Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
“What’s wrong?” Maliea asked, her pretty brow forming a V over her nose.
Her question pulled Reid back to the present and away from a future he’d thought he’d wanted and was now unsure of.
“Nothing,” he said, focusing on the road ahead. “Hawk’s sending reinforcements.”
Her continued frown indicated she was concerned.
Reid chose to change the subject rather than attempt to explain himself when he couldn’t make sense of his feelings to begin with. “Did you get in touch with Tish about the car seat?”
Maliea nodded. “She’s going to leave the car seat in a shopping cart at my favorite craft supply store in thirty minutes.”
Maliea glanced up, meeting his gaze. “Is your boss sending your replacement?” she asked, her voice low so as not to carry to her daughter in the back seat.
“He is. Whether he’ll take my spot providing security for the film crew or take over your support, I don’t know. For now, you’re stuck with me.”
“I’m glad,” Maliea said. “There’s been so much change and strange people and places. I worry that someone will be upset if things don’t settle down soon.”
Reid cast a glance over the console to the little girl sitting behind her mother. His heart pinched hard in his chest at the dent in her little forehead.
“Are we going home now?” Nani asked, her gaze shifting from the scenery out the window to Reid’s face.
He quickly shifted his focus to the road in front of him and let her mother answer.
“Not yet, sweetie,” Maliea said. “I have some errands to run first. You get to come with us.”
“Okay,” Nani said with a yawn. “But I miss my bear. Do you think he misses me?”
Maliea met Reid’s glance briefly. “I’m sure he does, but we’re going to see Granny Annie. She misses you even more. And she has coloring books for you.”
“Yay,” Nani said and yawned again. “Will we be there soon?”
“Yes, we will,” Maliea said. “Close your eyes for a few minutes, and we’ll be there. ”
“Okay, mama,” Nani said from the back seat. “Wake me when we’re there.”
“I will, baby,” Maliea said softly.
In the rearview mirror, Reid could see Nani close her eyes and lean her head back against the seat. Soon, her head tipped sideways, and then her body slumped over. The child was asleep.
Warmth spread through Reid’s chest. He wished he could find a car seat so Nani wouldn’t have to slump over or be in danger should they have an accident. He’d work on that right after their visit to the university.
“What is your little girl like?” Maliea asked quietly. When he didn’t respond immediately, she added, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
Reid stared at the road ahead, his thoughts going back to his last visit with Abby. He’d gone to California for the two weeks he was supposed to have with his daughter.
“She has blond hair and blue eyes,” he said.
“Well, she obviously didn’t get the blond hair from you,” Maliea said with a smile. “But the blue eyes...” She leaned forward in her seat.
“Are mine,” he said. “My ex has blond hair and hazel eyes. Abby’s are baby blue.”
“Abby.” Maliea smiled. “She sounds amazing.”
‘She is.” Reid’s glance went to the rearview mirror. “Smart and so curious. Like Nani. ”
“You must miss her,” Maliea whispered.
He gave a brief nod, his jaw tightening.
“Does it bother you to be around other children?” she asked. “Is being around Nani reminding you too much of what you’re missing?”
“My feelings are not important,” he said. “What matters is that I’m here to protect you and Nani. That’s all you need to worry about.”
His words effectively shut her down.
Maliea didn’t ask any more questions or make any comments until they arrived at the University of Hawaii, where her father and husband had worked up to the day they’d died.
She quietly directed him to the building they needed to enter.
He cast a glance in her direction, wondering what was going through her mind as he pulled into a parking space and turned off the engine. “Are you going to be okay?”
Her gaze fixed on the building. Her face was set in strained lines, and her lips pressed together as if to keep them from trembling.
If Reid wasn’t mistaken, her eyes were glassy as if holding back unshed tears.
“Is this the first time you’ve been back here since...?” he asked.
She gave him a brief nod, squared her shoulders and said, “Let’s get this over with.” Maliea turned away and pushed open her door .
Reid hurried out of the vehicle and around to the passenger side, where Maliea was opening the door for Nani.
Nani bounced out of the back seat, seemingly unaware of the effect the visit was having on her mother. She slipped her hand into Maliea’s and held out her other hand for Reid.
Girding his loins, he took the proffered hand and walked on the other side of Nani toward the building, his gaze sweeping the area, searching for any hint of danger.
