Wedding Day Dead: A Murder on Maui Mystery (3 page)

“You okay?” I asked.

“Fine,” she said.

She looked at the dog in my arms.

“So that commercial finally broke you down.”

“Yeah, what can I say?”

Alana scratched the dog behind his ears, and that little gesture seemed to make them both feel better, not that the dog was feeling bad to begin with. She stepped aside, and I walked into the house. I put the dog down, and he dashed into the back room.

“Looks like he already knows his way around,” Alana said. “Is he house trained?”

“I hope so,” I said.

“Hey there, cutie. Who are you?” I heard an unfamiliar female voice say from the other room.

“Who’s that?” I asked.

Alana didn’t say anything. She simply turned and walked toward the direction of the voice. I followed her, thoroughly confused as to what was going on.

To say I was floored when I got to the back room would be the understatement of the year. There standing side by side with Alana was her identical twin.

“Hello there,” the twin said.

“Hi,” I said.

“Poe, this is my sister, Hani,” Alana said.

“Her younger sister,” Hani said.

So they weren’t twins. But you caught the reference to “younger” sister, I’m sure. Alana certainly wasn’t old by any means, unless you consider thirty old. It didn’t take a genius to pick up the tension between the siblings.

“This is my boyfriend, Poe,” Alana said.

“Boyfriend? Why haven’t I heard anything about him?” Hani asked.

I’m sure you’re assuming my feelings would be hurt since Alana apparently hadn’t mentioned me to her sister. But they weren’t. I was too confused by the situation. Before I could comment, though, the dog ran up to Alana and put his front paws on her lower legs.

“What’s his name?” Hani asked.

“Maui. Maui the dog,” I said.

I’m not entirely sure why I said Maui. I certainly didn’t think up the name on the drive over. It just came out of my mouth and was as big a surprise to me as to you.

“Hello, Maui the dog,” Hani said.

Hani bent over to pat him, but he backed away from her. He didn’t growl or anything. He just didn’t want to be touched by her. Was he picking up something that I wasn’t?

I looked at Alana and saw a smile on her face. She noticed the dog’s slight too.

Hani stood back up and did her best to ignore the fact Maui the dog just dissed her.

“So, how did you and my sister meet?” Hani asked.

“On a murder investigation,” I said.

“Was it the one involving the artist Lauren Rogers?”

“The one and the same.”

Hani turned to Alana.

“I read about it. You certainly made everyone proud when you solved the case.”

“Actually,” Alana said, “it was Poe who solved the mystery.”

“Really?” Hani turned back to me. “So you’re showing up my sister? I’m surprised she continued to date you after that.”

“Actually I couldn’t have solved it without her. I thought we made a great team,” I said.

“A gentleman too, refusing to take all the credit,” Hani said.

“Have you been on Maui all this time, and I just haven’t seen you?” I asked.

“I grew up here with Alana, but for the last year, I’ve been living in L.A. I’m a model.”

I just nodded. I really didn’t know how to respond to that, so I kept my mouth shut. Who tells people within the first few minutes of meeting them that they’re a model? She certainly had the looks to be a model. She was downright gorgeous, but why brag about it?

“So you just came back here to visit family?” I asked after several long moments of uncomfortable silence between the three of us, four if you count the dog.

“I’m getting married next Saturday,” Hani said.

Alana looked away. I had no idea why her sister’s wedding would piss her off so much. I was sure she would tell me later.

“Congratulations,” I said.

Hani smiled at me, and I smiled back.

Maui the dog barked once. I looked down at him. He was standing by my feet and looking straight up at me. I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant by the bark, but if I had to guess, I think he was saying things were about to get weird.

III

What Are Friends For If Not to Make You Feel Uncomfortable?

T
he next morning proved to be almost as strange and unexpected as meeting Alana’s sister. The night before I put a towel down on the floor beside my bed for Maui to sleep on, but he preferred to sleep on my dirty clothes instead. He must have been waiting for me to wake up because he leaped to his feet the moment mine touched the floor. He followed me to the back door. I slid the door open. Maui barked once and then raced outside. That’s when I saw them.

“What the hell?” Foxx asked.

