Page 13 of Hidden Falls

“What am I missing?” Peter sounded like the lawyer he was in that moment.

Lei switched her gaze to Harry’s husband shifting a bit in her chair. “I really think Harry needs to be the one to tell you. But if she won’t, I will.”

Harry shook her head. “This is a rabbit trail that leads nowhere. Don’t you think I would have said something if I thought it was relevant?”

“We don’t really know why Malia was in that building sixteen years ago,” Lei said. “Maybe she belonged to someone powerful, someone who has been looking for her all these years. Someone who has access to the database where Malia’s fingerprints and DNA are now stored as a confidential informant for the Maui Police Department.” Lei finally put into words what her gut had been nudging her with. “We made certain assumptions when we rescued her that night. Those assumptions might’ve been wrong.”

Peter shot to his feet and turned to face his wife. “Start talking, Harry.”

Harry had gone pale. Drops of sweat beaded on her forehead. “Malia wasn’t adopted from an orphanage.”

“I’m gathering that. Why don’t you start at the beginning.” The attorney’s voice was icy, and his words hit like bullets, making Harry flinch.

She opened and then closed her mouth, seemingly unable to speak.

Lei reached out to touch Peter’s hand where it hung at his side. “Please. Sit down. I’ll tell the story.”

Peter bunched the hand she’d touched into a fist. He sat at an end of the couch as far from his wife as he could get. His blue eyes were coldly intent on Lei. “Go on.”

“My friend Kelly and I had just turned twenty-one. Our college semester had just let out, and we decided to go down to Mexico to blow off some steam in Cabo San Lucas.”

“I know the story of how you and Harry met,” Peter said impatiently.

“No, you don’t.” Lei held his gaze. “We told you the sanitized version, where the three of us met in Mexicoand partied around our resort’s pool in Cabo. We stayed in touch for a while. That’s all true, but there was much more to it.”

“I’m listening.”

“Kelly and I got stuck in some sand on the side of the road on the way to Cabo. Two men pulled over with a winch on the back of their truck. They told us they’d help us get out. They hitched the car up and pulled us out all right, but then they kept driving.” Lei closed her eyes, seeing the traumatic memory. “After a scuffle I escaped. But Kelly didn’t.” Lei put a hand over her churning belly and stared out the window, caught up in memories. “I fled out into the desert. I was out in the middle of nowhere. But then I spotted a little taco stand with an RV parked next to it. Turns out it was Harry’s RV.”

Peter shot a glance at his wife. “What were you doing in an RV down in Mexico?”

“I told you about my mercenary days,” Harry said. “I was training back then. Taking small jobs with a master at hand-to-hand combat named Cruz.”

Peter threw his hands in the air. “You told me you were in the army!”

“I was. In a matter of speaking.” Harry shook her head. “I didn’t want to get into all of this because it wasn’t relevant to our life together.”

“Turns out it might have been though,” Peter said through gritted teeth. “Go on.”

But Harry said nothing more, fumbling for another cigarette instead.

Lei picked up the thread again. “Harry offered to help me find Kelly. She knew where the gang hid out; she was aware of their human trafficking activities. We snuck up on the encampment where the men were keeping Kelly. There was a showdown. None of them ended up alive, and we got Kelly back. But we found a surprise in the building before we left: a baby girl.”

“Let me guess. Harry took the baby and kept her.”

“That’s about the gist of it,” Lei said.

“I couldn’t give her up. She gave me . . . the purpose I needed for my life back then,” Harry said brokenly, gazing at Peter. “I was on a destructive path.”

“Well, obviously I can’t disagree with your decision. I love Malia as much as you do. But why didn’t you go through the proper legal process to adopt her?”

“How could I? We had no idea where she had come from or who she belonged to. We assumed she’d been stolen, like Kelly was stolen. The men who’d taken her were dead. We burned their building to the ground. There was no one left to ask about Malia’s origins.” Harry tapped her cigarette. “Kelly told us that the woman taking care of the baby had died; she was the baby’s nanny, and the two had been taken by the traffickers together. We assumed they were planning to sell Malia as they’d likely planned to do with Kelly.” Harry shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “After we escaped, I couldn’t bear to drop Malia off at an orphanage or anywhere. Instead, I found a guy in Tijuana who forged adoption papers for her. I kept her and brought her to Hawaii when I moved here. I met you. We fell in love and got married; you adopted Malia too. End of story.”

The three of them sat silently for a long moment. “Then what happened to change things?” Peter asked. “Something must have happened.”

“When Malia became a confidential informant for the MPD, her DNA and fingerprints were filed with the police department for rule out in case of contamination with other cases,” Lei repeated. “If her birth parents were still looking for her and had access to law enforcement databases,they could have found her. If they are powerful or wealthy, they’d be able to send a pro team like the one that took her.” Lei caught Harry’s eye. “It’s a possibility. Far-fetched, but possible.”

Harry shook her head. “Ridiculous. I don’t believe it.”

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