Young people, carrying satchels filled with books or sporting backpacks slung over one shoulder, hurried along the sidewalks or across the green lawns to different buildings in a hurry to get from one class to the next. Though busy, nothing indicated any threat to Maliea or her daughter. Still, Reid wouldn’t let down his guard. Since the previous attacks had occurred at night, he doubted whoever was targeting them would make another attempt during daylight hours. And this wasn’t Afghanistan or another third-world country where enemy operatives could be around every corner. Hawaii was supposedly civilized.
All the more reason to be on alert at all times.
Reid’s grip tightened gently on Nani’s hand, and his gaze swept over Maliea as they approached the building. He’d protect them at all costs, including his own life .
Maliea drew in a deep breath and told herself not to cry. The last thing she wanted to do was upset Nani. Her daughter might only be three, but she was old beyond her years and sensitive to others around her, especially her mother.
Reid released his hold on Nani’s hand, pushed open the door and stood back as she and Nani entered.
Maliea led the way down the hallway to the staircase leading up to the offices where her father and Taylor had worked.
She headed for her father’s office to check in with Andrea Peterson, her friend and the History Department’s secretary.
Andrea stood and threw open her arms as soon as Maliea and Nani stepped through the door. “There’s my Nani-Nani-Boo-Boo,” she cried and engulfed Nani in a bear hug, lifting the child off the ground. “I’m so happy to see my little sugar britches.” She gave Nani a loud, smacking kiss.
Nani hugged the woman around the neck and smiled. “Granny Annie, what do you have for me in your magic drawer?”
Andrea set Nani on her feet and waved her hand toward her desk. “I don’t know. It’s magic. You’ll have to see for yourself.”
Nani squealed with delight and yanked open the drawer. While Nani dug into the crayons and coloring books, Andrea met Maliea’s gaze, her eyes welling. Wordlessly, she opened her arms.
Maliea fell into her motherly embrace, fighting the tears. A few leaked out, but she quickly brushed them away. With Andrea holding her like this, memories flowed through of the last time she’d held her in her arms when her mother had died.
“I’m so sorry,” Andrea whispered.
“Me, too,” Maliea responded. Then she pushed back, quickly brushed away the few tears she hadn’t been able to hold back and lifted her chin. “I need to get this done. Not only so that I can move on but so the department can as well.”
Andrea frowned. “Don’t you worry about the department. You take all the time you need.”
Maliea swallowed hard on the lump lodged in her throat. “Thank you.”
“Heather, the TA who’s been working with Taylor for the past year, has been sorting and boxing things in his office, but feel free to see if she missed any personal effects or packed anything you don’t want to keep. She’s been helping me go through your father’s things as well. We have a box of his things ready for you to go through at your own pace.”
Maliea nodded. “Thank you.”
Andrea’s gaze went to Reid. “I don’t think we’ve met. ”
Heat filled Maliea’s cheeks. “I’m sorry. Andrea Peterson, this is Reid, my...friend.”
Reid didn’t blink at Maliea’s classification. He held out a hand and gave a brief smile. “Ms. Peterson, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
The older woman took his hand, her cheeks turning a rosy pink. “Oh, the pleasure is mine,” she said. “I’m glad Maliea has a friend with her. Especially after losing her father and husband.”
Maliea glanced toward Nani.
“Don’t worry about my Nani-Boo-Boo,” Andrea said with a smile aimed at the three-year-old. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”
Maliea bit on her bottom lip, not wanting to say so much that her daughter picked up on her concerns but needing Andrea to know what had happened in the past twenty-four hours. She tipped her head toward the office door.
Andrea nodded and followed her out into the hallway.
Reid stood in the doorway, his attention split between the ladies and Nani.
As soon as they were out of earshot of Nani, Andrea asked, “What’s wrong?”
Maliea quickly filled her in on the break-in at her apartment and her car while parked outside Tish’s apartment.
Andrea’s eyes widened. “Why would someone break into your place and car? ”
Maliea shrugged. “All we can figure is that they might be looking for something to do with the treasure my father and Taylor were researching. Maybe a map or my father’s notes. Did he have a journal he might have kept with his notes from the interviews he conducted in his research? Or maybe an online file where he kept his notes?”
Andrea’s lips twisted. “Heather and I went through everything on your father’s desk and shelves. We didn’t find a journal, notebook or anything like that.”
Maliea cocked a hopeful eyebrow. “Online?”
Andrea shook her head. “I’ve been through his files on his desktop computer and haven’t found anything like that, or anything personal. He was careful to set a good example for all members of the department. He used his department computer for department use only. He didn’t even put family birthdays or anniversaries on his work calendar. He had a laptop he carried in his briefcase that he used on his lunch break.”
