French Connections

By S. Banks

(In the sequence of the shows, this story would fall just before “Resolutions.”)

            Magnum swirled the brown glass bottle in his hand, idly watching the little remaining beer slosh and spin. He drained the last swallows then lolled his head back against the sofa and closed his eyes against a raging headache. Higgins, as usual, was the cause of his headache. Jonathan Quail Higgins, that annoying little Brit who wasted no opportunity to needle Magnum, had thoroughly enjoyed the “briefing” he’d given that morning on the important guest who would be arriving at Robin’s Nest later in the week. A PhD in history --- Higgins had emphasized this bit of information as though pleased there would be one more person on the estate with what he considered an intellect superior to Magnum’s --- she was coming to enjoy all that Hawaii had to offer while finishing her latest book.

              Grimacing, Magnum held the bottle aloft for inspection hoping that he had missed a few drops. No such luck. He groaned as he eased himself off the sofa and made his way across the room to the refrigerator. The worst of it, he thought, was not that there would now be two versions of Higgins on the estate for him to deal with, but that one of those versions was Robin Masters’ daughter. He popped the top off another bottle of beer and headed back to the sofa. He hadn’t even known Robin had a daughter --- and neither had Higgins, Magnum suspected, although Higgins gave his briefing as though he had been privy to this startling bit of information all along. She was, as Higgins had recited in his most supercilious voice, the product of Robin’s brief marriage over twenty-five years earlier to the daughter of a prominent and wealthy Virginia family. Robin was completely besotted with his young wife, Anne, and was devastated by her accidental death only a year after their daughter’s birth. Magnum swallowed what felt like a lump of beer. He and Robin had something in common, it seemed.

            After his wife’s death, Robin was in no shape or position to raise an infant daughter --- or, so Anne’s relatives had convinced him. They had never approved of their daughter’s choice for a husband, and were eager to raise their granddaughter as they had her mother. That meant young years in the stodgy arms of Richmond Society and extended enrollments in prestigious European boarding schools. Magnum shivered as he imagined the sort of ice princess such an upbringing would undoubtedly produce. She was, he’d bet, more of a snob than Higgins. And she was coming to stay at Robin’s Nest --- perhaps to take over the estate. He rubbed his eyes and tried to focus them on the familiar room. Initially, he had wondered if he would be allowed to continue living in the guesthouse. Now he wondered whether he would want to continue living here.

            “Two Higgins’s,” Magnum muttered to himself. “What could be worse?”

            The phone rang, causing him to wince. He briefly considered ignoring it before stumbling across the room to answer. “Hello,” he snapped into the receiver. In his mood, the possibility of offending a potential client didn’t seem to matter. The familiar voice on the other end of the line did matter, however, and he snapped into a more alert, agreeable attitude. It was Robin.

            “Magnum,” the rich baritone began, ”I assume Higgins has told you my daughter will be arriving at the estate this week?”

            Magnum wrinkled his face in disgust but responded politely, “Yes, he told me about it this morning.”

            “Did he tell you of my special security concerns?”

            “No,” Magnum responded carefully. He had a strange feeling he wasn’t going to like whatever Robin would say next --- his little voice warning that things were about to get worse.

            “Yes, well, I did tell him I would call you myself.” Robin paused. “As you can imagine, Magnum, my daughter is, I believe, a tempting target to kidnappers. Between her mother’s family’s money and mine, well . . . you understand.”

            Magnum raised his eyebrows and nodded grudgingly, but said nothing.

            “There was an attempt once when she was around twelve. Then, after she came to live with me, there were a couple of crude threats made by someone with a rather perverted imagination.”

            She had lived with Robin? Higgins hadn’t mentioned that. “How long ago was that?” Magnum asked hoping for more detail on this interesting development.

            “She came to stay with me when she began working on her doctorate and has been with me since. Almost six years.” Robin’s voice sounded momentarily wistful giving Magnum a hint of the acute tenderness and indulgence the man had for his daughter. Robin returned to a more business-like tone. “In addition to her own work, she has been a tremendous help to me with research. I had hoped, while she was with me, to bring her out of the thick shell her grandparents had forced her into, but was not entirely successful. That’s one of the reasons I suggested she take over the house on Oahu, Magnum, not merely to work, but to force her out in her own right. That won’t come without problems, however, and possible dangers. Which is where you come in.”

            Magnum opened his mouth to respond, but wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted to say. Robin forged ahead into the silence. “Keep an eye on her, Magnum. She’ll be alright when she’s on the estate, I know, but whenever she leaves . . . well, keep an eye on her.”

            Acting as bodyguard to a rich, spoiled, intellectual snob was not high on Magnum’s list of goals. “Robin,” he began hesitantly, “I’m a private investigator. Personal protection isn’t really my specialty.”

“I will, of course, pay your fee.”

“No, Robin, you don’t understand. It’s not the fee. It’s just that I may not be the most qualified person you could get for this sort of thing. I know some people . . . can probably get you some names of really good people who do that kind of work if you want.”

            “No, Magnum,” Robin cut in. “I want you to do this. I’m not asking you to be her constant shadow. Just use your judgment . . . maybe accompany her on those occasions you feel present a risk.”

Depending on how bad someone wanted her, that could be any time, Magnum thought with irritation. “Robin . . .” he tried to protest again.

“Thomas, I’m asking you this personally.” Robin stated with a tone that implied he did not intend to let Magnum decline. “There is nothing more important to me than my daughter’s safety and security, and there is no one I would trust more than you. Please.”

Magnum’s head slumped toward his chest and he closed his eyes tightly. “What’s her name?” he asked opening his eyes again. They were clearer now, and focused – although on nothing in particular. He could almost hear the relief in Robin’s voice.

“Kelly.” Robin said. “Kelly Anne Masters.”

******

The day of Kelly’s arrival, Magnum deliberately lingered swimming laps in the tidal pool well beyond the time he expected Higgins to return from the airport. He hadn’t minded in the least that Higgins scoffed at the idea of Magnum going with him to pick her up. Higgins knew Robin had specifically asked Magnum to provide extra protection but felt his own presence, as he put it, “sufficient to deter any would-be thugs or ne’er-do-wells.” Now, exhausted from completing more than his usual number of laps, Magnum knew he could delay no longer. Indeed, as he climbed the grassy hill up from the beach, he heard Robin’s new Mercedes sedan coming up the gravel drive toward the house. Magnum walked slowly, lazily drying his hair, giving Higgins plenty of time to come to a stop before the main house. Higgins emerged from the sedan first and, casting a disapproving eye in Magnum’s direction, rounded the car to take Kelly’s bags from the trunk.

As Magnum neared the passenger side of the car, he saw Kelly emerging, long legs first. He nearly stumbled, then regained his composure enough to appear nonchalant as he took in the rest of her. Why he had expected a spinsterish librarian-type, he wasn’t quite sure, but his expectations certainly left him at a momentary loss for words in the face of the reality. “Grace Kelly,” was all he could think and he murmured the name to himself. “Grace Kelly with really long legs.”

To be sure, Kelly Masters could easily have passed for a young Grace Kelly. With her slender build, blonde hair and blue eyes, she had an icy cool beauty that would unfailingly draw second looks despite her apparent lack of vanity. She seemed comfortable in slacks and silk shirt that somehow managed to be casual and elegant at the same time. Her silky blonde hair was pulled back from her face into a simple braid and tucked at the nape of her neck. She wore almost no makeup to enhance her features, and yet her blue eyes were stunning.

Certainly, Magnum felt stunned, and ill at ease, as she looked him over. Her eyes swept efficiently from his wet hair to the tank top clinging to his wet chest, quickly across his wet swim trunks and down to his sloppily sandaled feet. If he had wanted to convey a lack of concern for her opinion, he had succeeded. Recovering himself quickly, he stuck out his hand. “Hi,” he said grinning, “I’m Thomas Magnum.”

Kelly took his hand and met it with a firm handshake and demure smile. “Mr. Magnum. I’m glad to meet you. My father has told me quite a bit about you.”

Once again, she had him at a disadvantage. Magnum glanced over his shoulder as Higgins slammed the trunk. He could only imagine what nice little bits of information Higgins might have added to what she already had learned from her father. Kelly’s unwavering eyes were still on him and he rested his hands on his hips, pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows as he searched for a suitable response.

“Magnum!” Higgins barked, unwittingly saving him. “Are you going to assist me with these bags?”

