Free Blood Orchids by Toby Neal Page B

neck.
    “But nobody knew who he was?”
    “No. That’s why I wanted to get a look at him,” Angela said. “I thought it must be someone other kids knew—somebody’s uncle or brother or something.” Was she really a friend of Haunani’s? Or more of an enemy?
    “Did he pick Haunani up regularly?”
    “I only saw the truck a couple times.”
    “Did you ever see Kelly go with them?”
    “No. Kelly and Haunani were just getting to be friends. I don’t think Haunani wanted anyone else to meet him. She wanted to keep him all to herself.” Again the silvery giggle. “So I walked across the street when he was picking her up so I could get a look at him, but he wasn’t anybody I know.”
    Stevens slid the folder of photos over to her. Lei had folded the license information over so only the pictures were showing.
    “Do you think you could pick out his picture?” he asked.
    “Maybe.” Angela leaned over the photos, the swath of hair a black silk curtain hiding her face. She slid each printout to the side as she rejected it. She took her time, but in the end she pushed them all aside.
    “I don’t see him.” Her eyes glittered defiantly. Stevens reassembled the pictures into a grid.
    “Look again.” He set the photos before her, six on a side. She went through them again, shook her head.
    “No.”
    “Are you sure?” he urged. Lei felt the glare of James Reynolds’s eyes burning up at her from his photo on the top left. Angela cut her eyes to Stevens.
    “He’s not here.”
    “These are all the photos of men 25 to 45 who drive a dark Toyota truck with Hilo or outlying addresses. That’s what you told us. So what did he look like?”
    “I’m not sure how old he was. Dark hair. And I think the truck was black.” A long pause. The only sound was Stevens breathing through his nose.
    “What about dark blue or charcoal?” Lei asked, gesturing to the photos.
    “I don’t know,” Angela repeated. “I thought it was black.” She stood up, gossamer hair swinging back over her narrow shoulders. “I have to go. My friends are waiting for me.”
    Stevens put his hand on her arm, held her gaze.
    “It’s important that you try to remember. Anything, any details. You don’t know what might be important. This man may have killed your friends.” Angela looked down, fiddling with the gold-plated logo dangling from her purse.
    “I know. But he’s not here.”
    “Okay. I may see you again if I get anything else. Here’s my card,” Stevens said, slipping it into the side pocket of her purse. “Call me if anything else comes to mind.”
    She nodded and spun on kitten-heeled slippers to clip-clop out of the room. The door shut with a clang behind her. Stevens shuffled the pictures back into the folder and looked at Lei.
    “Well? What do you think?”
    “I believe her. She didn’t recognize him. I was so sure she would pick Reynolds out, and he does have dark hair. It’s too bad, would have made things easier. So, what is his supposedly airtight alibi?”
    “Nothing too exciting. He was out with his wife, having a ‘weekend away.’ Left Kelly on her own at the house to take care of the dog. Kelly’s mom confirms they went to a bed and breakfast for the night, and when they got back, the dog was still locked in the house and hadn’t been fed or let out. They were worried something had happened to Kelly and started calling all her friends and the police.”
    “What do you think?”
    “I can’t believe a mother would choose her new husband over her daughter and cover for foul play. I know it happens, but I can’t get my head around it. So yeah, I believe them.”
    “Believe it. It happens,” Lei said flatly. “Check it out.”
    “Jeremy’s following up on it.”
    They made their way back to the office, turned in the visitor badges. Stevens’s hand touched her lower back as they pushed through the glass door, and she felt the simple gesture zing up her spine. He squinted at her in the midmorning sun