Page 87 of Deadly Aloha
I stayed with her, not wanting that man’s touch to be the last she felt in her life. It was the least I could do.
Eventually, I’m not sure how long, I got up. My fucking boots slipped a little in her blood as I journeyed over to the dresser. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was looking for, but I knew I was not taking her home naked. After searching through most of the drawers, I found a spare set of pink sheets. One wasn’t large enough to wrap around her, so I used one to cover her head and another her body.
I didn’t know if it was better to hold her with her back facing up or down. Wasn’t even really sure it mattered, but carrying her upside down would be awkward for me and less dignified for her. I pulled my cut off and draped it over her abdomen.
We’d lost more than a friend today.
With Nishi in my arms, I made my way to the door and carefully opened it. The expressions on their faces were schooled, even Reacher who had no connection to Nishi.
“Can your club take care of the house?” I asked him.
Reacher nodded. “I’ll see it done myself.”
“Mahalo,” I replied softly. I looked to my men. “Jones?”
“Upstairs with the twins,” Tangaloa answered.
A spark lit in my gut, but I didn’t stoke it. Not yet anyway. I had a promise to keep first. “Good. Let’s bring our sister home.”
Chapter Sixteen
Hurricane offered to put us up in his clubhouse for the night, but I declined. We had no reason to linger, and I still had to figure out how to break the news to Lu. Bacon knew, but that was it. No one from the Yonkers chapter questioned us loading a large suitcase onto the plane that we hadn’t had when we’d arrived. Reacher kept his word too, and shortly after we arrived at Teterboro, we got word that the Dalton-Jones estate had had an unfortunate gas leak and exploded.
It wasn’t until we were on the plane that I even realized we had two stragglers with us. I hadn’t let go of Nishi until we got on the plane. I hated the idea of putting her in a fucking refrigerator, but it wasn’t like I could keep her on my lap for an eleven hour flight.
Coming out of the rear of the plane where the flight attendants’ supplies and utilities were kept, I finally noticed our newest passengers. Tangaloa, who was sitting next to them, noticed me staring, said something to the teenager quietly, and then got up to meet me at the back.
“I offered for them to come with us,” he explained. His expression, while sympathetic, brooked no argument. He would die on this hill.
I didn’t have the energy to have fought him on this even if I wanted to. “Who are they?”
Tangaloa’s voice hardened as he said, “Her name is Caroline. Her daughter’s name is Samantha.”
My eyes flew to the two girls at the word ‘daughter’. That little girl was four-ish years old. And the teen? She looked fucking seventeen! I could do the math as well as anyone. But then the little girl, Samantha, turned towards me and smiled shyly as she lifted her little hand in a wave. I cocked my head as I gave a wave back to her.
I turned my head back to Tangaloa, a question in my eyes. His answered that he knew exactly what I was thinking. That little girl couldn’t be Caroline’s biologically. She had Asian features that hinted at a Japanese-Caucasian heritage. Caroline was whiter than a snowflake, as was Weatherby Dalton-Jones IV. As far as we knew, there were no other men living in that house, though it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities that he had friends of Asian descent.
“What are you thinking?”
“She calls her ‘Mommy’ and a four year old wouldn’t know to lie.” Tangaloa kept his back to them, his voice low. “I think she’s raised herasher daughter, but I don’t think they’re related.”
“Did we find the wife?” I asked.
“Caroline says she died last year, but Neo doesn’t have record of that.”
Clearly, there was something suspicious going on. “And they’re coming with us why?”
Tangaloa shifted uncomfortably. “I need to catch you up on what happened while you were…”
“Killing mywahine’s best friend?” I filled in the blank for him. I wasn’t going to look a shark in the eye and call it a puppy.
Tangaloa’s expression turned from sympathetic to dark in a heartbeat. “Don’t make me toss you out of this plane and make you walk home. You didnotmurder that poor girl.”
I wasn’t the one he needed to convince. “Lu’s not going to see it that way.”
“Yes, she will. She’ll see what you did as an act of mercy.Anyonewould have done the same in your place.”
I shrugged, not having anything to say to that.
