Page 13 of Justified Fear (TFH Team Bravo #2)

Seven

A fter a few more questions, Keely kept looking at her phone.

“Is it time for you to go?” Ryan asked.

She shook her head, then made a face. “We have time. I know you can’t rush my father. When he wants to discuss something, there is no diverting his attention.”

Ryan knew she wanted to go to Ray’s, so he looked at Kap.

“Can you check on her father? See if he’s done?”

“Sure. Is there anything you need?” Kap asked, his voice dipping an octave. He’d seen his teammate use it a lot when he was trying to pick up women.

Ryan frowned at him.

She smiled at Kap, which just pissed off Ryan. She was a victim. She didn’t need Kap using his stupid Southern charm on her. “No, thank you.”

He didn’t like how quiet her voice had gotten.

“I’ll be right back.”

Soon, it was just the three of them.

“Maya is such a pretty baby,” Keely said to his partner. Her tone vibrated through Ryan’s entire body. Jesus, he had to get hold of his emotions around her. “She’s so well-behaved. I know it is part of her training, but she calms me.”

Since Maya walked past Ryan and sidled up to Keely, his partner had been glued to her side. That wasn’t normal behavior for Maya. She tended to be standoffish with most people, even some of the TFH team members. But from the moment they found Keely, Maya had been infatuated.

Keely cooed at Maya while she rubbed her ears.

“I have a feeling my dad is being a pain,” she said before she looked up at him. Her golden gaze was filled with apology. She didn’t need to feel guilty for the actions of her father. “He tends to be a little authoritarian.”

“His daughter was at the scene of a mass homicide,” Ryan said.

She sighed. “I know. And I get it. And yes, they might know my name if they dig hard enough. Did you ever find Ray?”

“No. You said you didn’t hire him, right?”

He knew she had been asked and answered the question, but he wanted to make sure. “No. I don’t have a liquor license, but Mr. Kelly said he already had someone. He said he had used Ray a lot in the past. Which, I thought was odd because he was so young and well…not Hawaiian.”

“You said he was white, correct?” Ryan said.

“Well, yeah, but that’s not what I meant.

He just didn’t seem to know much about Hawai’i.

It’s hard to explain, really. And mind you, I’m half Hawaiian, but I spent most of my life on the mainland.

I even picked up on some of the things he said that just hit wrong.

Granted, I’ve spent the last few years learning more about the culture. ”

“Did something bother you about him?”

She shrugged. “Ray kept saying that he had lived in Hawai’i for ten years or something like that.

I was trying to avoid him as much as possible.

Yes. He was more interested in talking me up than he was in doing his job.

I don’t go to homes to find dates. It’s my job.

” Her tone told him just how she felt about that.

He knew from women he had as friends that some guys just thought women were always looking for a date.

“And that made you think he wasn’t from Hawai’i?”

She shook her head. “It’s hard for me to describe.” She chewed on her bottom lip for a second, and he tried his best not to lose control. Just that little gesture had his blood heating. He shifted in his seat, trying to ease the pressure in his pants.

“I can tell you are not from here. You have a whole Cali vibe…plus, you don’t have a Hawaiian accent. Kap is definitely from the South. Probably Georgia from the sound of it.”

He blinked. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“It’s just, beyond not sounding like he was from here, he didn’t seem to know anything about Oahu. Like we were talking about, the Aloha Swap Meet and the new layout. He didn’t know what it was. I mean, you can’t live here and not know what that is.”

The Aloha Swap Meet was an outdoor marketplace that was held every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at Aloha Stadium. There were other swap meets on the island, but that was by far the biggest and best known—even to tourists.

“He also didn’t know about the KCC Farmer’s Market. You cannot be in the food business and not know what that is. Granted, he’s a bartender, but still. Anyone in food service has heard of it.”

Another kind of local thing. Kapiolani Community College held a farmers’ market every weekend. He’d even gone there with Maya a time or two.

“I was second-guessing myself there for a while because I heard him speak Japanese. Of course, it’s one of the best things you can learn if you’re in the service industry here.

You can earn more money if you speak Japanese at many resorts.

Also, he kept talking about restaurants, but they were mainland chains.

No one in the business would talk about Hawaiian dishes and mention mainland offerings, if you know what I mean.

