Free 4 Maui Macadamia Madness by Cynthia Hickey

into his face. “If I
don’t, I’ll always wonder. Always be looking over my shoulder.”
    He nodded and
blinked rapidly before pulling me tight to his chest. “You scare me to death.”

 

 
    Chapter
Ten

 
    “ Here. ” April slipped my tazer into my hand right before I entered my cottage. “I brought it as soon as we
knew what was going on out here. Thought you might need it.”
    “Thanks.” I hugged
her. “You’re the best.” I slipped the small box-shaped object onto the entry
table by the door the moment I followed Ethan into the room.
    He sat in the
armchair, head in his hands.
    My heart melted at
the sight of him so dejected, so worried. Maybe we should go home. It was selfish
of me to put him through this. A knock sounded at the door, stopping me from
uttering words I really didn’t want to say.
    I turned. Officer Manano , accompanied by his sidekick, Williams, stood on the
sidewalk. “Officers, how may I help you?”
    “This is not a
pleasure call, Mrs. Banning.” Officer Manano pushed
past me. “So, I will get straight to the point. Did you visit Haleakala Crater
today?”
    “Yes.” Had someone
told him about my close escape from death? My gaze fell on the tazer . I stepped in front of the table and slid the object
behind the lamp. It wouldn’t do for Officer Five-O to confiscate my only
weapon.
    “Did you speak to
Mrs. Aldrich?” He nodded to Williams, who pulled a notepad and pen from his
pocket.
    “No, I did not. Why
would you ask me that?”
    “What’s this about?”
Ethan stood next to me.
    “Mrs. Aldrich is
dead. Someone thought she needed to dry her hair while taking a bath.”
    “What?” Was this
building too old to have a breaker that would trip if an electrical appliance
fell in the water? I glanced toward the bathroom. “Isn’t there a code or
something that prevents buildings from being archaic enough to allow someone to
be electrocuted?”
    “Apparently not,” he
answered.
    “Someone needs to
check into that.” Seriously. Someone else could be
killed.
    He peered at me from
under thick brows. “I’ll get right on it.”
    My legs refused to
hold me. I collapsed onto the sofa. “She was so happy earlier.”
    “I thought you
didn’t speak with her.” Manano leaped on my words
like a bird on a June bug.
    “I didn’t, my –” I
ducked my head, not wanting to give up my aunt to this man I didn’t trust.
    “ Your what?”
    “Aunt.” I sighed. “Aunt Eunice said Mrs. Aldrich was
happier than anyone had a right to be.” Why did I feel like a stool pigeon?
Anyone in their right mind would know Aunt Eunice couldn’t kill anyone. Well,
maybe a deer or a rabbit, but nothing human. Poor Mr.
Aldrich. He must be devastated. He and his wife had seemed so in love
with each other.
    Williams’s pen scratched the surface of the paper. When
I craned to see what he wrote, he turned away.
    “Any reason your
aunt might want to stop Mrs. Aldrich from being so happy?”
    “That’s pure
ridiculousness.”
    Manano gave me a cold stare. “I sincerely hope you
aren’t planning on leaving Maui any time soon, Mrs. Banning.”
    Well, there went
Ethan’s opportunity to spirit me away.
    “Not before the
thirteenth,” Ethan said. “By then, we’ll all know for sure who the killer is.”
The frigid tone of his voice gave me goose bumps.
    The two men stared
unblinking until Manano turned away. “Stay out of
police business. There’s more going on than you know.”
    From the determined
look on Ethan’s face, I knew he was set on finding out just what that was. The
thought scared me a bit. He had helped me a lot in the last two mysteries I
solved, but with this one, he might be even more fixated than me.
    After the police
left, Ethan turned to me. “Let’s go.”
    “Where?”
    He tugged me to my
feet. “I need to talk to Joe. We need to come up with a plan to solve this
thing before you’re either killed or thrown in jail.”
    Neither option
appealed to me, so I slipped