Higgins led the way into the cool foyer of the house. Kelly followed closely after him, while Magnum kept a comfortable distance behind. He found himself enjoying the sight of Kelly’s backside a little more than he would have liked, given that she was Robin’s daughter. He reminded himself of the boarding schools and the money, effectively turning her once again into a female Higgins. Magnum was startled when, upon hearing Higgins’ voice, “the lads” came bounding down the stairs. The two malevolent Dobermans -– Higgins’ henchmen, Magnum thought –- made straight for Kelly. To Magnum’s dismay, she didn’t flinch but put down the bag she was carrying and greeted the two animals in a soothing voice. It took only brief reassurance from Higgins for Zeus and Apollo to warm to her and allow her to stroke their silky coats.

Magnum could barely hide his disgust. The damned animals seemed willing to accept anyone who walked through the door, save for Magnum himself. He listened impatiently as Kelly talked to the dogs. He’d spent enough years in Tidewater to know a Virginia accent, and could tell that Kelly’s had been considerably watered down by her years in Europe. It was still distinguishable, however, just barely there --- like the hint of nuts in his favorite brandy.

Two servants appeared and took the bags up the winding stairs to the suite of rooms that had been prepared for Kelly. After agreeing to the dinner schedule Higgins outlined, Kelly disappeared up the stairs as well, leaving Higgins and Magnum alone in the foyer. Higgins eyed Magnum’s appearance with the disdain of an officer giving inspection. “You will dress for dinner,” he stated firmly. Grinning, Magnum turned on his heel and strode out of the house. Yep, he’d dress for dinner, he thought.

******

Dinner that evening was everything Magnum expected. Higgins fumed inwardly when he saw that Magnum had paired a suit jacket with a pair of jeans and considered himself  “dressed” for dinner. Kelly, who insisted on calling him “Mr. Magnum,” was stiff and formal, and seemed to form a natural bond with Higgins. She knew as much about food and wine as Higgins, and seemed perfectly content to listen to his long-winded war stories. If Magnum hadn’t been sure that flirting was something completely foreign to this woman, he’d have thought that was what she was doing with Higgins. He knew, though, it was simply a matter of comfort. Higgins was probably very much like her grandparents, as well as the people with whom she undoubtedly hobnobbed in Europe. He understood, but it irritated him nonetheless.

Once Higgins learned that she was fluent in both Spanish and French, he insisted on lapsing in and out of those languages whenever the opportunity presented itself. That irritated Magnum all the more. He briefly toyed with the idea of throwing out a little Vietnamese, but quickly abandoned the idea as too petty. He was relieved when the evening ended and he could make his way across the expansive lawn toward the guesthouse. As he left, Kelly agreed to meet with him the following day to discuss his plans for her security when she left the estate.

Somewhere inside him, though, a little voice urged him to double back and check the indicator board to see that all was in order with the security system. Everything was functioning properly, as were all of the perimeter security measures. He chided himself for being overly cautious and headed back to the guesthouse. His plans for Kelly’s added security were not overly elaborate, just an extra measure of caution really. He knew that members of wealthy families like Kelly’s wandered about the world as a matter of course without any security at all, and without incident. He didn’t want to let an overprotective father make him paranoid.

Magnum fell asleep quickly, but the comfort of deep slumber eluded him. Disturbing nightmares in which he tried --- and always failed --- to save Michelle from her assassins, held him in that limbo between waking and sound sleep. Though she would always command a piece of his heart, he had let Michelle go, allowing her death to sink in to the point of emotional closure. Since then, she had not appeared in his dreams until this night, and it unsettled him to the point that he was easily awakened by the distant sound of the dogs barking. He was sure he had only just drifted off and was surprised when he checked the clock and found that he had actually been sleeping for several hours.

The dogs were after something. Their barking was too intense for anything else. Instinctively, he pulled his .45 from the drawer in the nightstand and made a perfunctory check of the ammunition clip. Not bothering with a shirt, he shimmied into a pair of shorts and jammed his feet into shoes as he made his way out of the guesthouse.

Although bright floodlights had been turned on around the house and grounds, the lights on the balcony of the main house had been turned off. Not a good sign. Magnum knew, if Higgins had seen anything on the video monitors to alarm him, he would likely be there in the shadows with a shotgun at the ready. The lights would not be turned off otherwise. Magnum paused in the shadows of the guesthouse and listened for the dogs. They were at a point in the wall where it was most heavily vegetated. Cursing Higgins for refusing to cut down a massive shrub that he seemed to prize even more highly than estate security, Magnum slipped across the driveway and disappeared into the shadows where he made his way along the wall.

The dogs paid him no heed as he drew within sight of them. He could just make out their shapes, rigid and angled as they barked and snarled in the direction of the top of the wall. Flat against the wall, gun drawn, he inched along, constantly watching the top. There was an alarm wire up there, but, since the dogs were already alert, it would make little difference to an intruder. Suddenly, something the size of a catcher’s mitt sailed over the top of the wall and landed within a few feet of Magnum. He braced, uncertain of the threat, before he realized it was a large piece of meat. Doubtless, someone was either trying to poison or tranquilize the dogs. “You don’t know Zeus and Apollo,” he muttered under his breath.

The dogs hardly noticed the meat. Dutifully, they continued their frenzied barking. Foam was beginning to form on the edges of their mouths and Magnum decided he almost pitied anyone who was stupid enough to come over that fence now. The intruders weren’t that dumb, though. Within minutes, he heard car doors slamming followed by the crank of an engine and spinning tires on pavement. Magnum jammed his gun into the back of his waistband and sprinted for the front gate, just in time to get a glimpse of the vehicle as it sped away. It was an older model, poorly maintained and non-descript. The license plate was, intentionally or otherwise, obliterated by caked mud.

Zeus and Apollo had followed him to the gate. They looked up at him as the car sped away and he was sure he saw reproach in their eyes. With a sigh, he walked back to where the meat still lay untouched on the ground. He picked it up. “Let’s go check the house, guys.”

Higgins met him at the front door, shotgun in one hand. “Good job, lads,” he said to the dogs as they trotted into the house just ahead of Magnum. Not to Magnum’s surprise, he had no such praise for him. “What was that all about, Magnum?” Higgins demanded sharply. “Did you see the culprits?”

“Where’s Kelly?” Magnum retorted as, without explanation, he handed the meat to Higgins. Ignoring Higgins’ questions, he started up the stairs.

“She’s in her room. She’s fine.” Higgins insisted.

Magnum continued to ignore him and strode down the hall to Kelly’s room. The suite faced the ocean side of the house, away from the side on which the commotion had occurred. He strode through her outer sitting room into the bedroom without knocking, startling her as he barged into the room. Her eyes were wide as saucers and she stood, clutching her robe, in a far corner of the room. “Are you alright?” he asked, pulled up short by her apparent fear.

“Fine,” she lied. “What’s going on out there?”

Despite her claims, he could tell she was inordinately frightened. “Everything’s okay. I think it was just kids out pulling pranks or something.” He sensed Higgins behind him. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

Kelly exhaled the breath she had been holding, then drew herself up indignantly. “Nothing to worry about?” she replied sharply. “Some kids almost thwarted your security measures and you say there’s nothing to worry about?”

“They didn’t almost thwart anything,” he snapped.

“Thanks to the dogs.”

Magnum felt angry heat rising in his neck. “Even if the dogs hadn’t been here, they would have tripped the alarm wire coming over the fence,” he shot back.

“You assume,” she charged. “And where would you have been? How long would it have taken you to respond? By the time you rolled yourself out of bed they could have been in the house and made off with one of my father’s paintings or anything else they chose!”

“What do you expect me to do?” he cried, the veins standing out on his neck. “Pull guard duty by the front door every night?” He could not believe she had the audacity to try to imply that the incident had somehow been a result of his negligence. She opened her mouth to fire back, but stopped short under his glowering stare. As she backed down, he was aware of her eyes flicking across his bare chest. I supposed she thinks I should have stopped to put on a shirt, he thought irritably as he turned and strode out of the room. He’d let Higgins cosset the ungrateful little thing. “I don’t need this,” he muttered to himself as he stormed down the stairs.

“Magnum!” the sound of Higgins commanding his name from the top of the stairs stopped him in the motion of opening the front door. “Where are you going?”

“To bed, Higgins. I’m going to back to bed. Then, tomorrow morning, I’m going to call Robin and tell him to find another bodyguard for his daughter.” He was moving up the stairs toward Higgins as he spoke, his voice low but determined and gradually increasing in volume and force. “I don’t need this, Higgins. I don’t need the aggravation of having someone else on this estate to flog me with their superior attitude. Furthermore, I can tell this girl is going to be difficult . . . no, make that impossible, and I don’t need that either!” He was practically yelling now. “I don’t care if I have to move out, I’m telling Robin to get someone else!” He did an abrupt about face and trotted down the stairs, but Higgins stopped him again.

“Magnum, what about your duty to Robin and the estate?”

“I’ll give him time to find someone else,” he tossed over his shoulder. “But, I’m out of here.”

