Freefall (7 page)

He pulled with his arms, ignoring the suffocating pain of each jolt and drag. The swollen leg throbbed and burned as he inched nearer the echoing falls. Four days of inertia must have stabilized the bone somewhat, but the pain had increased incrementally, and he could no longer deny signs of infection.

The aching in the opposite ankle and knee had diminished, and he might manage to use it. If the ledge offered a way past the thunderous falls without having to swim beneath, he just might get through. But as he crept another four inches, he felt the ledge narrowing, dropping away. He reached forward and groped. No ledge. The wall fell sharply toward the falls and the rocks beneath that had chewed him up already. Groaning, he pushed back. The pain and effort had been for nothing.

No. He corrected his thoughts. He’d gotten information. Not the answer he wanted, but a fact nonetheless, a detail that contributed to a plan, if only by ruling out his first option. Gripping his leg with one hand, he eased back toward the wider surface.

He had remained still the first few days to stabilize the shattered bone. Now, even if he bled out inside his leg, he had to find a way out. He could no longer depend on rescue, and he was reaching the limits of his endurance.

It could have been worse, he reminded himself. He could have broken his back or neck. He murmured a prayer of thanks that he hadn’t been paralyzed, then sank against the wall, exhausted. He’d used the dozen aspirin in the foil pouch the first two days when he thought help would come. It had barely touched the pain. Now it was too constant to register with the same ferocity.

He had refilled the water bladder that morning from the pool and treated it with the last of the purifying tablets. Four days with minimal food had left him weak, and even that was gone now. From his position nearer the mouth of the cave, he could see small dark shadows darting beneath the surface of the pool. If he could find a way before he was too weak to try …

SIX

Jade woke with a jolt, her body clammy,
her heart thumping like a rubber mallet inside her ribs. The panic that had driven her down the mountains to the Hanalei Valley had returned in a dream that wasn’t a dream. It was memory; fleeting, but real.

With a cry, she threw her legs over the side and pulled on the soft cotton robe Nica had lent her, tying the sash as she hurried out to the garden and up the stairs to the lanai. It was early and she might have to wake—

“Jade.”

She shrieked.

Cameron Pierce, bronze-chested and dripping in hunter green swim trunks, had blended in with the plants on the lanai. Coffee steam swirled up from his mug on the railing, and she should have noticed the aroma at least. She couldn’t afford to be careless.

“What’s your hurry?”

She’d intended to tell Nica, but he would have to do. “I wasn’t alone.”

He straightened. “You remember?”

“Just a piece, a … glimpse. A path with water on one side and someone behind me.”

He examined her with his hard blue stare. “Who?”

She struggled to drag it out, pressing her hands over her eyes. It was there, agonizingly close. “I don’t know. But someone was there. I need to go to the police.”

“There’s a thought.”

She didn’t have time for his sarcasm. “Look, someone’s out there … somewhere. And it’s been days.” Hearing herself, she knew exactly what he thought; it wasn’t enough. How could they mount a search without knowing who and where?

With his tanned, sinewy foot, he pushed one of the patio chairs away from the table. “Sit.” He went inside with the gray-and-white cat following at his heels. A minute later he appeared with another mug that he put into her hands. “Kona. Plantation reserve.”

Did he think she cared? But the first sip was amazingly smooth, and maybe it would clear her head. He took his place at the rail, and she tried not to notice his musculature, the crescent-shaped scar on his lowest left rib. She didn’t want to notice anything about him. She wanted to find the person she’d recalled, someone who must be lost still.

He said, “Tell me what you remember.”

She swallowed. “I came out of the mountains and—”

“How did you come?”

“Across the valley.” She motioned out over the banister toward the mountains. “Before that, I came down a long way, and there was a stream. Higher up it was bigger, but it divided.” Even to her ears it sounded vague.

He looked toward the mountains. “What were you doing up there?”

She frowned. “I had a hydration pack, energy foods, so I must have been hiking.”

“You don’t know?”

She wanted to say yes. It only made sense, but she really didn’t remember anything for sure. “I had no overnight gear.”

“You might have made camp and only taken what you needed for a day hike.” He seemed to be taking her seriously, prepping her for the police?

“It’s possible. But what matters is there’s someone out there.”

“One person or more?”

She frowned. “I saw one.” Only she hadn’t really seen, just glimpsed, a fragment of memory so brief, yet so real.

“Male or female?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“What’s your guess?”

“Male.” She didn’t know why.

“Mine too.”

She met his gaze. “I need to tell the police.”

“You’ll have to give it to them straight.” He gripped his cup. “No holding back.”

As though she had been. “I know.”

“You’re willing to risk it?”

She wanted to shake him. “I don’t have anything to hide.” She hadn’t gone before because of vague, unsettling concerns. But if someone else was at risk, what did that matter? She stood up and turned toward the stairs.

“Hold on,” he said. “I’ll drive you.”

At the police station, Cameron hooked fingers in a locals’ handshake with Officer TJ Kanakanui, whose grip matched his size.

“Howzit, brah; you busy?”

TJ shrugged. “Choke paperwork. Got someting bettah?”

“One, da kine, situation.”

“What you got, Kai?” His glance slid over to where Jade waited by the door.

“Remember I asked about missing persons?”

“Someone lose one
ono wahine
?” TJ warmed to the subject. “You tinking finders keepers?”

“That
wahine
showed up at Nica’s a few days ago. Doesn’t know who she is.”

TJ sobered. “You serious?”

“Dead serious. And now she thinks someone else might be lost. Maybe you better talk to her.”

“Yeah, brah. Maybe bettah.”

Cameron rejoined Jade. “He’ll hear you out.”

She looked past. “You know him. The officer?”

