Murder at Waters Edge (Sand and Sea Hawaiian Mystery Book 6) Read online

  “What sort of strange things?” I asked.

  “She said she didn’t know what they were, but based on her description, I think she was talking about surveillance equipment.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Did she say which contestant it was?”

  “No, but it was someone who was out of their room today. When the other woman said she wanted to check the stuff out the first one said it wasn’t a good idea because the contest had ended early and everyone was beginning to come back.”

  Kimmy and Kenny hadn’t solved the hack, so they probably never left the resort. That almost certainly meant the maid hadn’t found the equipment in one of their rooms. That left Ivan and Irina, Hulk and Cracker, and Trent and Hallie. I had to wonder why someone in possession of surveillance equipment would just leave it laying around for a maid to find—though perhaps it hadn’t been just laying around at all. Maybe the maid had been snooping while she cleaned the room. Zak had requested that we not receive maid service during our stay, and so far, he’d been around almost all the time, so having our own specialized equipment detected shouldn’t be an issue. I hoped.

  “I wonder what the equipment was for,” I said. “If whoever it belongs to didn’t take it with them maybe it wasn’t being used for anything having to do with the competition.”

  “Or maybe it’s going to be used for whatever the endgame is and this team is part of the plan.”

  “Yeah.” I sighed. “Maybe.” I leaned my head back against the sofa, settling into a more relaxed position. I let my mind drift, picturing the questions I’d been pondering written out in the clouds above me. I let my mind flow, being present for answers but not lingering on any one question for too long.

  It seemed obvious to me that Cammy’s accident—or murder—had been in some way orchestrated because of her involvement in the competition. I still didn’t have a firm grasp on whether a shove had ended her life motivated by pure competitiveness or to keep her from revealing what she knew, but if she had been pushed I’d come around to thinking it was related to some event in her past. Stone had said there was some unspoken history between Cammy and Irina. Maybe Zak should do a search for a link of some sort between them. I wasn’t sure if the answer would help us but it couldn’t hurt to try.

  I also wondered what Cammy had been doing by herself on the evening she’d fallen to her death. Wouldn’t it have made more sense for her and Stone to have taken a stroll at the end of the day together? Stone might have been tired or they might have had a fight, but the cliff was pretty far from the resort rooms. Could Cammy have been lured there? Or had she been there to meet someone?

  And then there was the endgame we’d been discussing though really could only guess at right now.

  I had the entire afternoon free to snoop around; what I needed was a plan and a starting point. Zoe seemed to have picked up information by hanging around at the pool. I was hot and could use a dip, so the pool seemed to be as good a place to begin as any.

  Luke was working with Zak, so Zoe and I headed out with their promise to join us as soon as they wrapped things up. Judging by the way they were tapping away on two keyboards with a singular focus, I didn’t think wrapping up was anywhere on the horizon. Zoe found a table in the shade near the lap pool while I dove in. The steady rhythm of doing laps had always served as a means of helping me work through whatever was on my mind.

  After I’d swum about a hundred laps I’d worked off most of my angst, so I pulled myself up onto the decking and made my way to where Zoe was chatting with a woman whose name I’d forgotten but who I recognized as being from one of the two teams cut on the first day that week.

  “Lani, this is Carrie. She asked me about our being here at the eleventh hour and I explained that you and Zak were filling in for Cammy and Stone.”

  “I was sorry to hear about your friend,” Carrie offered. “I didn’t know her well, but she seemed nice. Not like some of the others, who are so competitive they’ll barely even nod in your direction should you greet them in passing.”

  “Have you been with the competition from the beginning?” I asked as I dried my hair with a towel.

  “Yes. I never thought we’d get this far. My friend Beaver asked me to join him at the last minute and I thought it would be fun.”

  “Beaver?” I inquired.

