Chapter 14
Ben had seen Elaine leave the beach. He’d waited to make his exit until after she was out of sight.
He didn’t want to run into her in the parking lot.
When he made his way off the beach, he could hear shouting in the distance.
What was that all about? Paying attention as he walked toward the lot, he saw a cloud of dirt and then a Jeep zigzagging through the dirt lot that bordered the roadway, heading away from the beach.
The Jeep hit the pavement and burned rubber out of the lot.
In its wake, three or four people ran toward the big cloud of dust the Jeep had kicked up.
He kept an eye on the dust cloud, wondering what caused it, as he climbed into his rental.
He pulled out of the lot and headed in the direction of the commotion.
A Waikoloa security vehicle crossed in front of him and pulled up to the group.
Slowly Ben cruised by as the crowd of people helped someone off the ground.
He slammed on his brakes when he recognized the victim.
Elaine Jensen.
He fought the urge to hop out of his car and run over to find out what happened.
The security officer got out of his car and took over.
A few people from the group who had helped Jensen up turned away from her and walked toward him.
The security officer handed Elaine a towel and began talking to her. Ben rolled down his window.
“Hey, what happened over there?” he asked the group.
One of the kids walked over to his car. “It was crazy. Some lady in a Jeep tried to run Auntie over.”
“You’re kidding.” Ben knew that locals often referred to older people as Auntie and Uncle, even when there was no relation. It seemed a sign of respect for age.
“No, we saw it all.” The boy pointed. “Almost ran her right over.”
“It wasn’t an accident?”
He gave a head shake. “She drove right at her. Then she just took off that way. Crazy tourist.”
“It was a tourist?”
“Yeah, a white Jeep. Common rental car, you know?”
Ben nodded toward Elaine. “That lady okay?”
“A little bloody but yeah, she’s okay.”
“Thanks.” Ben let the kids go and continued on his way slowly.
He watched Jensen as surreptitiously as he could.
She was talking and holding the towel to her lip.
He drove past, and when he reached the stop sign to the main road, a police car passed him traveling the other way. Myriad thoughts swirled in his mind.
Drunk driver?
Inattention?
Foul play?
When that last thought popped into his head, it was hard not to think of Crystal Benton.
Why his mind went there immediately, he wasn’t certain.
But something wasn’t right. If someone had accidentally run into Jensen, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that a tourist would stop for the police, but that vehicle peeled out of the lot.
Although it was a little early for a drunk driver, that could also be an explanation.
What kind of vehicle had Crystal Benton rented? But then, what reason would she have to run Jensen over?
A honk behind him made Ben realize that he’d been sitting at the stop sign for a while. He waved an “I’m sorry” hand and pushed the accelerator, turned left, and headed back to the hotel.
There was too much weird here, that was for sure.
“Are you okay?” Dad grabbed Lainie’s shoulders and peered at her face when she returned to the room.
“Yeah, Dad, I am. It’s just a couple of scrapes.” She told him what had happened, leaving out the thought that it had all been intentional. That had sounded crazy to the security guard, and it now sounded crazy to her.
Who would want to kill her in Hawaii, where she knew no one? She certainly hadn’t arrested anyone here.
She’d decided after talking to the police that it had been an unfortunate accident. The tourist was likely to come forward any minute and apologize.
“The road is narrow,” the officer who had come by said. “There is no sidewalk, just dirt close to the asphalt. Often people are not paying attention.”
To Lainie that sounded plausible.
“The car hit you?” her father asked.
“Sort of. I moved, she grazed me, and I fell into some rocks. Give me some time to change and clean up.”
She went to the bathroom to check out the damage herself.
She’d scraped her right arm and chin, just enough to draw blood but nothing serious.
Little bits of lava rock were stuck in her arm.
She washed it out. Thankfully the bleeding had stopped.
But she would have some angry red marks on her for a while, and her hip was sore.
Lainie was glad the kids had alerted her to the Jeep’s presence.
It would have been bad if the vehicle hit her full-on.
Once she cleaned up and changed her clothes, she went back to where her father was.
Stan was now in the room, his bags packed.
“You’re leaving?”
“I am. There is nothing else I can do here. The boys need me.”
Lainie stared at him, angry but not sure why. There was nothing else Stan could do here. Nothing at all.
“We Facetimed the boys,” Dad said. His eyes were red, and that broke Lainie’s heart.
“They took the news hard. Stan wants to get back and so do I.”
Lainie stared at her father. “You’ve given up.”
He stepped toward her. “Lainie, we have to face facts.” He reached his hand out and she batted it away.
“I’m staying. I’m not giving up on her. I can’t.” She pushed past her father and left the room, fighting the threatening tears. Blindly she found her way to the elevator and down to the lobby. Running, she made her way back out to the shoreline and the crushed-coral walkway.
She was alone there, and she couldn’t stop the sobs.