Missing on Maui: A Kate on Vacation Mystery (The Kate on Vacation Mysteries Book 4) Read online

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  AUTHOR’S NOTES

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  MISSING ON MAUI

  A Kate on Vacation Mystery

  by

  Kassandra Lamb

  author of the Kate Huntington Mysteries

  a misterio press publication

  Published by misterio press LLC

  Cover art by Melinda VanLone, Book Cover Corner

  E-book design by Kirsten Weiss

  Copyright © 2016 by Kassandra Lamb

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used, transmitted, stored, distributed or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the writer’s written permission, except very short excerpts for reviews. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or by any other means without the publisher’s/author’s express permission is illegal and punishable by law.

  Missing in Maui is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and events are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Some real places may be used fictitiously.

  The publisher does not have control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites and their content.

  Books by Kassandra Lamb

  The Kate Huntington Mystery Series:

  MULTIPLE MOTIVES

  ILL-TIMED ENTANGLEMENTS

  FAMILY FALLACIES

  CELEBRITY STATUS

  COLLATERAL CASUALTIES

  ZERO HERO

  FATAL FORTY-EIGHT

  SUICIDAL SUSPICIONS

  ~~~

  The Kate on Vacation Novellas:

  An Unsaintly Season in St. Augustine

  Cruel Capers on the Caribbean

  Ten-Gallon Tensions in Texas

  Missing on Maui

  ~~~

  The Marcia Banks and Buddy Mysteries:

