Page 23 of Ethan's Command

“But?” Brooklyn asked.

“Ren. There’s something…not right with his family.”

Ethan’s spine began to tingle, a sure sign they were about to find out something useful. “Not right how?”

“He lives with his uncle and his grandfather. I’ve seen the grandfather at some of the school events. You must have seen him, Brooklyn.”

“Yes…but I didn’t notice anything special about him.”

“You wouldn’t, not at school.” Leilani tucked her long dark hair behind her ear. “At school, he comes off as a nice, doddering older gentleman but I’ve seen him around town. He comes to our country club occasionally and he’s anything but doddering there.As a matter of fact, he looks downright scary, and he always seems to have security with him.”

“So…what do you think he’s involved in? Something shady?” Ethan asked.

“I think…there’s more going on there than meets the eye,” Leilani finished. Her cell phone rang, and she pulled it out of her pocket, glancing at the screen. “I have to take this. I’m so sorry.”

Brooklyn opened her mouth to say something, but Ethan cut her off. “Okay,” He stood pulling Brooklyn up with him. “Thanks for telling us. We’ll make sure to look into it.” He went to the door, Brooklyn following in his wake.

Leilani answered the call and told the person on the phone to give her a minute. She followed them to the doorway where they put on their shoes. “If I hear or see anything I’ll call you.”

“Thanks.”

She offered Brooklyn another quick smile and then closed the door.

Brooklyn walked to the pickup truck and got in. As soon as Ethan closed his door, she turned on him. “I had more questions.”

“I know but I didn’t want you to ask them.”

“Why?” she demanded. “This is the first thing that anyone has said that might mean something.”

Ethan took a measured tone. “Yes, and the more questions you ask, the more attention Leilani will pay to it. If Ren’s family is just a bunch of wealthy businessmen, then Leilani starting or spreading rumors is not going to help Ren or us. If they’re something different, it’s worse because Leilani will be drawing attention to them, and they won’t like that. It will put her in the crosshairs. All she told us was that Ren’s grandfather acted one way at school and another outside of that setting. It means nothing. She didn’t know anything concrete, or she wouldhave told us upfront. Anything else she said would have been supposition and of no use.”

In reality, he thought there was something to all this but the last thing he wanted to do was get Brooklyn’s hopes up, especially if he was wrong. Plus, he didn’t want to screw up Ren’s life at school. He knew firsthand what happened when someone spread a rumor that wasn’t true. It could ruin lives.

Brooklyn flopped back in the seat. “So, we’re nowhere is what you’re saying.”

“We need to talk to Nakoa. We’ll look into Ren’s family, but right now, I’m not sure why whoever Ren’s family is would affect Liam.”

Brooklyn sighed. “I hadn’t thought of it like that. I guess it really doesn’t matter who they are unless we can figure out why that would lead to someone kidnapping Liam. Or at least trying to.”

“Do the boys look alike?” Ethan asked as he made a turn onto Nakoa’s street.

“No. Ren is of Japanese descent. You’ve seen Keoni. Nakoa is Hawaiian as well, but his father is of Scottish and African descent.”

“So, no mistaken identity.”

Brooklyn shook her head. “Not unless they have never seen pictures of the boys.”

“What does Keoni’s father do?”

“Rick?” Brooklyn frowned. “I think he’s a lawyer.”

“He must be a partner in a big firm by the look of the house and what’s inside,” Ethan commented.

“I don’t think so. Seems to me he works at a small boutique kind of firm. He and a couple of others, that’s it. The money I think is hers from her family.”

Ethan said nothing until he parked in front of Nakoa’s house. “You go ahead. I’ll catch up. I’m going to make a call and see if we can start finding out about Ren’s grandfather.”

Brooklyn sighed but got out of the pick-up truck. Ethan hit a number on his phone. “Yo,” Rusty said. “Everything okay?”

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