Read Online Wedding Day Dead: A Murder on Maui Mystery by Robert W. Stephens - Free Book Online Page A

Michelle, and he’d want me to let her inside, so I dragged myself off the sofa and stumbled to the front door. I swung open the door without looking through the peep hole. It was Alana. She was dressed in her work clothes, and her hair was much neater than mine, but she looked just as tired. I stood in the doorway and stared at her.
    “May I come in?” she asked.
    I stepped back from the door to let her pass. I didn’t say anything. We walked into the living room, and I sat back down on the sofa. Maui the dog ran up to Alana. She ignored him at first but then finally bent over to pat him on the head. Several long moments of silence went by. Neither of us knew what to say. Finally, Alana spoke.
    “I do want to talk about us, but there’s something else you need to know first. I wanted it to come from me before you heard it on the news. I really don’t know how to say this, but Panos was murdered at the marina last night.”
    “What?”
    “They found his body in the cabin of his boat. His throat was cut.”
    “Who did it?” I asked.
    “We don’t know. I was one of the detectives who got the call.”
    “So you’re the lead on the case?”
    Alana shook her head.
    “Not with my personal connection to him. Another detective named Glen Adcock got it. Unfortunately, he’s a first-class asshole.”
    “Panos is dead,” I said. I really couldn’t believe it.
    “Hani is going to move in with me for a while. She’s as torn up as you’d expect her to be.”
    “How are you?” I asked.
    “Not good.”
    I wasn’t sure what to say or do at that point. All of a sudden my relationship problems didn’t seem to matter.
    Alana shoved her hands into her pockets.
    “About us - I’m sorry. I really have nothing I can say to defend myself. I wanted to call yesterday. I dialed your number a million times only to hang up before it started ringing. I just didn’t know what to say.”
    I said nothing.
    “Panos came up to me on the dance floor. He said he wanted to talk to me in private. I didn’t know what he wanted. I had way too much to drink, and honestly, I didn’t care what he had to say, but he insisted that I come to the back office with him. He apologized for leaving me for Hani.”
    Alana looked away like she was reliving the conversation. I thought about saying something in response but thought better of it. She turned back to me.
    “I can’t tell you how long I waited for that apology, but when he finally gave it, it didn’t really matter. He said he still loved me, but he loved Hani too. He was still going to marry her, but he wanted me to know how he felt about me. That’s when he kissed me, and you and Hani walked in the room at the worst possible moment. If you had been one second later, you would have seen me push him away.”
    I wanted to tell her that it didn’t seem that way to me, but now definitely didn’t seem like the time for a debate. Panos was dead.
    “Yesterday morning I went by Hani’s house and apologized to her, and I backed out of her wedding,” she said.
    “So you had time to apologize to her in person, but you couldn’t even send me a text message?” I asked.
    “I love Hani. She’s my sister, but you mean more to me. I couldn’t stand what I had done to you. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but it was easier to face her than you.”
    “What now?” I asked.
    “I don’t know. I think I just need time.”
    “Time for what?”
    “To figure out what to do,” she said.
    I wasn’t sure what she meant. A million questions ran through my mind. Did she not want to be with my anymore? Did I want to be with her? Where do we go from here?
    Alana said she needed to go and be with her sister. I walked her to the door. She turned to me once she got out on the porch. We just looked at each other for several seconds. I thought she wanted to tell me something else, but she said nothing. She finally nodded and walked to her car. I stood in the open doorway and watched her drive