Barely escaping a direct strike from the vehicle, Lainie avoided the front fender only to be struck by the back end as the jeep swerved and fishtailed back toward the road.
Her hip took the brunt of the impact, and Lainie was sent sprawling into the dirt. Her right hand broke her fall, lessening the impact on her shoulder but not preventing her landing in the lot of sharp lava rocks and gritty dust.
Pain blossomed across her right side, and she tasted blood in her mouth when her chin hit the ground.
That driver just tried to kill me.
CHAPTER 14
Ben had seen Elaine leave the beach. He’d waited to make his exit until after she was out of sight. He didn’t want to run into her in the parking lot. When he made his way off the beach, he could hear shouting in the distance. What was that all about? Paying attention as he walked toward the lot, he saw a cloud of dirt and then a Jeep zigzagging through the dirt lot that bordered the roadway, heading away from the beach. The Jeep hit the pavement and burned rubber out of the lot. In its wake, three or four people ran toward the big cloud of dust the Jeep had kicked up.
He kept an eye on the dust cloud, wondering what caused it, as he climbed into his rental. He pulled out of the lot and headed in the direction of the commotion. A Waikoloa security vehicle crossed in front of him and pulled up to the group. Slowly Ben cruised by as the crowd of people helped someone off the ground. He slammed on his brakes when he recognized the victim.
Elaine Jensen.
He fought the urge to hop out of his car and run over to find out what happened. The security officer got out of his car and took over. A few people from the group who had helped Jensen up turned away from her and walked toward him. The security officer handed Elaine a towel and began talking to her. Ben rolled down his window.
“Hey, what happened over there?” he asked the group.
One of the kids walked over to his car. “It was crazy. Some lady in a Jeep tried to run Auntie over.”
“You’re kidding.” Ben knew that locals often referred to older people as Auntie and Uncle, even when there was no relation. It seemed a sign of respect for age.
“No, we saw it all.” The boy pointed. “Almost ran her right over.”
“It wasn’t an accident?”
He gave a head shake. “She drove right at her. Then she just took off that way. Crazy tourist.”
“It was a tourist?”
“Yeah, a white Jeep. Common rental car, you know?”
Ben nodded toward Elaine. “That lady okay?”
“A little bloody but yeah, she’s okay.”
“Thanks.” Ben let the kids go and continued on his way slowly. He watched Jensen as surreptitiously as he could. She was talking and holding the towel to her lip. He drove past, and when he reached the stop sign to the main road, a police car passed him traveling the other way. Myriad thoughts swirled in his mind.
Drunk driver?
Inattention?
Foul play?
When that last thought popped into his head, it was hard not to think of Crystal Benton. Why his mind went there immediately, he wasn’t certain. But something wasn’t right. If someone had accidentally run into Jensen, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that a tourist would stop for the police, but that vehicle peeled out of the lot. Although it was a little early for a drunk driver, that could also be an explanation.
What kind of vehicle had Crystal Benton rented? But then, what reason would she have to run Jensen over?
A honk behind him made Ben realize that he’d been sitting at thestop sign for a while. He waved an “I’m sorry” hand and pushed the accelerator, turned left, and headed back to the hotel.
There was too much weird here, that was for sure.
“Are you okay?” Dad grabbed Lainie’s shoulders and peered at her face when she returned to the room.
“Yeah, Dad, I am. It’s just a couple of scrapes.” She told him what had happened, leaving out the thought that it had all been intentional. That had sounded crazy to the security guard, and it now sounded crazy to her.
Who would want to kill her in Hawaii, where she knew no one? She certainly hadn’t arrested anyone here.
