Moon over Maalaea Bay Read Online Free PDF

was silent as the patrol car rolled along the highway between Wailuku and Kihei. The questions had all been asked, and there was no news to discuss.
    Lee was also silent as he tried to come up with his own plan to end this nightmare.
    A few minutes down the road, Yagi broke the silence. “It’s been a tough evening for us all, and it’ll probably be a long night for every cop on the island. Brandt, you need to go back to your room and try to get some rest. Like Ramirez said, if something breaks, we’ll let you know.”
    “Yeah. It’s going to be a long night.” But there was no way he could rest, and going back to the room would only drive him crazy with thoughts and worries about Jennifer. He could feel her in his arms like she was minutes before she vanished. He’d already been driven crazy, he just hadn’t admitted to himself. “Will you guys please drop me off at the lot north of the shops? That’s where I parked our car.”
    As they approached the north end of town, Kaai veered left onto Highway 31 to bypass the downtown area. A few lights later, he turned right, and they descended the hill, heading into town.
    As they approached South Kihei Road, Lee recognized their location. “Our car is in the lot on the right, about half a block ahead.”
    After Kaai stopped the patrol car in the parking lot, and Yagi opened the door, Lee hopped out of the confining back seat. “Thanks guys. Let me know the minute you hear anything, OK?”
    “Sure thing,” Yagi said. “Now you try to get some rest. Let us and the Feds do what we do best, catch the bad guys.”
    If they were trying to encourage him, it wasn’t working. “Yeah. I’ll try.”
    Lee unlocked the door of the rental car and slid in. The tropical fruit fragrance of Jennifer’s lotion lingered in the car. It created an ache so intense and deep inside that breathing took effort.
    Panic, depression, and nausea assaulted him in a physically and emotionally crippling sequence. Lee swallowed hard and fought off the urge to vomit. His feelings of helplessness and hopelessness were overwhelming. He had to do something now, or it would send him to a place he couldn’t afford to go. Sleep, that was out of the question. So was going back to the room where he and Jennifer had planned to spend their wedding night. Wedding night…nightmare. If only he could wake up and end the dream. That wasn’t going to happen unless he made it happen.
    He started the car, turned right out of the lot, and then went left on South Kihei Road, looking for a place to think, to get some coffee, and to plan.
    Less than a mile down the road, he came to a strip mall on the left hosting a twenty-four hour restaurant. In an hour or so, there would be nothing else open. The restaurant seemed made to order. He turned in and parked.
    Lee walked into the place and looked for a suitable table, one like him, alone and in a corner.
    With only a half dozen other customers in the place, a waitress soon spotted him at his table. “Aloha and good evening. What can I get for—”
    “Coffee. Black, please. That’s all.” He didn’t feel the spirit of aloha tonight and it wasn’t a good evening.
    The change in the waitress’s expression told him she got the message. “Coffee, coming right up.”
    After the waitress wheeled and strode away, his spot in the corner seemed too confining. It was closing in on him. He felt uneasy, claustrophobic. He had to move. Now.
    When Lee stood, he was panting, struggling to breathe. He needed to settle down and think, or he would be no good to Jennifer. No good to anybody. He sat back down.
    A thought, perhaps a voice, sounded in his troubled mind, reverberating inside his heart. Do you trust Me?
    “Yes,” he whispered without hesitation, without thinking.
    Even in light of this?
    He couldn’t answer. His own heart convicted him. Yes, he trusted God within limits, within the comfort zone of Lee Brandt’s normal, tidy life. But this was a violation of trust,