Page 1 of Wrong Turn

Chapter One

Aunty Rosario narrowedher eyes at her niece and adopted daughter, twenty-one-year-old Lei Texeira. “You’ll be careful? Mexico can be dangerous.”

“Too careful, like I always am,” Lei snorted, rolling a T-shirt neatly and tucking it into her duffle bag. “Glad I have Kelly to loosen me up.”

Rosario fussed with a row of bird nests atop the bureau. Lei had been collecting them on their nature walks since her aunt had brought her, at age nine after her mother died, to the little bungalow on D Street in San Rafael, California. “I wish you girls had a boyfriend with you.”

Lei turned to face her aunt, opening her mouth to challenge her guardian’s sexist comment—but Rosario’s cheeks were pale, and her brown eyes shadowed with worry. “Oh, Aunty.” Lei dropped the shirt into the bag. “We’ll be fine.” She walked over to give the short, plump woman a hug, resting her cheek on her aunt’s silver-streaked, curly hair. “Don’t worry. I’ll call you as soon as we reach the resort at Cabo San Lucas.”

Rosario wrapped her arms around Lei’s slender body, and squeezed. “It’s the first time you’ve left me since you came.”

Lei pulled back from her aunt. “Really?”

Rosario dropped her arms. “Really.”

“Then it’s past time I got on the road. I’m probably the only person my age who’s never been anywhere without her guardian.”

“Just—be careful.”

“Don’t forget—I’ve applied to the Hawaii police academy, Aunty. I’m going to be a cop. I can take care of myself, and Kelly too.” Lei resumed packing, reaching for her sensible one-piece swimsuit. “I’m more worried about leavingyouhere. This neighborhood has been going downhill.” A series of break-ins nearby had put them on high alert. “Those robbers don’t seem to care that people are home when they break in.”

“I can’t imagine anyone would break into this house.” Rosario flapped a hand dismissively. “I know everyone on my street, and everyone knows me because of the restaurant. Momi and Deke will be checking in on me, too.” Aunty Rosario ran a popular Hawaiian food restaurant nearby. Rosario’s business partner, Momi, and her husband were like extended family. Rosario looked at Lei. “But I do have an idea I think you’ll like, for when you get back.”

“Oh yeah?” Lei shoved a pair of jeans into the duffle and zipped it up. “If it’s something to keep me from moving to the Big Island, Aunty, I’m sorry but I’ve made up my mind. I need to return to—where it all began.”

“I know, Lei-girl.” Rosario straightened the bird nests one more time, and sighed. “I understand why. With your father in jail and your mother dead of the drugs—I know why you need to go back to Hawaii and be a part of making things better there. It’s good for you to go on a little vacation, have fun like girls your age do; I worry, that’s all.” She looked up and caught Lei’s eye. “But I thought of something that could help us when you get back.”

A car horn tooted from outside the house. “That’s Kelly!” Lei exclaimed. “I have to go, Aunty.” She grabbed the duffle and headed for the door.

Rosario stopped Lei, resting her hands on the young woman’s shoulders. “Don’t you want to hear my idea?”

“Of course, Aunty.” Lei made herself hold still, stifling her impatience. “Tell me.”

“I think we should get a dog. A police dog. People can adopt animals that didn’t make it through the K-9 training program.”

Lei frowned. “I don’t know. Sounds like a lot of responsibility. Let’s talk about it in ten days.” She kissed her aunt’s forehead. “Love you, Aunty! I’ll be back before you know it.”

Lei hurried out of the bedroom, down the hall and out the front door, waving to her pretty blonde friend waiting in the red Mustang convertible parked in front of the house. “All right, Kelly. Let’s get this party started!”

Chapter Two

Three days later,Lei pressed down on the accelerator, and the bright red convertible surged forward. Hot wind tossed her curly hair. Desert streamed by, populated by saguaro cactuses and tumbleweeds. Beside her, Kelly shrieked with glee at the speed, leaping up in her seat to throw her arms in the air. “Yeehaw!”

Lei flicked a glance at her friend, smiling. “You gotta lose that Texas speak.”

“Heck no! And y’all better know it!” Kelly sat back down. “How far to the resort?”

“Another hour or so.”

“This has been the perfect road trip.”

The girls had left the Bay Area three days before, tooling down Highway One along the Big Sur coast, spending a night in Pismo Beach and another in Los Angeles. They’d crossed the border into Mexico some hours ago.

“And we’re just getting to the real fun—the margaritas and cabana boys.” Lei throttled back, pulling in behind a jacked-up pickup filled with rooster cages. A couple of pit bulls lolled their tongues out the back, panting in the heat. Lei smiled at the sight. This Mexican scene could be straight out of her old neighborhood on the Big Island of Hawaii, where she’d grown up.

Kelly pulled slim tanned legs up onto the seat, propping open the glossy Cabo San Lucas brochure on her knees. “Five days and four nights of epic partying. I’m ready for the dancing and dating.”

“Me too,” Lei said, suppressing a quiver of doubt. Kelly had begged for them to go for a real vacation during spring break, after a heavy semester at their college. Lei was working on a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice and Kelly was completing a nursing degree. An unlikely pairing, the girls had hit it off in one of their first general ed classes. Kelly, from a wealthy Texas clan that had moved to California in her senior year of high school, had latched onto prickly, loner Lei—and somehow the friendship worked.

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