  “He’s an engineer and is always building things, hence the nickname. We can both hold our own with the computer part of the competition, but neither of us are superathletic, so I figured we’d be out in the first round, but somehow, we managed to squeak by and came to Maui as the tenth-place team. I wasn’t expecting to make it out of the first round here, so I wasn’t shocked when we were cut. Honestly, I’m just as glad to be out of it. There was no way we were going to win the million dollars, so getting cut early just meant we had more time to relax and enjoy the trip.”

  “Can you tell us how the contest went in the beginning?” I asked. “Coming in on the tail end, I’m not sure I have a feel for the whole thing.”

  Carrie’s blue eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as she prepared to answer. “I’d be happy to. Beaver found out about the contest through a chat room frequented by high-level gamers.”

  “So it would seem the contest organizers were really after the hacking skills each team had,” I said.

  “Well, only really skilled hackers hang out in that particular chat room. I don’t think geeks like Beaver are usually all that in to competitions with the word race right there in the title, but the million-dollar top prize attracted thousands of applicants, all of whom had to solve several online puzzles as part of their application. There were a few rounds, with fewer and fewer applicants moving forward, but eventually a hundred people were chosen to compete in the actual contest. Each finalist was required to find a partner who they felt best complemented their ability. Beaver had the brains, so he asked me to provide the brawn. Not that I can compete with a lot of the folks in this final round, but I could hold my own in the beginning.”

  I pulled on shorts, then settled back in a lounger. “I understand the hundred teams first competed in Boston.”

  “Yes. At the end of that weeklong contest there were just fifty teams left and they moved on to Chicago.”

  “So they cut fifty percent of the teams right off the bat?” Zoe confirmed.

  Carrie shrugged. “I felt bad for the people who were cut so soon. They didn’t get a lot for the five-thousand-dollar entry fee.”

  Okay, this was news to me. Up to this point no one had mentioned an entry fee. “So the competition in Chicago: Was that a week as well?”

  “It was, and when that was over there were just twenty-five teams left. From there we went to San Francisco for week three, where we were cut down to the final ten, who were brought to Maui. According to Beaver, the hacks got a lot harder here.”

  I let that information sink in before I asked, “And this is the second week the teams have been on Maui. Did you compete during the first week?”

  Carrie nodded. “We did, but it was for ranking going into the finals. No cuts were made until this week, but I think it was pretty clear to everyone who would still be in the running by midweek. Except for Kimmy and Kenny, who we all thought might win the whole thing, the writing was pretty much on the wall. Of course no one knew what to make of you all. Showing up the way you did had us all figuring you’d be cut on day one of this week. Who knew you’d still be in the running going into Thursday? The physical tests haven’t been all that tough, so I’m assuming one of you is a master hacker.”

  Neither Zoe nor I answered. I sat forward, resting my arms on my knees, and looked directly at Carrie. “We think Cammy was pushed from the cliff.”

  “Pushed? I heard she got hammered and fell.”

  “Cammy didn’t drink and we don’t believe she fell.”

  Carrie looked shocked. Her face had paled and her lower lip was trembling.

  “Do you have any idea who might have pushed her?” I asked.

&nbs
p; Carrie didn’t answer right away. I had a feeling she needed a moment to compose herself, and if my announcement had truly shocked her, she might need time to sort out her thoughts. Zoe reached over and placed a hand on Carrie’s arm. Carrie smiled at her weakly, which seemed to help her pull herself together.

  She turned to me. “Cammy didn’t get along with Irina. I don’t know why, but it was obvious from the beginning they weren’t happy to see each other when the contestants were introduced. It looked like they mostly tried to ignore each other, but I saw them arguing a few times during the first four weeks.”

  “Do you have any idea what they were arguing about?” I asked.

  “I didn’t stop to listen. The first time I just saw them from a distance. It was the night after the opening ceremonies in Boston. I felt antsy, so I took a walk and saw them in the parking lot of the hotel where we were staying. I was too far away to make out what they were saying, but you could tell by all the arm waving and hand gestures that they were royally pissed.”

  “Did you see how long the fight lasted?” Zoe asked.

