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CHAPTER9
Danni had been in Hawaii for a week before she started to get fidgety.
“I thought I’d book a scuba dive. Do you have a favorite dive crew?” she asked her mother over breakfast. Mom was preoccupied—Danni could sense that—but she figured it was about her latest escrow.
Nicole shrugged. “They’re all good. It depends on where you want to meet the boat, Kona or Kawaihae.” She played with her oatmeal. Danni had the sense she wanted to say something else.
“You don’t think I should go for a dive?”
She looked up. “No, you’ll probably have fun on a dive. I’m glad you came here, and I love having you around.” Nicki pushed her bowl away as she spoke. “But you can’t hide from the world, Danni.”
“What do you mean? I’m recuperating. And considering an early retirement.”
“You’re hiding and you know it. Telling your friends not to text you any news is hiding.”
“Who have you been talking to?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Danni got up from the table and put her dishes in the sink. Her back to her mother, she said, “I don’t plan on ever returning to work. Why should I be interested in any news stories from LaRosa?”
She turned around, leaning against the sink. Nicki said nothing. Danni watched her, looking for a reaction. But her mother had a great poker face; right now it was unreadable.
“Why did you come to Hawaii? Aren’t you hiding in a way?” Danni asked.
Her mother reacted as if slapped. “My choices aren’t the issue here. Yours are. You know I’ll stand behind whatever youdecide, but any decision you make should be an informed one.”
Nicole stood and put her dishes in the sink, nudging Danni a bit to move her out of the way. She then walked into the entryway and gathered her things to leave for work.
Danni studied her mother for a moment. They’d never been close like she knew other mothers and daughters were. But they’d never been this distant either. Danni had always been a daddy’s girl, a tomboy who loved all sports, while her mother was lace, flowers, and gentle pursuits. The family unit had been balanced. Her father valued her mother’s counsel and insight, and Danni had never felt as though her mother was disappointed in her or disapproved of her choices. Everything was so out of balance with Dad gone. Why she couldn’t trust her mother’s counsel as her father had, Danni wasn’t sure. Danni did know that right now, her mother was right. She knew in her head she couldn’t hide, but her heart was slow to come around.
“What have you heard?” she asked, not all the way ready to hear, but knowing her mom wouldn’t let the subject drop.
“Mara called me. Jess Ramos has been suspended over a shooting.” Nicole stepped to the door, put her hand on the knob.
“What?”
Nicki nodded. “Call her or go online. It’s a big story. You’ve only been able to hide from it because you’re here. News reaches us more slowly because we wake up later than the rest of the country. We can miss big news events or, like you, be willfully ignorant of them.”
Chagrined and startled, Danni went and turned on her computer. “Jess is a good cop. This must be a misunderstanding.”
“I hope you’re right,” Nicole said as she opened the door and left Danni alone with the chaos in her thoughts.
She logged on to the laptop, remembering Jess, one of the first rookies she’d been assigned. He was the most squared-away rookie she’d ever met, much less trained. He’d come straight from the Army and had seen combat in Afghanistan. He was mature and conscientious. He also passed one test important to Danni: her father liked him. What could have possibly happened to lead to his suspension?
It wasn’t long before Danni found out. The more she read, the more her blood began to boil. One quote in the LaRosa Tribune stood out.
“Cooperation from the community is zero. It’s making the investigation difficult. Law enforcement simply wants the truth.”
The quote was attributed to Gabriel Fox. What did he expect from people who rioted and tried to injure police officers who were only trying to help? she wondered.
Barton Plaza had been declared an autonomous zone, whatever that was. How was Tasha dealing with these changes? She lived in Barton Plaza, and Danni had been willfully ignorant about what was going on with her friend. Danni clicked her browser closed and picked up her phone and texted Natasha.
What is going on at Barton Plaza?
An answer came right away. You ready to step back into reality?
Sure.