“Don’t you think you are overreacting?’

“No, Higgins, I don’t. I think I’m saving myself a lot of grief because I know --- I know --- it would come to this eventually.”

“Magnum, how can you even think of shirking your responsibility? After all these years of freeloading off of Mr. Masters’ largesse, how can you even consider abandoning your duty here?

“I have not been freeloading!”

“Call it what you like, the bottom line is that you owe Mr. Masters a great deal. Certainly, you owe it to him to honor his request to provide security for his daughter. Although I cannot imagine why it is so important to Mr. Masters that you personally take charge of this matter, the fact is that he has, indeed, asked you to do so and it is beyond me that you could even consider refusing. It’s simply a matter of common decency!”

“Common decency? Common decency? How much common decency do you think that girl is planning to show me? Huh? How much common decency do you think she’ll show when I don’t have time to take any other cases because I have to babysit her? How much common decency do you think she’ll show if I have to put my life on the line for her? I’ll tell you how much --- none! That’s how much!”

“That is irrelevant, Magnum. Your obligation is to Mr. Masters. “

Magnum dropped his head. He knew Higgins was right --- knew that he owed a great deal to Robin. He also knew he was overreacting, although he didn’t know why. Something told him that he needed to get as far away from this girl as possible. With a heavy sigh, he turned back to Higgins. “Let’s go look at the security camera videotape, Higgins.”

Satisfied with his victory, Higgins followed Magnum to the security monitoring room. “None of the cameras are aimed at the road, Magnum. They are all positioned to monitor the grounds.”

“All except the one at the front gate. That one may have picked up something.” He located the appropriate machine and rewound the videotape to the point of the incident. “See, down this side of the frame you can see the road.” They watched as a car pulled slowly to a stop in the grass between the fence and the road. The occupants waited several minutes before emerging. Three young men, approximately high school aged Magnum guessed, spent several more minutes dallying about the area before one of them attempted, but failed, to climb the wall. They seemed to have no plan, but spent a good deal of time testing various places along the wall and even more time arguing. Shortly, one of them returned to the car, took out what Magnum guessed was the meat, and tossed it over the fence. They waited and talked some more, then got back in the car and sped off.

“It appears you were right, Magnum. They were apparently merely a bunch of young hooligans out looking for trouble. I thought you were simply trying to calm Miss Masters’ nerves.”
            “I was, Higgins.” His brow furrowed as he studied the images on the tape. While it had initially appeared that there was no logic to the intruders’ actions, the more he rewound and watched the tape, the more he was convinced that they were executing some sort of plan. “These kids may be ‘young hooligans’ as you call them, but the trouble they’re looking for isn’t the innocent kind you have in mind.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I think they’re testing to see what kind of trouble they’ll get if they try to come over the wall. My guess is, they had no intention of breaking in tonight --- unless there was little or no security.” He removed the videotape from the machine intending to take it to someone who could clarify and enlarge some of the images for him.

“You think they were on a reconnaissance mission?”

“I think that’s exactly what they were doing. They weren’t very professional, I’ll admit, but I think that’s what they were up to.”

Higgins stared at him in disbelief. “Surely, Magnum, anyone who had plans to kidnap or harm Miss Masters would not act on her first night here.”

“Why not, Higgins? Besides, they aren’t necessarily after Kelly. There’s plenty of other stuff around here someone would be interested in stealing.”

“Incredible.” They could hear the wail of a siren as a police cruiser came down the road toward the estate. “It took them long enough,” Higgins muttered. He cast a glance at his watch before moving to the switch to open the gate.

Magnum rubbed his eyes. He hoped the police would be more expedient at filling out their report than they had been at answering the alarm. He really needed some sleep.

******

It was late the next afternoon before he managed to pull himself together and amble over to the main house to talk with Kelly. Her suite of rooms included a main sitting room, off of which were bedroom and bath to one side, and a second spare room to the other. She was in this extra room with Higgins discussing her plans for converting it to an office for herself. Magnum leaned against the doorframe, unnoticed, watching them. Higgins seemed uncomfortable with her refusal to use Robin’s large downstairs study, insisting as she did that he keep it as his own, and was going to great lengths to accommodate her wishes for the transformation of the room.

“Mr. Magnum!” she said, startled when she finally realized he was standing there. “We didn’t hear you come in.”

“That’s ok.” He uncrossed his arms and shoved his hands into the pockets of his khaki shorts. “I can wait ‘til you’re finished.” He sauntered across the room and stood looking at the view of the ocean afforded by French doors that opened to a covered balcony running the length of the upper floor. He made mental note of the fact that her bedroom and sitting room opened onto the same balcony.

Higgins excused himself, reminding them that he would be serving tea shortly, and inviting them to join him. Magnum suspected the invitation was more for Kelly than for him, and thus, promptly, and with a big grin, accepted. He chuckled to himself listening to Higgins mutter as he left the room.

“Well,” Kelly said, suddenly much less at ease than she had been with Higgins. “Where should we begin?”

He studied her silently, wondering why she seemed suddenly flushed and nervous.

“Perhaps,” she ventured, “I should begin by apologizing for the way I spoke to you last night.”

The apology caught him momentarily off guard, although he doubted its sincerity. “That’s ok,” he responded no more convincingly. “I know you were upset.”

“Yes, well . . ..” She fumbled her words and kept fidgeting with a thin diamond bracelet she always wore. “Higgins has assured me that, despite certain appearances to the contrary, you are quite capable and good at what you do.”

He narrowed his eyes and gave her a sideways glance. It was one of the most backhanded apologies he’d ever heard.  “I’d have thought your father would have already told you that,” he retorted irritably.

A faint smile flickered across her lips and her blue eyes sparkled. “That was one of the several things my father told me about you, Mr. Magnum. I guess I just thought his definition of ‘proficient’ might not be quite the same as mine.”

The way she was circling the room, obviously keeping her distance, made him wonder once again what else her father, or Higgins, had told her about him. He folded his arms and studied her in silence. He knew he was more than proficient. Nine years as a Navy SEAL and in Naval Intelligence, and seven years as a Private Investigator represented a resume anyone would consider more than proficient. He felt no need to explain himself to Kelly, though.

“So,” she ventured, clearing her throat and settling lightly on the arm of a chair, “tell me what you have in mind for the extra security my father thinks I need.”

“You don’t think you need extra security?”

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I suppose.”

“He said there had been one kidnapping attempt and several threats.”

“The attempt was when I was a little girl, Mr. Magnum, and I’m not so sure the threats were worth taking seriously.”

“Why not? Do you think you know who might have been responsible for them?”

She looked embarrassed. “Possibly,” she offered reluctantly. “They came shortly after I broke off my engagement . . . a flurry of them. And there haven’t been any since. I’m surprised my father didn’t tell you that.”

“So you think it was your ex-fiancé . . . that he was angry about the breakup.”

She shrugged. “It seemed the most likely explanation to me. He knew I was always a little nervous about possible kidnappers, after what happened when I was twelve, so I could see him doing it just to upset me.”

“How long ago was it?”

“Six years. We broke up six years ago, and the threats came in over the next few months.”

Magnum agreed that the coincidence between the two events was compelling, and wondered that this explanation for the threats had not occurred to Robin. “What was his name?”

She immediately shifted from the casual air she had affected to rigid vigilance. “Why do you need to know?”

“Look. We need to get something straight right now,” he informed her evenly. “I don’t want this job. But it’s important to your father, so I’m going to do it. That means I’m going to do my damnedest to keep you safe. Now, when I ask you something, you can either make my job easier by telling me what I need to know, or you can make it harder by forcing me to go ask someone else. It’s your choice.” He gritted his teeth and added, “But I think you should know that I don’t like having to do things the hard way.”

“I just wondered why you needed to know,” she insisted with a mild air of insult. “Kimbrough. His name is David Woolridge Kimbrough. Is that helpful enough?”

“Fine. Thank you. Were there any more threats? Anything more recent?”

She turned away from him. “Not any threats. I had a rash of thefts shortly before I came to Hawaii that were unnerving, but I think it was just a run of bad luck.”

He frowned. “What kind of thefts? Your dad didn’t mention anything about this to me.”

“He didn’t mention it because he didn’t know about it,” she said with a slightly guilty look. “I didn’t tell him because he was always so concerned. I really don’t think it’s important.”

“What kind of thefts?”

“Oh, my handbag, and then a camera. The closest call was when a purse-snatcher got my briefcase. If he had grabbed it a day earlier, I would have lost all of the notes I’d taken during some archives research in Paris. I couldn’t replace those. That one made me feel lucky rather than unlucky. And, one day I caught someone trying to break into my car. I assume he was planning to steal it. When I walked up, he ran off.”

