“Could it have anything to do with Koma?” Her eyes widened as her gaze connected with his.
Bane tore himself away before he drowned in her big blue eyes. “What could Koma have to do with it?”
“I may be totally off base, but Koma told me to talk to my t?t?. Those were his last words. He said he wanted to show me where the treasure was, but I thought I’d just get another of his stories. What if it wasn’t? What if he really knew where it was—and now t?t? is the only one who knows? She could be in danger too.”
“Leia,” Bane began, “this place is isolated, and even if someone drove by, they couldn’t see the house for all the trees. No one would hear you if you yelled for help. I think you and your t?t? need to go back to your dad’s place, at least until we figure out what’s going on.”
Ipo wandered in as he finished, and she was shaking her head. “I’m not leaving my home. Make him leave me alone, Leia.” She covered her face with her hands and began to cry—a pitiful sound that plucked at his heartstrings. He was a sucker for elderly people. Bane sighed. “How about if I stay too? I don’t want you two women out here alone.”
Ipo didn’t seem to hear him. She continued to wail, and Ajax whined. Leia finally went to her grandmother and put her arms around her. Ipo allowed Leia’s embrace this time, and Leia managed to calm her. “I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Leia said to Bane. “You don’t have to stay. We’re going to the village luau tonight, and there will be lots of people there. My parents are coming too.”
“I’m either staying or you’re going to your dad’s. Those are your only choices.” He folded his arms over his chest. “Whoever broke in has no fear. He did it in broad daylight.”
“We don’t know that. T?t? was so confused earlier, and maybe she awoke to the mess and it disoriented her.”
He shook his head. “The mud on the carpet was still wet. Whoever it was, he hasn’t been gone long. Your arrival may have frightened him off. Besides, your house was vandalized too.” He stood looking down at her and had to resist a powerful impulse to kiss her. She looked so vulnerable, so frightened. No doubt she wouldn’t welcome his embrace.
Once Eva talked to Leia and knew she was okay, Eva got out her colored pencils and paper. Her best friend, Lani, looked over her shoulder. Lani was so pretty, with the dark hair Eva had always wanted. She had Down’s too, but she was a year older than Eva and sometimes tried to pretend she was smarter. Eva didn’t think she was, though she loved Lani just like a sister.
“I’m bored,” Lani said. “You said your friend Hotshot might come. He is just made up, isn’t he? He’s not real.”
“The boys told you they play basketball with him.” Eva tried not to let her friend bother her. Lani just hadn’t seen Hotshot before, and she was jealous. “He’s real.” Her gaze touched on the woods that lined the park. “There he is!” She jumped to her feet, and her pencils scattered over the grass. She knelt and tried to grab them up, but they kept escaping her thick fingers. If only she had slim, pretty fingers like Leia and Malia instead of these short, stubby things.
Lani stood with her mouth dangling as Hotshot came toward them. He stopped when he saw Lani, and his smile faded. Eva got up from the ground. She didn’t want to make him mad, but she wanted her two friends to meet. She stuck her fingers in her mouth, then remembered she wasn’t supposed to do that. She pulled her hand down and put it in the pocket of her shorts. “Hi, Hotshot,” she said.
He acted like he didn’t know her and walked on past her. Tears filled Eva’s eyes. “He’s mad at me,” she said.
“I wouldn’t care. He’s old,” Lani said. “I think he’s scary. You shouldn’t go anywhere with him.”
“He’s my friend. He was just mad you were here.” Eva resolved to make it up to Hotshot somehow.
Fourteen
Her grandmother calmed down as evening fell. “We must go to the luau,” she told Leia and Bane. “I promised Jenny I’d bring sesame-cabbage salad. I made it yesterday and it’s all ready.”
Leia had been hoping to talk her grandmother out of the party in town, but at least the clouds in Ipo’s head had parted. She heard the crunch of tires on gravel outside and looked out the window. Bane’s brother stepped out of the village van that delivered people to various areas of the peninsula. “Mano is here,” she told Bane.
“He thought he’d be in time for the luau.” Bane smiled and went to the door. Ajax began to bark and ran out first.
Leia followed Bane outside as Mano came striding through the yard. He held the hand of a diminutive Asian girl who wore a smile that could light up a room. The young woman knelt and threw her arms around Ajax’s neck. While she wasn’t exactly beautiful, she had a charm that made Leia instantly warm to her.