about the theft of cash.
He leaned against the edge of my desk and nodded. “They’ve been working on minor renovations at Orchid Reef for the last few weeks, as you know. I’m glad when Gideon renovated this hotel he had the forethought to prepare the rooms for the possibility of making them conference and special occasion friendly. It will make my job that much easier.”
Kate clutched her purse to her side. “You’ll have to spend some time there in Honolulu then?”
I spoke before he could this time. “We will, but I can work from anywhere now that I have Slick,” I explained pointing at the new computer. “It will be easier for me to be at Orchid Reef and I can deal with anything that comes up here by telecommunication. We’ll make it work,” I promised.
“I have no doubt, but I asked because I wanted to be sure that you have everything you need while there. I’ll call ahead and instruct them to give you carte blanche.”
“That’s great, thanks Katie,” Mr. I.T. said. “I’ll make sure to look into what we discussed as well.”
“What you discussed?” I asked, wondering what the secret was.
Katie smiled at me. “It’s regarding the event for the law clinic. I would really like to have it in Honolulu. It’s a bigger venue and we have more draw from the bigger island.”
“What about the people from this island who would like to come?”
“Gideon has the helicopter we can use to transport people, but Mally also mentioned maybe we could offer a ferry ride from Maui to Honolulu. It takes about three hours by water, but we were thinking about offering a high class ferry experience, for a price, of course.”
I could feel my lips frowning and I wasn’t sure how to tell her it wasn’t a good idea.
“You don’t like the idea?” she deduced by the look on my face.
“I like the idea of drawing more people over from the other island, but the law clinic is here. Personally, I think the people of Maui who want to come, but can only afford a smaller donation, would be excluded. They like to help their own, but they don’t have the funds for both. Besides, I think Kupid’s Cove is a much better venue. Nothing against Orchid Reef, but the beach isn’t as big or secluded as Kupid's Cove. Just my opinion.”
Katie looked up at Mally and back to me, then sighed. “You’re right. It’s why I’ve been hedging on doing it there and asked Mally to check into the options for me. I guess I should have asked you.”
I laughed a little and shrugged. “I understand that sometimes you like to come up with ideas on your own, but running them past the marketing girl might help work out the kinks. I agree with you that a lot of the more affluent community members attend these events to donate, so they wouldn’t think a thing of paying to be ferried to the destination while enjoying high-end food and entertainment. Maybe we could work it backward and bring people from Honolulu here? We could offer an overnight stay at the hotel in the package deal.”
They both beamed at my suggestion and Mr. I.T. bumped me in the shoulder a little. I came dangerously close to falling down again. He grabbed me last minute and Katie had jumped up to grab me as well.
“Ellie, what’s going on with you?” he asked, the worry evident in his voice.
“Nothing, I just wasn’t expecting you to bump into me.” I tried to gloss over it and move on quickly. “What are your thoughts on having it here as planned with the option for Honolulu guests to attend? Since we’re going there to work with the contractors I could get the ball in motion.”
Kate sat back down, though she kept an eye on me as she spoke. “I think it’s a great idea. If the weather’s nice, I also plan to host an outdoor event. It would be much more fun to host it on Kupid’s Cove.”
I frowned. “I can see I’m going to have to remake the invitations. None of this information was on my radar when I made them.”
I handed them to her and she