“That’s what I’d call a run of bad luck, alright.” He made a mental note to retain this bit of information. A little voice in his head was whispering that it could be much more than just bad luck. “Anything else?”

“No.” She shook her head, but did not look at him.

“Okay. Now, here’s the drill. You should be safe when you’re on the estate, but be aware of what’s going on around you anyway. Watch for anything that seems out of the ordinary.”

“Since I don’t know what ‘ordinary’ is here,” she snapped, “that might be a little difficult.”

He ignored her. “Don’t go anywhere off the estate alone. If you’re going where there will be a lot of people, you can go with just Higgins or someone else along. If you’re going someplace secluded or someplace that involves longer travel distances, I’ll go with you.”

“I like to ride and we’re having some horses brought in and reactivating the stables. Can I ride alone?”

He thought for a moment. “No. I’ll go with you.”

“You can ride?” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“Yep. I can ride.” He closed the French doors and locked them.

“Horses?” 

He flashed her a sardonic look. “Let’s go down and have tea with Higgins. I should probably go over all of this with him, as well.”

After a couple of hours of arguing with Kelly over what seemed like every single detail of his security plan, sipping tea and eating tiny sandwiches at which even the lads would have turned up their noses --- not to mention listening to Higgins --- Magnum’s idea of a perfect evening was a long, slow swim in the tidal pool followed by a couple of beers and a pizza. There was a game on tonight and, he decided as he settled down to watch, if the trouble-making kids returned, he might well shoot them.

Chapter Two

When Kelly told him she would be spending the day with Higgins, Magnum wasted no time in getting down to the club to visit with Rick. An afternoon of indulging his fondness for beer and the two-legged scenery on the King Kamehameha’s beach seemed to Magnum the perfect tonic for what ailed him --- although, as he admitted to himself, he wasn’t quite sure what it was that was ailing him.

Rick finished dealing with a member’s complaint and joined him at a table on the breezy patio. “Wow,” he gushed in typical Rick fashion, “that’s some new houseguest you’ve got out at Robin’s Nest.” He gave Magnum a wink.

The longneck stopped short of Magnum’s mouth. “You mean Kelly?”

“Of course I mean Kelly! Man, that’s one body I wouldn’t mind pulling a little guard duty on.” He grinned and flashed Magnum another knowing look.

“Rick,” Magnum leaned forward and set his beer on the table. “She’s Robin Masters’ daughter. He asked me to provide a little extra security for her. That’s it. So you can just can the little innuendos right now.”

“Sure, Thomas,” Rick seemed surprised by the rebuff. “Whatever you say.”

“When did you see her anyway?” Magnum suddenly felt grumpy and annoyed with Rick for ruining an otherwise perfect afternoon. He lazed back in his chair again and took an overlarge swallow of beer.

“She was here with Higgins this morning.”

“Here?” Magnum nearly shrieked the question.

“Yeah, Thomas, here. What’re you getting so excited about? Higgins brought her to the board of directors meeting. I guess he’s expecting her to take over her father’s position from him eventually or something.”

Magnum looked annoyed. He assumed when Kelly said she would be spending the day with Higgins that they would be at the estate. He had specifically told her to notify him whenever she left the grounds. It had only taken her three days to begin to ignore his rules.

“Let me tell you, if Higgins does bow out, I sure won’t mind trading in his sour puss for that babe!”

Magnum glowered at him.

“She’s smart, too. She picked up on everything real fast.” Rick, as usual, ignored Magnum’s mood and barreled ahead. “She told me after the meeting how impressed she was with how I’d turned the club around. You know how long I’ve been waiting for Higgins to acknowledge what I’ve done around here?”

“Come on, Rick. You know Higgins appreciates better than anyone what you’ve done for this club. He just isn’t one to let on, that’s all. You know, he has to keep that implacable British façade in place at all times.”

Rick laughed. “Yeah, I know. But, if Higgins decides to turn the seat over to her, I sure won’t mind having ‘sugar and spice and everything nice’ to deal with instead of Higgins’ stiff upper lip.”

“I don’t know what Kelly Masters you met, Rick, but the one I know isn’t exactly what I’d call ‘sugar and spice and everything nice.’ More like spoiled and argumentative and a pain in the neck if you ask me.”

“ Well, she can be a pain in my neck anytime.”

Magnum finished his beer and stood up. “Rick, you’re the biggest sucker for a pretty girl I know.”

“Oh, yeah? Take a look in the mirror, pal.”

Magnum tossed a wave over his shoulder and headed toward the beach. Rick fell in love hourly, he was used to that. But, having him gush over Kelly Masters made him more than a little uncomfortable. A head-turning brunette in a bikini smiled as she passed him, but he didn’t notice. He broke out his surf-ski and paddled out from shore away from the crowd. When he was far enough out that he could only hear the sound of the water lapping around him, he quit paddling and lolled back, his legs dangling over the sides. The ocean was one of the best places he knew of for thinking. His head was always clearer, senses always sharper when he was out here.

He needed to get his mind off how and why Kelly irritated him. He hadn’t slept well since she’d arrived on the estate, and he found his thoughts drifting a little too often. It was not a good time to lose his edge. He thought about the still pictures he had been able to isolate from the security camera videotape. The faces and car would probably be tough to track down, but Rick said he’d give it a try.

The library newspaper archives had been interesting, if not helpful. He found the society pages from the Richmond papers dating from around the time of Kelly’s engagement. There was the formal announcement with a photo of the happy couple. She was radiantly beautiful, he charismatic and handsome. Central casting couldn’t ask for a pair that more closely fit the part of the “perfect couple.” The announcement listed her as Kelly Rutledge Masters. Magnum decided the Rutledges were Kelly’s grandparents. David Woolridge Kimbrough came from an old family, though not as prominent as the Rutledges, judging by the tone of the announcement. Or, perhaps it was just that they were from Charleston, not Richmond. He was an attorney with a prominent firm. That meant he was probably smart and ambitious enough to suit Kelly and her grandparents, Magnum reasoned. Central casting, indeed.

A further search through the microfilmed archives turned up a few items in the gossip columns several months after the engagement announcement. The “perfect couple” had broken up and, according to the Richmond rumor mill, it had not been pretty. It was whispered that Kelly would be leaving Richmond to join her father in the south of France --- or Spain, depending on which column you believed. No mention was made of Mr. Kimbrough’s fate, save for one cryptic allusion that implied a loss of stature in Richmond society. Magnum wondered if good old David had realized what a high-maintenance situation he was getting in to and bailed out while he still could.

Magnum’s mother had friends who moved among the creamier Richmond folk, and he decided to ask her what she could find out. He wanted to know if there was something there that would push David Kimbrough to do more than lob idle threats whose only purpose was to annoy and perhaps frighten Kelly. He had never asked about the specific nature of the threats, and hoped he would not have to. Every time he thought about the kind of threats a perverted mind could make against someone like Kelly, his imagination tended to drift down roads he preferred it not travel. Like now. He sat up abruptly and began paddling, hard and fast, toward shore. Physical exertion had become his salvation a few too many times since Kelly had come to the estate, he decided.

******

Sunrises were special in Hawaii, Magnum believed. And, whenever the weather report indicated conditions conducive to a particularly spectacular sunrise, he liked to swim early then sit on the beach and watch the breath-taking light and colors play out over the ocean horizon. Today was one of those days. He pushed himself harder than usual in the tidal pool and was breathing hard as he slogged his way to the beach and dropped to the sand. The first fingers of light were just beginning to jut into the sky when a runner coming up the beach accompanied by a couple of dogs caught his eye. The form was female and, by the looks of her, accustomed to physical exercise. She had only to move a few yards closer before he realized it was Kelly, with Zeus and Apollo.

She slowed to a walk as she approached where he sat, peeling off her shirt as she came. “How’s the water?” she asked, tossing her tee shirt on the sand beside him.

“Fine.” He tried not to watch too closely as she stripped off the shorts she was wearing over her swimsuit. “You’ll miss the sunrise if you go in now, though.”

“No I won’t. I’ve still got a few minutes.”

“Do you do this often?”

Kelly laughed. “If you got up earlier, Mr. Magnum, you’d know that I do this every morning.”

He flashed her an annoyed face and looked out over the ocean. “You shouldn’t swim alone, you know,” he scolded. 

“You sound like my grandmother,” she accused. “Besides, you do it.”

He watched her walk out into the waves. Though her suit was modest by Hawaiian beach standards, it still showed more enticing curves than he was comfortable enjoying. She dove forward and began slow, steady laps. Zeus and Apollo trotted along behind her and sat at the edge of the water, their attention unwavering as they watched her swim. How, he wondered, did she know he came out here and swam alone? She was a strong swimmer, and completed her laps quickly. His eyes constantly shifted between the emerging sunrise and Kelly’s lithe body moving through the water, but tended to linger longer on her than on the horizon. Just as she’d said, she finished and returned to the beach in time to see the fiery sun poke it’s head above the ocean. The dogs shadowing her every move, she retrieved a robe and towel she had left on a nearby chair and, dabbing the excess water out of her braided hair, plopped onto the sand beside him.

