Yuletide Stalker (7 page)

A
honui hadn't left any messages on his phone, so Linc hadn't called the office for the past three days. He had wondered if she was pouting because he hadn't told her where he'd be, or whether there hadn't been any need to contact him. But now that their journey was over, he was eager to find out what had happened while they were away. He taxied the plane into his private hangar, picked up his car and they headed for home.

Roselina waved to them from the front veranda when they arrived. For a moment, Maddie felt as if she was home, too. That was wishful thinking, for it had been four years since she'd actually had a home.

Since Linc intended to go to the office, he stopped the car in front of the house.

Roselina came to the car. “I've missed you,” she said. “You want anything to eat now?”

“We had a late breakfast in Kona,” Linc said. “I won't need anything to eat until dinner, but Maddie may be hungry.”

“Oh, no,” she protested. “I've been eating too much the past few days. But we had a wonderful time, Roselina. I want to do some laundry. Is it all right to use the washer and dryer in the cottage?”

“Sure. There's everything you need.”

“I'll go to the office and see what's been happening the past few days,” Linc said. “To tell the truth, I'm not eager to go back to work—I could soon get accustomed to being lazy.”

“Trouble with you, Mr. Linc, you work too much. I'm glad Miss Maddie is here to see that you have a little fun.”

Linc carried Maddie's luggage to the cottage and deposited it on the floor when she opened the door.

“I'll see you tonight,” he said, loathe to leave her for a few hours.

“Thanks, again,” Maddie said, and Linc wondered at the unreadable message in her eyes.

Roselina waited for Linc when he returned to the house, and the expression on her face was a harbinger of bad news. She handed him the morning newspaper. It was a small article but a disturbing one.

A picture of Sanale was inserted in the article.

Linc had hoped he could keep Maddie's name from being connected to this investigation, for he didn't want reporters pestering her. Who had leaked this news? He didn't believe that the police would have given out the information.

“Don't show this to Maddie yet,” he said to Roselina. “I don't know how the papers got this information, but I may learn something at the office. I'll be back by dinnertime.”

How had the press found out about Maddie's visit? The question rolled back and forth in Linc's mind during the drive into the city. If his suspicions were correct, he considered the best way to deal with the situation.

Ahonui was out to lunch when he got to the office, so Linc busied himself with messages left on his answering machine. Ahonui always screened his mail and disposed of messages that weren't of interest to him, so he didn't have as much correspondence on his desk as he'd feared he might have. He had finished with the mail when she returned.

“I've missed you. Did you have a pleasant trip? I suppose Maddie enjoyed seeing new places.”

Linc was reluctant to discuss Maddie with anyone, so he simply said, “Yes, we had a good trip.”

He indicated some envelopes he'd laid aside. “There doesn't seem to be much pending—except these two letters that need to be answered. I'll record my reply and you can take care of them tomorrow morning.”

“Aren't you coming to work tomorrow?”

He lifted his eyebrows. “Yes, I intend to, but I don't know what time I'll be here, and I want these letters in the early mail. I'm interviewing three men for the position of manager of the new restaurant that will open in two months. I wouldn't forget that.”

“Oh, I don't know. You missed an appointment two days ago.”

“One that I canceled from Kauai. How did the press learn that Maddie is visiting me?”

She had started toward her office, but she swung around. “I didn't tell them if that's what you're suggesting!”

“You
did
see the article in the paper about her?”

“Not until Steve called it to my attention.”

He believed her, but if she hadn't done it, who had? How many people knew that Maddie was visiting him? Roselina for one, but he was sure she hadn't said anything. Steve was a possibility, but what reason could he have to mention the visit? Who else even knew she was in the islands?

The church congregation! Of course. There were fifty or more people at the worship service last Sunday. He knew only a few of them, but it was
quite possible that one of them knew about Maddie's connection to the escaped felons. Whoever had spread the news could have done it innocently.

Ahonui tossed her head impatiently, and he knew she was angry.

“I'm sorry I doubted you,” Linc said sincerely. “I thought only a few people knew that Maddie was here, but I guess there are others.”

“Everyone in this office knows. And you can't go away for three days without a lot of people knowing you're gone. And before she came, you told the office staff about your little friend's visit and that you'd served in the navy with her father.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I did.”

“But for her own safety, don't you think it's time she went home?”

“It may come to that, but I'll wait a little while.”

“Just be sure you don't wait too long,” Ahonui said, and her words sounded like a warning to Linc.

As he drove home, Linc decided that he must tell Maddie about the article connecting her name with the prison escape. He put the car in the garage, got the newspaper out of the house and walked to the cottage. He heard Maddie singing above the noise of the washer and dryer. She had a clear, mellow contralto voice. He pecked on the door.

The singing stopped and Maddie came from the bedroom alcove. “Hi,” she said. “The door's open. Come in.”

“I heard you singing. You have a beautiful voice.”

She blushed prettily. “Oh, I don't know how beautiful it is, but Miss Caroline always said that we should glorify God with our voices. I like to sing. My friend, Janice Reid, and I often sang duets for worship service when we were both at VOH.”

He still stood by the door, and Maddie said, “Is there anything wrong?”