You live here, you eat here—meaning local places.

He’s probably never even been to Zippy’s. ”

The popular Hawaiian chain was the go-to spot for a quick Hawaiian meal. “Anything else you can remember?” Ryan asked.

She thought for a second. “He seemed to know the layout of the house, and Yazmin knew him, so I assumed the Kellys had hired him before that night. Maybe that’s why, when Mr. Kelly mentioned he had hired him before, I assumed it was Ray, not the company.

Also, Ray didn’t complain about how hot it was in the house.

Of course, he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, which was short-sleeved, and shorts.

Now that I think about it, his clothes seemed new, like he’d just bought them. ”

She sighed. “You really can’t find him?”

He shook his head. “There isn’t a trace of him anywhere. Not at his apartment and not at any of the hospitals.”

Kap came back into the room. “Your dad is just about ready. He and Adam are fighting over some high school championship.”

“That’s Dad.” She rose from her chair but paused for a second. “Do you think they kidnapped Ray?”

He shared a look with Kap and read his own thoughts in his teammate’s eyes. Ryan turned back to Keely. “No. We’re worried he might have had something to do with it.”

She chuckled. “He’s too stupid.”

“What?”

“If he were involved, don’t you think he would be better at hiding his true self? This would never happen on Task Force Honolulu.”

He sighed. The new show had just started airing three weeks ago, and they were already getting comments like that.

Even if the star—Jakob Wulf—had spent time with them to get his part as authentic as possible, people didn’t understand just how boring a lot of police work was.

They also thought they could easily solve a crime with tools that didn’t exist in the real world.

“He could have been their useful idiot,” Ryan said. “Or he could have been pretending he wasn’t from here. Japanese isn’t an easy language to learn for Western speakers.”

Again, she was chewing on her bottom lip. “He kept saying he knew me.” Then she shook her head. “No, he knew of me. Okay, now that I think about it, that makes sense. He said he’d heard I had a YouTube channel.”

“Do you have a lot of followers?”

She nodded. “Decent size. I cook on there. I try to upload about once a week.”

“And people know you live here?” Kap asked.

“On the islands. I’m vague about which one. I always say things like ‘I’m here on Oahu,’ even though my father thinks even that is too much information.”

Ryan had to agree with her father. Social media can help many people spread the word about their business or cause, or simply connect with like-minded individuals.

And he knew it had helped a lot of people get through the pandemic.

As a law enforcement officer, he knew that it was a treasure trove for criminals, especially stalkers.

“KeeKee,” her father said from the door.

“Are you done throwing your weight around?”

He frowned at his daughter. She might have her mother’s golden-brown eyes, but she definitely had her father’s frown. Sadly, even that made him want her. What the hell did it say about him that he wanted a woman when she was frowning?

“I just wanted to get some information from the commander. You’re not questioning her again, are you? I would rather she have her attorney present.”

“Dad, stop. They don’t suspect me. We were discussing the bartender and what had happened before. Ray hasn’t been seen since.”

He strode over to them. “Do you think he’s the killer?” he asked Ryan.

“There was more than one killer, but it’s suspicious that he can’t be found. And he knew Keely.”

Her father’s gaze narrowed as he turned to look at his daughter. “He knew you?”

She slanted Ryan a look that made him want to apologize. Damn, the woman had the most expressive eyes. Then she turned back to her father.

“He knew of me. Let’s be honest, most people who live in Oahu ask if I’m your daughter when they hear the last name.”

“And you tell them?”

“No.” Then she wrinkled her nose, and dammit , he found that beyond cute. And sexy. With her dad standing right there! “Well, not all the time.”

“KeeKee!”

“Listen, if it’s some little auntie, a strong trade wind would knock over, then I’ll tell her.

A weird white boy who didn’t know the first thing about the island, although he claimed to have lived here for ten years?

Absolutely not. He just mentioned that he’d heard of my YouTube channel. ” She shrugged. “That’s all.”

Grimness settled around the former NFL player like a shroud. “We’ll talk about this when we get home.”

Most people would probably shrivel when a man as big as her father loomed over them. Keely stepped closer and settled her hands on her hips. “We will not. We have a lunch date planned, and I will not disappoint those kids. Also, aren’t you meeting with Coach Adam?”