“Sunrises really are special here, aren’t they?”

“Yeah.” He wished she hadn’t said that. He preferred to think of her as insensitive to things like sunrises. “How far did you run,” he asked, changing both the subject and the mood.

“I don’t know for sure since I haven’t looked up the beach distances on a map. About three miles, I guess.”

“Three miles? That takes you off the private beach, Kelly.”

She looked at him. “So?”

He sighed. “I don’t want you going that far alone.”

“I’ve always run alone in the mornings everywhere I’ve lived,” she insisted. “I’m careful, and I’ve never had a problem.”

“You think the fact that you do it regularly makes it ok?” His voice was becoming arched. “No! That makes it worse, Kelly. I told you, you need to avoid routine!”

“The lads always go with me, so I’m not really alone.”

“Those dogs are only protection up to a point.”

“Mr. Magnum, even if I had someone with me, that would only be protection up to a point. I can’t live my life in a state of paranoia!”

He conceded her point, but extracted a promise to let him start running with her every morning. Her doubts about whether or not he could actually get up early on a routine basis annoyed him.

“What’s your book about?” he asked in sudden diversion.

“Huh?”

“The book you came here to finish. What’s it about?”

“It’s a study of the role women have played in the outcome of various wars, both as soldiers and as support --- or, otherwise --- at home. It’s a slight departure for me. Military history is my field, but this is the first time I’ve come at it from a cultural angle.”

He arched his eyebrows at her.

“What? You don’t think whether or not a woman at home is supportive of the war effort has any impact on its outcome?”

“Oh, no. Believe me, I know all too well how lack of support at home can impact the outcome of a war. I’m just surprised you’d tackle a topic like that. I picture you doing something, well . . . lighter. That’s all.” He shrugged.

“Lighter?” Her voice held a definite edge of irritation. “Like maybe a history of the development of quilting? Or, perhaps, something about the Richmond Junior League?”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Look, Mr. Magnum. I am well aware that you have little use for me as a woman or, perhaps even as a human being. I accept that. But I won’t have you belittling my qualifications as a historian! I am serious about my field, Mr. Magnum. Every bit as serious as you are about yours.”

“That’s not what I meant!” he protested again. “And I never said I had no use for you as a woman.” He could tell by the look on her face that his last statement hadn’t come out right. “Look,” he backtracked, “I don’t even know what I meant, really, but I do know I wasn’t trying to imply anything or belittle anything.”

She watched him, waiting to be convinced.

“Your father said you were helping him with research and stuff for his books. I guess I’m surprised you didn’t stick with that.”

“Take the easy road? Live off my father’s career instead of forging one for myself?”

“I haven’t seen you turn your nose up at anything your father’s money buys for you.” He hadn’t meant that, either, but decided not to retract it.

“You’re right, Mr. Magnum,” she fired back tightly. “I do enjoy my father’s generosity. But, at least I’m his daughter. What’s your excuse?”

With a hard look, and without a word, he rose and strode from the beach toward the guesthouse.

******

Other than their wordless morning runs along the beach, Kelly steered clear of Magnum for the next several days. She kept to the main house and did not once venture off the estate alone. Finally, one morning, an exceptionally hard rain shower prevented them from running. Magnum took the opportunity to don his favorite sweater, make himself an over-sized cup of coffee, and settle down for a lazy morning with the newspaper. An item on the front page of the metro section brought his lazy morning to a screeching halt, however. He nearly spit his mouthful of coffee across the room when he saw the photo of the overturned car and headline stating that three youths had lost their lives in a freak highway accident. The car had been pretty badly mangled in its descent down a rocky cliff, but he recognized it anyway. He pulled out the photos he’d had made from the security camera videotape the night the kids created the disturbance outside the estate wall. It was the same car.

What information Rick had turned up on the car and its occupants was of little value. There seemed to be nothing unusual about the young men, all of whom were high school students and members of a local gang. Magnum had just about decided to chalk the incident up to some random gang activity completely coincidental with Kelly’s arrival. The revelation about the accident made him rethink that scenario, however, and he started making phone calls.

The first call was to his police contacts. He confirmed his suspicions that the accident was not an accident at all. Skid marks on the pavement and paint streaks on the wrecked car indicated a bump from another vehicle had caused the youth’s car to go over the cliff. It had been traveling at excessive speed, even for teenagers, the investigator told him. Magnum wondered if they were being chased. There were no witnesses, which did not surprise him --- no other useful evidence.

Magnum’s second call was to the main house. He knew Higgins was planning to take Kelly with him to the opening of a new exhibit at the natural history museum the next day, and he decided he had better invite himself along.

******

Kelly was quiet during the ride to the museum, which suited Magnum just fine. He wanted to tell Higgins to quit trying to fill the void with idle chat, but it would have required more effort than it was worth. Instead, he tuned out the tour guide monologue Higgins seemed determined to deliver regarding the sights they were passing. Magnum had made Kelly sit in the back seat, while he took the front passenger seat. Eyes hidden behind sunglasses, face rigid, he maintained a watch on the surrounding traffic, especially using the side mirror to watch the traffic behind them. Twice he thought they might have picked up a tail, but the cars turned onto side streets leaving him annoyed at his own heightened suspicions.

The weather seemed to be breaking as they arrived at the museum. The emerging sun turned dampness into steam, and Magnum wished he had not been obliged to wear a coat and tie. Even Higgins seemed to be perspiring under the minor stress of walking around the car to open the door for Kelly. She, on the other hand, looked cool and elegant in an ice-blue silk suit, pearls, and not a drop of perspiration to be seen. Her hair, as always, was pulled back into a French braid tucked into a knot at the nape of her neck. Magnum’s eyes, under cover of his sunglasses, lighted on her momentarily before scanning the parking lot for anything notable.

His body went rigid when something notable in the form of a plain white compact car --- probably a rental, he guessed --- turned into the parking lot and took one of the far spaces. It was the first of the two cars he had thought might be tailing them earlier. He lingered behind Kelly and Higgins as they walked into the museum, hoping to get a glimpse of whoever was driving the car. A tall man unfolded himself from the small car. He had an athletic build and wore a white suit of the type Magnum associated with Europeans. The man was taking his time in heading for the museum entrance, so Magnum followed Kelly and Higgins inside.

It was cool inside the museum, and light enough that he could keep his sunglasses on, two things for which Magnum was thankful. The new exhibit was on spiders --- a topic he felt certain was not high on Kelly’s list of interests. Her father was a major contributor to the museum, however, and Kelly conscientiously spent enough time studying each display to please the curator. The man from the small white car made no such efforts, however. His attention remained focused in Kelly’s general direction as he made his way through the crowd milling among the display cases. Just as Magnum was ready to step up his level of preparedness, the man stopped moving toward them and settled back against a far wall more-or-less in the shadows.

Magnum kept the man in sight as he loosely followed Kelly around the exhibit. To his annoyance, she eventually separated herself from the crowd to read a large informational piece hung on the wall off to one side of the main exhibit. While she faced the wall, he stood beside her facing the crowd.

“You look like a secret service agent,” she informed him without looking away from the display. “Except for the mustache, maybe.”

There was unexpected humor in her voice and he suspected she was trying to break the ice that had formed between them over the past days. Not yet willing to laugh off her cutting words, he slid his glasses down his nose and gave her a hard look over the top of them. She returned his gaze and, once assured she understood his message, he slid the glasses back into place and returned his attention to the crowd.

Kelly did not move, and continued to study the display without really seeing it. Her face flushed. “I’m sorry, Mr. Magnum,” she said in a tone that left no doubt of her sincerity. “I was horrible to you the other day, and I’m sorry.” She looked up at him and waited until he gave in and returned her look. “I know about your arrangement with my father, and I know you’re not sponging or taking advantage of him. I also know he thinks very highly of you, and begrudges you nothing. He’d probably give you the Ferrari if he knew how much you like it and thought you’d accept it,” she added with a flickering smile. Too ashamed to look him in the eye, she turned back toward the display. “You always seem to put me on the offensive. I don’t know why. But, the other day, I looked for a tender spot and zeroed in on it.” When he didn’t respond she turned her face up toward him. “I just didn’t realize how tender it was . . . how much my words would upset you.” She sighed. “I only wanted to inflict a flesh wound --- not do any real damage.”

