Terri Reed - Double Cross

Ryan joined her on the path. “It was your fertilizer truck. I’d say that’s what we have all over us.”

Slanting him a sideways glance, her lip curled upward. “You think?”

He grinned. That same drop-dead grin that he’d used on her the first time he’d come to the flower farm five months ago to try to buy her out. Only now that smile held more charm and appeal, even coated with flecks of dirt.

He’d protected her, putting his own life in jeopardy.

Her heart did a double Dutch jump. But then a thought occurred to her. She narrowed her gaze. Had he blown up her truck? Distrust wound itself around her in a choking grip.

The squeal of sirens filled the air, distracting her. Two police cars sped up the dirt drive that ran alongside the fenced-in crop of indigenous and exotic flowers, a cloud of dust billowing in their wake.

She turned on her bare heel and walked back toward to the front yard. Tutu was already waiting to greet the officers. Two men stepped out of each car.

“The explosion came from the fertilizer truck,” Kiki yelled and pointed the way.

While three of the officers headed in the direction of the smoldering remains of the fertilizer truck, one man came straight to Tutu. Nikolao Abiko, Kiki’s kalabash-cousin, the Hawaiian term for close as a cousin but not by blood.

Tall, handsome and very much Hawaiian, Nikolao had been around Kiki her whole life. Seeing him here in an official capacity in his navy uniform with its yellow patches didn’t feel right, wasn’t normal.

But nothing about this day was normal.

She swung around to tell Ryan he should go and rammed smack into him. His warm breath fanned over her cheek.

“Hey.” She gestured with her hands. “Have you never heard of personal space?”

His dark eyes flashed with humor as he stepped back. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to intrude inside your bubble.”

She approached Tutu and Nik in the driveway with Ryan on her heels.

Surprise and recognition showed in Tutu’s eyes. “Ryan McClain, I thought that was you. By the looks of it, you’ve been here for a while.”

Ryan smiled wryly. “Yes. For a bit.”

Ryan took Tutu’s fragile hand. Even after years of sun and despite her own natural darker Hawaiian skin tone, the blue veins beneath her thinning skin could be seen.

He brought her hand to his mouth and placed a kiss on her knuckles. “How are you, Auntie Lana?”

Using the traditional title of Auntie for someone older than one’s self showed respect in the Hawaiian culture. Kiki was impressed, even though she didn’t want to be. He at least hadn’t come to the island thumbing his nose at their customs.

Kiki rolled her eyes as her grandmother’s smile widened.

“Gotta love a man with classy manners,” Tutu commented, her worried dark eyes showing appreciation.

Kiki would give him the manners, but his charm could only be calculated and didn’t fool her for a moment. No man that suave could be sincere.

Tutu made the introduction to Nik. “Ryan McClain, this is Officer Nik Abiko.”

As Ryan’s gaze turned to Nik, the charm receded, and in its place was a shrewder look that matched the one in Nik’s eyes. “Officer.” Ryan put out his hand.

The men shook hands. “McClain. I have to ask what you are doing here,” Nik said.

“Mr. McClain was just leaving,” Kiki interjected. No way did she want Ryan to explain the purpose of his visit with Tutu standing there, because he undoubtedly had come back to take another run at buying their land. And Kiki had no intention of letting her heritage go.

Nik shot Kiki a hard look. “No one leaves until we know how and why the truck blew up.”

Knowing there was no way around Ryan answering Nik’s questions, Kiki took Lana’s hand. “Let’s go back inside, Tutu, and let Nik do his job.”

Tutu squeezed her hand. “I know why Ryan is here, dear.”

Kiki sighed. Of course Tutu knew. Why else would McClain have come back other than to try to buy the farm from them?

Nik arched an eyebrow. “Care to enlighten me?”

“I represent a developer and a group of investors who would like to purchase the land from the Kaapa family,” Ryan explained, and handed Nik a business card.

“We are not selling,” Kiki stated for everyone to hear, while she stared hard at Ryan, willing him to back off. She didn’t want to upset Tutu any further; she’d had enough trauma for one day.

Nik slanted Kiki a glance full of censure as he took the card and stared at it for a moment before pocketing it. “So your visit here is purely business?”

“For the most part. I do hope to present Mrs. Kaapa with a new offer to buy her property, but I also hope to learn to bodysurf,” Ryan said, his mocha-colored eyes full of determination.

Kiki groaned inwardly. Great. The sweet-talking charmer was bent on convincing her grandmother to sell. Well, Kiki wouldn’t let him.

“Is that your rental parked over there?” Nik asked, drawing Ryan’s attention away.

Kiki glanced at the white, or rather the once-white, Mustang convertible parked beneath a tree. She hadn’t noticed it before in all the confusion.

“Yes,” Ryan confirmed.

Another officer came running up. “Hey, Nik, looks like a homemade pipe bomb.”

“Have you called the forensic team?”

“They’re on their way,” he replied, before heading back to where the other two officers were waiting.

“How long before the explosion did you arrive?” Nik asked, his voice intense.

“Just a few minutes. I’d seen Kiki walking toward the greenhouse. I’d almost caught up to her when the truck blew.”

“Did you see anyone else around?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“On the highway?”

Ryan’s eyebrows drew together in a concerned frown. “I passed a nondescript brown sedan, but I didn’t see where the car had come from or get a good look at the driver.”

Nik addressed Kiki and her grandmother. “Do either of you know why someone would want to blow up your truck?”

Kiki hated to even think the thought that ran through her head much less say it, but she had to. “I had to lay off ten workers yesterday. And at three today I told everyone else to take the rest of the afternoon off.”

Nik’s dark eyes were grim. “That might be reason enough. I’ll need a list of names and numbers of the laid-off employees. In fact, why don’t you give me a list of all the employees. Maybe someone saw something before they left.”

Kiki nodded, her gut clenching. She’d tried to make it clear to the employees she’d laid off that the decision had been purely business and not personal. She hadn’t wanted to lay anyone off, but the farm wasn’t doing as well this season.

Last week a goat had managed to get into the crop and destroy thousands of dollars worth of plants. Then the electricity in the greenhouse went on the fritz and they’d lost some very rare species of orchids.

A bright yellow Jeep screamed up the drive and halted with squealing tires and a cloud of dust.

“Uh-oh, Pa-no,” Kiki remarked, using her childhood refrain as she watched her cousin jump out of his vehicle and hustle his bulky frame toward them. When he got close enough, she subtly sniffed him. Thankfully, today he was sober.

“What happened?” Pano demanded as he stopped beside Nik.

Nik explained.

Pano’s dark eyes widened. “Good thing no one was hurt.” Taking his grandmother’s hands in his, he asked, “Tutu, are you sure you’re not hurt? I came the minute I heard. Is there anything I can do?”

Lana’s soft smile was full of love for her grandson. “No, dear. The police are doing what they can. I’m grateful you came, though.”

Pano’s gaze shifted to Ryan. “Hey, aren’t you the guy who was here last spring, wanting to buy this place?”