Murder at Dolphin Bay (Sand and Sea Hawaiian Mystery Book 1) (9 page)

“So how was your date last weekend?” I asked Janice Furlong. Janice was the oldest member of the group at seventy-four. For some reason, after almost forty years of widowhood, she’d decided she wanted to get married again and had signed up for an online dating service catering to men and women sixty years of age or older.

“It was a bust. All the men on that site are old. I’m looking for someone younger. Someone with more energy. Someone like Luke.”

“Luke is younger than your youngest son,” I reminded Janice. “Other than the fact that the man you chose was age appropriate, what didn’t you like about him?”

“He likes to watch the
CBS Evening News
and I’m an ABC sort of gal. It’d never work out. Besides, he mentioned he takes medication for his heart. I’m not looking to bury another man any time soon. Is your brother John still single? I always did have a thing for him.”

“John is single, but he’s thirty-eight. Did you ever call to find out about the yoga class the senior center sponsors? I’m sure a lot of the men in that class are both single and healthy.”

“Looking to party, not exercise. I did meet a nice man in a bar last week. He’s probably in his early sixties, which is a little old for me, but the guy was a nice dresser and seemed to have a lot of money, so I agreed to have a drink with him.”

“And how do you know he has a lot of money?”

“He’s part of that investment group that plans to build that new resort down the beach from where you work.”

That got my attention. “Did he mention his name?”

“Of course he mentioned his name. We had a drink together.”

“Are you willing to share it?”

“Frank Browning.”

“And did he say why he was in town?”

“To meet with the man who died. Branson Cole. I wonder if he ever did get a chance to speak with him. Such a shame to come all that way for nothing.”

Frank Browning. The name didn’t sound familiar, but if he was in town to meet with Cole and Cole ended up dead, you could bet I was going to find out everything I could about him.

Kekoa called me just as bingo was letting out to inform me that Patrick Anderson had checked into the resort and that he was in the bar meeting with a man with dark hair. I asked Kekoa to try to find out who the man was. I intended to drop in for a drink of my own, but in the event that the man left before I arrived I wanted Kekoa to get as much information as she could.

“Where to?” Luke asked after he spoke to Diane Francis about helping her repaint her guest bedroom. Hadn’t these women heard of handymen?

“Dolphin Bay. After we take Elva home, that is. Kekoa called while you were talking to Diane and informed me that Patrick Anderson is in the bar meeting with another man. Suddenly I think a drink sounds like a very good idea.”

“And you aren’t worried about Jason showing up as well?”

“I have no idea whether Jason even knows Anderson is in town, but the meeting could provide an important lead, so I think I want to risk it.”

Luke shrugged and helped me climb into the backseat of his truck before helping Elva into the passenger seat in the front. After everyone was buckled up he headed toward the condo.

“Don’t forget about the yarn store,” Elva reminded me.

Oh, yeah. I had completely forgotten about the yarn store. I still hadn’t met Mary and Malia, but I knew how important the afghan Elva was crocheting for Malia was to Elva, so I directed Luke to take a side trip in the opposite direction. Trying to get a peek at the man Anderson was meeting could be important to my investigation into Cole’s death, but my heart went out to Elva. I couldn’t imagine losing a child or, even worse, dealing with the grief of that loss while your marriage imploded at the same time. I’d always been curious as to the facts surrounding the tragedy that had defined the remainder of Elva’s life, but she seemed to have dealt with things in her own way and I never wanted to push her to speak about that terrible time from her past.

“Emily loved blue,” Elva said as she sorted through the blue yarn, looking for the perfect shade. “She used to say, ‘Mama, I want a blue one just like the sky and just like the sea.’”

“Blue is one of the best colors,” I agreed.

“I remember one year Emily wanted me to make her a blue and white dress for the Christmas concert at school. I tried to explain that the traditional colors for Christmas were red and green, and that the teacher had requested that all the students in the choir wear either red or green, but she said that deep blue was the color of the dark sky on the night Jesus was born and white was the color of the bright star in the sky. What better colors, she argued, to represent the most sacred of all nights?”

“She really had a good point.”

A look of sadness came over Elva’s face. “Yeah, she really did. I made her that blue and white dress and she wore it proudly in a sea of red and green.” Elva looked down at the yarn in her hand. “I think this one will work best for the blanket. It’s a happy blue that I hope will brighten Malia’s life.”

After we dropped Elva off at her condo, Luke and I headed toward the resort. I really had no idea if Anderson and his guest would still be in the bar after all this time, but I wouldn’t have missed Elva’s story about her daughter for anything. I guess I was lucky. So far I’d never lost anyone close to me other than senior members of my family, who’d lived good lives and passed due to complications brought about by old age.

When we arrived at the bar I saw Anderson sitting at a table in the corner with a man with dark hair whose back was to us. I didn’t want to look conspicuous, so Luke and I ordered drinks, then settled in at a table I hoped was close enough for us to overhear at least part of their conversation.

The men seemed to be talking about golf. I wasn’t sure how a conversation about golf was going to help me with my investigation, but I listened in anyway. The man who sat across from Anderson seemed to know a lot about the planning that went into designing a golf course, and it occurred to me that perhaps he was speaking to him about designing one for the new resort. Of course if the resort was really just a front for a scam I didn’t know why you’d go to all the effort of interviewing architects and contractors for the various aspects of the project.

“Do you think they’re talking about a golf course for the new resort?” I whispered to Luke.

He shrugged. “Maybe. It makes sense the resort would have a golf course and that the design would be included in the master plan. Anderson is the man we understand is in charge of planning the enterprise, so it makes sense that he’d be meeting with a potential architect.”