“If he didn’t make notes or show his research, how was he able to get department funding for the flight to Niihau?” Maliea asked.
“That’s just it,” Andrea said. “He didn’t ask for department funding. He paid for the flight himself. He said he didn’t want to waste the university’s money on what might prove to be a wild goose chase. ”
Maliea frowned. “What about the other interviews on the different islands?”
Andrea nodded. “All out of his own pocket. No money from the department. He loved his job here and didn’t want to risk it chasing a story that could prove to be only folklore.”
“Why didn’t he tell me all this?” Maliea whispered, feeling a bit betrayed. She hadn’t known her father nearly as well as she should have.
Andrea sighed. “He considered it a hobby, not an obsession. And he learned things about the islands and the inhabitants along the way he could use in his classes on Hawaiian history.”
Maliea glanced at the door where Reid stood. “I think he used some of that research in the bedtime stories he told Nani when he pulled Grandpa duty the nights I had to work a gig.” Her lips curled upward on the corners. “When I’d get home earlier than expected, I’d find him reading from the book he’d made for her. He’d filled it with tales of the islands and hand-drawn pictures of turtles and volcanoes. She loves those stories.”
Her gaze met Reid’s. “Are you staying here? I’ll only be in Taylor’s office for a few minutes, especially if they’ve already boxed his personal effects.”
Reid frowned. “Where is his office?”
Maliea tipped her head to a door down the hall. “Not far. ”
He nodded. “I’ll stay here and keep watch in both directions.”
Maliea walked down the hallway to Taylor’s office. She hadn’t actually been in his office in months, even though it had been down the hallway from her father’s. He’d always been in a class or out to lunch with colleagues when she’d stopped in.
Out of habit, she raised her hand to knock and stopped short of tapping her knuckles against the door. Why knock? Her husband was dead. He wouldn’t be in his office talking with a student or working on a syllabus.
She turned the knob and pushed the door open.
A woman with long blond hair glanced up, her eyes rounding. When she saw Maliea, she pressed a hand to her chest and forced a laugh. “Oh, Ms. Kalieopu, you startled me.” She waved toward the boxes lined up near the door. “Be careful, and don’t trip on the boxes. I was just loading the last one for you. Andrea said you might stop by today.” Her brow furrowed. “I didn’t get the chance at the funerals to tell you how sorry I was about your father and Taylor’s—” she caught herself, “Professor Kalieopu’s accident. I was shocked at the news, and the department was devasted. I can’t imagine how you’re feeling.”
“Not great,” Maliea admitted briefly. She didn’t want to go into her feelings with the TA. “Is there any order I should follow going through the boxes? ”
“You can start with the ones by the door,” the younger woman said. “I think I got all his personal belongings, but I wanted to make one last pass. The books are those he purchased out of pocket. I’ve set aside the textbooks used in the classrooms.”
Maliea opened the box closest to her and dug through the contents—a small box filled with business cards, a couple of framed photos of Nani that Maliea had given him for his office and stacks of history books. She thumbed through the books, searching for any handwritten notes and found none.
Other than the photographs of Nani, she had no use for the books. She plucked the photos out of the box and laid them on a table beside the stack. “If the department wants these books, they can have them. I don’t need them or have space to store them.”
“I’ll let them know,” Heather said.
She moved the box aside and opened the next one. It too had a stack of books on self-help, management and techniques for teaching. She thumbed through each and found nothing of interest. Again, she had no use for the books. She might have saved them for Nani, but she didn’t have the space or want to haul books around when she moved from the apartment she couldn’t go back to since the break-in to a new apartment.
“Same goes for this box of books,” Maliea said. “The university is welcome to them.”
“I’ll put a note on both of them.” Heather pulled a pen out of the desk, along with a pad of sticky notes and crossed to where Maliea stood.
“The only other boxes are the ones on and behind his desk. You might want to go through them,” Heather said. “They contain more personal items that Taylor—Professor Kaleiopu—had lying around the office and some of the knickknacks he collected during his research trips. I was just finishing up with his desk drawers when you arrived.”
Heather moved away from the back of his desk, allowing Maliea space to slip in.
Maliea eased past the pretty TA and opened the top of the box resting on the desk. She found Taylor’s appointment calendar. She flipped it open and thumbed through, casually glancing at the words scribbled on the side about different students, lecture notes, and grocery items she might have asked him to get on his way home from work. She flipped through the pages until she came to the date of the plane crash.
