Maui Madness (Zoe Donovan Mysteries Book 7) (3 page)

For those of you who m
ight have missed the Ellie-and-Rob saga, Rob is Ellie’s ex-fiancé and Hannah is his daughter. Rob had been raising his daughter on his own until Ellie came along and fell in love with the toddler. When Rob’s father passed away, Rob went back to his hometown for the funeral and ran into Hannah’s mother. When Hannah had been born, Cassie hadn’t wanted to take on the responsibility of a child, so she’d left the infant with Rob, but in the past two years she’d had time to think about her choices, and the two decided to reunite. Rob had called Ellie and broken off their engagement over the phone.

“Rob is in town,” Jeremy informed me. “I guess he’s planning to pack up and be gone by the time you guys get back.
I noticed he’s put his house up for sale.”

“I think that’s for the best. Is Hannah with him?”

“Yes,” Jeremy answered. “And Cassie is with him as well.”

“I’m glad Ellie isn’t there. It would be so hard for her to see Hannah with Cassie. Hopefully
, by the time we get home, Ellie will be in a mental space where she can put this behind her and get on with her life.”

“And Levi?” Tiffany asked.

Levi had suffered his own personal trauma when his ex had been murdered in May.

“He seems to be doing okay. I think he still feels bad that he wasn’t able to help Barbie
, but if I had to guess, I’d say he’s decided to deal with his feelings and enjoy the trip. Keoke not only let us borrow the house but the boat, jet skis, and a storage shed full of surfboards and kayaks as well.”

“And Zak?” Tiffany wondered.

Zak’s dog Lambda had died after a lifetime of medical challenges resulting from being attacked by a bear when he was young.

“He’s okay. He misses Lambda
, of course. The fall shortened his time with us, but we all knew Lambda had been going downhill for some time. Charlie has been really great. He seems to know that Zak needs a little extra TLC and jumps into his lap every time he sees him.”

“How about you?” Jeremy teased. “Have you been spending time in his lap as well?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?
” I grinned into the camera. “It’s early yet, but I thought I might talk to Zak about another dog when we get back home. I hate to think of him alone in that huge house.”

“You do realize that if you, Charlie
, and the cats move in with Zak, he won’t be alone in his big house,” Tiffany said.

“
So back to the dead squirrels and the nuisance dog,” I changed the subject. It wasn’t that I never wanted to take things to the next level with Zak; it was more that I wasn’t ready to make such a permanent decision quite yet. I’d known Zak since the seventh grade, but we’d been dating for less than a year. “Any updates?”

“According to the forest service
, they don’t know why squirrels are turning up dead. They don’t seem to have any identifiable diseases, but three more were found yesterday. They’ve sent the carcasses out for additional testing. In the meantime, we posted signs warning residents and visitors to stay away from them and to call us if they find additional victims.”

“And the dog?”

Jeremy hesitated. He looked at Tiffany and she shrugged. Jeremy looked back toward the camera as if trying to make a decision.

“The dog?” I asked again.

“He’s dead,” Jeremy said. “I found him this morning when I went to retrieve the dead squirrels. We think that with the addition of the dog, poison may be causing the squirrel deaths rather than disease. An autopsy on the dog might provide additional information.”

I never wanted to hear that a dog had suffered a premature death even if the dog in question was a stray that was terrorizing campers. But poisoning
? That was bad news all around.

“You need to let everyone know that a poisoning danger may exist,” I insisted.
”Not just those staying in the campground but all pet owners in the area.”

“Tiffany and I wanted to print up fl
yers and run an ad in the paper, but the county wants to wait until we get the test results back,” Jeremy informed me. “They feel that advertising the fact that we’ve had a rash of dead squirrels that may have contracted some sort of disease is bad enough, but if we alert the public to a threat of potential poisoning for any dog that happens along, it will cause a panic.”

“You can’t wait,” I insisted. “Better to cause a panic and then have to recant if we were premature than to have another victim. Make up the fl
yers. If the county has a problem with them, tell them to call me. I have my cell.”

“Okay,” Jeremy agreed.

“Maybe I’ll call Salinger and fill him in. It’s starting to sound like more is going on than we first believed. If someone is intentionally poisoning animals, the sheriff will want to know.”

“I can call Salinger,” Jeremy
said. “You’re supposed to be on vacation, not dealing with all of this.”

“If someone is leaving poison out for animals to find
, I want to be involved with bringing him or her down. Don’t worry; I still plan to enjoy the trip. We’re all going to go to an authentic luau tomorrow. It’s a private party being thrown by Keoke’s grandparents. Keoke’s cousin just got engaged to some guy, so they’re throwing a party to celebrate.”

“Keoke is the man who owns the house
you’re staying in?” Jeremy clarified.

“Yeah. He lives on Oahu but spends a lot of tim
e on Maui. I’m really excited. Zak said there are going to be hula dancers and fire twirlers. They’re roasting a pig and everything.”

“Ew
.” Tiffany grimaced. “A whole pig?”

“Yeah,
ew
was my first reaction as well, but I decided that while I’m on the island, I’m going to embrace the culture. I mean, it can’t be any worse than the black goop I ate last night. And since I’ve already gotten past that first awkward moment when you truly humiliate yourself, I might even try my hand—or perhaps I should say my hips—at the hula.”

“Be sure to have someone film it
’cause this I have to see.” Jeremy laughed. “It might even get more hits than your musical-chairs video.”

“Very funny,” I shot back.

“Are you going to wear a grass skirt?” Tiffany asked.

“I have a
Hawaiian print skirt and a matching halter top that should do the trick. Zak and Levi bought Hawaiian shirts to go with shorts they brought from home.”

“And Ellie?” Tiffany asked.

