Eric’s mouth dropped. “What on earth is that? Are you sure?” He glanced at the phone in his hand, then clipped it back on his belt.
“It’s suspicious but not proven,” Leia admitted. “Acoustic neuroma is a rare type of cancer that develops in the nerves near the inner ear. Better safe than sorry. Besides, the call will wait until this is over.” She caught sight of Bane’s familiar dark head. Her initial reaction was to hunch down out of sight, but she forced herself to stand still.
She watched him embrace Candace and murmur a few words of condolence. Leia’s fingers curled into her palms, and she told herself not to be a child. Still, Candace was a widow now, and it would be natural for her to turn to Tony’s best friend for comfort. Bane was a free man, and Leia had no claim on him anymore—if she ever had. She’d thought she was emotionally free of him too, but his sudden reappearance on the island had shown her how foolish that belief had been. Seeing him again was like free-falling off a cliff into a bottomless blue hole.
Dirk Forsythe joined them. “Can I cut in? I need to get back to the shop, and the line looks an hour long.”
“Sure.” Shaina stepped back to allow him to crowd in behind Leia.
At nearly six-four, he towered over everyone but Leia. He’d always made her think of a blond Sylvester Stallone, and she expected him to drop to the ground and start doing one-armed push-ups any minute. He turned his languorous, heavy-lidded gaze on Shaina, and the other woman became visibly flustered. Leia had to bite her lip hard to keep from warning the woman that Dirk’s attention was merely polite. He talked about his fiancée back on O’ahu all the time, and no woman seemed to tempt him to stray. She admired that.
“How’s Candace doing?” Leia asked him. Maybe she could distract him long enough for Shaina to recover her wits. Dirk was too attractive for his own good. He didn’t seem to have any idea how he made a woman’s heart go pitter-patter.
Dirk shrugged. “You’d know that better than me. I’m sure she’ll be fine. The dive shop is worth some money, and it’s booming with business.”
“I meant emotionally,” she said dryly. Men could be so obtuse. “They were newlyweds. I thought maybe you’d checked on her.”
“Tony’s parents are in town. I didn’t want to intrude. Besides, I thought I’d be able to help more by keeping things running smoothly at the shop. I’ll do all I can to help, of course.”
“I’m sure she’s thankful you’re doing that.” Her gaze wandered to Bane again as he moved past Candace and turned to go. Her gaze met his, and he half raised his hand, then came toward her.
“I suppose you’ve all gotten calls from Ono?” Bane’s gaze swept the group again as everyone nodded. “You realize we’re all going to be under suspicion if Tony’s death is deemed a murder, don’t you?”
Shaina straightened, and her bushy hair bounced as she shook her finger at him. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Tony was our friend. None of us would hurt him.”
“I wish I’d been down there,” Dirk said. “Maybe I could have saved him.”
Bane colored slightly. “It all happened so fast. You know how it is underwater. None of us saw anything suspicious.”
Leia examined the faces of the other divers. Could one of them be a murderer? “The police have to know it couldn’t have been one of us,” she said. “Anyone could have seen the dive boat out there and realized he was down. Another diver could have attacked him.”
“Who was his buddy?” Jermaine demanded.
“I was,” Leia said. “But I was looking at the coral, and he signaled that he’d be right back, then he swam into the cave.”
“He knew better than to go into a cave alone,” Rae said.
“Apparently not,” Dirk said. “Then what happened, Leia?”
“I don’t know. I just remember Bane pointing to Tony shooting to the surface. We all swam up and found out what happened. I never saw a thing.”
“No divers you didn’t recognize or any other kind of disturbance?” Bane asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing. This isn’t your problem, Bane,” Leia told him. “You always think it’s your job to take care of everything. Let the police handle it.”
“Tony was my best friend. He gave me a job when I needed to help support my family, he pulled me from the waves when I got knocked from the boat and hit my head on the side—he would expect me to be there for his family. I’m not going to turn my back on him now.”
“I’m not asking you to. But let Ono handle it.”