Page 36 of Just My Luck

They reached the intersection where a right turn would lead to Ali’i Drive. Police officers had cordoned off the road and were waving vehicles through. When he peered that direction, he saw nothing but rain and parked vehicles that looked like they might be swept away by floodwaters.

“I couldn’t say. Unless…”

She waited, her eyes widening. Maybe he could make some trouble for Tanaka.

“Have you heard of Kendo Tanaka?”

“I have. He’s your father’s nemesis. You think it was him?”

“I think it’s worth looking into. Put your best people on it. He skirts the law, so see if you can dig up anything damaging on him. But keep a distance yourself. Hands-off only. He’s dangerous.”

The Mercedes pulled up outside the Seaside Paradise hotel. He set his hand on the door handle, ready to bolt into the rain.

“It’s also possible it’s just an Internet troll trying to make a splash. If that’s the case, I wouldn’t take the bait. Just let it go.”

“Your advice is to let it go? You’ve changed, Lincoln.”

He smiled at that. But he really needed to keep her at bay. He reached for the one argument he knew she would pay attention to. “Trolls can be trouble, and so is Tanaka. Think of your kids. Their safety comes first, right?”

“My kids?” She scoffed. “Do you even know their names?”

“Biff, Chad and Ellie-Mae.” Quickly, before she completely lost it, he added,“Of course I know their names. Miles, Logan and Delilah. Just because I think billionaire bunkers are ridiculous doesn’t mean I don’t care about my nephews and nieces.”

She gave a short laugh, then a longer one. “I think this might be the best talk we’ve had in years. Maybe we should have done it earlier.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have backstabbed me at my own company.” He held up a hand to stop whatever commentary she had about that. “The truth is, I’m almost glad you did. It’s nice to have a break. I got a Hawaiian vacation out of it.”

He climbed out of the car and was immediately drenched to the skin. As he hurried toward the door, he felt a twinge of guilt. For a moment there, he and Maureen had communicated like normal adults. But then his old walls had come up almost automatically. Maybe he hadn’t changed much after all.

He looked up at the sky and let the rain sluice across his face. There was so much water coming down that he had to laugh. Such an intense force of nature made it impossible to think about anything else. It demanded his full attention, and he loved that. He didn’t want to think about anything else right now, not Tanaka, not the missing CHUM, not Maureen, and not how badly he’d screwed things up with Zara.

He had to slosh through ankle-deep water to make it to the pergola that covered the hotel entrance. No tiki torches flickering along the walkway today.

A bell hop helped him into the lobby, where he shook water out of his hair and stomped his feet on the floor mat. The entire foyer smelled like wet grass.

The desk clerk flagged him down as he trudged across the lobby. “A message came for you, sir.”

“Really?” He checked his burner phone and realized it had run out of battery again. It must be defective. He still hadn’t turned on his actual phone, which was upstairs in his suite. Very few people knew he was even staying here, although if Maureen knew, maybe she wasn’t the only one.

The clerk slid a piece of Seaside Paradise notepaper across the counter toward him. The note read, “Call me right away. Mia missing. Zara.” Her phone number was written below that.

He raced up to his suite and activated his smartphone. He called Zara’s number; she picked up immediately.

“What happened? What do you need?” He was already changing into different clothes, although they would get just as wet in no time.

“Mia’s gone, I think she might have gone surfing, which is insane. My friends aren’t here and neither are any of their vehicles. I’m in my car right now but it won’t start. Rain must have got into the engine. Are you still in that Mercedes? That thing is like a tank.”

“No, but I’ll figure something out. Stay where you are. I’ll be right there.”

17

Zara wasn’t sure why she’d called on Jim—Lincoln. She was still furious with him. But the kids were more important, and when she’d arrived at her friend Marley’s house and found Eddie, but no sign of Mia, her internal alarm bells had rung.

Marley hadn’t noticed Mia leaving. Eddie and his buddy Zack were deep into a game on Zack’s Switch.

A flurry of phone calls later, she’d really panicked. Mia wasn’t answering. Marley wasn’t answering. None of Mia’s friends were answering. That was when it hit her—had they gotten the crazy idea to take advantage of the storm surge by hopping on their surfboards?

When the Kumquat sputtered every time she tried to start it, she’d dropped her head to the steering wheel and nearly cried.