Handbags & Homicide Page 18

  "What is going on?" Emma demanded shrilly. She started toward us, but Mia lashed out at her. I managed to yank the taller woman back just before she could shove Emma to the ground. Em stumbled backward, arms wrapped protectively around her stomach. "My baby," she cried. A look of wild anger flashed across her face. "You could've hurt my baby."

  Shock zinged through me, and even Mia froze. We both whipped our heads around in unison, gawking at Emma as her words sunk in.

  "You're pregnant?" I gasped.

  Emma nodded, her eyes brimming with tears as she clutched her middle section.

  Will used the distraction as an opportunity to seize Mia by the arms. "I'm not going to let you hurt anyone else," he said gruffly, dragging her away from me.

  Mia screamed in protest, kicking and writhing in his grasp. "But I did it for you!" she wailed. Her foot connected with his groin, and Will's face turned red. He grunted in pain and released his grip on the struggling woman.

  Mia broke away from him and lurched toward me again. "You couldn't just leave it alone," she growled as I shrank away from her. "You had to keep snooping around, sticking your nose in everyone's business." She glowered. "I should have hit you hard enough to kill you last night on the beach."

  I rolled out of the way again as she dove for me, but Mia caught my left foot and tried to pull me back. Looking around wildly for a weapon, I spotted the blue bottle of sunscreen she'd thrown at Bryan. It lay on the deck just a few feet away, the cap open and white lotion leaking out onto the floor. I kicked Mia's arm as hard as I could with my free foot, and she let go long enough for me to inch my way toward the bottle. I grabbed it and twisted around to face her, aiming the plastic container at her face as I squeezed it for all it was worth. A stream of sunscreen hit Mia square in the eyes.

  She howled in pain and dropped back, pawing at her face. "I'm going to kill you!" she screamed, lunging blindly toward me. I moved out of the way, and she careened into the side of the boat with a loud thud. Her body went rigid, and she slumped to the floor, unmoving.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Will and I made sure that Mia was still breathing, but we were careful not to move her since we weren't sure how serious her injuries were. He volunteered to stand guard over her, and I tended to Emma as the others climbed back aboard the boat. Em was clearly distressed after Mia tried to shove her, concerned for the well-being of her unborn child.

  "Is that what you couldn't tell me?" I whispered as I gingerly helped her over to one of the benches.

  She nodded, tears streaming down her face. "It's still so early. We haven't even been to the doctor yet to confirm it." She swallowed. "I only just found out myself on Wednesday night."

  My jaw went slack as my mind began to connect several dots. "Was that your receipt for a home pregnancy test from Peachtree Drugs?"

  Her hazel eyes grew large. "How did you know about that?"

  "I retrieved Valentina's purse from Gabby's Island Adventures yesterday, and I found the receipt inside."

  Emma shook her head sadly. "I ran into the drugstore after I picked up Val on the way to the airport Wednesday night. I thought I'd tossed the receipt on the floorboard of my car, but it must have landed in her bag." She closed her eyes. "I wonder if she noticed it."

  "Emma!" Dante rushed over to his fiancée. "Are you all right?" he demanded. "What happened?"

  She smiled weakly. "I'm okay, thanks to Kaley. She stopped Mia from hurting me." She lowered her voice. "She knows about the baby."

  Dante's brows reached for his hairline. "How?"

  I shook my head. "It doesn't matter. Your secret is safe with me." I glanced over my shoulder at Will, who was crouched next to Mia's prone form, his expression stoic. "Will knows too, but I think he's got enough of his own to deal with. I doubt he'll be telling anyone."

  "What happened up here?" Dante asked, looking from Emma to me.

  Freddy appeared at his side looking equally confused. "Who pushed Bryan into the water?"

  Jamie kneeled next to Mia for a few moments, checking her pulse. "We need to get her to a doctor," she said grimly. "I'll radio for help. What happened to her?"

  Emma and I recounted the details of Mia's meltdown, and all eyes turned toward Will.

  "Did you sleep with my girl?" Bryan accused angrily. He was seated on the floor with his back resting against the bench. There was a small gash oozing blood from the center of his forehead, but it didn't look deep enough to require stitches.

