Murder at Waters Edge (Sand and Sea Hawaiian Mystery Book 6) Page 4

  “And you said your brother who works for the Honolulu PD is named Jason. Three Js in one family seems like a lot.”

  “Actually, there are five,” I corrected her. “John, Jason, Jimmy, Justin, and Jeff, or the J team, as my mom refers to them.”

  “I guess that’s kind of fun. Confusing but fun. So why aren’t you named Jane or something else beginning with a J?”

  “My grandmother insisted that I have a traditional Hawaiian name and there aren’t any beginning with J. Personally, I’m just as happy to have my own identity. It can be difficult to make your own way when you’re always seen as some sort of an extension of your brothers.”

  Zoe turned and looked at me. “I can see your point, but you’re also very lucky. I can’t tell you how much I longed for a sibling when I was growing up. At least I had my best friends, Levi and Ellie, who were like siblings in a way. Still, it isn’t the same.”

  I smiled. “No, I guess not. And I do love my brothers. It annoys me that they still treat me like a kid, but I know any one of them would take a bullet for me.”

  “So call John. Ask him what he knows. Zak could probably hack in and get it, but he won’t want to. It’ll be better if John tells us what we need to know.”

  I nodded. “Okay. I’ll call him later. For now, let’s focus on the birthplace. Hopefully we’ll find the clue we need and all these doubts stomping through my head will be put to rest.”

  “It does feel off that everything is coming to us so easily,” Zoe agreed. “It’s almost like they provided a diversion and we fell for it.”

  “We’re close to our destination,” I told her. “I guess all we can do is stay the course and then reassess the situation when we get to the cave.”

  “We’ve come too far to turn back now.”

  I found a place to park near the pier at Hāna Bay and we headed up the trail. There were places that had been washed out over time, but for two women in their twenties, both of whom were in exceptionally good shape, it was almost as easy as a walk in the park. When we arrived at the site of the cave we found a plaque depicting the name of the person being honored and the dates she lived. Nothing exceptional, nothing that in any way resembled a clue to a third location or a code that could be entered in the computer after completing the activities for the day.

  There were, however, four other people on the trail I recognized from the resort the previous day. Two were coming down the trail as we climbed up and two were coming up behind us as we stood looking at the plaque wondering what to do.

  Think, Lani, think!

  The fact that I had seen people from the resort here made me feel better after not seeing anyone familiar at the theater earlier. Zak had texted Zoe while we were on the way to let her know the clues the others had received had been the same, but their hacks had been quite a bit more difficult, so it had taken them longer to get through to the four words we’d found so easily. While the initial clues had been the same, all the hacks were different.

  “The team heading down the mountain obviously got here ahead of us despite the fact that they got a later start,” I commented. “I don’t know how many others are ahead of us, but at least one is behind.” I nodded toward the pair still making their way up the trail. “We need to find the next clue and get a move on.”

  Zoe walked around to the cave entrance behind the plaque. She peered at the rocky surface, then ran her hand slowly over it. “There’s something carved into the rock.”

  I left my spot near the plaque and joined her. There was a single word: green .

  I frowned. Green? Did it refer to the color green? I was totally at a loss. There was a chance someone with the last name Green could have written the word on the rock and it had nothing to do with the contest, but I didn’t see anything else that looked like it could be a clue.

  “Do you have reception on your phone?” I asked Zoe.

  She pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at it. “No, I’m afraid not.”

  I hesitated, wondering what to do. Green could be a code or cypher. If we could get hold of Zak we could ask his opinion.

  “Let’s head back to the car,” I said with a feeling of dread in my stomach. “We’ll call Zak to see what he makes of this.”

  “Okay.” Zoe squeezed my hand in a show of support.

  The team who had been coming up the hill behind us stood at the plaque, staring at it. Part of me wanted to wait to see what they’d do, but time was of the essence and I had no idea whether they’d have any better luck than we’d had. For all I knew, all the other teams were ahead of us. It occurred to me that there didn’t seem to be any rules as to how the clue sites could be accessed, and there was a small airport in Hāna. Could the other teams in the lead have chartered a small plane, allowing them to arrive here long before us? If we made it through this first round I’d need to think like a competitor, not like a friend desperately trying to help someone close to her find closure in the midst of tragedy.

  Back at the car, Zoe called Zak to tell him about the word. He chatted with her while he ran it through several programs, but, judging by her responses, he wasn’t finding anything in terms of a code or cypher. I decided to head into town in search of food while he checked. We’d never eaten that morning and I was starving.

  There were very few places to eat, but I chose the Barefoot Café, which was essentially a burger shack. I asked Zoe what she wanted, then went to order while she continued to speak with Zak. While I waited for our food I sat down on a bench. I checked my phone only to see there still was no text from Luke. I knew he was busy and I shouldn’t be bothered that he hadn’t had time to get back to me, but as I looked out over the bay all I could feel was a sad emptiness. Most of that probably came from my sorrow over what had happened to Cammy, but at least part of it was that I was getting used to Luke being part of my everyday life and I missed him terribly when he wasn’t with me. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad one.

