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  NORTH SHORE NANNY

  A McKenna Mystery

  Trouble in Paradise Series

  TERRY AMBROSE

  BOOKS BY TERRY AMBROSE

  MCKENNA MYSTERIES

  PHOTO FINISH

  KAUAI TEMPTATIONS

  BIG ISLAND BLUES

  MYSTERY OF THE LEI PALAOA

  HONOLULU HOTTIE

  NORTH SHORE NANNY

  MAUI MAGIC (COMING 2017)

  LICENSE TO LIE SERIES

  LICENSE TO LIE

  CON GAME

  A LEI CRIME KINDLE WORLD

  TOUGH CHOICES

  STEALING HONOLULU

  ANTHOLOGIES

  PARADISE, PASSION, MURDER: 10 TALES OF MYSTERY FROM HAWAI‘I

  HAPPY HOMICIDES 3: SUMMERTIME CRIMES

  COPYRIGHT

  NORTH SHORE NANNY

  ASIN: B01GGMJ786

  Copyright © August 2016 by Terry Ambrose

  All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, business, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover photos by Depositphotos.com

  Cover and Book design by Pen 2 Ink Designs

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Terry Ambrose writes the Trouble in Paradise (McKenna Mystery) series and the License to Lie thriller series. Terry has been nominated for multiple awards and won the 2014 San Diego Book Awards for Best Action/Thriller.

  Terry’s novels receive consistent praise from readers for their complex characters and plots. Kirkus Reviews said Terry’s writing has “. . . the kind of snark that will remind readers of Elmore Leonard.”

  Find Terry’s books on Amazon: amazon.com/Terry-Ambrose/e/B008NR7QZ4

  Learn more about Terry on his website: TerryAmbrose.com

  Twitter: twitter.com/suspense_writer

  Facebook: facebook.com/suspense.writer

  THANK YOU

  Thank you for purchasing this copy of “North Shore Nanny.”

  One thing readers can do to let an author know they’ve enjoyed a book is to pass the word along. When you finish reading, I hope you’ll take a moment to rate or review this book.

  If you use social media, you can also help by telling others about “North Shore Nanny” on your favorite site.

  Mahalo for reading! I sincerely hope you enjoy the book.

  Terry

  CONTENTS

  BOOKS BY TERRY AMBROSE

  COPYRIGHT

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  THANK YOU

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER ONE

  Cobalt blue, magenta, and streaks of charcoal splashed across the horizon. A classic O‘ahu sunset. Beauty beyond compare. Far away from the darkness I'd been finding lately in Honolulu.

  We were only a few miles off the shore of O‘ahu, where I call home these days. My best friend's 42-foot catamaran rolled with the gentle, blue-black swells. This was paradise, despite the unforgiving fiberglass sidewall pressing into my back. Here, aboard the Hawaiian Delight, among my friends, I was content. No—happy. For the first time in many a year, I was a happy man.

  Benni Kapono’s eyes sparkled as she watched me. "What's up, McKenna?"

  I swallowed hard. “How did I ever get so lucky?”

  She raised one eyebrow and her hand fell easily on my leg. “I hope you’re not referring to that guy," she said as she inclined her head toward Chance Logan.

  Chance and his new girlfriend Lexie sat on the opposite side of the boat smiling at us.

  Benni’s gaze reflected a mysterious quality I’d given up on years ago—love.

  I shook my head. “You. I’m talking about you.” This whole cruise was almost surreal. Most tourists shelled out almost three hundred bucks for one couple. Chance had rented the entire boat. Private tour. He wouldn’t even discuss the cost. It puzzled me why a guy who’d put out that kind of money and had hired a swanky caterer hadn’t also taken the waitstaff. I suppose we all had to cut corners where we could. Maybe the rich kid wanted to keep this display of generosity more intimate.

  Yes, definitely intimate. Benni was here. Nothing else mattered. My heart pounded in my chest. I pointed at Chance. “This guy, though. He’s trouble. His determination to become a PI nearly got me killed. I don’t consider that good fortune, but it did help me realize what I’d been missing. I feel complete. I never want this moment to end.”

  Across from us, Lexie captured Chance’s attention with her smile. “Me, either." She gazed into Chance's eyes. "You’ll make a great husband.”

  Chance’s face tightened; his posture straightened. He went from laid back to a man approaching the gallows in no time.

  “No worries.” Lexie giggled as she winked at Benni. “It’s just dinner with friends. I’m not expecting a proposal.”

  The two women seemed to communicate via some sort of inexplicable girl-wavelength we males couldn’t hear or decipher. They both laughed and Lexie gave Chance a peck on the cheek. “Maybe on our second date."

  Chance’s eyes widened. “Second? This is, like, number five.”

  Lexie shook her head. “Don't be silly. Lunch and coffee don’t count. Or when you were working. This one’s official.”

  There went that intra-girl dialogue again. Benni said, “No worries, Chance, she’s just kidding.”

  The owner of the boat, Alexander Kapono, had been my best friend—and sometimes my only one—since I'd arrived in the islands. I don't know how I would have survived my first five years here without him. He stood in the open cabin doorway, as comfortable on the rolling deck as he was on land.