  To Kill A Labrador

  Arsenic and Young Lacy

  (coming Fall, 2016)

  ~~~

  Echoes, A Story of Suspense

  (a stand-alone ghost story/mystery)

  CHAPTER ONE

  Kate gazed down at misty green mountains rising from crystal blue waters. Wisps of cloud, like the tattered beard of an old man, obscured the mountain peaks. As the plane began its descent, she made out palm trees and buildings along the coastline, and tiny ants that were people on the beaches of the island of Maui.

  She should have been excited but her chest felt hollow. The plan had been to wrap a Hawaiian family vacation around her niece’s wedding next weekend. Then one of her P.I. husband’s cases had gotten complicated, and now he couldn’t get away until Thursday.

  She’d been about to change the reservations, when she’d received a plaintive call from her niece. Apparently Kate’s sister-in-law was being her usual difficult self. Phyllis had managed to alienate everyone, from the hotel manager to the wedding planner and the groom’s family.

  “I know it’s a lot to ask,” Amy said, “but could you, you know, help me deal with her?”

  It was indeed a lot to ask, considering Kate’s less-than-cozy relationship with her sister-in-law.

  It’s a sad note that I’m the best ally Amy could come up with.

  So she’d left Skip to deal with his problem case and turned Billy and Edie over to her housekeeper and nanny, who’d eagerly embraced the chance to spend extra time with them. Maria Hernandez was facing her own upcoming nuptials with mixed emotions, since her marriage would mean she no longer had daily contact with the niños she’d helped raise from infancy.

  The wheels touched down on the runway with a thud, and the engines roared, striving to slow the plane.

  Kate blew out a soft sigh. And here I am, arriving in beautiful and romantic Hawaii, by myself.

  She was amazed that many of the passageways of Kahului Airport were outdoors–mere sidewalks, some not even under roof. Back home, summer was just getting started, but here it was eighty degrees and humid. She worked up a sweat as she followed the signs to the baggage claim area. Rounding a corner, she was greeted by a tropical breeze that quickly dried the perspiration from her face.

  But what about when it storms? She’d no sooner had the thought than fat drops began to fall from a perfectly sunny sky. She picked up her pace, but many of the people around her–especially those wearing the tropical shirts designating them as airport personnel–seemed oblivious to the rain, which turned out to be short-lived.

  An hour and a half later, Kate dropped her luggage in the condo’s entryway and looked around. The place was spacious for a vacation rental, and beautifully furnished with rattan and tropical prints. The clock over the stove said seven p.m., but her internal clock was on Maryland time.

  Dragging her bags into the bedroom, she calculated the difference–one a.m. And she’d been traveling for sixteen hours. One minute she was admiring the brightly colored hibiscus flowers on the king-sized bedspread, and the next she was face down on it. Her last thought was that she should get undressed.

  .

  She woke with a start, and a crick in her neck. The alarm clock on the bedside table read four-thirty. She’d slept a full night’s sleep, but it wasn’t much past the middle of the night here.

  Her stomach rumbled. Where was she going to find a grocery store open at this hour?

  After a quick shower, she decided to take a walk on the beach and watch the sunrise while waiting for the rest of the world to wake up.

  A row of palm trees and tropical underbrush–with foliage Kate recognized from houseplants in Maryland–greeted her at the edge of the beach. She was about to step out onto the sand when she noticed a young man loading a canoe off to her right.

  The predawn light made his movements seem furtive. He hefted a large gray sack and slid it into the boat.

  Kate’s fertile imagination wondered if there was a body in that sack.

  Stop that!

  She’d had more than her share of adventures with corpses and wouldn’t mind if she never encountered one again, thank you very much!

  The young man, a blond wearing a tropical shirt and swim trunks, leaned down to shove the canoe into the froth at the edge of the ocean. Then he climbed in and lifted a paddle to steer the boat further out into the surf. Once clear of the breaking waves, he let the boat drift. It shifted around, and Kate could now see that it was an outrigger–from one side, a float extended on two curved supports to keep the vessel more stable. The increasing daylight revealed a mast. A white sail unfurled in the early morning breeze.

  Ah, that’s what was in the sack–the sail.

  The man looked back to shore, his head turning slowly as if scanning the beach. Kate instinctively moved back into the shadow of the palm trees, then wondered why she’d done that. She was considering stepping out into the open and waving, when the man turned his head toward the open sea and pulled in the sail to make it taut. The boat skimmed off across t
he water.

  Kate soon forgot the young man as she walked along the deserted beach. Beams of sunlight streamed across the water, sparkling like bracelets on a young girl’s arm. But the puffy white clouds in the sky were only slightly tinged with pink. Disappointed in the poor showing the sunrise was making, Kate turned her head toward land.

  There, above the mountain, the sky was streaked in pale yellow and pink.

  Duh, this is the western side of the island. The sun would set over the ocean this evening.

  Kate yawned, unsure if her jet-lagged body would be able to stay awake until sunset.

  She strolled on the beach, one eye on the rolling surf and one on her footing. The sand was deep, making it hard to walk. Ahead of her, the shoreline curved outward a bit into the sea, giving her a view of sand and water juxtaposed against red and black lava cliffs. She sucked in air at the beauty of the sight. The green hillside sloped upward to the top of the dormant volcano that had formed this section of the island of Maui.

  Kate set a goal of rounding that point. Then she would rest. She slogged forward through the thick sand. The sun was now peeking above the top of the mountain, and the sea sparkled in various shades of blue, from turquoise to indigo and everything in between.

  By the time she reached the point, her legs were wobbly from the strain of walking in the deep sand. She gingerly lowered herself to sit on the beach. Leaning back on her elbows, she raised her face to the morning light.

  She hadn’t realized she’d drifted off until one elbow gave out, dumping her sideways into the sand.

  The sound of a throat clearing. She startled and jerked her head up.

  A massive shadow blocked the sun.

  CHAPTER TWO

  A large male figure was silhouetted above her, muscular arms crossed over an equally muscular chest, which was skimpily clad in a black tank top. The man’s feet were spread slightly apart, planted in the sand, his legs like brown tree trunks extending from baggy, knee-length shorts.

  He cleared his throat again. “Uh, are you Kate Huntington, uh, Can-something?”

  “Canfield.” She smiled up at the young man, who was now shuffling his feet in the sand.

  “I’m Luke.” He extended a hand. “Amy’s fiancé.” His voice had gained some confidence, now that he knew he wasn’t accosting a strange woman on the beach.

  She raised up on one elbow to take his hand, assuming he intended to shake. Instead he effortlessly hauled her to her feet.