  Will vehemently shook his head. "No, man. Nothing like that." His shoulders slumped. "She was blackmailing me."

  "So, you killed her?" Tom asked, his hands balling into fists. He started toward the other man, but I called out to stop him.

  "It was Mia." I looked to Will. "Wasn't it?"

  He nodded slowly, though guilt showed on his narrow face. I studied the young kicker closely. I'd never noticed it before, but with his short, sandy hair and newly muscled physique, at a glance, he really did look a lot like Bryan. No wonder Andrew Ryan had thought it was Bryan in all the photos he'd taken of Valentina. If it hadn't been for the tattoo, I wouldn't have realized it wasn't my ex, either.

  Tom and Freddy both stepped toward Will, wearing matching looks of anger. "Start talking, Bolero," Tom said angrily.

  Will sucked in a breath and forced it back out. "There was no way I was going to recover from my broken leg in time to get in shape for the season," he said quietly. "My girlfriend even dumped me because she thought my career was over." He laughed bitterly. "Jessica said she wasn't about to hitch her wagon to a fallen star. I thought she loved me, but she just wanted a piece of the fame—and my money." He sighed, and the muscles in his face strained. "I needed to heal faster, so I started juicing."

  "Steroids?" I gaped at him. The sweet, charismatic Will that I'd known back in Atlanta never would have resorted to doping.

  He hung his head. "It was only for a couple of months. I was desperate to get back in shape. The problem was that Val walked in on me shooting up. I thought I was alone in the locker room, but Val had sneaked in there looking for Bryan." He grimaced. "She snapped a photo of me on her phone and threatened to turn me in to Coach or leak it to ESPN if I didn't pay her. I thought it was a one-time deal, but she started demanding money every week."

  I remembered the excess cash in Val's wallet. She hadn't had a sugar daddy like Andrew and Bryan had thought. She'd been extorting one of Bryan's teammates for the money.

  "She texted me on Thursday night and told me to meet her on the beach when we got back to the resort," Will continued, hanging his head. "She wanted more cash for the weekend. I was fed up with her constantly squeezing me dry, and we argued. I didn't even know Mia had followed us out there until she launched herself at Val. She whacked her across the temple with a piece of driftwood. I tried to wake Val up, but she was dead."

  "Why did Mia follow you?" Javi asked. I looked over to find that he'd slipped a comforting arm around Jamie's shoulders.

  Will grimaced. "We hooked up once a few weeks ago back in Atlanta. I was still broken up over my ex, so I wasn't looking for anything serious, just a rebound—but Mia just wouldn't take the hint. She's been obsessed with me ever since." He cut a guilty look toward Bryan. "If I'd known she was crazy enough to kill someone, I never would've gone near her."

  Bryan dropped his gaze to the ground. His shoulders began to tremble. "What happened next?" he asked without looking up. His voice was thick with emotion.

  Will cleared his throat. "Mia threw the driftwood and Val's phone into the ocean and said that I had to cover for her. She said if I didn't corroborate her story then she'd turn me in and tell the police that I'd done it."

  "Why didn't you just tell Detective Ray the truth about her?" I asked.

  Will flinched. "I panicked. My whole career was at stake." The color drained from his face. "And now I'm ruined." He sighed. "Mia had already told the cops that I'd been in her room and that we'd slept together, so I went along with it." He shot a look at
Coco. "The only problem was that I ran into Coco on my way back from the beach that night."

  "That was you?" Coco gawked at him. "I thought you were Bryan." She clasped a hand to her chest. "Jeez, how drunk was I?"

  "Pretty hammered." Will ducked his head. "You kept calling me by Bryan's name, so I didn't correct you and just hoped you wouldn't realize your mistake when you sobered up."

  Coco glared at him for a few moments. Then her face softened and she turned her gaze to Bryan. "I'm sorry I accused you of lying," she said quietly. "I thought you didn't appreciate that I was trying to protect you."

  "By lying to the cops," Jamie muttered under her breath, though Coco didn't seem to hear her.

  "Don't worry about it," Bryan said gruffly. He didn't look at her. His gaze was fixed on Will, the pain of his loss written plainly on his face.