  “Irina left. A cab pulled up and she got in. After that Cammy pulled out her phone, made a call, and then headed back into the hotel.”

  Combined with Stone’s suggestion that Cammy and Irina had a past, this seemed like the best lead we had so far.

  “And after that first time?” I asked. “You said you saw them together several times.”

  “I saw them again at the airport before we boarded the flight to Maui. All the teams were hanging around together, but they went off to the side and were talking softly. It was obvious based on their facial expressions and body language that they were arguing. And I saw them again the day Cammy died.”

  I narrowed my gaze. “Tell me about that.”

  “It was later in the afternoon. Everyone was back from the day’s event and most of us were either eating or relaxing by the pool. Cammy had been at the pool, but she got up to go just as Irina walked up. She leaned over and whispered something in Cammy’s ear, then they went off together. I watched as they walked down the path a bit and then exchanged words. Cammy threw her hands up in the air in a gesture that clearly conveyed displeasure, then headed down toward the beach.”

  “And Irina?” I asked.

  “Ivan came up to meet her, they talked, and then went into the restaurant.”

  “Was that the last time you saw Cammy?” I asked.

  Carrie frowned. “Yeah. I guess it was.”

  Chapter 10

  Carrie stayed to chat with us a while longer, then excused herself when she received a text. Zoe and I were discussing the likelihood of Irina being the killer when Zoe stopped talking in midsentence and stared into the distance. I turned to see what she was looking at and my jaw dropped when I saw Cracker wearing the most ridiculous hat I’d ever seen.

  It was a hard hat, the kind construction workers wore: bright yellow with a flashlight duct-taped to the very top. To one side was something that looked like a camera, and next to that was an object that may have been a small microphone. On the opposite side of the hat was a box or panel of some sort. Whatever it was, it looked high tech, and there was no way I could determine its purpose, especially from that distance.

  “Do you think that’s the surveillance equipment the woman from housekeeping was talking about?” Zoe asked.

  “Maybe. But if he’s trying to spy on someone he isn’t being very stealthy.”

  We watched him pass the pool area and continue toward the cottages and the beach.

  “I’m going to call Zak to let him know Cracker is heading his way,” Zoe said. “Just because he doesn’t look like he’s trying to be stealthy doesn’t mean it isn’t meant to serve the purpose it appears to be intended for. I’d hate for Zak and Luke to be talking about something sensitive and have Cracker accidentally overhear.”

  I watched Cracker disappear while Zoe made her call. After she hung up we decided to head back to the cottage ourselves. Using surveillance equipment to spy on our competitors wasn’t a bad idea, but I was certain we could come up with something a lot less obvious.

  In the cottage, I asked Zak to see if he could find a link between Cammy and Irina online. Once he was on that I went into the bathroom to take a quick shower and to change into a clean pair of shorts and a tank. It was nice to be back at the resort earlier, making the day feel a lot less rushed. Maybe I’d see if Luke wanted to take a walk later.

  Zak, Zoe, and Luke were all sitting around the dining table on the lanai when I went outside. They were discussing dinner options, but I could sense they were just waiting for me to talk about something a lot more important.

  “Oh good; you’re here,” Luke said as I sat down next to him.

  “What’s up?”

  “Zak found a connection between Cammy and Irina and it’s a doozy,” Luke informed me.

  I glanced at Zak.

  “It seems Cammy and Irina went to the same boarding school for gifted and talented girls when they were teenagers.”

  Okay, that seemed like it could be relevant.

  “Both were high achievers who, judging by their school records as well as several mentions in the school newspaper, started off as friends.”

  “So what happened?” I asked as I accepted the bottle of water Luke offered me.

  “Someone hacked into the school computer and accessed private records pertaining to both the staff and the students. The information was used to blackmail individuals for various items and favors,” Zak continued.

  I wrinkled my nose. “Favors?”

