Page 44 of Wired Target

The younger man had finished his check and reached Lei.“Your weapons, please.”

Lei held back one panel of her lightweight cotton jacket to show her badge.“I’m a Maui Police Department detective.I don’t give up my weapons to anyone.”

The young man eyed her, then reached for a radio at his belt.“Ms.Smithson?The detective ...”

“Sergeant Texeira,” Lei growled.

“Sergeant Texeira refuses to surrender her weapons.Shall I deny admittance?”

One of Sophie’s exotic curses in Thai filled the air.“Let her in, Clement!She’s a friend as well as a police officer!”

“Roger that.”Clement remained expressionless as he gestured to Lei.“You may keep your protection.”

Lei ground her teeth in annoyance and stomped up onto the covered verandah.

The house, painted a warm ochre with white trim and those weathered pinkish-red roof tiles, managed to look both substantial and welcoming.The tiles on the porch were a deep cobalt blue, a nice contrast.

Lei didn’t want to like the place—she was too mad at Sophie.

Sophie opened one side of a pair of large teak front doors.Her dogs, rambunctious yellow lab Ginger and dignified Doberman Anubis, boiled out past Sophie to sniff Lei and Jones as he came up behind her.

The two rascals remembered Lei better than Jones; Ginger hopped up and down on Lei’s sneakers, lashing her with a thick tail that shed dog hair all over Lei’s black jeans.Lei barely held onto her temper despite Ginger’s friendly antics as Sophie approached.She kept her gaze on Sophie’s face, noting dark circles under her eyes and the ashy cast of her skin.

“Why did you disappear and leave me holding the bag at the crime scene?”she snapped.

Sophie dropped her gaze.“I’m sorry, Lei.I had to get home and make sure the kids were safe.It was never my intention ...”

“Never mind your freakin’ intention.You left me hanging on a murder investigation you brought down on us, on our department, and the world lost a good person in Sari Gadish.Sorry doesn’t fix it.”

Sophie shut the front door.“The kids and Armita don’t need to hear this.Neither does Lono, for that matter.A little privacy, please.”

“Sure.I’ll just go in and wait for you two to work things out.”Jones stepped through the portal and shut it firmly behind him.

Lei set hands on her hips.Her eyes felt hot.“I thought you were my friend.”

Sophie passed Lei and hurried down the steps.“Let’s get out of earshot of the AI system.It’s recording everything.”

That cooled Lei’s fire.

She followed Sophie along a series of recessed stone pavers set in the grass to the front of the house and suppressed a gasp at the view of the ocean seen through a high Plexiglas security wall that must be a nightmare to keep clean.

Sophie led her over to a wooden bench under ahalatree near the transparent barrier.The wall cut the wind nicely.“We can speak freely here.”

“Tell me why you didn’t keep me up to speed with what’s really going on in your life in the last few years.”Lei sat down beside Sophie.“Start talking.”

But Sophie didn’t say anything; she stared out at the ocean instead.The droop of her mouth spoke louder than words: it spoke of grief, exhaustion, and the depression that always seemed ready to pull her down.

Compassion melted Lei’s anger; she’d never been good at holding a grudge against a friend.“It must suck having your mother out to kill you.Mine was a junkie who let me get molested by her boyfriend, but at least she loved me as much as she was capable of.”

Sophie’s long-lashed eyes, the textured brown of honey, were smoky with pain as she finally glanced at Lei.“I keep waiting for it to stop hurting.I’ve been waiting my whole life.”

Lei reached out an arm and pulled Sophie’s much taller, more muscular body over for a hug.“You could have talked to me about all this.I can keep secrets.”

“I should have.”Sophie’s body was stiff; her voice muffled as she pressed her face against Lei’s shoulder.“But it’s so hard to speak of.A part of me is always wishing and hoping I’d somehow got it wrong, misunderstood my mother’s motives.But she’s been more than clear.She wants me dead.She plans to take my children.”

Lei shut her eyes at the thought of having to find a way to deal with a parent that horrible.“I’m sorry, Soph.”

“Me too.And I’m just sick about Sari’s death.My mother has a lot to answer for, and I’ll make sure she does.”

---