Page 21 of Wrong Turn

Lei unlockedthe door and stepped inside Aunty Rosario’s little house on D street in San Rafael. She unslung her duffle bag and lowered it to the floor, gazing down the short hallway with its overhead light on. She was tired from the long drive back from Mexico. Kelly had just dropped her at the curb, then continued on to her parents’ house. “Aunty?”

Lei looked at the clock. After nine p.m. No, Aunty probably wasn’t home from the restaurant yet.

She went down the hall and into her bedroom. The familiar sight of her little twin bed, her bureau with the row of bird nests on it, her desk under the window . . . all of it gave her a feeling of comfort.

It was almost as if the tumultuous events of the last ten days had been some kind of dream—more like a nightmare, except for a few key scenes, starring an enigmatic man named Cruz. Lei couldn’t help smiling at the memory of her experience with him on the Cabo San Lucas beach.

She unzipped her duffle and pulled out the clothing stuffed inside, sorting all the dirty clothes into a pile on the floor, and the tightly rolled, clean ones to be returned to the bureau. She took out the heavy combat blade she had taken from Joao, and her Glock, secure in its plastic case.

She needed to get training with these weapons pronto; if only she could have had more time with Harry and Cruz! Where were they going next, with Kona and baby Malia? Would she ever see them again?

A key rattled in the lock, and the front door opened. “Lei? Is that you?” There was an unfamiliar note in her aunt’s voice:apprehension. Could it even be fear?

“It’s me, Aunty!” Lei called. “Come back to my room and get your souvenir present!”

Rosario’s steps hurried down the hall. A moment later, Lei was embracing her beloved aunt’s sturdy form, pressing her cheek onto her aunt’s curly head.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” Aunty said, muffled against Lei’s shoulder, her body vibrating with tension.

Lei had not apprised Rosario of any part of the crazy adventure she and Kelly had been on down in Mexico. She had sent two postcards from the resort, which probably hadn’t even reached Aunty yet, so there was no way Rosario had a clue what Lei had been through. What was worrying her aunt? Lei stepped back, holding Rosario’s shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

Rosario shook her head, smiling in a forced way. “Nothing I want to bother you with right now. Show me this present.”

Lei turned around and lifted a hat off the bed, setting it right on top of Aunty’s head. Her gift to Rosario was a well-made Panama cowboy hat, decorated with a leather band set with silver conchos inlaid with turquoise. “A little something to honor yourpanioloheritage, Aunty.”

Aunty Rosario and Lei’s father, Wayne Texeira, had grown up on the Big Island of Hawaii. Their parents had been a Hawaiian woman and a Portuguese cowboy who came to work on the big Waimea cattle ranches. The siblings had grown up in that lifestyle, and Aunty still talked about their riding and roping days on their employers’ ranch.

Aunty quickly removed the hat from her head to admire it. “Oh, Lei, I couldn’t love it more! This is such a beautiful hat, where did you find it?”

“It wasn’t easy.” Lei flopped down on the bed, and described the day at the markets that she and Kelly had spent, combing through various cheap souvenir stands for one that carried authentic cowboy hats with Mexican worked silver to enhance them. Lei was happy to be able to tell Rosario a real story about what had happened down there, since she had no intention of burdening her aunt with the murder and mayhem they’d survived.

“I love it.” Aunty clasped the hat to her chest. Lei met her gaze, and Rosario’s eyes were still worried. “I have to go around and make sure everything is locked up.”

Lei frowned. “Have there been more break-ins?”

“Yes. Whoever is raiding our neighborhood is even bolder, now.” Aunty sighed. “I didn’t want to tell you right away, but it’s so on my mind, and I want you to be prepared in case we need to defend ourselves.”

“What happened?”

“Our neighbor’s place was broken into while they were asleep in their beds! They were tied up while the thieves went through their house. The police are investigating, and they’ve put extra patrol cars in our neighborhood, but I’m afraid that our house could be next.”

Lei had counted on feeling safe when she got home! She reached into her pocket to rub the stone Cruz had given her. “What about that plan you were thinking about to get a dog?”

Rosario met Lei’s eyes. “I know you wanted for us to take time to think about it, but I actually have a dog arranged to come visit us on a trial basis. She will be delivered by the adoption service tomorrow.”

“She?”

“Yes. She is an eighteen-month-old Rottweiler. She washed out of police training because her nose is not sharp enough to pick up the scents of different kinds of substances. They wanted to use her for various kinds of location and tracking, as well as a police dog, but her sense of smell just isn’t strong enough, though in every other way, she qualified for their program.”

“A dog. Tomorrow!” Lei’s heart thumped with excitement. “I made a new friend on the trip—another Hawaii girl. Her name was Harry, and she had a dog named Kona.” It was safe to share that much; so she told her aunt about Kona and how much she’d liked him. “After getting to know Kona a little bit and seeing how fun it could be to have a dog, I’d changed my mind, Aunty, and I was going to propose that we adopt one for sure. If I qualify for the police job on the Big Island, either you can keep her with you, or I will take her with me. Thanks so much for doing all the paperwork and getting through the hoops. I’m sure there were a lot of them, to adopt a trained animal like that.”

“It wasn’t just an adoption process,” Aunty said, “there was a lottery. But I was lucky enough to win her on a trial basis.”

“What should we name her?” Lei asked.

“I think it’s a little premature for that,” Aunty said. “They warned me that she’s going to be a lot of dog to handle. They’re going to have to train us, too, on how to work with her. But I’m feeling hopeful about it. At the very least, I know I’ll sleep better at night with a big Rottweiler in the house to bark at anybody trying to get in.”

“You and me both,” Lei said.

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