  "We gonna take a break here, brah." He stepped around us and loosened the mainsail.

  A moment later, silence engulfed us as Alexander's wife Kira cut the engines. A pod of dolphins had been pacing us while we were under power. Now, as we slowed to a stop, they lost interest and swam away. I held my breath and listened to the gentle lapping of wavelets against the hull.

  Kira emerged from the cabin and clapped her hands. “Okay, time for a party! Benni, Lexie, you can help me get all the food from below.”

  The girls followed Kira while Chance and I watched the sunset. A moment later, Alexander joined us.

  “Ono view, yah?” Alexander was definitely a Hawaiian and Pidgin lingo pro. He spoke with the ease of someone who’d been using multiple languages his entire life. Nice guy that he was, he’d even offered to school Chance in the basics.

  “Yeah, it is a beautiful view,” Chance said. So far Alexander’s lessons seemed wasted. As Chance had once put it, he wasn’t a Pidgin kind of guy.

  From below deck, I heard Kira shriek. “What da kine?”

 
Alexander motioned for Chance and me to stay where we were as he ran to the open hatch. He backed away as Lexie, Benni, and a girl I’d never seen emerged through the opening. The girl's long, dark hair fell beyond her shoulders. She had the bronzed complexion of a local and wore black shorts, which she’d topped off with a long-sleeved Nike shirt.

  Kira followed the girl up the steps, all the time on a full rant. Her face was bright red and she was jabbering so fast in Pidgin I couldn't understand a word. Finally, she calmed down enough for me to actually hear her words. “You gotta explain dis you uncle. You mom gonna have my head."

  Kira scowled at the kid and yanked on her arm. The girl winced, but didn't say a word or cry out.

  "You stowed away on our boat?” Kira looked like she was ready to pop her cork.

  Alexander's jaw worked, but no words came out.

  The girl looked familiar. Wait. She was. Unless I was mistaken, she was the one the Honolulu Star-Advertiser profiled in their story about our next generation of surfers. Yeah, Kai Palakiko. Surfing sensation. “You’re the kid from the paper.”

  “And you’re the guys who busted that con man’s killer.”

  Her voice was husky for a child, let alone a young girl. The top of her head came only to Kira’s shoulder, which put her at about four-and-a-half feet tall. She was skinny, but the muscles in her legs had the definition of a long-time surfer. If I remembered my facts correctly, Kai was ten years old.

  “Yeah, that’s us.” I suppose Chance and I had become some sort of local heroes after exposing what the papers were now calling the “Honolulu Hottie” scandal. What did our previous caper have to do with a ten-year-old girl?

  Alexander crossed both arms over his chest and stood, towering over her. “What you doin’ on my boat, Kai? Your mom know where you are?”

  “No,” said Kira. “She already told me her mom don't know nothin’ on dis. I’m callin’ right now.” Kira returned to the main cabin. I watched her pull out her cell and tap in a number.

  Kai approached Alexander and stood before him, gazing up. “I’m sorry Uncle Alexander, but I had to do it. I need to hire a PI.” Next, she walked sure-footed across the deck and sat next to me. “What’s your price to solve a murder?”

  I gaped at her, dumbfounded.

  To the side, I heard Benni say, “Oh, she’s adorable.”

  Lexie nodded. “She’s so cute.”

  Kai flashed a brilliant smile at the two women. “Thank you.” She turned back to me, all business once again. “Well?”

  “Uh, Kai, I don’t really work for money. I’m not a private investigator. Neither is Chance.”

  Chance shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. “I’m working on my license. Who got murdered?”

  “What? Are you crazy? We can’t take on a case for a—a minor. As a matter of fact, we can’t take a case for anybody. And what am I saying? There’s no we in you wanting to be a PI.”

  On the sidelines, I heard voices, one at a time. First, Benni; then Lexie; finally, Chance.

  “McKenna . . .”

  No way. Even if it was three against one, this was not happening. Was I the only sane one on this boat? “Alexander? Please. Help me out here, brah.”

  “How’d you get here?” Alexander stood over Kai staring down at her.

  “Bus.”

  Alexander’s eyes widened. “You took da bus from North Shore?”

  “The 52 got me to Honolulu,” Kai shrugged. “It was just one transfer.”

  “You?” I sputtered. “You took a bus all the way across the island? Where are you from?”

  “Halei‘wa. No big deal.”

  “You’re a kid! They let you do that on your own?”

  Kai rolled her eyes. “Doh. And here I thought you were smart. Everybody says you ride the bus all the time. You never see kids on the bus?”

  I started to respond, then realized I was debating public transit policies with a ten-year-old. Talk about pointless. There was no need to ask her how "everybody" knew my bus-riding habits. It had been in the news story courtesy of my ramblings to a nosy reporter. “Never mind.” I glanced at Alexander. “Do we need to go back?”

  He nodded. “Yah. I gonna have to drive Kai home.”

  “No.” It was Kira, stepping out of the main cabin. “I just spoke to her mom. She got home and thought maybe you drowned. She was gettin’ ready to call the cops.”

