Page 36 of Wired Target

But it wasn’t Connor she missed right now—it was Pierre Raveaux.

He was the one who was a part of her daily life, a shoulder to lean on, a help with the children, a comfort.It couldn’t hurt to reach out to let Pierre know what her mother had done—just in case Connor hadn’t informed him.

Sophie found his number in her Favorites and pressed it.

The call went directly to voicemail; Sophie suppressed a stab of disappointment.“Pierre, it’s Sophie.I hope you’re well and safe.I called because an assassin, probably associated with Pim Wat and Mendoza, made an attempt on me while I was on Maui for a case.They used a drone and poisoned tranquilizer darts.A woman beside me was hit and killed.”She paused, summoning her thoughts.“I don’t like it that you’ve gone after Pim Wat.Please use the utmost care.I don’t want to lose you.And I also want you to know that the children miss you, too.Stay safe.”

She ended the call with a punch of her thumb, once again considering a call to Connor.

But no.Too many unanswered questions and unrequited longings lay in that direction.

She plugged her phone into a charger, turned off the office’s lights, and headed to bed.

22

Day 7

Lei stood next to Torufu at the long steel table in the basement of the MPD building.The department’s tech specialist had disassembled the drone after Torufu brought the device into the lab an explosive-resistant canister.

“The poison darts are the most interesting,” the guy said.“They were adapted from commercially available tranquilizer darts.This whole firing apparatus was customized on this unit.Someone went to a lot of trouble to adapt this thing to fire these.”The tech’s eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as he tapped the darts, neatly lined up and labeled, with a gloved finger.“No fingerprints on them, unfortunately.”

Torufu glanced at Lei.“There weren’t any on that cigarette we recovered, either.”

“This was a pro, obviously,” Lei said.

Torufu held her gaze.“Why would a pro take out a nice lady like Sari Gadish?”

“That’s what we have to find out.”Lei frowned down at the remains of the drone on the table, frustrated that she’d decided not to share Sophie’s outrageous story until she had to.“Is there anything else the drone itself can tell us?”

“Not that I can think of.It’s an expensive device, heavy-duty, intended for law enforcement or military use.It’s available to buy online from the manufacturer, but whoever adapted it knew what they were doing.”

Torufu grasped Lei by the shoulder and squeezed; his message was clear:we need to talk privately.“Thanks.Box this up for evidence storage, will you?”

“You got it.”The young man was still starry-eyed about his job, that much was clear as he hopped up to fetch a large evidence tag for his own and Torufu’s signature.

Torufu dogged Lei’s steps as she left the tech lab.“Your office or mine?”

“Pono is in our cubicle already this morning, so yours,” Lei said.

Torufu had his own cubicle since he was now a one-man show as the island’s bomb squad.The space, cluttered with tools and equipment, was familiar to Lei as she’d spent six months occupying it with him.

She took an empty stool Torufu kept under the desk for visitors and sat.“I take it you want to discuss the case.”

“Just a bit.”Torufu occupied his rump-sprung chair; it squeaked in protest under his weight.“Sophie had a reason for going after the drone operator’s location and then taking off.She knows something.And if she knows something, you know something.”

Lei rubbed gritty eyes, flashing back to yesterday.What a long day it had been!She’d received Sophie’s message and hurried out to the location her friend had sent.She’d collected the cigarette butt and photographed the traces left by the drone’s operator while Torufu was removing the drone in a bombproof container.

Then she’d got the call that Sari Gadish had died.

The case was now a homicide and getting Sophie’s statement was important—but Sophie had disappeared, not replying to her calls and texts.Lieutenant Omura was one step away from issuing an arrest warrant, while Lei was reasonably sure her friend was no longer on the island at all.

Which meant she’d have to contact Oahu PD and send a cruiser out to Sophie’s new house in Kailua—or she could fly over and buttonhole Sophie herself in her hideaway.

She’d decided to keep mum for the moment, hoping Sophie could do what she’d said she’d do—find the assassin more quickly than the rest of them could.

That hadn’t happened, and Lei had run out of time.“Sophie may know something, yes.”

“Damn right she does,” Torufu growled.“Some friend she is, sneaking off without so much as a goodbye, let alone helping with our case.”

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