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“What did she tell you?” Leilani asks now.
“What?” Everyone’s attention swings to me.
“You said you met with her.”
“Well, yeah—”
“Just a few days ago.”
“Her lawyer reached out—”
“Right before she escaped. And sent this lawyer to the hospital.”
Wow, as traps go, this is a good one. I can already feel a wave of suspicion starting to build around me. “I’m an expert at finding missing persons. Keahi summoned me to talk about one thing and one thing only—locating you.”
“You brought her here.”
“She brought me here. Big difference. You and MacManus have hardly kept a low profile. She knew all about your relationship with him and this project. She predicted you’d be here, and look, you are.”
“Just two days after you arrived.”
I’m a little pissed off now. “Maybe because she was anxious to get to you before your eighteenth birthday, when you become this sicko’s child bride.”
“How dare you—” MacManus now.
“Oh, shut up. Big rich guy; young, beautiful ward. What did you think people were going to assume? Come on, I know it’s standard practice for über-successful businessmen to be real-world stupid, but try to break the mold.”
“You need to back off—”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lea interrupts primly. “Mac has been nothing but a kind and generous father figure to me. Though I know it’s standard practice for some people to be jealous of what they can’t have.”
“Seriously? You’re the who told me about your relationship and what would happen on your birthday—”
“I said no such thing. You did. You assumed. You accused. You look at me and see a victim. Which says more about you than it does me.”
She sounds so perfectly self-righteous, I’m flabbergasted. My mouth opens, closes, opens again. “Liar, liar, pants on fire,” I manage at last.
But it’s too late. I can feel the uncertainty in the room. In the battle of she said, she said, we’re both strangers to this group, where I’m the stranger who has admitted to consorting with a convicted serial killer, while Leilani is the sweet young orphan who’s never said boo to anyone.
I’m not a violent person, but my hands have fisted by my sides. This family, this whole fucking family.
“Now is not the time,” Vaughn interrupts curtly from his position beside Marilee. “We have a seriously injured woman, no means of reaching outside help, and at least one identifiable threat. We need a plan.”
I expect MacManus to argue more, but if anything, he relents first. “Jason?” he asks his other bodyguard, Elias.
“No sign of him yet.”
“I heard a gunshot,” I provide. “Right before heading back to camp.”
“If it was Jason,” Trudy speaks up hesitantly, “and he shot Brent, wouldn’t he be back by now?”
Another low murmur as we follow the line of thought. Unless it was Brent who shot Jason, in which case…
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Vaughn again. “They could still be chasing each other around the atoll.”
“Brent…” Marilee gasps from the table, “knows the island… well. Always goes for a walk… wanders about… when we’re here.”
Charlie and Vaughn exchange a glance. I can fill in those blanks. Meaning not only is Brent familiar with the territory, but he also could’ve stashed other supplies, additional weaponry. He probably committed the previous acts of sabotage. And it’s possible he’s also the one who hid the just-discovered body.