Maliea had never understood why he’d used a paper planner instead of relying on the online work calendar. He’d argued that he did both, but the paper calendar gave him a place to doodle, as evidenced by the outline of a ship on the day he and Maliea’s father were due to visit Niihau.
The day of the plane crash.
The day she’d lost her husband and her father.
The day she’d lost any type of financial stability for her and her daughter. As she closed the day planner, a slip of paper fell out and drifted to the floor.
Before Maliea could bend to pick up the piece of paper with something scrawled in handwriting across it, Heather snatched it from the floor, crumpled it and tossed it into the trash.
Curious, Maliea asked, “What was it?”
“Just a reminder to speak with one of his students,” Heather said. “If you’d like me to carry some of these boxes out, I could do that for you.”
Maliea picked through the box in front of her a little more, then put the lid back over the top. “You can take this one if you don’t mind.”
“Sure.” Heather lifted the box and carried it out the door of Taylor’s office.
After Heather left, Maliea pulled the crumpled paper out of the trash basket and unfolded it. The writing on the note wasn’t her husband’s scribble at all. It was a message that didn’t make any sense.
Tonight
The one word was written in flowing script and dotted with a heart. The handwriting was more feminine than Taylor’s masculine scrawl. Her gaze rose to the door where Heather had passed through moments before.
Had her husband had an affair with his TA?
A backpack leaned against a bookshelf near one of the boxes on the floor. Maliea didn’t recognize it as one of Taylor’s. She could hear the sound of voices murmuring down the hallway from Andrea’s office. With guilt gnawing in her belly, she tipped the backpack over and unzipped the top. Inside were spiral notebooks and a leather-bound journal.
Could it be Taylor’s journal? Perhaps it contained notes about the treasure. Maliea paused, her hand resting on the leather.
If it was Taylor’s journal, why would Heather take it? Had she hoped to continue his research?
Before the TA returned, Leah quickly slid the journal from the backpack and flipped it open. Inside, the handwriting was feminine. Not Taylor’s. Some of the words captured Maliea’s attention. Words like shipwreck , local legend and treasure jumped out of the page. Apparently, Heather had been working with Taylor on his research, searching for the lost treasure of Red Beard.
The voices grew louder in the hallway. She could make out Andrea and Heather’s higher-pitched tones. The deep richness of Reid’s voice was unmistakable, sending a bolt of awareness across her senses.
Footsteps sounded on the wooden floors, moving in her direction.
As Maliea closed the journal, she spied a word where an “i” had been dotted with a heart.
Maliea shoved the journal into the backpack and quickly zipped it, leaning it back against the bookshelf just as she’d found it. She lifted the lid off the box beside it and sifted through knickknacks and the fancy bookends she’d given Taylor last Christmas.
“Maliea?” Heather’s voice sounded from the doorway.
Maliea popped her head up over the top of the desk. “I’m here. Just going through the last box.”
She replaced the lid on the box and stood, bringing the box with her. She placed it on top of the desk and gave the younger woman a tight smile. “This must be hard on the whole department, including you.”
Heather stared around the office, her brow puckered. “They will be missed. It all happened so quickly. Your father was such a cornerstone of the department, and Taylor… So young.” She met Maliea’s gaze. “But you…” She shook her head. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Maliea acknowledged her condolences with a brief nod before asking, “How long have you worked with my husband?”
“Almost a year,” Heather said. “I helped him with his classes and making notes with his research.” She gave a crooked smile. “He was obsessed with the legend of the attack on Oahu.”
“As was my father,” Maliea said. “Did you work with him as well?”
“Only when they asked me to take notes,” the pretty TA said. “And only after Taylor surfaced a possible clue to the whereabouts of the shipwreck. Your father did years of research on the topic.” Heather’s lips press together. “He didn’t share the information he had. I was surprised when he invited Taylor along on the trip to the island.”
“That might’ve been my fault,” Maliea said. “I asked my father to make more of an effort to be a part of his son-in-law’s life besides just being the department head.” It was a lie. But Heather didn’t know that. Maybe her father had taken Taylor with him to counsel him on fraternizing with students. “You were pretty close to my husband,” Maliea said as a statement, not a question.
The woman glanced away. “Only as close as a student can get working with a professor for almost a year.”
Heather wasn’t going to admit to her affair.
“Yeah.” Maliea lifted the box. “I’m done here.” It did no good to get angry now. Taylor was dead. He was gone. She didn’t need to waste energy and emotions being angry that he’d had an affair with this TA.
