Rip Tides Read Online Free Page B

you.”
    “Likewise,” she said. “Got a smoke?”
    Ferreira’s face froze in surprise as she went on. “I know Michael doesn’t smoke, and damn if that plane flight wasn’t a long time without a cigarette.”
    “That’s the worst. Sure.” Ferreira dug in his chest pocket for the square pack and shook out two. “Can’t smoke in the station, though, ma’am.”
    “Of course.” She took the cigarettes. “I thank you.”
    Stevens endured this and walked his mother through the building. As soon as they got outside, she put one of the cigarettes to trembling lips and flicked the old silver Zippo their father had been awarded for ten years of service in his firehouse. Stevens could still glimpse his father’s well-worn initials in the soft glow of the metal between his mother’s thin fingers. Her cheeks hollowed as she drew hard on the cig, and he lost patience with her and the stab of grief he felt at that tiny reminder of his dad. He took her elbow and gave a tug.
    “My truck’s over here.”
    “Hey!” he heard someone call, and turned to see a minivan with a lighted taxi emblem on top. “That lady owes me for a ride!”
    Stevens turned to his mother. She shrugged, making a go-ahead gesture with her cigarette. He shook his head as he walked back and paid off the driver. He then settled his mother in the passenger seat of the brown Bronco he’d been driving for years. He set her backpack behind the seat.
    “Smells like dog in here,” his mother said.
    “Yeah, a bit. We have a Rottweiler, Keiki. She’s one of the family. She rides back there with the baby sometimes. Wayne Texeira, Lei’s father, watches Kiet for us during the day,” he said, turning on the vehicle.
    “That’s nice,” Ellen said without interest. She rolled down her window and leaned her head out. “It’s so beautiful here.” Palm trees lining the main thoroughfare flicked by as Stevens merged onto Hana Highway, heading out of Kahului into the sugarcane fields and farther north.
    “Just wait until you see where we live.” Stevens felt his spirits lift as the road took them out of town and they faced the great shadowy purple bulk of Haleakala, wreathed in afternoon clouds, the sky a brilliant blue above. “It’s out in the country. Really green and peaceful.”
    “I could use a little peace.” His mother rested her head on the jamb of the door. He looked over a few moments later and could tell she’d fallen asleep by the slackness of her jaw. Her thin blonde hair fluttered in the wind.
    He called Lei, but she didn’t pick up. He left a message. “My mom’s in town and going to stay with us a few days. I’m putting her out in the tent, and hopefully Jared’s coming to dinner. Hope you’re feeling up for company.”

 
    Chapter 3
    L ei and Pono pulled up a round, curving drive planted with decorative areca palms and parked in front of a large plantation-style home at Makoa Simmons’s parents’ address in Wailuku Heights—a newer, upscale area. Pono was driving his beefed-up purple truck, and Lei reached up to tap the tiny replica Hawaiian war helmet that hung from the rearview mirror. “For courage,” she said.
    “We’re going to need it,” Pono agreed, gathering his handheld recorder and a notepad.
    Lei opened her door. The truck was jacked up on big tires, so she used a chrome step to hop to the ground. She straightened her clothes and shrugged into the light khaki jacket she wore to conceal the shoulder holster. She liked to use her smartphone for recording, and as she slipped it out of her jacket pocket, she saw that Stevens had called and left a voice mail.
    Lei listened to the message as they walked up wide, gracious steps to a carved wooden Balinese-style front door. She grimaced at the news that Stevens’s mother was on-island. She’d never met the woman, but what he’d told her hadn’t impressed her.
    “They don’t seem to be hurting for money,” Pono observed, doing a survey of the well-groomed