I looked up and saw Maui the dog standing at the edge of the pool. He barked once more at Foxx who was in the pool with a very attractive and naked young woman. It was obvious from this short distance that Maui and I caught them in the act. Foxx is a big man, just over six foot four and weighing around two hundred and forty pounds. He easily dwarfed the woman with him in the pool.

“Sorry,” I said.

“Who the hell is that?” Foxx grumbled.

“Your new roommate,” I said and walked back inside the house. I turned to the dog, who continued to watch Foxx.

“Maui, come.”

The dog turned and ran into the house. I slid the door shut and tried to erase the image of what I had just seen from my brain. I fed the dog and gave him water. He seemed content in his new home.

An hour later, Alana picked me up, and we drove toward our surfing spot. She had been giving me surfing lessons for the last few weeks. Although I still wasn’t very good, I had shown some small improvement. Unfortunately she was still in a bad mood. I wasn’t sure if I should ask questions or just wait for her to talk when she was ready.

We pulled up to the beach, and there was no one there. We pulled the surfboards off the roof and carried them down to the water. Alana walked into the water without even saying anything to me. It was definitely going to be a tense morning.

I followed Alana into the water. We both paddled to our usual spot and waited for a wave to come. The first wave approached, and I didn’t make a move because I assumed Alana would take it. She didn’t. The next wave came and then another. Neither of us moved. I wasn’t wearing a watch, but I could have sworn a good ten minutes went by with neither of us saying a word. Finally, Alana broke the silence.

“She wants us to have dinner with them tonight.”

“Hani and her fiance?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Is that’s something you want to do?”

“No, and I’ve been trying all morning to come up with a good excuse to get out of it.”

“Just say you have to work,” I suggested.

“I thought about that. But sooner or later, I’m going to have to see them both.”

“Have you met her finance before?” I asked.

“Yes, he used to live here on the island.”

“Nice guy?”

“Depends who you ask,” she said.

“Well,” I said, “I thought I was asking you.”

“Then, no, he’s not a nice guy.”

“The dinner is up to you. It doesn’t matter one way or the other to me,” I said.

“I don’t even want to go to that damn wedding, but I don’t see how I can get out of it. She wants me to be her maid of honor.”

“Makes sense. You seem the logical choice.”

“Not really. We can’t stand each other,” she said.

“Sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be. Sometimes that’s just the way it is.”

“So let’s not go to dinner. No reason for you to do something you don’t want to do.”

Alana said nothing, and it was quite obvious she was struggling to make up her mind. Finally, she spoke.

“Let’s just do it and get it over with.”

A wave rolled in, and Alana took it. Her form was graceful, as usual. Another perfect wave appeared a few seconds later, but I ignored it. I couldn’t stop wondering what it was that had her so upset. I’d never seen Alana like that before. There’s nothing like family to really piss you off.

Alana didn’t feel like surfing anymore, so she drove me back to the house. She promised to call me later in the day and give me the time for dinner. I kissed her goodbye, and she sped off. I saw Foxx’s car was still in the driveway as I walked to the house. I wondered if he and the mystery lady were still at it in the pool. I didn’t see them there, nor did I see them in the house. His bedroom door was closed though, so it wasn’t hard to imagine what they were up to.

I really didn’t have anything to do that day, so I just hung out at the pool with Maui the dog. He sat under my chair to give himself some shade. A couple of hours later, Foxx emerged from the house. His hair was a mess, and he looked exhausted. He walked over to me.

“How’s it going, buddy?” he asked.

“Fine. How are you? You look a little hung over.”

“Yeah. Probably had a few too many.”

Foxx’s nickname is Five Beers. As you can imagine, it centered on his ability to consume a large amount of alcohol in a short amount of time. It was a name he’d grown to hate, so I tended not to use it unless I really wanted to give him a hard time.

Foxx looked around the yard.

“You know, I could have sworn I saw a dog here earlier.”

Maui the dog must have known that was his cue. He barked once.

“What the hell was that?” Foxx asked.

“He’s under my chair,” I said.

Foxx kneeled and looked at the dog.

“What the hell is he?”