  The girl closed her eyes and bit her lower lip. She made a face at the cell phone she pulled from her back pocket. “The tracker. It sucks.”

  “Busted, yah?” I snickered.

  “Now that her mom know where Kai is, she gonna be fine,” Kira said. “Her mom and dad gonna meet us at the dock.”

  Kai planted both hands on her scrawny hips. She let out a little huff and gave me a determined stare. “Now, can we get back to business? What’s your price? Everybody says you’re, like, the best. My friend is in trouble and she’s not going to get out of it on her own. It’s up to me to save her.”

  Benni knelt next to Kai. “Who’s your friend, sweetheart?”

  No way. No. Way. We could not do this.

  “She’s my nanny. We’re more like best friends because I don’t need a nanny, but Mom and Dad are overprotective.”

  “What are you, ten going on twenty-five?” I snapped.

  Benni and Chance both looked shocked. Alexander crossed his arms over his chest again and gave me stink eye. I suppose he was correct, I had no right getting cross with Kai. Even if she was out-of-line by being here.

  “I thought you wanted her to go home.” Jeez, I sounded like a whiner. “She needs adult supervision, not a sleuth to find a killer.”

  Next thing I knew Kai was the center of attention. She had Benni assuring her she hadn’t made the trip in vain, Lexie gazing on with that I-want-one-just-like-her look, and Chance looking like he might drool on himself over the possibility of scoring another murder case. On top of everything else, Alexander and Kira alternated between whispering to each other and shooting me dirty looks. What? Did they think I was the reason Kai ran away?

  I knew the smart thing to do was jump overboard and hope the dolphins would return me to shore. But, something about Kai melted my heart. I cursed myself as I said, “So tell me about this murder.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  At ten-years-old, Kai Palakiko was already one of O‘ahu’s top “little shredders.” I’d seen a few of them in action and couldn't believe their bravado. Nobody could deny those kids really did look like they were tearing up the waves when they surfed.

  Kai was in competition for the top spot on the island. With surfing now a big-money sport, her favorite pastime might become a ticket to fame and fortune. It was my bad luck she was also smart as a whip. If the kid had an IQ to match her moxie, all I could say was, "Look out world."

  To be fair, Kai knew nothing about solving murders other than, as she put it, “hire the best.” She was quite open and immediately disclosed her budget. She had $112.42 for a retainer, which she’d depleted somewhat due to the cost of transportation—$2.50 for the bus—and dinner—which had consisted of a coke and a pack of M&Ms.

  I suspected Kai had done the math and decided a true professional was beyond her means. A more accurate description of Kai’s strategy would be something like, “hire the best you can afford.”

  We’d also gotten past the basic facts. Juliana Rollins was the accused. She’d worked for the Palakiko’s for three years. June Palakiko had originally hired Juliana through a Honolulu agency, but about three months ago, Juliana had transferred to a North Shore outfit at the Palakiko’s request. Since the changeover, Juliana had also been waitressing in her spare hours at a pizza joint in Hale‘iwa.

  Kai said the cops weren’t pressing charges yet, but they had interviewed her mom. When June told her daughter Juliana might not be around much longer, Kai had decided it was up to her to save Juliana.

  Lexie and Benni sat on the bench opposite Chance and me with Kai between them.
It was like watching a pair of mothering bookends who doted on their adorable charge. It was also obvious Kai knew exactly how to extract the most encouragement from each. I gave the kid credit. She had it all together and wasn’t even old enough to drive. No doubt about it, this one was destined to be a heartbreaker—provided some big wave didn’t kill her first.

  I licked my lips, unable to resist my growing curiosity. “So, who was your nanny supposed to have killed?”

  “Her boss.”

  I scrunched up my face. “Isn’t your mother her boss?”

  Kai rolled her eyes and gazed up at Benni, who shook her head as she gave me a “you’re hopeless” look. “You really are out of touch, McKenna. Nannies work through a service these days.” She turned to Kai. “Sweetheart, you said Juliana transferred to a new agency at your parents’ request. What’s the company’s name?”

  “North Shore Nanny. The cops say Juliana killed the owner because she wasn’t getting paid. It’s all bogus. Juliana’s being railroaded because she’s caught in a government conspiracy.”

  “So the CIA killed the big nanny boss?” Oops, I hadn’t meant to be snarky. It just popped out.

  Ignoring me, Kai played the Benni card again. “Is he always this difficult?”

  Benni bit her lip and hid a smile.

  “Always,” said Alexander. “How come we ain’t heard nothing about this on the news?”

  Kai ignored Alexander’s question as she clamped one hand on her forehead and rubbed her temples. “Man, this is going to be harder than I thought.”

  The only “murder” news story I’d seen lately had been about a poisoning on the North Shore. The press had labeled it accidental. Could this be the same case?

  Chance placed his hand on my shoulder.

  “Fine,” I said. “She’s all yours.”

  “Thanks, McKenna.” He leaned toward Kai. “Why do you believe Juliana is innocent?”

  “First off, she had no motive. She wasn’t being paid and killing her boss wasn’t going to do her any good. Second, the cops are manipulating the evidence. They claim Mrs. Kraft was poisoned and say Juliana knew how to do it.”