  “Order for Lani,” a man called out. I got up and went to collect the burgers and sodas I’d ordered.

  “Anything?” I asked Zoe, who was giggling at something Zak had said as I returned to the car.

  “Yup. Zak found out that the man who was the pastor at the Ka‘ahumanu Church in Wailuku when the queen was alive was Johnathan Smith Green.”

  Wow. I had to hand it to Zak. He’d really come through. “That husband of yours really is a genius,” I said to Zoe.

  “Yeah.” She smiled. “He really is.”

  “Let’s eat and then get back on the road. It’ll take us at least three hours to get to Wailuku. Hopefully that will be the last stop for the day.”

  ******

  The church at Wailuku was white-steepled, built on a site that had previously held services in nothing more than a simple shed. Ka‘ahumanu was an early Hawaiian convert to Christianity, and it was her influence that led to the arrival of missionaries on the islands. The present building was two stories tall with a bell tower that featured a clock. Services were held every Sunday, with hymns and invocation in Hawaiian. The front door was locked when we arrived, so I hoped the words or numbers we needed to enter in the computer would be easily accessible from the exterior.

  Zoe and I circled the building, looking for something, although we had no idea what that might be. I wondered if the church had been unlocked earlier and we’d gotten there too late. After I felt we’d examined the building as carefully as we possibly could I found myself standing in front of it and just staring at it, as if willing it to speak, to give me the answer I needed.

  “Do you see anything at all?” I asked Zoe.

  She looked around the building and the surroundings again. “It does seem as if the clue would be hidden inside. I wonder if there’s a way to get in that won’t damage anything.”

  I took a deep breath and tried to focus. There were windows around the side of the building, all of which appeared to be closed. The roof was pitched, and although there was a second story,
there was only one window at the front. The tower was tall and impressive, with several levels. There were windows—one in the front and several on the side, just above the roofline—in the first, followed by the clock, then the bell, and last a narrow steeple. It seemed getting in through one of those windows would be my best bet. The problem was, I’d need to get up to the roof first. I looked around for a place to start my climb and finally settled on a nearby tree. I’d need to take a leap of faith from the closest branch to the sloped roof, but I did a few calculations and, with enough force, I thought I could make it. Luckily, there were shrubs below to break my fall if I was wrong.

  I explained my plan to Zoe and then scrambled up the tree I’d picked out. There was a gap between the tree and the roof, so I climbed just a bit higher than I thought I needed to so that I’d be able to both leap and land in the right location.

  “Be careful,” Zoe called from below as I identified the best place to launch my body and settled into place.

  “Don’t worry. I’ve got this,” I called back.

  Once I was set as best I could, I scrunched down and leaped toward the roof. I let out a long breath when my feet landed safely. I leaned forward so as not to lose my footing and slip down the steep angle of the roof. I caught my breath, then started up the roof toward the tower. As I’d hoped, the window wasn’t locked. I carefully climbed through and then headed down the stairs. The tall windows along the side of the building provided plenty of light. There were wooden pews and an altar arranged in front of a cross on the far wall, a warm and welcoming place for weekly worship. I’d never attended services here, but now that I could see how charming it was I found I very much wanted to.

  Once I got my bearings I began to look around, though I had no idea exactly what I was looking for or how well it would be hidden. I was looking under and around each pew when I heard banging on one of the windows. I looked up and saw Zoe outside, waving her arms.

  “I haven’t found it yet,” I called to her.

  “The team that was behind us at the cave arrived a minute ago. They went to the big tree in the front, wrote something down, and left. I checked it out and there are numbers carved in the trunk. I think those are the numbers we need.”

  Great. I’d just done the Spider-Man thing for nothing. I should have known the event coordinators wouldn’t want ten teams breaking into a church. Of course carving into the trunk of a monkey pod tree wasn’t exactly environmentally friendly.

  “Okay. I’ll get out the way I climbed in. Find something in the car to write down the numbers.”

  Zoe held up her phone. “I have them. I already sent them to Zak.”

  “Perfect. Just give me a minute.”

  I went back up the stairs, out the window, down the side of the roof, and leaped toward the closest tree branch, which, fortunately, I was able to hang on to. Then I scrambled down the tree and returned to Zoe.

  “Zak entered the numbers as soon as I sent them to him. He called and told me they were correct and we were the seventh team to check in.”

  I blew out a breath. “Good. I’m glad the assumptions we made turned out okay. Let’s go back to the resort and relax for a bit. If we make the cut tomorrow we’ll most likely be just as exhausted.”

  Chapter 5

  We decided to eat dinner in so we could use the time to come up with a strategy for the following day. Zak had spent a good part of the day doing some cybersnooping and I was curious to find out what he’d come up with. Zoe and I both headed in to take showers while Zak ordered the food.

  I closed my eyes as the cool water ran over my head and down my body. The tension in my neck was beginning to give me a headache. When Bethany had called to explain the situation I hadn’t taken time to think things through; I’d simply reacted, agreeing to fill in for Cammy to find her killer. Now that I had time to reflect, I was beginning to experience doubts about how and why the whole thing had occurred in the first place.