“Went to school together.” He led her back to TJ’s desk. “Tell him whatever you can.” To TJ he said, “She’s going by Jade,” then perched on the corner of the desk beside a heap of papers TJ would get to when he felt like it.

Kanakanui slid out a chair for her and dropped the pidgin. “What can I do for you, Jade?” His chair protested when he sat, flexing his biceps to cross his arms. Behind his aloha smile the cop assessed her.

“I need you to find someone.” Her voice thickened. “Someone who’s lost.”

TJ dug a clipboard from the chaos of his desk. “Okay, tell me what happened.”

Jade described her trek out of the mountains and her realization that she’d lost her memory when Nica asked for her name. Though she didn’t overdramatize it, as Cameron listened and watched TJ react, he guessed he could have gone a little easier on her himself.

TJ leaned forward. “Why didn’t you come to the police then?”

She spread her hands. “I thought I’d remember.”

Did he find that suspicious? Cameron kept his expression neutral to avoid coloring Kanakanui’s impressions. TJ hadn’t been the smartest kid in the class, but he could see when something didn’t add up.

“And now you have?”

“I know someone was with me on the trail.” Jade slipped her hair behind her ear.

“Who?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know.” She told him what the doctor had said about her injury blocking retrograde memory. “This is the first piece I’ve remembered of what happened.”

“But you can’t tell me what that was.”

“It doesn’t matter. I just need help for whoever’s out there.”

“Maybe this person attacked or assaulted you. Maybe that’s why no one’s reported your accident.”

Her eyes as she took that in were an aqueous green that spoke of secret places and shadows. “It doesn’t … feel that way.”

Oh boy
. Cameron turned to TJ. “She’s spent three nights at Nica’s.

If
someone’s lost out there, time is critical.”

TJ nodded. “We can circulate your picture. Someone who recognizes you might know who you were with. Then we’ll know who to look for.”

“But that’ll take so long.” She didn’t object now to the public exposure. Either this concern outweighed it, or she’d only been buying time with that whole publicity thing.

TJ studied her face, looking, Cameron knew, for insincerity.

“Once it’s on the news—”

“All the islands?” Cameron said. “She probably hopped over. Not many choose the unplugged pace of Kauai—”

“I prefer it.”

He turned on her.

“At least … it seems that way.” She squeezed her hands. “If we were here to hike.”

TJ had to be thinking what he was.
It feels, it seems, she thought, she guessed
—then a definitive statement that seemed to contradict her condition.

“What trail did you take?”

She shook her head. “I’ve studied the guidebooks at Nica’s, but nothing sounds familiar.”

TJ leaned back. “Not much to work with. I can put out the word to our helicopter tours and coast guard to keep an eye out. Fire department and park rangers can watch the trails. Until we learn who you are and if you were with—”

“You mean
who
I was with.”

TJ nodded. “Yeah, who. But we don’t have enough manpower to risk an all-out search over dangerous terrain.” He stood, big and broad, bulky muscles straining the fabric of his uniform. “Is there anything else you want to tell me?”

Undaunted, Jade shook her head. Either she had no more, or she was disseminating only as much as she wanted to. It could all be a ruse, even with a confirmed head injury. Lots of people hit their heads without forgetting who they were. Maybe she’d attacked and killed her companion, faked her own injury. Anything was possible.

She stood up. “Thank you. I appreciate anything you can do.”

When TJ fetched a digital camera and photographed her, Cameron tipped his head. Recognition teased. Should he know her face? But they were finished, and Nica would be worried. He led Jade out into the warm, lush morning. If she noticed its embrace, she made no sign. Even her stride was secretive.

She stopped at the truck door and touched his arm. It felt like a brush with an electric eel, though seemingly not on her end. She held his gaze and said, “Thank you. For believing me.”

He frowned. The honest answer was he didn’t. Yet. “We’ll see.”

“We’ll see if you believe me, or we’ll see what happens?”

“Both.” No point misleading her.

“Oh.” Disappointment washed her face, but she didn’t try to convince him.

She got into the truck, and they drove back in silence. She exited without a word. He sat in the truck as she entered the room Nica had made into a shelter for wayward souls. Surprisingly unsettled, he tapped the wheel and wondered where the truth lay. Then he got out, climbed the stairs, and let himself in through the lanai.

Nica spun. “Kai. Where were you?”

“I took Jade to the police.”

“What?”

“She remembered something. Oh yeah. Another person.”

Nica clasped the counter. “Who?”

“Someone out there with her.”

“Someone still out there?”

“Supposedly.” He hadn’t heard the door slide open behind him, but Nica’s gaze moved past him. He turned.

Jade’s expression was stony. She had changed into torn microfiber pants and carried her slim hydration pack. His inspection of its minimal storage pouches had revealed no illegal drugs or weapons.

“May I fill this with ice?”

Nica frowned. “What are you doing?”

“Retracing my steps. If I can get back to where I forgot, maybe I’ll remember.”

“What about the MRI?” Nica’s brow furrowed. “It’s in less than two hours.”

“That can wait. This can’t.” Jade went past Nica into the kitchen.

Cameron eyed her. “You don’t really think you can climb back in to wherever you were?”

She began loading cubes into the bladder. “Officer Kanakanui can’t risk personnel in the wild. They’d have to cover too much ground anyway. If I can recognize the way I came …”

“You know the chances of that?” Even someone who knew the island would be hard-pressed.

“I was in or near the stream all the way.”

“
A
stream. Going down. How do you expect to retrace that, heading
mauka
?” At her puzzled look he clarified, “Into the mountains.”

She carried the pack to the sink and topped the bladder off with water. “If I can get close enough to remember, I could tell the searchers where to look.” She sealed the bladder and tucked it back inside the nylon sheath.