He hated that he could not resist the look in her eyes or the ghost of a smile trembling at the corners of her mouth as she spoke those last words. He wanted to ask why she was defensive around him, but suspected she was no more prepared to answer that question than he was. Slumping his head forward in defeat, he removed his sunglasses and slipped them into his jacket pocket. “It’s okay,” he assured her softly. “I guess I get a little defensive around you, too.”

Higgins, his timing impeccable as usual, interrupted them. “Miss Masters,” he said, “the museum staff are gathering for a group photo of themselves with contributors. They wondered if you’d join them.”

“Of course,” she agreed, seemingly as relieved by the interruption as Magnum.

While the photos were being taken, Magnum circled the room to take up a position nearer the man he suspected of following Kelly. The man glanced warily in Magnum’s direction once or twice, but remained primarily focused on the people on the opposite of the room. Finally, as the crowd began to disperse, he moved toward the main door and slipped outside. Magnum followed, pausing to watch him through the glass doors. He thought at first that the man might be planning to leave but, instead, he stepped into the cover of some shrubs growing at the edge of the lawn in front of the building. It was the perfect place to lay in wait for someone emerging from the building, especially if one wanted to be able to make a quick escape into the far fringes of the parking lot.

Magnum decided it was time to have a talk with the man. He pushed through the doors and ambled over. “Hi,” he said, grinning disarmingly. “I think we need to talk.”

The man smiled back then, to Magnum’s surprise, burst past him and began to flee toward his car. Letting an expletive slip from his lips, Magnum raced after him. He caught up with the man in fairly short order, and lunged to tackle him. Both men tumbled to the ground, and before they had completely recovered their feet, the mystery man swung his right fist into Magnum’s jaw. He fell back, hitting his head hard against the pavement. Groaning and holding the back of his head, he caught the man as he approached --- presumably to land a finishing blow --- grabbed him by an ankle and brought him down hard on the ground. His adversary was not to be counted out so easily, however, and was able to struggle to his feet more quickly than Magnum. As the man stood, Magnum caught a glimpse of a gun under his jacket. Determined not to cede the upper hand, Magnum did not wait until he had raised himself to full height. As he stood, he landed a hard right punch in the man’s stomach followed by a solid left square in the man’s face as he went down. He felt bone crunch beneath his knuckles and knew he had broken the man’s nose. The man doubled up to protect his sore gut and covered his bloody face with his hand. Magnum took the opportunity to relieve him of his gun. He stood holding the gun on the man and gasping for breath as Higgins, Kelly, and several other people arrived on the scene.

“Magnum!” Higgins said in a voice that wavered between astonishment and admonition.

“Someone call the police,” Magnum instructed firmly. He lightly touched the back of his head and groaned when his fingers came away bloodied. He handed the gun to Higgins. “Keep him here until the police arrive,” he said, swaying slightly with dizziness and casting about for a place to sit down.

Kelly moved to steady him and began leading him back toward the museum. “Let’s get you inside and take a look at your head,” she insisted.

“I’m okay,” he claimed unsteadily and trying to resist.

She was resolute, however, and continued to draw him toward the museum. “Could we use your office?” she asked the curator as they approached the doors. “And might you have a first aid kit and some ice?” Continuing to ignore Magnum’s weak protestations, she led him toward the curator’s office and directed him to sit on the edge of a desk. “Now, let’s have a look at your head,” she ordered turning his head slightly and leaning over so she could see the wound. She touched it lightly and he winced. “I think it’s just a scalp wound, but you’re going to have a nasty lump there, I’d say.”

The curator brought in the first aid kit and ice. Using Magnum’s handkerchief, Kelly made an ice pack and touched it to the back of his head.

“Ow!” he cried drawing away from the pressure.

“Hush,” she chided, “and hold this.” She put the ice pack in his hand and guided it to the wound on the back of his head. “Now, let’s see what else you’ve got here.”

“Kelly,” he said testily. He put his free hand up in an attempt to stop her. “I’m okay. Really.”

“Really? Well, you don’t look okay to me.” She forged ahead, taking his chin in her hand and turning his face to give her a better view of the darkening bruise on his jaw. “That’s going to be quite a bruise. We’d better get some ice on that, too.”

He scowled.

“This isn’t good, either,” she clucked, addressing a scrape on his cheekbone and cut over one eye.” She opened the first aid kit and fished out some peroxide swabs to clean the injuries.

“Ow!” he hollered louder than ever as she began dabbing at his face. “That hurts!

“Would you quit being such a baby and let me clean this up!” She swabbed away all the excess blood and dirt, totally ignoring his protests, then dug around in the first aid kit again. When she held up a bottle of iodine, he nearly came off the desk.

“No!” he cried. “You’re not using that stuff on me!”

She gave him a disgusted look. “Alright you big baby.” She put the iodine back and looked for an alternative. “I don’t see how you ever survived two tours in Vietnam.”

“Three,” he corrected sharply. “It was three tours, and I survived because you weren’t there!” He shifted the ice pack to his sore jaw and scowled at her.

Kelly flashed him an acerbic expression and began dabbing some benign first aid cream on his abrasions. “Oh, stop it!” she told him when he began wincing. “This stuff doesn’t hurt. It’s for use on little kids.”

“It does too hurt!” He scowled at her some more, but she was undeterred. “I think you’re enjoying this way too much,” he accused.

“And I think you’re being way too childish.”

He watched her face, enjoying her closeness and annoyed by it at the same time. Just as she finished applying the first aid cream, two uniformed police officers entered the room, one of whom Magnum recognized from previous encounters.

“Well, Magnum,” the officer challenged, “what do you have to say for yourself this time?”

“Me!” Magnum protested. “What about the guy in the parking lot?”

“What about him? Well, for one thing, he says he’s a cop.”

“A cop!”

“Yeah. His ID says he’s with the French judicial police. We’ll run a check to see if it’s legitimate.”

“If he’s a cop, why’d he run when I tried to talk to him, and why’d he take a swing at me?” Magnum argued.

“I don’t know, Magnum.” The patrolman’s voice was edged with sarcasm. “Maybe when the doctors in the emergency room have finished patching up his face, he’ll be able to tell us.”

“He was carrying a gun,” Magnum added defensively.

“I know. We retrieved it from Higgins.”

“Well, was he here on official business? Had he checked in with you guys or with the FBI?”

“I don’t know, Magnum. I’ll find out. In the meantime, why don’t you give me your version of what happened here today?”

Magnum recounted the afternoon’s events, with Kelly corroborating the actions that led to the fight. She seemed startled by Magnum’s belief that the man was following her. He insisted that the police check the man out thoroughly, annoying the cop with his implication that he might not do a thorough job without prodding.

When he finally made it back to the guesthouse that evening, Magnum grabbed a beer from the refrigerator then hit the “play” button on his answering machine as he crossed the room to collapse on the sofa. His mother’s voice emanated from the machine, telling him what she had learned from the Richmond gossip mill regarding Kelly’s breakup with David Kimbrough. Her information was only marginally helpful. All anyone knew was that they seemed like the perfect couple, and the breakup was rumored to be over another woman, although no one had any details about that. Afterwards, Kelly went to live with her father, while David continued to live in Richmond. Still unmarried, he had become the consummate playboy who lived extremely well.

Since David was apparently doing well enough now, Magnum assumed he had little motive to harass Kelly. Certainly, he didn’t seem to have the motive or wherewithal to attempt to harm or kidnap her. Magnum leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and pressed the cold beer bottle against his sore jaw. He tried to come up with some possible connection between Kelly and the French policeman, but drew a blank.

“If he really is a policeman,” he said, sitting up and pulling the telephone across the coffee table toward him. He took another swallow of beer before dialing Moss’ office at the police station. “Hi, Lieutenant,” he said in his most gregarious voice.

Moss wasn’t biting. “What do you want, Magnum?”

“Well, I was just wondering if you verified the credentials of that guy in the museum parking lot this afternoon --- have you determined whether or not he’s really a cop?”

“He’s really a cop. Name’s Bouchet. We just got confirmation back from Paris. He claims he’s here on official business, but he didn’t clear anything with us so as far as I’m concerned, he’s on the first plane back to France for running around with that gun. We decided to extend him that much courtesy.”

“Have you been able to talk to him? Did he say what his ‘official business’ is?”

“He is supposedly following some guy the French police think is tied to a major crime syndicate over there. Into smuggling big time. I don’t know, none of it washed with me.”

“It doesn’t wash with me either. Any chance I could talk to him?”

“I suppose. He’ll be in the hospital until his flight out tomorrow afternoon.”

“Hospital? What’s he in the hospital for?”

“You broke his nose, Magnum, and gave him a concussion.

“I didn’t give him a concussion! He must have hit his head on the pavement, or something,” Magnum insisted defensively.