  I poured shampoo into my hand, then worked it into my hair. Just a week ago Luke and I had been in Ashton Falls, enjoying some alone time on the lakeshore. Then his sister had gone into labor and he’d left for Texas, requiring me to travel home on my own. I’d barely had a chance to unpack when Bethany had called and I was heading off to save the day. If I were honest with myself, I was emotionally and physically drained, yet I knew helping my friend was the right thing to do.

  After I rinsed my hair and dried off I dressed in a clean pair of shorts and a T-shirt and headed into the common area to find the food had arrived. I grabbed my dinner and sat down next to Zoe. She was nibbling on a salad with garlic bread while I began packing into a huge hamburger and Zak took a forkful of grilled fish and rice. It was a beautiful evening, and we decided to take the rest of our meal out onto the lanai, where we could watch the sun set. Luke still hadn’t called or texted, so I sent him another text in case he hadn’t received the first one.

  “Does anyone think it’s strange that there were ten teams and we only saw a couple of them the entire day?” I asked after I’d eaten several bites of my burger.

  “While the clues, once the teams hit the road, seem to be the same for everyone, the hacks are individual,” Zak responded. “Some are much harder than others. We completed our hack first. By a lot, which is why we didn’t see anyone else at the theater. The next team took thirty additional minutes and the last one to complete their hack took almost three hours. Because the first clue isn’t provided until the hack has been complete the field is strung out.”

  “Having such a huge degree of difficulty between the hacks doesn’t seem fair when the points given at the end of the day is first come, most points,” Zoe pointed out.

  “Yes, and with only one day’s data at my fingertips I can’t tell if the hacks are assigned randomly or if there’s a method to determining who gets the easiest and who gets the hardest hack. I do think our supereasy hack was intentional for today. I’m guessing it was a test to see if we were worthy of being in the finals. If we hadn’t accomplished the hack in short order it’s my opinion we would have been eliminated with an intentionally impossible hack tomorrow.”

  “Coming in seventh given the fact that we solved the hack way ahead of anyone else is pretty bad,” I concluded. “We need a better strategy if we make it through this round.”

  “We did make it,” Zak confirmed. “I got a text while you were both in the shower. We’re currently in eighth place based on cumulative points. Eight teams will compete tomorrow and two more teams will be eliminated at the end of the day. That will leave six teams going into Tuesday’s competition. According to the schedule, one team will be eliminated on Tuesday and then one each on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. That will leave the top two in the finals on Saturday.”

  I dipped one of my fries in ketchup as I let everything noodle around in my brain for a bit. I had no way of knowing how hard tomorrow’s hack would be, but one thing was certain: if we were going to stay in the race beyond tomorrow I was right about needing a better strategy. Luke was due to be here tomorrow afternoon, which meant we’d have his help on Tuesday unless someone informed us that extra help was frowned upon between now and then.

  The race aside, I had to stay mindful of the fact that what we were really trying to do was figure out what had happened to Cammy. I should call John, although part of me feared if he found out why I was on Maui he’d come up with a way to put a stop to my involvement in the case.

  “Did you find out anything about the other teams?” I asked Zak.

  He nodded. “Kimmy and Kenny Carter are the brother-and-sister team from Canada who’ve been in first place leading up to this week. As far as I know, they still are after today.”

  “There was a Kimmy and a Cammy in the same contest?” Zoe asked, surprise apparent in her voice.

  “Seems so,” Zak answered. “I discovered something curious about the Carter team.”

  “Which is?” Lani asked.

  “For one thing, neither Kimmy
nor Kenny seems to have a background in computers. I can’t find where either has a technology-related degree or worked in a computer-related industry. And their hack was the easiest second only to ours, yet they took a full forty minutes to work through it.”

  “That is interesting,” I commented.

  Zak held up his hand. “That’s not the interesting part. “I was able to hack into the monitoring software used by the contest organizers. Kimmy and Kenny were on the totally wrong track with their hack and then, suddenly, they were in.”

  “You think someone helped them,” I concluded.

  “I know someone did. That piqued my curiosity, so I did some more digging. Kimmy has one of those fitness watches that records not only your steps but the route you took. I hacked into her account—by the way, her password is Kimmy C—and found out she at least didn’t go to Lahaina. It’s possible Kenny went alone, but I’m guessing the clue they received led them directly to Hāna.”

  I took a minute to let that sink in. It seemed as if the event coordinators were helping Kimmy and Kenny, but why? If anyone else caught on to what they were doing there would be hell to pay if they won. If the contest was fixed and the outcome predetermined, it wasn’t a good strategy to have them in first place the entire time. Too suspicious. However, if they weren’t the intended winners …

  “They’re a decoy,” I said. “They’ve been set up as the team to beat. Meanwhile, the team the coordinators have selected to win has been hanging back safely in second or third place.”

  “Wait,” Zoe interrupted before Zak could agree or not. “Are you saying this entire contest is fixed? Why?”

  “I’m not saying the whole thing is fixed, but it makes sense in a twisted sort of way. If the sponsors have their team playing, they won’t have to pay out the million dollars.”