“He’s a morkie. His name’s Maui the dog.”

Maui appeared from under the chair. He walked up to Foxx and rolled onto his back.

“Manipulative little bastard, isn’t he?” Foxx said.

“Sorry. I should have consulted you first,” I said.

“It’s no big deal. As long as I don’t step in his shit, we’ll be good.”

“Who was the girl?” I asked.

Foxx smiled.

“Michelle. Met her at Harry’s two nights ago.”

Harry’s was a bar in Lahaina that Foxx and I had been frequenting. It had a laidback, locals’ feel to it, and it was a few blocks away from Front Street, which tends to draw the most tourists because of its heavy dose of clothing shops, art galleries, and ice cream parlors.

“Here on vacation?” I asked.

“No, she just moved here with a friend. She asked me to show her around the island.”

“And you thought the best place to start was at your house,” I said.

“Naturally. The thing is, I wasn’t even trying to get her. It just sort of happened. We spent all day and night together.”

“You have a way about you, Foxx. I’m envious.”

“You? This from the guy dating Alana,” he said.

“Speaking of Alana, did you know she had a younger sister?”

“I think I heard that, but I never met her. Why do you ask?”

I told Foxx about meeting Hani the day before and her sudden appearance to announce her mystery wedding. I asked him if he had heard anything about the tension between Alana and Hani.

“Can’t say I have, but I can ask around if you want,” Foxx said.

“No, don’t do that. I’ll find out soon enough.”

Unfortunately, I found out that night, and I wished I hadn’t.

Alana called me later that day and told me to pick her up around seven o’clock. I drove over to her house in the convertible. The weather was perfect, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Alana was waiting for me on her front porch when I pulled up. I wondered if she was anxious to see me or just ready to get the night over. She was still in a rotten mood, but she looked terrific. She wore a pair of white shorts and a loose top. Her black hair was down.

She directed me to a steak house about twenty minutes away. It was in Lahaina, like Harry’s Bar, but square in the middle of tourist land. I had driven by it before but had yet to try it out, mainly because of said tourists. I don’t consider myself a local yet, but I have no desire to be around families on vacation with screaming kids while I try to enjoy dinner. Alana and I got there a few minutes before our reservation time, so we decided to wait outside for Hani and her fiancé. They arrived just a few minutes after we did.

They pulled up in a black Lamborghini Aventador. I assumed the guy was short in multiple ways and was obviously overcompensating. I’m six foot two, so I tend to be taller than most guys. It’s my childish way of exerting some small amount of superiority. But when Hani’s fiancé got out of the car, it was obvious he was taller than me. He looked about six-four, maybe even six-five. The guy was ripped, like he’d just jumped off the cover of a men’s fitness magazine. I had been working out quite a lot since moving to the island, and I was now in pretty good shape. But I had to admit, I looked nothing like this guy. He had muscles on top of muscles. He also had movie star good looks. A young George Clooney had nothing on him.

Hani waved to us. Neither Alana nor I waved back. Hani was dressed a lot like Alana. She had on shorts and a tight tank top that showed off her figure. I had called it right earlier. The woman was gorgeous. The muscle-bound fiancé wore khaki pants and a silk shirt.

Hani walked up to Alana and hugged her. Alana hugged her back, but I could tell there was no affection in the gesture. Then the fiancé approached us.

“Hello, Alana,” he said.

He smiled at her. Alana didn’t smile back.

“Hello, Panos,” she said.

At least I now knew the guy’s name.

“Panos, this is Alana’s boyfriend, Poe,” Hani said.

Panos turned to me and offered a hand.

“Hello, Poe.”

“Hello,” I said.

We shook hands, and I was surprised he didn’t try to crush mine.

We walked into the restaurant, but not before I noticed the sign above the door, which read “the View.” Who the hell names their restaurant after that god-awful TV show? The lobby of the restaurant was walled in dark wood. White and red tropical flowers were artfully placed throughout. There was a small hostess stand in the center of the lobby with the name of the restaurant on the wall just behind it. Overall, the place had a very high-class feel.

I thought the hostess was going to break a speed record, though, when she ran from behind the stand to hug Panos. So much for classy.