  “Grade changes, removal of absences, upgrades in housing. Nothing too serious but serious nonetheless. Initially, the staff couldn’t figure out who was behind the hack, and then one day, out of the blue, Irina turned Cammy in. Not only did she ID her as the person behind the hack but she offered proof in the form of a log she’d supposedly printed out from Cammy’s personal computer.”

  Yikes. No wonder Cammy hated Irina. “Do you think she really did it?”

  Zak shrugged. “I don’t know. Apparently, the system was easy to hack into, so any of the more talented computer students could have been responsible. It was probably a group rather than an individual. What I can tell you is that Cammy was expelled and blacklisted by other top-shelf private academies. She finished out high school in a public school near her family’s home.”

  Poor Cammy. Public school was most likely a waste for someone with her IQ. “How did you find all this out?”

  “I hacked into the school’s system which, even after everything that had happened, still has very weak security. I can look for more details if we decide we need them, but I don’t like to be more intrusive than necessary.”

  Carrie had said Irina and Cammy had argued on the last afternoon of Cammy’s life. Given this new information, it seemed to me that made Irina an even stronger suspect. I had no idea how I’d prove that she pushed Cammy unless there were witnesses, and I doubted there would be if they hadn’t come forward before now. I wondered what the women had argued about. I didn’t think Stone would know—he’d already denied it to Bethany— but maybe Ivan did. Of course he would have no reason to come clean to me. Maybe he was helping to cover up the whole thing.

  “The fact that Irina and Cammy had a past is only relevant to a degree,” Zoe spoke up. “Sure I can see that the argument the two had in the parking lot in Boston could have been related to what happened in high school. I can definitely see Cammy confronting Irina the first time she saw her, but the timing of the other confrontations doesn’t support the revenge-from-high-school theory. By the time Cammy died, they were well into the competition and had probably gotten used to the sight of each other. It seems more likely the argument had something to do with the competition itself.”

  “I think Zoe’s right,” Luke said. “Both teams were in the top five; it seems likely they were arguing about something that had happened during the contest, or even the grand prize money.”

 
; “I wonder what Irina whispered to Cammy,” Zoe mused.

  “I don’t suppose we’ll ever know,” I said. “Unless Cracker and his far-from-stealthy spyware were in the area and overheard.”

  “We can track him down and ask him,” Zoe suggested.

  “Luke and I will do it,” Zak countered. “We might be able to get him to talk if we approach it hacker to hacker. Why don’t you girls line up some dinner? We won’t be long.”

  After they left, Zoe and I looked at the room service menu and ordered food to be delivered in an hour. Zoe wanted to check in at home, so I played a hunch and called my friend Shredder. As a group, we’d decided not to bring the police in yet—we really didn’t have anything to give them and a law enforcement presence might alter the course of the endgame—but Shredder had once been a fed or something like it and still was connected, with the skills and intelligence that couldn’t be explained any other way. He was also able to blend in when required and stay completely off the radar. If there was something big about to go down maybe he could help.

  “Hey, Shredder, it’s Lani,” I said when he picked up the phone.

  “I was wondering where you’d gone off to. We haven’t spoken since the Kensington debacle. I thought maybe you were still ticked off at me.”

  “I am still ticked off at you, but I haven’t been avoiding you. Luke and I went to the mainland for a couple of weeks and now we’re on Maui. Listen, I’m calling because we’re in a situation I realized might benefit from your brand of help.”

  I could hear him sigh through the line. “What did you get yourself into this time, Pope?”

  “It isn’t me exactly,” I said. “I’m trying to help out a friend, but I think we may have stumbled onto something. Do you have a minute?”

  “Yeah, hang on.” Shredder put me on hold for about thirty seconds, then came back on the line. “Okay, what’s up?”

  I explained everything the best I could: that the sister of a friend had died while participating in a competition on Maui and I’d taken her place to snoop around. I told him about the strange hacks and some of the individuals involved. I also mentioned Zak and his opinion that the competition organizers were working up to something, maybe something big. I admitted I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on but that we expected things to heat up beginning tomorrow.