The hissing and popping noises grew a notch. Annie looked at the slope and realized the terrain was sliding. An avalanche of black volcanic rock and ash moved quickly down the slope. She struggled to maintain her position. A roar filled her ears, and she wasn’t sure if she was swimming up or down. Nani bumped her, and she grabbed hold of the dolphin’s dorsal fin as space and distance seemed to rush past her. Was she rising to the surface? Shaking her head to clear it, she glanced at her depth gauge and realized she must have swum down when the rockfall started. Nani had helped her level out. Annie had forgotten all her training about underwater avalanches. If not for Nani, she would have found herself three hundred feet down and having to spend some time in a hyperbaric chamber.
She pointed up, and Fawn nodded. They swam toward the surface into water that got hotter near the top. The dolphin swam in circles around them. Pausing occasionally to decompress, all Annie’s fears returned. Was this her sister’s slipper? She didn’t see how it could be. Leilani would never come out here.
Her head broke the surface, and she spit out her regulator and turned to her friend. “Leilani has a pair just like this,” she gasped.
Fawn pulled her mask down around her neck as she treaded water. She took out her regulator. “So do I,” she said. “Don’t assume they belong to Leilani.”
Annie nodded. “I know, I know. But it’s the same size and everything. I’m scared, Fawn.” A wave struck her, and she swallowed a mouthful of salty water. She choked and sputtered, then caught her breath again.
“Let’s call it a day.” Fawn’s gaze was sympathetic. They swam away from the volcano to cooler water, and Fawn released the buoy so Jillian could find them.
Her mind on the slipper, Annie could hardly think about the data they’d just collected. She’d hoped working would get her mind off her brother and sister, but instead everything had come crashing in again. If only Tomi would call and tell her Leilani was with him. She depended on him, on his good-natured take on things, his strong will and nature. She was used to being the strong one, but she was tired, at the end of her strength. She couldn’t go on like this much longer.
She heard the sound of the approaching boat. Fawn stuck up her hand, and Jillian stopped to pick them up. As they rode to shore, Annie showed Jillian what they’d found.
“I’ve seen half a dozen women wearing those,” Jillian said. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”
Annie wanted to believe her. As they approached the shore, she recognized Mano’s stocky form walking on the dock. Something constricted in her chest: that old, unwelcome feeling for the man who loved her sister. She saw it in his face every time Leilani’s name was mentioned.
Her eyes burned, and she tried to tell herself it was the salt water. There had to be some way to uproot these feelings. She’d walked in the shadow of Leilani’s beauty too many years to ever think a man who followed her sister with starry eyes could see past her own plain exterior to her heart and prefer her. It wasn’t going to happen.
Mano watched Annie step off the boat. The black wet suit she wore made her appear even tinier. Her mask hung around her neck, but she’d already dropped her air tanks off her back. Her black hair clung to her head, and she trailed seawater as she stepped onto the dock. She came toward him with a guarded expression, and he wondered if she was ever going to be her old self around him again.
She tugged her mask off over her hair. “We got some good readings,” she told him.
Mano looked at the slipper in her hand. “What’s that? A souvenir?”
“It was lodged under a rock on the seabed. Nani got it for me.” She nibbled on her lower lip. “Leilani has a pair just like it.”
“Ah.” No wonder the color had leaked from her face, and she wouldn’t meet his gaze. “And you think it might be hers? What would it be doing clear out here? Did she swim here much?”
“She never swam much, and certainly not out by a live lava flow. Her favorite pastime in a bikini was to lie on a beach somewhere and accept the admiration that came her way.”
“Sometimes you sound like you didn’t like your sister,” he blurted before he could bite back the words. He regretted it when he saw the way her face changed.
She blinked rapidly. “I love my sister, but I see her for who she is. Which is more than I can say for most men.” She bit her lip and looked away.
It was a jab, and the barb pricked him. Maybe he deserved it. He’d joined Leilani’s legion of admirers without resistance. It had taken him awhile to get over her, but he’d finally accomplished it. He decided to ignore her comment. “Has Tomi called you?” he asked her.
Her face clouded even more. “I haven’t heard a word from Tomi or Leilani. I thought you said he promised to call soon.”
“He did. Does he have your cell phone number?”
She nodded. “I should check it.” She angled a glance up at him. “I had a weird phone call Saturday night from someone using a voice synthesizer. Whoever it was said our family was going to pay for something. And the person insinuated Mother didn’t kill herself.”
He straightened. “Did the person mention Tomi’s money?”
She shook her head. “But they said they were sending Leilani to hell.” She shuddered.
A fierce wave of protectiveness washed over him, and he wished he could embrace her. He thrust his hands into the pockets of his denim shorts. “You called the cops?”