“Are we thinking that the intel we received suggesting the resort is a front for a scam is false, or that Anderson simply isn’t aware of that fact?”

Luke took a sip of his drink and leaned in close. I’m sure to anyone who might be watching us it looked like we were having an intimate conversation. “Like I said before, I would be very surprised to find out Branson was scamming his contacts. If the whole thing is a scam I’m betting he, and perhaps Anderson too, had no idea what was really going on.”

“Something got Cole killed,” I pointed out.

Luke took a deep breath. “Yeah, something did.”

He and I continued to listen as the men discussed golf and the pros and cons of a high verses a low par course. I wasn’t a player, so I didn’t understand any of it, but I was enjoying spending time with Luke, and I could see he was actually interested in the conversation. After about twenty minutes, both men stood up, shook hands, and the dark-haired one walked away.

I watched as Anderson took out his phone and made a call.

“He seems to be on board,” Anderson said.

I continued to watch as he played with the cherry stem from his drink while he listened to whoever was on the other end of the line. I couldn’t be certain Anderson was guilty of either murder or scamming the investors who’d bought into his project, but his body language was relaxed and his demeanor didn’t seem to indicate that he was worried about anyone overhearing his conversation.

“We can work out the details later. For now, I’m going to go ahead with the plan we outlined before Cole died. I spoke to Elton, and he seemed open to the idea I presented. Now that we have the permits and a green light to break ground I’m betting we’ll have investors lining up.”

Anderson almost looked bored as he listened to the response on the other end of the line. I wondered who Elton was and how he figured into everything that was going on. Of course the idea Elton was open to might not have anything to do with the resort.

“Yes, I agree that was unfortunate, but I’m not sure what we can do about it at this point.” A flash of irritation crossed Anderson’s face. At least I thought it was irritation. I didn’t know him well enough to really read his face, but his frown, combined with an aura of impatience, suggested irritation to me. “Tell Devlin I’ll have the completed blueprints by the end of the month. Did you ever get back to Colton?”

Anderson took a sip of his drink while he listened. “And…?” Anderson smiled. “That’s good. That’s very, very good.”

He put a hand up in the air to indicate to the bartender that he wanted another drink. It seemed Anderson didn’t have an issue with his heart the way Cole had, judging by the way he seemed to be putting away the liquor. There was a stack of empties on his table.

“I need to get going,” Anderson began to wrap things up. “Did you ever speak to that detective who came snooping around?” He frowned. “Yeah. Okay. Let me know how it goes.”

With that, Anderson hung up. He downed the drink the bartender had just delivered, threw a stack of money on the table, got up, and walked out of the bar.

“What do you make of all that?” I asked Luke.

“It sounds like the project is on track, which runs counter to what we’ve heard, but it does seem like something’s up. I wonder who he was speaking to.”

“At first I thought maybe it was Devlin, but then he referred to him in a third-person way. He also mentioned Elton and Colton. They aren’t unique names, but they aren’t frequently used either. Does either ring a bell?”

“Maybe. I know a man named Elton who could very well have been approached to invest in the project if my dad was approached. I’d need to make some phone calls to know for sure. Do you want to stick around here or head back to the ranch?”

“I want to head over to the beach to see if I can find Trent. He’s almost always surfing at this time of day and I’m hoping he’ll remember something more about the people he shot with his camera. Then let’s head back to your place. It’s unlikely my brother will track me down there.”

“You’re going to have to face him at some point.”

“Yeah, I know. But the longer I can avoid an encounter the more time he’ll have to cool down. Besides, I think we’re close to figuring this out.”

“We are?” There was a look of doubt on Luke’s face.

“We are,” I said with more conviction than I actually felt.

Luckily, Trent, as expected, was surfing. I managed to catch his eye and waved him over, thereby avoiding having to actually get into the water. Luke said he was going to head over to the tower to talk to Cam, who was the WSO on duty that day. I told him I’d look for him there when I’d finished my conversation.

“Hey, Lani. What’s up?” Trent greeted me as he waded out of the water. “I thought you were off today.”

“I am. I stopped by to ask you about the photos you took of Branson Cole the day he died. Brody showed them to me this morning, and I hoped maybe you remembered some additional details about the people standing around the body.”

“Sorry; I was really just focused on the body once I realized the old guy was dead.”

“What about the girl in the red bikini?”

Trent smiled. “Now her I remember. Tall, blond, killer bod?”

Sounded familiar. I did think I remembered seeing her. “She had on those big earrings and her hair was pulled up on top of her head?”

“I wasn’t looking at her hair, but that sounds right.”

The more I thought about it the more certain I was that I remembered the woman. She had a tattoo just below her collarbone. I couldn’t remember what it was, but the longer I concentrated on the woman the more I remembered.

“Do you have other photos you didn’t show Brody?”

“Not of that particular moment, but I do have another photo of the lady in the red bikini. I’d seen her earlier in the day. She was watching the old guy who died while he was talking to the hot brunette. She had an interesting look on her face, so I snapped a photo of her.”

“You saw Cole talking to a brunette?”

“Yeah. The one who brought him the drink.”

“Did you get a photo of her?”

“No. Just the lady in the red bikini.”

“Do you still have that other photo of the woman in the red bikini?”

“Yeah, it’s on my phone. I took a bunch of photos that day for a photography class I’m taking online.”

“You can study photography online?”

“We take photos and then choose three to share each week. I’m actually one of the best students in the class. My instructor said I have a real eye for framing the perfect shot.”

I thought about all the partial body parts Trent had captured while taking photos of Cole. They didn’t seem particularly artful to me. “Does this class cost money?”