“They should take you seriously.”
“Problem is, I can’t get out there and dive without a boat and dive gear. Rumor has gotten out that I either abducted Alana or killed her and that I scuttled the boat to hide the evidence. No one will rent me a boat.”
Leilani let out a long, low whistle. “No kidding?”
“No kidding. Jako’s insurance company and bank got wind and threatened to cut him off if he did any business with me.”
“That sounds like more than a rumor to me,” Leilani said.
Kimo sighed. “Whatever it is, it’s keeping me from getting back in the bay to look for my camera.”
“You need a boat and diving gear?” Leilani asked.
“I do. My BCD and regulator are somewhere in Maalaea bay, as well as my camera.”
“Kimo,” Leilani said, dragging her name out, “what do I do for a living?”
“Take tourists on tours around the island,” Kimo said.
“On land and in what?”
Kimo frowned. “A boat.” She shook her head. “But you’re not set up for diving. You don’t rent all the equipment. You only take folks out to snorkel.”
“I don’t rent dive equipment, but I own some. And my boat will work as well as any Jako has for diving.”
“Aren’t you afraid your bank or insurance company will threaten to drop you if you help me?”
“Screw them,” Leilani said. “You know me. I’ve been through the fires of hell and lived to tell about it. I’m not afraid of some silly bank executive or insurance salesman.”
Hope swelled in Kimo’s chest. “Can you loan me your boat?” She cast a glance toward Rex.
His eyebrows rose on his forehead.
“Not only can I loan you a boat, but I can also drive it and dive with you.”
A frown pulled at Kimo’s brow. “I can’t ask you to go along. Those same people who attacked us the first time might come after me again.”
“Then I’ll bring my own personal bodyguard, Angel. I hear Rex was assigned to you. According to my guy, you’ll like him. He’s the strong, serious type. But I get the feeling he’s got a heart of gold beneath his stoic exterior.”
Kimo’s cheeks heated as she glanced toward Rex, hoping he couldn’t hear Leilani’s description of him. She’d nailed it. Rex was the strong, serious type. And he had given her a glimpse of the heart inside when he’d come to her defense while the detective had been ass and when Dillon had gotten in her space. But it was when he’d held her hand after that last encounter that she’d seen his softer side.
Her fingers were still warm from contact with his.
Kimo forced herself to focus on her mission, not the man sitting patiently in the driver’s seat. “Still, I’m worried about how dangerous it will be. One of my friends is missing. I’d hate to lose another.”
“I insist,” Leilani said. “And having two Brotherhood Protectors will add to the safety of your effort. We might even ask Hawk to send a couple more. We’ll each need a dive buddy and a couple of armed men on the boat to protect the area around the boat.”
Kimo really didn’t want another friend to potentially risk her life. “I don’t have many options with word spreading that I lost a dive buddy and a boat.”
Rex leaned over the console and pointed at the cell phone. “Put her on speaker.”
“Hold on.” Kimo stared into Rex’s eyes. “Rex wants in on the conversation.”
“Good,” Leilani said. “He needs to be.”
Kimo handed the cell phone over to Rex.
He put the call on speaker. “Leilani, I gather you’re proposing taking one of your tour boats?”