  "That's as far as it went for me," Will said, his voice pleading. "I swear. Mia's the one who locked Kaley in the sauna." He looked at me. "And she broke into your room to steal Valentina's purse so she could give me back the money Val had taken from me. She sneaked through the door that connected your rooms and then trashed the place to make it look like someone had broken in through the patio." He hung his head. "But I didn't ask her to do any of that. It was all her."

  "You did have Val's purse?" Bryan eyed me suspiciously.

  "Long story," I said, avoiding his gaze. There'd be time to explain that later. "Mia also attacked me on the beach last night," I told everyone. "She even admitted it. I think Will's telling the truth."

  "But that still makes you an accomplice," Freddy said, scowling at Will. "How could you, man?"

  Will sagged against the side of the boat. "Like I said, I panicked. I know I can't take any of it back, but I'm really sorry." He looked morosely around the rest of the group. "I'll turn myself in as soon as we get to shore."

  Jamie climbed into the captain's seat. "An ambulance is meeting us at the marina," she said, "and so are the police." She started the engine and pointed the vessel in the direction of the Aloha Lagoon Marina.

  We rode in silence most of the way back, everyone lost in their own thoughts after the dramatic turn the snorkeling trip had taken. When we were almost back to shore, I scooted closer to Emma. "How far along are you?" I asked, just loud enough so that only she could hear me over the boat motor.

  Emma shook her head. "I'm not sure." She met my gaze, her features pinched with worry. "I just hope the baby's okay. With all the stress this weekend, and finding out that one of my closest friends is a murderer…" She trailed off, as if too horrified to finish the thought. "And it's so early in the pregnancy." Her eyes welled with tears. "What if something's wrong?"

  "I'm sure he or she is going to be just fine," I said, trying to sound reassuring.

  "Thanks." She squeezed my hand. "I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble when I ruined your alibi. I couldn't tell you the truth until I knew for sure, you know?" When I nodded my understanding, she exhaled a sigh of relief. "When you left the beach, I told Detective Ray about the pregnancy. I couldn't very well lie to the police." She swallowed. "I found out Wednesday night when I took that test and it came out positive. Of course, I wasn't entirely sure, so I had to keep it to myself. I didn't even tell Dante until I went up to his room early Friday morning when we got back from the nightclub."

  I frowned. "But you were drinking all night, weren't you?"

  A ghost of a smile played at her lips. "Nope. I wanted to play it safe, so I just pretended I was drinking. First, I pulled the server aside at dinner to make sure he brought me fruit juice instead of a cocktail, and then I went straight to the bartender at the nightclub and told him to do the same thing." Her eyes twinkled. "That double shot of tequila he served me was really just water."

  "Sneaky." I grinned at her. "But smart." When I'd discovered the receipt for the pregnancy test in Valentina's purse, I'd suspected that she'd been the one pretending to be tipsy all evening. I'd never guessed that it had actually been Emma who was fooling us all along.

  "Anyway, I couldn't take it anymore, so as soon as you fell asleep that night, I sneaked up to find Dante and told him about the pregnancy test. We had the concierge call us a cab and headed to the closest convenience store. I bought three more tests, and they all came out positive."

  "That's great!" I slipped my arm around her shoulder in a half hug. "You and Dante are going to make incredible parents."

  "Don't congratulate us yet," Dante said, leaning around Emma to meet my gaze. "It's still early, and Em's been through more than her fair share of distress over the past few days. I read online that it can be bad for the baby." He frowned. "As soon as we get to shore, I want to take her to see a doctor and make sure that everything is all right."

  "Of course." I nodded. "Let me know if there's anything I can do."

  He smiled sheepishly. "To start, you can accept my apology." Dante's eyes shone with sincerity. "I shouldn't have given you a hard time yesterday. You've always had Emma's back, and today you helped protect both her and our baby."

  "And I'd do it again in a heartbeat," I said and meant it.

  "I just can't believe Mia killed Val," Emma murmured. "I've known her since college, and she's always been such a sweetheart. A little boy crazy, yes, but I didn't think she had a malicious bone in her body."

  Emphasis on the "crazy" part, I thought silently.

