Page 4 of Deadly Sacrifice

Jared stood up. “I’ll be on the lookout. See you lovebirds at family dinner next week.”

3

KATIE

In a tidy littletwo-room duplex in Kihei, Katie McHenry stamped her feet and yelled at a flat-screen TV. “No, no, no! Don’t do that!” On the screen, a purple unicorn had been frozen by a spell from a mage figure who was stealing all the unicorn’s gold. “That jerk got me again, dang it. Violet Steed has been neutralized.”

Her best friend, Diana, looked up from her phone and smiled. “The Dark Wizard doesn’t play well with others, does he?” She snagged a slice of pizza from the box on the coffee table.

“Why do you guys let him stay in the game?”

“Oh, you know, he’s been around awhile, so he has standing. Also he’s got a lot of treasure. He can be a target too,” Katie said. “Hand me a slice,por favor.” She was currently online, playing ‘World of Magic’ with her regular posse of video gamers: her buddy Pete, who lived in Kahului; her younger brother JD, who was in the Army on Oahu; her youngest brother Mel, in his college dorm room in California. The Dark Wizard was the only player no one knew anything about.

“Come on, Katie, you’re a cop, go arrest that guy or something,” Diana said, laughing.

“As if I’m not in enough trouble already.” Katie signed out of the game. “One more month of probation and I’m solid, though. If I can get my supervisor to sign off.”

“So what exactly did you get as a consequence for that stunt you pulled with the ATM burglar? You just got transferred or something, and not fired?”

“I got assigned to Investigations as a trainee detective with the famous Lei Texeira. I leveled up, actually.” Katie grinned as she flung herself onto the couch, hard enough to bounce. She took a massive bite of her pizza slice.

“You’ve always been lucky that way. And who’s Lei Texeira?” Diana asked, searching for a blob of cheese that had landed on her shirt.

“You’ve got to be kidding. Don’t you keep up with the news?”

“Who needs that crap? Especially crime news. No offense.” Diana used the remote to turn on some background music—Michael Jackson’sThrilleralbum, their favorite go-to soundtrack for girls’ night in.

“Lei’s a homicide detective. She’s famous for always getting the bad guy, but she’s got a reputation as kind of a loose cannon. Doesn’t like to play by the rules.”

“Should be a perfect match for you, then.” Diana elbowed Katie.

“Hey! It was only that one time—or maybe a few others.” Katie batted blue eyelash extensions that matched the streak of cobalt in her hair. “Anyway, Lei is great. You watch—they’ll be writing books about her someday. Or maybe making movies. They could do a whole different take onHawaii Five-0except with a female detective lead and people right here on Maui.” Katie reached for another piece of pizza.

“Okay, but what are you doing for her? I thought they kicked you off Patrol?” Diana wiped her delicate hands on a paper napkin.

Katie waved her floppy pizza slice. “I’m an investigator now, specializing in high-tech research.”

“So, basically, they’re paying you to play with computers all day? You’re a cat, Katie. You always land on your feet.”

“I like to think so. Meanwhile, I’ve got my eye on someone.” Katie smiled. “He’s so fine.”

“Who?” Diana leaned on the couch arm, propping a hand under her cheek. “I want to know who’s worthy of the small but mighty Katie McHenry.”

“This guy I saw standup paddleboarding at the Cove in Kihei. I asked at the beach about him and found out his name is Matt. He seems to have a flexible schedule and he’s a firefighter.”

“Oh, firefighters are hot. Except for that ‘going into danger every day’ thing they do.” Diana frowned. “Which you know about more than most.”

“I know. I grew up with that life.” Katie set her pizza down on a paper towel, going serious. “I don’t actually want to date a firefighter. But I get lonely for a relationship, you know? I’d like to have someone to come home to, someone who ‘gets’ me and who’s awesome all on his own. I don’t want to settle.”

“Same,” Diana said. “I wish finding a soulmate was as easy as swiping left on a dating app, but that’s been more like an elimination process: nope, nope, double-nope.” Diana frowned, eyeing her friend. “Katie, this isn’t about your dad, is it?”

Katie turned away. Tears welled up. She grabbed a fresh paper towel and sniffed into it. “Today’s the anniversary of Dad’s death,” she whispered. “I’ve been trying to keep busy and forget.”

“Oh no.” Diana hurried to hug Katie. They rocked side by side on the couch for a minute. “Let’s get through it together. Alcohol? Chocolate? Ice cream?”

“All of the above. And a sad movie to help me cry. It might work better to let it out than to try to pretend it isn’t happening.” Katie dabbed her eyes and honked her nose. “Let’s watchBackdraft.”

“For you, I’ll watch that tearjerker movie one more time,” Diana said. “I’ll go fix the drinks and you cue it up.”

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