“Well, anyway, we don’t have any better place to put him until we get him on that plane tomorrow. If you want to go by and talk with him in the morning, it’s okay by me. If I were him, though, I wouldn’t be too interested in talking to you.”

It annoyed Magnum that Moss seemed unwilling to look any deeper into Bouchet’s reasons for being in Hawaii. He supposed it didn’t matter too much, though, if they got him out of the country as quickly as possible. He did want to see if Kelly had any ideas about the guy, however. Looking at his watch, he decided it was not too late to go over and talk with her. The moment he started across the grounds to the main house, he decided he had made a mistake. All of the interior lights visible from his vantage point were turned off. He didn’t want to grapple with Higgins and the dogs, so he made his way around to the back of the house and up the stairs to the balcony outside Kelly’s suite. If her lights were still on, he decided, he would knock and see if she would talk to him.

The drapes in Kelly’s room were parted slightly, permitting him a limited view of the interior. Just as he was about to knock he saw her, dressed in her bathrobe, cross the room to her dressing table and sit down. He tried to go ahead and knock, but the sight of her taking down her hair stopped him. She reached up to unfasten the braid, shook out hair that reached almost to her waist, and began to brush it. Magnum could not take his eyes off her. Much as he knew he should not be standing there watching her, much as he knew he should either knock on the door or leave, he stood riveted to the spot. He could hear his own heartbeat and his palms were slightly damp. Michelle’s hair had always had a supremely sensual effect on him that had never been matched until this moment. Finally, when he knew he would loathe himself if he did not do otherwise, he forced himself to turn away from the door and go back down the stairs.

That night, Michelle invaded his dreams again. This time, she was running. Her face was frantic with fear and she was running from someone he could not quite make out. Her nemesis in these dreams was rarely visible to him but, this time, there was a shadow of a man in the distance --- a shadow that would not come into focus. Then, Michelle began to fall. Magnum reached for her until his shoulder ached from the exertion, but he could not reach her in time. She fell into some dark abyss and was gone.

******

Louis Bouchet seemed only mildly surprised by Magnum’s appearance in his hospital room the next morning. Magnum suspected that Detective Moss had already been there and mentioned that he might stop by. Bouchet was out of bed and dressed, but his face was bruised and bandaged. The two men skirted the room, sizing each other up, as they exchanged pleasantries. Bouchet’s English was good, although heavily accented.

Magnum offered up a weak apology for the condition of Bouchet’s face.

“It is regrettable, but understandable,” Bouchet said with a sigh. “When your Detective Moss told me that your actions were based on concern for a young lady, well,” he waved his hand dismissively through the air, “of course I understand.”

“What were you doing at the museum yesterday?” Magnum asked. He decided there was no point in being anything other than blunt.

“As I have already told your local police, I was following a suspect who is of interest to French authorities.”

“You followed him here from France?”

“From Paris, ouí.”

“What’s he suspected of?”

“Not suspected, really,” Bouchet said. He moved to sit on the edge of the bed. “We know for a fact that he is a courier for someone we call Le Chameleon.”

“The Chameleon,” Magnum repeated skeptically. He had to suppress a laugh. The name sounded like something out of one of Robin’s novels. “And what does this Chameleon do?”

“Le Chameleon is a smuggler, Mr. Magnum. A smuggler of everything from drugs to Nazis memorabilia.”

“Nazis memorabilia?” It seemed an odd combination.

“The sale of such merchandise is illegal in my country, Mr. Magnum. Anyway, Le Chameleon has been operating for many years now and we have not even been able to identify one single operative of the syndicate --- until now. It is this operative, Marco Linnet, that we hope will lead us closer to the center, to Le Chameleon, perhaps. We have been following him for some time. It is this that brought me to Hawaii.”

“And he just happened to lead you to the natural history museum where Kelly Masters just happened to be, as well.”

“I do not know about Mademoiselle Masters, Mr. Magnum. I know only that I followed Linnet to the museum. I agree that it was an odd destination for such a man, but,” he shrugged,  “I go where he goes.”

The image of the first car Magnum had spotted on the way to the museum flitted quickly through his mind. “You don’t know of any reason that this Linnet would be following Miss Masters.”

“No, I am afraid not.” Bouchet watched Magnum digest all he said and was well aware of his skepticism. “I will return to Paris today, Mr. Magnum. We will simply have to pick up Linnet’s trail when he returns to the country. In the meantime, I leave this with you. Perhaps, if you turn up something that will help . . ..”  He handed Magnum a photo of Linnet and his own business card. “But, Mr. Magnum,” he added,  “if there is some connection between Linnet and the young lady, you must be careful. He is a very dangerous man.”

It was not what Magnum wanted to hear.

******

When Magnum returned to the estate, Higgins approached him from across the lawn, the dogs close by his heels. “Magnum,” he said in a commanding tone, “You’ll need to move the Ferrari.”

“Higgins, I always park it here. I’ll put it in the garage tonight.”

“No, Magnum. You will move it now. T.C. will be landing shortly and his rotor blades always kick up a great deal of dust and debris. I’ll not have it all blowing into the Ferrari for I know you’ll not clean it out any time soon.”

“T.C. will be landing here?”

“That’s what I said.”

“Why?”

“Because I arranged for him to take Miss Masters on a helicopter tour of the island today, and they should be returning shortly.”

“You let her go up with T.C.?”

“Of course. While I often fail to approve of the man’s attire, sense of humor, or any number of other things, his skills as a pilot are undeniably beyond reproach.”

Magnum looked bemused. Higgins seemed constantly to be throwing out curve balls these days. “She didn’t tell me she was going anywhere today.”

“Since she was to be in T.C.’s care, I did not think it necessary to obtain your approval. Now, please move the Ferrari.” Higgins turned on his heel. “Come, lads.” He moved smartly toward the main house.

Magnum had no sooner moved the Ferrari to safety when he picked up the sound of T.C.’s Hughes 500 helicopter approaching the estate. The sound of a helicopter, more than anything else, never failed to bring back the sensation of being in Vietnam. Watching T.C.’s brightly painted Island Hoppers chopper settle to the green grass of the estate’s vast lawn, Magnum recalled the relief he always felt when T.C. would come blowing in overhead --- Rick hanging out the door providing cover fire --- and set his big Huey down in some minimally open patch of ground to recover Magnum’s team from what was usually a hot LZ. Relief only at first, of course. Always, as he covered those last few feet of ground, there would be an extra rush of adrenaline and momentary panic that, after all he had been through, he might not make it the last few steps to the relative safety of T.C.’s chopper.

He shook off the sounds of gunfire in his head and waited while T.C. cut his engine and let the rotors slow to a stop. T.C. climbed down first, and quickly rounded the chopper to help Kelly down. They crossed the lawn toward Magnum, both of them laughing and smiling.

“I talked T.C. into joining me for tea, Mister Magnum,” she said perkily. “Would you care to join us?”

Magnum looked at T.C. who was grinning as though he could think of no better way to spend his afternoon than sipping tea. “Sure,” he agreed uncertainly. He was game, if only because he wanted to see how many cookies and miniature sandwiches T.C. would eat. He fell in step behind them as they walked toward the house. “Did you enjoy your tour?” he asked Kelly. He was annoyed that he had not been asked to join them, and hoped it did not show in his voice.

“It was wonderful!” she assured him. “Of course, we only covered Oahu today. He’s going to show me the other islands another time. He says some of the best scenery is actually on the smaller islands.” She was glowing. “And, he told me about a wonderful hiking trail that is only accessible by helicopter that I can’t wait to explore.”

“The trail on Maui?” He frowned at T.C..

“That’s the one,” she affirmed.

“I told her you’d be the perfect guide,” T.C. informed him.

“That’s a pretty tough trail,” Magnum said, stepping carefully around his words. “Are you sure you want to go out there?”

Kelly sighed and gave him a reproachful look. “Mr. Magnum, I’ve hiked across large parts of Kenya with my father. We’ve also hiked the foothills of Mt. Everest, and I’ve done the Great Wall of China hiking tour. Believe me, I think I can handle your trail.”

Magnum wasn’t convinced, but her smugness made him eager to take her out and let her try. He and T.C. waited in the study while Kelly went out to the kitchen to ask that tea be brought in to them.

“TM, I don’t know why you’ve been complaining about playing bodyguard for that girl,” T.C. whispered somewhat loudly. “She’s prettier than an oasis to a dying man and she’s nice to boot! You know she’s a pilot, too? Not choppers . . . just fixed wing stuff, but I may take care of that. She’s thinking about hiring me to teach her to fly . . ..”

Magnum interrupted him with a groan. “T.C., I don’t want to hear it,” he hissed.

T.C. flinched at the rebuke.

“I’m tired of everyone telling me how great she is! Higgins thinks she’s the greatest thing since Queen Victoria, Rick would have her children if he were able, and now you! I’m telling you, she’s a pain in the neck!”