“Ellie keeps saying she might just stay home with Charlie, but I’m going to try to convince her to go. If she does, I have a colorful skirt that would look nice on her. I hate to have her miss all the fun, but I know how it is when you just want to sit quietly and heal. I’ve decided I’m going to encourage and support but not push.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Tiffany agreed.

“Oh, before I forget to ask you,” Jeremy added, “the Bryton Lake shelter wants us to take seven of their short-timers. We have room, but the problem is that their facility has recently experienced a pretty severe case of kennel cough. The quarantine has been lifted, but
just
lifted, so I thought I should run it by you first. I know how contagious that is, and I wouldn’t want any of our dogs to get sick.”

“Tell them we’ll take them
, but have Scott look at them right away. If he feels that any of the dogs have symptoms, isolate them. In fact, it might be a good idea to keep all the new dogs together and away from the others. You can use the large animal yard to exercise them since we don’t currently have any large cats in residence. I’d wait to adopt them out until we’ve had them for a few days and can be sure they are unaffected.”

“Okay
. I’ll call Scott and set it up.”

“It sounds like Ellie is back
, so I guess I’ll sign off, but call me if you find out anything more about the dead dog and squirrels. I’ll call Salinger as soon as I’m finished here. And don’t let the county bully you about the flyers warning people of a possible danger from poisoning. If they have a problem with our proactive approach, they can call me.”

“Don’t worry. We can handle it,” Jeremy assured me. “You just have fun and enjoy your time off. It’ll be over before you know it and you’ll wish you could have relaxed while you had the chance.”

“Yeah, you’re right, and I trust both of you to handle whatever comes up. You know me, though; I like to be in the middle of things. It never has been easy for me to sit on the sidelines.”

“This is a good chance for you to work on that,” Tiffany encouraged. “Give Ellie a hug for me and say hi to Zak and Levi. Hopefully
, they won’t bring home a bunch of fish that need cleaning. It’d be a shame to stink up that beautiful kitchen.”

“If they have fish
, they can stay in the outdoor kitchen until it’s time to eat them,” I assured her. “Oh, and can one of you call my dad and mom and tell them to keep their dogs away from the campground? I’ll be unavailable all day tomorrow, but I’ll talk to you both the day after that.”

“
That’ll be Sunday, so we’ll be closed,” Jeremy reminded me. “I think Tank is on for the overnight shift and Gunnar is going to check in on things during the day.”

Tiffany elbowed Jeremy. “I’ll come in.
Call me at around nine our time and I’ll be here to give you an update.”

I smiled. “Thanks
. I’ll owe you.”

After I hung up with Jeremy and Tiffany, I went in search of Ellie, who I was sure I’d heard come in through the front door. I found her on the patio, talking to a young girl who looked to be native Hawaiian. She had a petite frame, a dark complexion, and straight black hair that hung past her waist. She was dressed in cutoff shorts and a bright orange tank top and looked to be no older than sixteen.

“Zoe
, this is Malie,” Ellie introduced us. “I ran into her while on my walk and we got to talking.”

“I’m glad to meet you,” I
said.

“
Malie works for an organization that monitors and preserves the sea turtles and other wildlife in the area. I happened to see a turtle on the beach while I was walking and went to take a closer look. Malie was working in the area and stopped to talk. I mentioned that you owned your own foundation that rescues and rehabilitates animals native to the area where we live, and we realized that the two of you would have a lot in common, so I invited her to lunch.”

“I’d love to talk
with you about the work you do.” I smiled at the exotic young woman, who must be older than I’d first assumed. “I was just about to look for something to make for lunch, so the timing is perfect. We stopped at Costco yesterday, so we’re well stocked. What would you like?”

“I enjoy all types of food,”
Malie said.

“My stomach is a bi
t topsy-turvy,” Ellie admitted. “I guess I didn’t sleep all that well last night. Probably jet lag. I’m hungry, though. Maybe a seafood salad?”

“Sounds perfect.”

Ellie and Malie continued to talk as I headed into the kitchen to assemble the salad. We’d stopped at a local farmers market, so not only did we have both shrimp and crab, we had giant avocados, fresh tomatoes, leafy lettuce, and locally made dressing as well. It warmed my heart to see Ellie smiling. I’m not sure what Malie said to her, but the light, which I feared might be permanently extinguished, was back in my best friend’s eyes. We’d purchased a freshly baked baguette at the market that we’d never served, so I sliced it up and arranged it artfully on a plate with locally made cheese. I poured tea into a tall pitcher with ice and then brought everything out to the table on the patio, where we could dine with an unobstructed ocean view.

“
Malie’s work is so interesting.” Ellie grinned. “She gets to work outdoors in this beautiful setting every day.”

“Have you lived on the island your entire life?” I asked.

“Born and raised. As was my father and grandfather and his father before him.”

“I love my mountain
, but it really is beautiful here,” I admitted. “So what exactly does your organization do?”

“
Hawaii is home to a number of environmentally sensitive species, including humpback whales, monk seals, sea turtles, and dolphins. Our group participates in the health of our ecological system by educating people, monitoring endangered species, and organizing coastal cleanup projects, among other things. Most of our members are volunteers, and my job is to recruit and organize the volunteers for our area.”

“
Malie is having a small group meeting tomorrow. She invited me to attend,” Ellie informed me. “I was hoping we could have the meeting here so I could keep Charlie company while you and the guys are at the luau.”

“It’s a small
group of people, all residents and all very responsible,” Malie assured me. “There will be between six and eight of us at the most. We’d planned to have the meeting at my apartment, but the view from this patio is much more inspiring.”

“I don’t see why that would be a problem,” I answered. “I’d love to attend myself
, but I promised Keoke I’d attend the luau, and he’s been so great to us.”