Page 11 of Tiki Beach (Paradise Crime Cozy Mystery #6)
“How do you know about that?” I asked.
Pua rolled her eyes. “Everyone in Ohia knows about it. Pearl talked about it all the time. It’s her passion project.”
“Well, I didn’t know about it until the tea party,” I frowned. If the project was such common knowledge, then the circle of potential suspects who knew about Pearl’s plans expanded considerably. “Did Pearl ever mention anything specific about the garden’s significance? Any historical connections?”
Something flickered in Pua’s eyes. “She did act strangely at bridge club last week. We were partnered together, and between hands, she kept muttering about ‘making things right after all these years.’ When I asked what she meant, she said something about stolen legacies and how the truth always finds its way.”
“Did she say anything more?” I pressed.
“No, but she mentioned a name—Santos. Said the Mayor’s family had built their fortune on other people’s misfortunes.” Pua paused. “I thought she was just being dramatic. Pearl can be that way.”
“I’m aware.” I picked up the envelope, confirming it was indeed the same one we’d examined.
“Pua, this was wrong on multiple levels. You violated federal mail regulations, broke into private property, and tampered with potential evidence in what’s now an attempted murder investigation.
” I was a hypocrite since I’d taken the envelope and steamed it open too; but I had to stop Pua’s snooping.
Pua’s eyes widened. “Pearl really was poisoned?”
“Yes, the police have confirmed it was oleander poisoning in the tea.” I might as well tell her; or she’d find out some other way.
Pua sank onto a nearby stool, her poise deserting her.
“I had no idea it was that serious. I thought maybe she had a stroke or something.” She looked up at me, genuine remorse in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Kat. I swear I wasn’t trying to interfere with an investigation for any other reason but—I’m nosy and obsessed. ”
I studied her face. My instincts told me Pua wasn’t involved in the poisoning. Just cursed with an excess of curiosity and a troubling disregard for locks.
Kind of like me.
Pua went on. “I’ll do anything to make it right. I can help with your investigation. I know things about people in this town—who’s connected to whom, who has grudges, who has secrets.”
I raised an eyebrow. “The coconut wireless gossip network could be useful. But this can never happen again, Pua. I mean it.”
“I promise, no more lock picking. Unless you need me to,” she added with a hopeful glint in her eye.
As if on cue, my phone chimed with an incoming text.
I glanced down, expecting another message from the Red Hats or perhaps Aunt Fae reporting on Tiki’s latest household crime.
Instead, the screen displayed a message from an unknown number: “Stop digging or join Pearl.”
“What is it?” Pua asked, noticing my reaction.
“A threat,” I replied, forwarding the message to Keone and Lei. “Someone doesn’t like that I’m looking into things.”
The post office would be opening in a few minutes, and customers would soon be lining up for their morning mail; in fact, Chad pulled up in the mail truck at the back door with a noisy crunch of gravel and squeak of brakes.
Even so, the day’s postal duties seemed trivial compared to the warning glowing on my phone screen.
“Pua, can you handle opening by yourself?” I asked. “As soon as we unload the truck, I need to follow up on this.”
She nodded enthusiastically, eager to make amends. “Of course. I’ll hold down the fort. And Kat? I really am sorry about the envelope. And the invasion of privacy.” She winced at her own admission.
“Just don’t do it again,” I warned. “And if anyone asks about Pearl or the Heritage Garden project, let me know immediately. Don’t pass on the news about the attempt on Pearl’s life.”
“Will do. Oh! That reminds me,” she called as we headed for the back door.
“Edith Pepperwhite called me this morning asking if you’d gotten her texts.
Said it’s URGENT—” Pua mimicked Edith’s distinctive emphasis, “—that you meet her at her law office. Something about Pearl’s paperwork for the garden project. ”
“Edith is handling the legal side of Pearl’s project?” I asked. I sort of remembered that from the tea party, but had forgotten in all the subsequent drama.
“Apparently so,” Pua confirmed. “And you know Edith—if she says it’s urgent, she’ll probably send a search party if you don’t show up.”
* * *
As I left the post office after unloading the mail truck with Chad and Pua, my phone buzzed with another text. This time it was from Maile:
“Hi Auntie Kat! Aunt Fae says to tell you you’re out of cat food AGAIN and can you pick some up?
And to remind you it’s your turn to cook dinner next month when I stay over.
PLEASE, not tuna casserole again. Tiki ate most of it anyway.
Love you and miss you! PS: Opal came by this morning and said to tell you ‘the stars are aligning but beware the serpent.’ Whatever, lol. ”
Maile was clearly loving having her own phone, a recent development.
Despite the threat still weighing on my mind, I smiled at the message.
Between Aunt Fae’s culinary experiments, Maile’s preteen directness, Tiki’s perpetual appetite, and Opal’s cosmic warnings, my extended ‘ohana was a chaotic source of love in the midst of this growing mystery.
I texted Maile a quick reply and then alerted Edith that I was on my way to see her, and no more alarm bells needed to be rung that we were overdue to meet.
As I drove toward Edith’s law office, I couldn’t shake the chill from that anonymous text. Someone was watching, tracking our investigation closely enough to know we were “digging” into Pearl’s poisoning. And they were bold enough—or desperate enough—to issue direct threats.
I checked my phone once more before putting it away—Lei had not responded. I had to trust that my more than competent detective friend was doing her part.
The Heritage Tea Garden project clearly threatened someone’s interests more deeply than we’d realized. The question was: how far would they go to protect those interests?