“I don't know,” he said. She eyed him uneasily.

“Sit down,” she invited, adding with a smile, “Can I serve you a glass of your own cola?”

“That would be fine. I am thirsty.”

While she rustled around filling two glasses with ice and opening a can of cola, which she divided between the two glasses, he wondered how to break the news. He thanked her for the drink and perched on a stool at the breakfast bar. He handed her the paper, with the article displayed.

“I hoped it wouldn't become widespread knowledge that you were visiting the islands.”

She read the article, choking back a frightened cry. The fear mirrored in her eyes made her look like a cornered animal.

“Maybe that's the man who's been stalking me,” she stammered. “I thought he was watching me at the national park, too, but I didn't tell you for that person turned out to be a woman rather than a man. I suppose it was my imagination that she looked like the man.”

Linc turned the page and pointed to the picture of the felon who had escaped. “Does this look like the man you've seen?”

It was heartening to Maddie that Linc didn't seem to question her word. At times
she
even wondered if she was imagining the stalker. “Maybe, but I don't know. I've just had a few fleeting looks at him, and most of the natives look alike to me. Do you think I'm in danger?”

“I hope not, but perhaps you'd better go home.”

Maddie felt as if he'd thrown a pan of cold water in her face. “Do you want me to leave?”

“Of course not, but I do want you to be safe. I feel responsible for you.”

Maddie didn't want to be considered a responsibility. Tears stung her eyes and she turned away from him, but not before he noticed her trembling lips.

“Go ahead and arrange my flight. I'll pack my clothes.” Without looking at him, she walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Feeling like a cad, Linc left the cottage and went to the house. Roselina was running the sweeper in the living room. She turned off the sweeper and rewound the cord.

“What time do you want to eat?”

“I don't know. I suggested to Maddie that it might be wise for her to go home. I'll call the airport to see when I can arrange a flight for her.”

Taking the liberty of a longtime employee, she
put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Why'd you do that?”

“With that convict running loose, I'm afraid for her to stay here.”

“If he's after her, he can find her no matter where she is. We can watch over her. She might be as safe here as anywhere.”

“Maybe you're right, but I want to do what's best for her,” Linc said hesitantly. His heart felt as if it weighed a ton, just considering Maddie's departure. He knew he was grasping at straws to keep her.

“I don't know what is best, but you'd ought to let her make the decision.” And looking at him pointedly, she said, “She's not a child, you know, although it's plain that's the way you're treating her.”

“I'll go talk to her,” he said without commenting on Roselina's insinuation. His housekeeper had the uncanny habit of reading his mind.

His eager steps took him to the cottage quickly. Maddie was taking her clothes from the dryer and hanging them on a rack. Tears were glistening on her cheeks. Since she hadn't seen him, he backed away and approached the door again, making sure he made enough noise that she would hear his approach.

The tears had been wiped from her face when she turned to face him.

“Is it all right if I come in again?” he said, and she nodded.

“Roselina bawled me out. She thinks I'm taking
this situation too seriously. She says you're the one to make the decision about whether to go home or not.”

Her face was colorless, and she said stiffly, “I don't consider that's the case. I'm here as your guest and at your expense—you certainly have the right to tell me when to leave.”

Linc didn't know whether he'd made her mad, or if he had hurt her feelings. Either way, a warning voice whispered in his head that he would have to exercise caution in smoothing out his mistake. Although he'd been out of the habit of praying for years, Linc silently petitioned,
God, give me the right words and the right attitude
.

He walked close to her, but she stood with her face downcast. He touched her chin and lifted her face. Her long lashes fluttered downward, shielding her eyes.

“Will you believe that my suggestion was made with only your good in mind? I didn't consider my own feelings.”

Her lashes lifted slowly. Her eyes searched his face, reaching into his thoughts, and Linc wondered how much she could see. “Then you don't want me to leave?”

He reached for her hands and held them tenderly. “No. But I don't want the same thing to happen to you that happened to your father.”

“Do you think there's a possibility of that?”

“I don't know. It's rumored that the Sanale family is connected with an ancient cult that believes in a life-for-life revenge. If they learned you were coming to Hawaii, they might have thought it worthwhile to break out of prison to avenge the death of their father. I don't know that this is true, but it worries me.”

“Would it have been common knowledge that I was coming?”

“I wouldn't have thought so. But Ahonui reminded me that all of the people who work for me might have known I'd invited you to visit me. That could be thirty to forty people.”

“I don't want to leave. I was looking forward to being in Hawaii for Christmas,” Maddie said, “but I shouldn't involve you in my problems. Maybe I should go someplace else. Miss Caroline asked me to check on a friend of hers living in the islands. I could probably stay with her for a few days until we decide what I should do.”

“No! If you stay, I want you where I can look after you. After all, since your father is gone, I feel as if I should take his place in protecting you.”

The words had been hard to say, and he could tell that he'd hurt her again. But he had to keep a distance between them. He wasn't sure of Maddie's feelings toward him, but the way he felt when he was close to her, she must have experienced some of the same emotions. Suddenly aware that he was still holding her hands, Linc released them quickly and stepped back.