Better Off Dead. Meryl Sawyer

doubt it. Even if the FBI proves Townsend couldn’t have accidentally fired his bang stick, there’s nothing to link his wife to the crime. She has a perfect alibi. The captain says she was on the yacht all afternoon and the two crew members confirm it.”

      Chad went over to his desk, booted up his computer and scrolled through his e-mail. Nothing interesting.

      “You might want to check on Eddie,” Ane told him. “I heard him screaming something about not renting linens.”

      Chad shook his head. Lori had really dropped the ball with this one. Devon had four days to pull this together. Not much time, considering most weddings were planned a year in advance.

      He remembered Devon saying Bite me. Even in a crisis, she had a sense of humor. He would have bitten her—not a mean bite but a playful nip—anywhere on that sexy bod.

      He tried not to think about her too often, but he had a helluva time getting one image out of his stupid gourd. Devon naked and on her back, her hair fanned across his pillow, a happy smile on her face for a change instead of her shuttered, distant expression.

      He wouldn’t force himself on her. After his talk with Keke last night, he was backing off. Let her come to him when she was ready. Hell might freeze over first, but there you go.

      “Pono!” Careful! Ane’s dark eyes flashed in her lined face. “Pele will disappear on Eddie.”

      According to ancient lore, Pele was the volcano goddess. An assortment of other lesser gods and the menehune, elves who loved to play tricks on people, were included in the island myths.

      “What are you talking about?”

      Ane smiled knowingly. “Devon. She’s Pele for the new millennium.”

      “Lolo!” Crazy.

      The island had more myths and goddamned superstitions than any place on earth. One of the most prevalent was the story of Pele’s ghost appearing along the side of the road in the form of a beautiful young woman with a dog, needing help. It was considered bad luck not to help her, but no matter what you did, she disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared.

      Ane was into island lore in a major way. She had what Hawaiians called “the eye,” a sixth sense about things. In the time she’d worked for him, Chad had been amazed at how often she had been right.

      “Why do you think Devon needs help?”

      “Watch her. Da woman’s on guard.”

      Chad had been watching—big time. Well, hell, he was just a guy. He might not have had his eyes on the right body parts.

      He couldn’t imagine how Ane had picked up on all this the first day Devon was on the job, but he knew better than to argue. From his sisters, he’d learned women are far more intuitive than men. In this case, he’d also felt something was strange about Devon.

      Chad walked across the courtyard toward the open door of Aloha Weddings. The large office wasn’t a typical cube farm. There were no cubicles at all. There was a fancy reception area off to the side where albums of wedding invitations, brochures about the boats, and photographs of floral arrangements could be inspected by clients. Since most of Eddie’s wedding business came from the Internet, this area didn’t have to be too large.

      Behind the reception area was a work station with a high speed copy machine. Several potted palms with ferns at their bases screened the work station from the reception area.

      Three desks were in the main section. A large one stood off to the side, loaded with high-tech computer equipment. From here, Eddie’s oldest son updated the Web site after his high school classes were over.

      On the opposite side of the room, the wedding coordinator’s station had a large photograph of a sunset wedding on one of Eddie’s boats. In the background, outlined against a golden sky, Diamond Head thrust out like the prow of a battleship. It was the first photo on the Web site, and no doubt had sold dozens of weddings for Eddie.

      Shelby’s smaller desk was in the center of the room. It never had anything on it except for a photograph of her tabby cat in a bamboo frame.

      In the back corner of the large room was Eddie’s desk. The louvered corner windows gave him an exceptional view of Ala Wei harbor and let in the cooling trades. Next to this area was a louvered door. It opened onto a walkway that led to two different streets, depending which way you turned.

      Chad walked through the front door. Devon quickly looked up. For an instant something flickered in her eyes. With what might have been a suggestion of a smile, she went back to her computer. He couldn’t interpret her shuttered expression.

      He noticed Devon had moved her work station. Before, the side of her station had been to the door. Now she faced the door. Why?

      Beside her desk lay a golden retriever with a mullet. There weren’t many goldens in the islands—it was too hot for dogs with so much fur. Those that lived here usually had a mullet clip: their bodies and legs were sheared, leaving their ears and tails fluffy.

      “Hey, what’s your name?” he called to the dog.

      “Zachary,” Devon said without looking up. “Zach for short.”

      Chad squatted down. “Good boy, Zach.”

      The dog didn’t need any more encouragement. He leaped up, mullet-like tail wagging and romped up to Chad. He petted the retriever and scratched his chest, a sure hit with dogs.

      “Yo brah.” Eddie’s voice boomed across the office. Brah. Pidgin for brother. Eddie spoke pidgin, the local’s language, a melding of Hawaiian, Creole and English. Eddie rarely used it in a business environment. The reversion to pidgin and the deep patches of dampness on his Hawaiian shirt told Chad that Eddie was upset big time.

      Chad left Zach and walked back to his friend’s desk. “Hie aha?” What’s happening?

      Eddie lowered his voice, “I’m in deep shit.” His voice picked up volume as he continued. “Lori had total brain fade. The wedding at your place. She didn’t order tables, flowers, half of what she should have. All the good rentals are taken. Rose petals. Forget it.”

      “Hold on. You must have loyal vendors who’ll help out—”

      “The good stuff is spoken for. This close to Sunday, they’ve been paid in full. They can’t fail to deliver now.”

      “There must be something—”

      “No. I’m finished. It’ll take years to repair my reputation. This is Inoye’s niece, for Christ’s sake. Everybody who’s anybody will be at this wedding.”

      Daniel Inoye was Hawaii’s revered senator who had lost his arm fighting in the Second World War. He was a very powerful, respected man with lots of influential friends. It would deal a blow to Eddie’s business that would be hard to recover from. Honolulu wasn’t that big when you took away the tourists. In the tight-knit community, word would spread quickly.

      Eddie stood up. “Let’s get outta here. I need something to eat. Didn’t get lunch trying to sort out this crap. Malae’s still in Maui. I’m not getting dinner tonight.”

      An idea came to Chad. “Let’s take Devon with us and sort out this mess.”

      Eddie looked skeptical. “We’ve tried, but maybe you’ll come up with something. You always were the smart one.”

      If there was one thing that ever came between them, it was Eddie’s insecurity about his lack of education. He was ill-at-ease around people who had gone to college. Since the embezzlement had been discovered, Eddie had become even more sensitive. Chad suspected his friend was taking a hit financially, but he would be insulted if Chad offered to loan him money.

      “Three heads are better than one,” Chad replied. They walked over to Devon who was still concentrating on her computer screen. “Got a minute?”

      She raised those compelling eyes from her computer screen.