Booktree.ng_Forgotten-Witness

CHAPTER 14
Amelia Francis looked nervous, lost, exhausted, and brittle. In
short, she looked exactly the same way she looked at Ha Kuna
House. The only difference between this Amelia and that one
was that she was holding a purse and not a broom. She held
that purse close and across her body. No woman did that
unless there was something important inside.
“Don’t cut her too much slack,” Stephen whispered while
they watched Amelia look for them.
“Great minds think alike,” Josie said under her breath.
“Or fools seldom differ,” Stephen shot back. “Oh-oh, she’s
pegged us.”
He gave Josie a poke just as the two women made eye
contact. The blond woman’s jaw set. She walked directly them
and then past then with hardly a pause.
“There’s a table outside in the back.”
Josie and Stephen exchanged a look. Stephen left some
money on the bar. The bartender slipped it off and into his
pocket as he watched them go. In the kitchen one of the cooks
tossed his head up slightly. Amelia gave a sober nod in return.
She pushed through the screen door. Josie was next. The door
bounced wide enough off her open palm for Stephen to get
through. As he pulled up the rear he bellowed, “Ah.”
The women paused and turned around. Amelia gave
Stephen a withering look; Josie a curious one. He stared back
all wide-eyed and innocent.
“Sorry. One never quite gets over the feel of the night air in
Hawaii. Like a caress, don’t you think?”
They obviously didn’t. They turned their backs. He
followed, disappointed not to have charmed them.
The backyard of the establishment was nothing but a patch
of dirt carved out of the tropical forest. It was partially lit by a
bare bulb over the small porch and there were three steps that