get to the police station, assuming you even know where it is?â
âYou and I talked about renting a car after the conference so we could see the rest of the island,â I told him in a calm voice. âIâll just move the reservation up a few days.â
âJess-ieâ¦â he said, not even trying to hide his frustration.
âNick,â I interjected before he could go on, âI already feel involved in what happened to Marnie, just because I was probably one of the last people to see her alive. One of the very last conversations she had before she was murdered was with me! But now that someone actually broke into our hotel room and stole something they believed belonged to herâwhile I was alone in the shower, no lessâI canât simply stand around and do nothing! Especially since the intruder is undoubtedly going to think the tape is still in my possession. Theyâll probably be back!â
âSo youâre going to trek all the way over to the police station?â
âIt wonât take that long,â I assured him. âAnd I should turn over Marnieâs tape to them anyway.â But I didnât sound very convincing, not even to me.
Nick sighed. âJess, what happened to that reporter is horrific, and I understand that it shook you up. But I thought coming to Maui for your veterinary conference was supposed to give us an excuse to take a vacation together.
Not
for you to get involved in something as dangerous as a murder!â
I opened my mouth to argue my case further, then realized there was no point. âTell you what. After I get our room changed, Iâll run over to the police station and talk to them about what happened, and then you and I can meet back here at the hotel at six oâclock for the poolside Polynesian dance show.â
Nick thought for a few seconds. As he did, I searched his face for a crack in his stoniness. And then: âWill there be umbrella drinks?â
I laughed, relieved that he was finally coming around. âPlenty of umbrella drinks. Mai tais, piña coladas, you name it.â
âAnd dinner afterwardâwith mahimahi and pupu platters?â
âEnough for our own private luau.â
âOkay. Six oâclock.â He cast me a wary look, just to make sure I knew he thought I was making a volcanic mountain out of a molehill.
âThis is just one of the many reasons I love you,â I told him, sprinting across the room and kissing him on the cheek.
In less than a minute, Iâd pulled on shorts and a T-shirt, grabbed the canvas sun hat Iâd brought, tucked Marnieâs tape into my backpack, and dashed out. I was suddenly in a hurry to get out of that hotel room, a place that just minutes before had been occupied by some unwelcome visitor, and settle into a different room in some other part of the hotel.
But I was also in a hurry to talk to the Maui police. And while I hadnât managed to convince Nick that something was very wrong, I hoped Iâd manage to do a much better job with the cops.
The good news was that the Royal Banyan Hotel had a car rental service right on the premises, reachable by a stairwell that was accessible through the lobby. The even better news was that its inventory of available cars included a nifty dark blue Jeep Wrangler that came equipped with something called Command-Trac four-wheel drive. I didnât know exactly what that meant, but from the way it looked, the sturdy little vehicle could have made it through the Haleakala crater, zipping along the forbidding terrain as if it were no more challenging than a few irritating speed bumps. Daredevil antics aside, scuttling around a tropical island in a Jeep was undoubtedly going to be more fun than lumbering around Long Island in a veterinary clinic on wheels, or even in my beloved red VW Beetle.
But I hadnât come to the fun part of the vacation yet. I still had some nasty business to take care