He shook his head. “You have any idea? You’ve lived here just as long as I have.”
Jillian glanced at her watch and chewed her lip. “My plane leaves in a few hours. I should just cancel and take another flight so I can help you find someone.” She rubbed her forehead. “This was a crazy idea, Jesse. I can’t go.”
Jesse frowned and shook his head. “You’re going. I’ll figure something out.”
Kaia decided to take pity on them both. “You’re needing a daycare person? I had a wonderful nanny growing up. I could give you her name and number.”
Relief flooded Jesse’s face. “Could you get it now?”
“I have her number at home. I could call you tonight with it.”
Jesse lowered his voice and glanced toward his niece, who was busy tossing out snorkel gear from the trunk of the car. “I have a friend at work, Donna, who might be happy to keep her today until I can find some day care for her,” he said to Jillian.
A woman. Kaia had to wonder if it was a girlfriend, and the disquieting feeling that swept over her surprised her. She wasn’t interested in the handsome commander.
“I could take her to see the dolphins today.” She blurted the words without thinking.
Kaia liked kids, and Heidi’s interest in dolphins intrigued her. Besides, Kaia wouldn’t want to be stuck in Jesse’s office all day if she were a child.
Jillian looked from her brother to Kaia uncertainly. “Are you two friends?”
“Not exactly,” Jesse muttered. “But I think we can trust her. If she’s so conscientious with her dolphins, she’ll take good care of Heidi.”
Heidi came in on the last of the conversation. “I get to see the dolphins today?” She began to jump up and down.
Jillian bit her lip. “Are you sure? Have you been around kids much?”
“I love kids,” Kaia assured her. “I teach hula to ten eight-year-olds every week.”
“Okay,” Jillian said. She dug in her purse for a scrap of paper and scribbled a number on it then handed it to Kaia. “Here’s my cell phone number. Call me with any questions.”
“Okay,” Kaia said. She almost laughed at Jesse’s expression of relief. “We’ll go out in the boat with Nani.”
“You’re a lifesaver,” Jillian said. “This job is important, but not as important as my daughter. She’s all I’ve got now.”
Kaia wanted to ask where the keiki ’s father was, but looking into Jillian’s shadowed eyes, she decided to bite her tongue. She turned to Heidi. “Want to meet Nani?”
“Can we go now?” Heidi kicked up red dust as she danced around Kaia.
“As soon as I get some instructions from your uncle.” She turned to Jesse. “What exactly do you want me to do with Nani?” Kaia asked.
His relaxed, easy manner had returned. “The dolphins the navy has trained can carry a camera on their back that allows us to monitor underwater activity. They can also attach a buoy to a swimmer so guards can find and pick up the intruder. Could Nani do that?”
“I’m sure she could figure it out. What do you want to work on first?”
“Let’s start with the camera. We can monitor what the lens picks up from onboard the boat. I’ll meet you at the base dock and we’ll put a harness with a camera on the dolphin. Then we can see whatever’s down there. I’d like you to work nights, if you could. That’s when we’d be most likely to have intruders. The first couple of days we can have the two of you out during the day until Nani knows what she’s doing, then switch to nights. Once she figures it out, you wouldn’t even have to be along. Our sailors could handle it.”
This might be kind of fun. Nani would probably thrive on the challenge, and Kaia would still have plenty of opportunity to test the communication skills between her and the dolphin. Plus, if Nani successfully foiled an intruder, Kaia could use her success to help convince Curtis to keep the research going. And she’d be on hand to see if the navy was trying to cover up anything about her cousin’s death. Kaia’s thoughts drifted to the catamaran tragedy and the missile testing. Could this intruder problem be related?
“I’d want to be there anyway to make sure Nani isn’t hurt. What exactly are we looking for?”
“In the past two weeks, we’ve had several intrusions that came from the sea. Probably a diver, maybe more than one. If we could apprehend whoever is doing this, we might be able to get him to tell us what he’s after and why.”
“Information about the missile defense system you just tested?” she suggested.
Jesse nodded. “Maybe. That’s what we need to find out.”
“Give me an hour. I’ll meet you back here.” She wanted to talk to her brother first.
He nodded then added his cell phone number to the scrap of paper Jillian’s was written on before turning to talk to his sister and niece.