Dangerous Minds (Knight and Moon #2)(49)

“What’s the Onizuka Center?” Riley asked.

“It’s basically a hotel for the astronomers. There are usually around seventy people there at any one time, so we should be able to blend in to the background. As the crow flies, it sits about four miles up the mountain from Pohakuloa and about seven miles from the dozen or so telescopes at the summit.”

They left the gulch and crossed the meadow that led to the guesthouse. Cows were making cow sounds in the nearby paddock, and the sound of the surf was soft and rhythmic.

It was all calming and wonderful if you could just keep your mind off the scary psycho people who wanted to kill everyone, Riley thought. And then there was the Vernon and Alani thing.

“When are you going to tell Vernon about Alani?” Riley asked Emerson.

“As soon as possible. It’s going to be an awkward conversation, so I came up with plan B.”

“What’s plan B?” Riley asked.

“Send Vernon on an errand, invite Alani over to the house, and find someone tactful to babysit them after the reunion.”

“Would this errand happen to involve Vernon getting our dinner tonight? And would the babysitter happen to be me?”

“Yes and yes.”

Emerson opened the front door to the guesthouse and held it open for Riley.

“Boy, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes,” he said. “I don’t know how you get yourself into messes like this.”

Riley shook her head. “I ask myself the same thing every day. When can I expect to be in the middle of this new mess?”

“Now.”





TWENTY-ONE




THE INTERIOR OF THE GUESTHOUSE WAS A scaled-down Hawaiian version of Mysterioso Manor. Four thousand square feet of over-the-top Bali-style furniture and assorted island-themed bric-a-brac. An eight-foot-tall tiki of a grimacing Ku, the Hawaiian god of war, greeted them in the foyer.

A pretty young woman of mixed Hawaiian and Asian ancestry was sitting in the living room reading a book. She jumped off the couch, rushed over to them, and punched Emerson in the shoulder.

“Emerson Knight, I haven’t seen you in years!”

“It’s been too long,” Emerson said.

Alani nodded. “Agreed. I have to say I was shocked to get your text asking me to meet with you.” She turned to Riley. “You must be Riley Moon. Emerson said he was traveling with you. Aloha.”

“Aloha,” Riley said.

Alani cut her eyes back to Emerson. “You’re in trouble again, aren’t you?”

“I suppose it’s a matter of perspective,” Emerson said. “I prefer to think of it as an adventure. We’re helping a friend find a stolen island, and we need help.”

Alani shook her head. “That’s what I thought. Trouble.” She paused for a moment and her expression changed. “Wait just a friggin’ second. You said ‘we’ need help. Who’s the ‘we’? Are you referring to Riley?”

The front door banged open and Vernon walked in, followed by Wayan Bagus.

“Food’s here,” Vernon said. “I got takeout from the Bamboo Restaurant.”

Spotting Alani, he stopped in his tracks, his mouth dropped open, and the food bag slipped through his fingers and crashed onto the floor.

“Surprise!” Emerson said.

“You!” Alani said, glaring at Vernon, fists clenched. “You!”

“I asked Alani to stop by,” Emerson said to Vernon. “I bet you’re surprised, right?”

Vernon had a red scald rising out of his shirt collar, staining his cheeks. “I couldn’t be any more surprised than if I woke up in the hospital with tire tracks on my back.”

Wayan Bagus stepped forward.

“This is Wayan Bagus,” Emerson said to Alani. “He’s the friend we’re helping.”

Wayan Bagus tugged at Vernon’s shirt. “Isn’t this nice, Vernon? The universe has provided you with an opportunity to heal the roots of the past.”

Vernon shushed the little monk. “Ixnay on the talk about the astpay,” he whispered to Wayan Bagus.

Alani rolled her eyes. “Good grief. What did you tell him?”

Vernon held up his hands. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

“You didn’t tell him about the Unspeakable Incident, did you? Because that wouldn’t end well.”

Riley looked at Vernon and Alani. “Okay, I have to know. What happened?”

Wayan Bagus bowed politely. “Vernon accidentally superglued himself to Alani.”

Vernon gasped and put his hand over his heart. “That was a confession. What happened to the sanctity of the confessional?”

“I know nothing of a confessional. I know only truth,” Wayan Bagus said.

“Vernon, you incredible nincompoop,” Alani said. “You’re not even Catholic, and he’s a Buddhist monk, not a priest.”

“It was dark. I thought it was lube,” Vernon said. “It was an accident. Yeesh, it only took the paramedics twelve hours to get us separated. What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is I live in a town with a population of one thousand. It made the local newspaper. Everybody called me ‘Doggie-Style Alani’ for a year.”