“How are the boys doing?” Lainie asked her mom.
“They hurt, and they don’t understand. Stan’s doing the best he can. He’s been trying to sort through insurance and trying to find someone to manage his business while he deals with everything. The boys are staying with us for the time being.”
Lainie was glad to hear that. “He’s not there now?”
“He had to go to work.”
“What did he tell them?”
“Whatcouldhe tell them? He explained about the shark.” Mom’s voice broke. “I’m glad you’re coming home.”
Lainie heard the pain in her mother’s voice and almost lost it.
She bit her tongue to keep from saying something she shouldn’t. Her mom and dad would be traumatized all over again when they found out what Stan had really done. How on earth could she break it to them? Certainly not over the phone.
“Right now, my plane doesn’t take off until three thirty. I’ll text you if I get an earlier flight.”
“Okay. Love you, Lainie.”
“Love you too, Mom.”
Lainie packed quickly. She hadn’t brought much and checked out. She still felt out of sorts but could sense some normalcy returning to her thinking. She called Lieutenant Lopez from the car on her way to Kona Airport and told her what she knew so far.
“The Feds contacted the chief earlier,” LT told her. “The case is going to Bobby Shea and Hugh Collins. They will conference with cops in Hawaii later today.”
“Wow, the ball is already rolling.”
“Of course it is. If we’re discussing a possible murder, the sooner we get the suspect in custody, the better. So sorry this has happened to your family, Lainie. I remember hearing your sister sing at the big beach baptism last summer. She had a beautiful voice.”
Lainie caught her breath. She remembered that as well. It was the last big Christian event she’d attended. She’d only stayed for the music, then left when the baptisms started.
She swallowed hard. “Yeah, she did.”
“No rush to come back to work, Lainie. You do what you need to do.”
Lainie thanked her as she pulled into the rental car drop-off.
Once in the terminal, Lainie read the list of planes heading to Southern California. Three flights were leaving before her scheduled flight. She asked the gate attendant if there was any possibility of getting on an earlier flight.
“Possibly, the next departure is eleven forty-five. Boarding just began.” She took Lainie’s name and information and said she would be paged after boarding was complete if there was a spot on the flight for her. On the monitor Lainie saw that three other people were ahead of her on standby. She was not optimistic, but it was what it was.
Since she hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, Lainie went to the small airport snack shop to get something to eat while she waited.
She’d eaten half of a ham-and-cheese sandwich when she heard her name being paged. Rushing out of the little shop, Lainie hurried to the gate. Lainie was happy to know that she didn’t have to hang out at the airport until three thirty.
With her one carry-on bag, Lainie was the last person to board. Hers was a middle seat, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. Lainie watched the numbers for seat 19E. When she found it, the man in the aisle seat stood, and she was face-to-face with Ben Isaacs.
“Detective Jensen, we meet again.”
“Ah, yeah.” She pulled her Kindle from her bag, found a place to shove her carry-on above her seat, then slid into her spot. After fastening her seat belt, she quickly typed out a text to her mother with her new ETA, then set her phone on airplane mode.
Isaacs took his seat and strapped in.
Because all it did was remind her that her sister had been murdered, Lainie did not relish spending five hours with the FBI agent, but she had absolutely no choice in the matter.
CHAPTER 21
Ben couldn’t believe his good fortune when Detective Jensen appeared on the plane. He’d prayed for her the night before, and after saying amen, he had not been able to get her off his mind. Her tenacity in the face of the crushing loss of her sister touched him to his core. She had not fallen apart. She was engaged and thinking like a cop. Her strength and composure attracted him. On the whole, the woman intrigued him on many levels.