  When she got a better look at him, she realized that Luke wasn’t a well-tanned Caucasian as she’d assumed. His facial features were native Hawaiian, with perhaps some Asian blood thrown into the mix.

  She brushed the sand from her white shorts and tan tee shirt.

  Luke gestured toward a line of palm trees. “Amy and the others are over there.”

  How long had she drifted in a semi-sleep on the beach? She brushed sand from one arm and felt the sting of sunburn. Too long, apparently.

  A faint “Aunt Kate” drifted on the morning breeze.

  Kate squinted, holding one hand up to shield her eyes. A break in the line of foliage revealed a large patio, dotted with tables and chairs, beside a high-rise hotel. One of the larger tables was populated by a group of people. The only two she recognized were her sister-in-law, sitting at one end, and the young woman standing at mid-table, madly waving her arms back and forth as if she were bringing in a Boeing 747. “Over here, Aunt Kate.”

  Kate’s brother, Michael, like most of the O’Donnell clan, was a blue-eyed blond, but Amy shared with her aunt the Black Irish combination of dark hair and blue eyes. As they got closer, Kate saw that Amy’s hair was now streaked with lighter shades of brown, and a touch of auburn. Either she’d been to an expensive hairdresser or she’d been out in the sun a good bit. Knowing her unpretentious niece, Kate was betting on the Hawaiian sun. There was no doubt about the cause of the sparkle in Amy’s eyes.

  “Aloha, Aunt Kate!” The young woman greeted her with a hug, but her warm gaze rested on Luke the whole time.

  Greetings and introductions were exchanged all around, including a hearty aloha from Luke’s best man, David Pelenalako, the only other obvious native Hawaiian in the crowd. David had the same sturdy build as Luke.

  The other groomsman, Matt–she didn’t catch his last name–was a lean young man with sandy hair, freckles across his nose and a big friendly smile. A tall, willowy blonde clung to his tanned arm. She was introduced as Tiffany.

  Of course, Kate thought.

  Molly Baker, the maid of honor, nodded shyly. Then she ducked her head, letting her straight, blonde hair fall in curtains on either side of her heart-shaped face.

  Kate caught the remnants of her sister-in-law’s frown before it morphed into a fake smile. Phyllis rose from her chair to give Kate an obligatory hug. “I thought Skip was tied up at work, and you all weren’t coming until later.”

  Amy gave her aunt a silent, pleading look. Kate smiled at her, then turned the smile toward Phyllis. “I came ahead by myself. Figured there was no point in both of us missing out on our full vacation.”

  An empty chair was located, and Amy and Molly scooted apart to make room between them. Kate sat down.

  “Have you had breakfast?” Amy asked. At Kate’s head shake, she nudged a platter of fresh fruit in her direction. Molly handed her a clean fork.

  Kate’s stomach rumbled in anticipation. “Where am I exactly?” she asked as she selected slices of juicy pineapple and a wedge of papaya.

  “Uh, Hawaii,” Amy answered with a grin, pronouncing the w as a v as the locals did.

  Kate shook her head and gave her niece an indulgent smile. “No, I mean I lost track of how far I walked.”

  “This is Ka’anapali Beach,” David answered.

  Kate vaguely remembered passing signs for that beach while driving to the condo the previous evening. “I walked a long way then.”

  David nodded. A cell phone chirped, making everyone reach for purses or pockets.

  “Aloha,” Amy said into her phone.

  Kate hid a smile. Amy, Phyllis and Molly had only been on the island for a week, but her niece was obviously getting into the Hawaiian spirit of things.

  “No!” The girl’s face had paled.

  “What’s wrong?” Phyllis said, her voice alarmed.

  Amy’s gaze darted toward her mother but she was silent, listening. “Please, don’t do that!”

  “Is it your father?” Phyllis’s voice rose. She reached for the phone.

  Amy batted her mother’s hand away. Her eyes were pools of tears. “Okay,” she said, barely above a whisper. “I understand.”

  She disconnected, then glared at her mother. “That was the wedding planner. She just quit!”

  Amy jumped from her chair and bolted across the patio, dodging in between the mostly empty tables. She entered the recesses of the hotel, Molly hard on her heels.

  The others sat in stunned silence.

  “Well, I never…,” Phyllis muttered.

  Kate wasn’t real sure what Phyllis meant by that, but she figured she should somehow come to the rescue here.

  She nudged her chair back and rose. “Well, I guess I should get back to my condo and get my day rolling.”

  David Pelenalako rose as well. “I’ll drive you, ma’am.”

  Kate was about to decline the offer, since she had no intentions of actually going to her condo just yet. But then she thought better of it. She gave the best man a warm smile. “Thank you.”

  They walked across the restaurant patio and into the hotel, then Kate stopped. “Thanks for the offer of a ride, but I think I’ll check on Amy first. Do you happen to know her room number?”

  David tilted his head to one side. “201. Uh, is there anything I can do to help?”

  “No. I’m afraid this is a family matter.”

  David shook his head. “Then it’s my matter too. You’re ’ohana now.”

  Kate looked at him in confusion. “Oh-who-wha
t?”

  “’Ohana. Family.”

  She raised her eyebrows at the young man.

  “Luke and I are best friends, so he’s ’ohana, and Amy is about to marry him, so she is definitley ’ohana. And you’re her aunt, so you’re ’ohana too. Her whole family is now Luke’s family, and therefore also my family.” White teeth flashed in his tan face.

  Hmm, you may want to think twice about adopting my sister-in-law. She didn’t share that thought out loud, however.

  She returned his smile. “Thanks, David, but this is more a girl thing. I’ll let you know if there turns out to be anything you can help with.”

  He gave a slight nod of his head, then held up a hand, the thumb and little finger extended, the other fingers bent down against his palm. He waggled the hand in the Hawaiian shaka gesture and flashed a grin, before turning away.

  A frowning Molly answered Kate’s knock on the door of Room 201. “Come in.”

  Amy, her eyes red-rimmed, was stretched out on her stomach on the bed closest to the door.

  A quick internal debate–comfort or action? Kate wasn’t sure she wanted Amy spilling her feelings about her mother. The situation was already awkward enough. Besides, Molly had probably already provided the comfort.

  Okay, action then.

  Kate clapped her hands. “Who’s got a computer handy? We need a list of wedding planners on Maui. I’ll bet we can find a replacement.”

  Molly’s eyes lit up. She raced for the small laptop lying on the desk to one side of the room.

  “Amy, get ready to wear out your dialing finger,” Kate said.

  Soon they had a list of a dozen planners for each one of them. Apparently destination weddings were a big industry on Maui.

  “First one who finds our replacement planner, I’ll treat you to a manicure and pedicure.” Kate knew her niece well. Amy had a sweet nature–inherited from her father–but she also had a competitive streak.

  Kate hit pay dirt on her fifth call. The proprietor of Let’s Get Maui’d was willing to take over the arrangements made by someone else, and she believed she could pull everything together within a week. Dropping her voice, Kate warned her about Phyllis.