  * * *

  "I'd bet you money that her neck is broken," Jamie murmured twenty minutes later as we stood on solid ground again, watching a pair of EMTs push Mia on a gurney down the marina deck, toward a waiting ambulance.

  "Something's definitely broken," I remarked, shuddering as I recalled the horrible sound of her head colliding with the side of the boat.

  Just as promised, the police and an ambulance had been waiting for us when we'd arrived back at the marina. Awake but unable to move, Mia was carefully loaded onto the gurney with her neck wrapped in a protective foam collar. Her right wrist was also handcuffed to the cart, compliments of Detective Ray. As the EMTs tended to Mia, the homicide detective read her rights. He also took Will Bolero into custody. I watched sadly as the young kicker was led toward a waiting squad car, his head hung low and his hands cuffed behind his back.

  "Hey, isn't that Noa?" Javi asked, commanding my attention.

  I jerked my head in the direction he was pointing, and my heart skipped a beat. Noa was half-walking, half-running toward us down the deck. Our eyes met, and he broke into a full-on sprint.

  "What are you doing here?" I asked as he reached us. He didn't answer, instead scooping me into his arms and lifting me off the ground. Noa pressed his lips to mine in a kiss so passionate it took my breath away.

  "And hello to you too, Mr. Kahele," I heard Javi say in a joking tone, though his voice sounded far away.

  After what may have been a tad too long to be appropriate in front of onlookers (not that I minded), Noa finally pried his mouth away from mine. "Don't say anything," he said, holding up a finger to my lips. Though he was still panting from his run and the kiss, his dark eyes were wide and serious. "I'm sorry I missed your calls and texts yesterday—my phone died while I was sitting on the patio at Loco Moco, working on my web design project. Look, Kales…I don't want to fight anymore. I'm sorry if I wasn't as excited about going to Emma's wedding as you wanted me to be, but I can explain. It had nothing to do with you." He dropped his gaze to the ground, a pained expression on his face. "Kaley, I'm deathly afraid of flying."

  "You're what?" I sputtered, still a little dizzy from our kiss.

  He grimaced. "I didn't know how to tell you. I'd never even left the islands until I flew to Los Angeles for that job several years ago. I was so terrified the whole flight that when I decided to move back to Hawaii, I couldn't even bring myself to buy a plane ticket." He met my gaze, his whole face tight with embarrassment. "So, I booked a cruise from LA to Kauai. Anything that wouldn't fit in my suitcase, I had shipped back through the postal service." He shuddered. "I
t cost an arm and a leg, but it was worth it not to be strapped into one of those flying death traps again."

  I blinked at him. "That's it? Why didn't you just tell me?"

  His shoulders slumped. "I didn't want you to think I was weak," he said, his vulnerability clear in his tone. He straightened up and took my hand in his. "But I don't want to lose you over something as stupid as my phobia of flying. And I want you to know that, if you'll still have me, I'd be honored to be your date to the wedding."

  My lips twitched. "Oh, sure—you want to go now that it's here on the island," I teased.

  He opened his mouth to protest, but I stood on tiptoe and planted another kiss on his lips. "How did you know I was here?" I asked when I pulled away.

  Noa tucked his chin. "Jimmy Toki heard about the distress call from the boat on the police scanner in his office. He knew Jamie was taking the Ariel out today with some resort guests. He had a hunch that you were among the group, so he called me." His jaw clenched. "What happened out there?"

  "I'll fill you in later," I said, squeezing his hand.

  "So, this must be the infamous Noa," Emma said. I turned to find that she and Dante were standing behind us. Emma offered him her hand. "I've heard a lot about you," she said, grinning.

  "Happy to finally meet you both. Congrats on the upcoming nuptials." Noa returned her smile and then shook hands with her fiancé.

  Dante turned to Emma. "I should see if there's room for you in that ambulance," he said, gesturing to the vehicle carrying Mia.

  "Why does she need to go to the hospital?" The question came from someone standing behind us.

  I stiffened, turning slowly to face none other than Felicity Chase, annoying reporter extraordinaire. She must have seen the anger in my expression because she held up a hand to stop me from protesting her presence.