Maliea had more important problems to solve. Number one, feeding and keeping a roof over her daughter’s head. She prayed the insurance company would come through soon with what little money they had on the policy. It might help in the short term. Surely, there were scholarships for single mothers that would help them go back to school and get a degree. She needed something that paid more than her dancing gigs. She’d quit college when she’d gotten pregnant with Nani. Taylor had wanted her to stay home and raise their daughter.
While he’d had an affair with his teacher’s assistant.
As she passed Heather, the woman turned with her. “Seems such a shame that your father didn’t share information about the shipwreck so that others could continue the research. I don’t suppose you know where he kept a journal…?”
A dozen retorts came to mind. Maliea bit down hard on her tongue before replying, “No idea.” And she grabbed the photos of Nani from the table beside the door and laid them across the top of the box. She crossed the threshold, leaving her husband’s lover standing in the middle of the office they’d shared.
Maliea marched down to Andrea’s office, where Reid stood in the doorframe, his gaze going from the people in the office to Maliea as she approached. He stepped aside, allowing her to enter. “Find anything interesting?” he asked.
Maliea snorted. “Sure did.” She laid the box on the floor beside Andrea’s desk and took the photo frames off the top. “I left all the books in Taylor’s office. I’d appreciate it if you could dispose of this box of his personal belongings. I don’t need any of it.”
Andrea stood, came around to the box and lifted the lid. “What do you want me to do with it? ”
“Sell it, give it away,” Maliea waved a hand, “burn it for all I care.”
Andrea’s gaze rose to meet and hold Maliea’s.
Maliea’s eyes narrowed. “Just don’t give it to?—”
Andrea nodded solemnly without saying a word.
Maliea tipped her head toward her father’s office. “May I?”
“You bet.” Andrea stepped aside. “There’s not much to handle. Your father was a very neat man,” her lips quirked upward on the corners, “although at times he was absent-minded. He said that if he didn’t write things down, he’d forget them. He kept a journal of all his research and carried it everywhere.”
Maliea’s pulse quickened. “Did you find the journal among the things in his office?”
Andrea’s shoulders drooped. “No. When he left that morning to catch the plane to Niihua, he had the journal with him. It went down with the plane. All they recovered was the black box and—” She clapped a hand over her mouth, her gaze shooting to the department head’s office where Nani sat at her grandfather’s desk, quietly coloring.
“—the bodies,” Maliea whispered. That hollow feeling in her gut swelled, the incredible weight of her grief pressing down on her. She swallowed hard on the lump rising in her throat.
“Do they know what happened?” Andrea asked.
Maliea drew in a breath and let it out slowly to calm the rise of emotion that threatened to overwhelm her. She forced the words from her mouth. “Based on radio communications between the pilot and the ATC, the actuator had disconnected, making it impossible for the pilot to control the aircraft. The National Transportation Safety Board ruled the crash as an accident.”
Channeling the anger she felt at losing her father, Maliea said, “Maybe it’s just as well that the journal is at the bottom of the ocean. If my father had not been obsessed with the lost treasure of Red Beard, he might still be alive today.”
“So true,” Andrea said, her brow puckering. “I’m going to miss him around here. It won’t be the same. We’ll probably get some young guy with half the class.” She smiled, her lips trembling. “It might be time for me to retire.”
Maliea’s eyes widened. “What would they do without you? You’ve run this department as long as I can remember.”
“I’m too old to train a new department head half my age. I might as well open a daycare.” Her smile brightened. “Would you consider me as a full-time babysitter for our little Nani?”
Maliea hugged the older woman. “In a heartbeat.”
When Andrea stepped back, her eyes shone with unshed tears. “Now, get busy in your father’s office before I embarrass myself.”
Maliea glanced toward Reid.
“Do you want me to help?” he asked .
“Yes, please,” she said softly.
Having only known this man for a few hours, she found herself leaning on his strength during this most difficult time.
She couldn’t let herself get used to having him there. Eventually, she’d be on her own again.
In the meantime, she had a strong shoulder to lean on. A man who wouldn’t be too busy having an affair with a pretty young Teacher’s Assistant to look out for the wellbeing of a single mother and her child.
Yeah, he had incredibly broad shoulders. He was also ruggedly handsome. A single woman in the prime of her sexuality could fall for a guy like that.
A shiver of awareness rippled across Maliea’s skin as Reid followed her into her father’s office.