T.C.’s stunned expression melted into a smile. “Okay, TM,” he agreed in a patronizing tone, “she’s a pain in the neck. The kind of pain that a cold shower helps get rid of, I’d say.”

Magnum was just about to retort when Kelly came back into the room. “Is everything alright,” she asked when she saw the look on Magnum’s face.

T.C. was fighting hard to suppress his amusement. “Thomas was just telling me about a pain he was having, uh, in his neck.”

She missed the look Magnum fired in T.C.’s direction. “Really? Is it from the fight yesterday?”

“Probably,” Magnum said grouchily. His back to Kelly, he glowered at T.C. as he crossed the room and lowered himself into one of the leather wing-backed chairs.

T.C. took the opposing chair, and Kelly seated herself on the sofa between them. One of the servants brought in a tea tray and set it on the table before Kelly, who began serving. Magnum noted that she was as ceremonious as Higgins about the ritual. He listened to her chat about the things T.C. had shown her that day, all the while smiling and drawing T.C. into her discussion. She always had enough charm to shower on everyone, Magnum thought --- everyone but him.

“If you want to do some flying while you’re, I can put you in touch with a couple of people I know who keep their charter equipment well maintained,” T.C. offered in perhaps the most gallant tone Magnum had ever heard him use. “They operate out of the general aviation airpark, instead of the Honolulu airport, so it’d be real convenient.”

“That would be lovely,” she smiled. “I would like to get my hours up, and am still working on my instrument rating, so that would be wonderful.”

Magnum grimaced. Flying wasn’t one of his favorite things to do and the thought of being at Kelly’s mercy made him even more uncomfortable.

She seemed to read his thoughts. “Don’t worry, Mr. Magnum,” Kelly laughed. “Surely I would only need an escort as far as the airpark --- if you’re still concerned about security. I hardly think anyone is going to try to kidnap me while I’m in the air.”

“Yes, I’m still concerned about your security,” he said and brought up his visit with Bouchet. He told her about Linnet and asked if she knew of any reason a man like that might be following her. She could think of none, which was what he expected. If Bouchet was telling the truth about following Linnet to the museum, and Magnum felt certain he was, then it seemed that Linnet’s presence there was purely coincidental with Kelly’s. Linnet could well have been at the museum to meet someone. Bouchet said Linnet’s boss was a smuggler. Perhaps someone at the museum had taken on a sideline. Of course, Magnum reminded himself, he had initially thought that the intruders at the fence on the night of Kelly’s arrival were coincidental, as well. He frowned and so lost himself in his tangled thoughts that he hardly heard Kelly and T.C. any longer.

Chapter Three

Higgins seemed determined that, if she would not take it on completely, Kelly would at least share what he saw as his mantle of responsibility as Robin Masters’ representative in Hawaii. Kelly was less than enthusiastic about some of the requisite duties, particularly attendance at polo matches. Magnum was not much happier that he felt obliged to accompany them. He waited in the foyer of the main house with Higgins, and felt his pulse quicken as Kelly came down the stairs.

She was wearing one of those filmy, frothy, flowing garden-party dresses that women tended to wear to these events, along with a wide brimmed straw hat that had flowers on the brim to match the flower print of the dress. On the one hand, Magnum thought the attire supercilious and much too, well, flowery for his taste. But, on the other hand, he had to admit that it was difficult to take his eyes off of her so pleasing was the effect. There was a softness, a delicacy about her, a . . ., he shook his head to clear it of all nonsense and moved to open the door for her. She smiled weakly as she passed him, and he sensed a tension in her. He speculated that, by being compelled to attend the polo match, she was feeling the repressive thumb of her grandparents even though they had nothing to do with the event.

Soon after they reached the polo grounds, Magnum came to understand Kelly’s cool attitude. He had been to matches dozens of times with Higgins, or to watch Higgins compete, but had never bothered to get too involved with the crowd. Kelly could not avoid it. Everyone who had not already done so seemed eager, or curious, to meet Robin Masters’ mysterious daughter. A few people were members of families that had long acquaintance with the Rutledges back on the mainland and they seemed to feel the special need to bring her into their social circle in Hawaii. Furthermore, every other woman to whom Higgins introduced her seemed eager to introduce Kelly to her bachelor son.

When Higgins had to leave to dress for the match, Kelly latched onto the arm of his friend Agatha Chumley as though the elderly woman could protect her from the onslaught. She looped her arm in Agatha’s as they made their way toward the spectator area, clinging as though to a security blanket. The tactic was effective in warding off the advances of women, but not so the advances of men. Old or young, single or married, they flocked to Kelly like flies to honey. Finally, she adjusted her pace so that Magnum, who had been following behind, moved beside her. He understood, and did not mind, that her goal was to give the appearance that he was there as her escort rather than security. Thus, tucked between Magnum and Agatha, she was finally able to reach her seat. Though Kelly chatted politely with anyone who stopped by, she made it clear that she had reserved the bulk of her attention for Agatha and Magnum.

Magnum had always liked Agatha Chumley. She was almost a caricature of a prim, genteel elderly lady, which tended to make her stuffy and somewhat prudish, but he appreciated her goodness and admired the way she conducted herself. Now he appreciated her for her ability to make Kelly comfortable. Agatha radiated warmth, and Kelly basked in it. When Agatha had to leave her seat for a few minutes, Kelly began prodding Magnum for information about Agatha’s relationship with Higgins.

“Don’t go trying to play matchmaker with those two,” Magnum warned. “Agatha has thrown every kind of hook and lure Higgins’ way over the years, and he’s not biting.”

“Don’t be silly,” Kelly said dismissively. “I would never stoop to playing matchmaker. That’s for teen-aged girls and elderly aunts. I just feel that Higgins might awaken to Agatha’s possibilities if she were marketed a bit differently, that’s all.”

“But, other than that, you’re not going to meddle, right?”

“Of course.”

Magnum laughed. “Did you ever see that movie with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson? The one where he plays a butler and she’s a housekeeper or something?”

“Remains of the Day?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. Well, believe me, Higgins is more determined to stay his course than Anthony Hopkins was.”

Kelly giggled. “And you don’t think I can give him a little push that might help him divert his course just slightly?”

He thought about it for a moment. “If anyone can, you can,” he admitted heavily.

When the match ended, they left their seats and made their way toward a nearby pavilion for tea. Magnum was scanning the crowd as they walked, and only gradually became aware that she had slowed her pace to nearly a stop. She drew closer to him and surprised him by slipping her hand into the crook of his elbow. Puzzled, he covered her hand with his and looked down at her. Kelly’s face was completely drained of color and bore an expression of absolute fear and loathing. She started forward again, but her steps were mechanical. He looked about them to see what had upset her and his eyes came to rest on a man about Kelly’s age who was sauntering toward them. The man’s expression was not so much smiling, as smug. It took a moment for Magnum to recall having seen the face in the newspaper archives. It was David Kimbrough.

As Kimbrough drew nearer, Kelly’s grip on Magnum’s arm tightened unconsciously. He guessed that she was not even aware that she was holding on to him. Kimbrough strolled up and feigned doffing an invisible hat to her.

“Hello, Kelly Anne,” he chortled.

“Hello, David,” she responded tightly.

David looked at Magnum, silently waiting for Kelly to introduce them.

“Thomas,” she said fighting hard, he could tell, to maintain civility, “this is David Kimbrough. David, Thomas Magnum.” As the two men shook hands, she made no explanations about either man’s role in her life.

“I’m visiting the Bannisters,” David offered. “Haven’t seen them in years.”

Kelly did not respond and when Magnum looked down and saw the storm in her eyes, he was amazed that Kimbrough didn’t seem eager to find the quickest possible exit.

“You’re here on your father’s estate, I assume?”  Kimbrough ventured.

Kelly nodded, and Magnum sensed that there was no assumption to it. Kimbrough knew Kelly was at the estate, and probably knew how long she’d been there.

            “So, you came to Hawaii to visit old friends?” Magnum asked.

“Yes,” Kimbrough said. “Visit old friends, catch up on business, see the sights, that sort of thing.”

“Catch up on business?” Magnum felt her grip tighten on his arm. She was practically cutting off the blood circulation. “You have business interests here?”

“Of a sort.” Kimbrough followed the cryptic remark with a sharp look at Kelly that Magnum could not ignore.

“Thomas,” she said abruptly, “Jonathan and Agatha are waiting. We really must go.” She tugged on his arm and made some barely audible parting remark to Kimbrough.

“Well,” Kimbrough called after them, “Guess I’ll be seeing you around.”

They walked a few paces before Magnum dared stir the pot. “Are you still in love with him?” he asked. He knew she was not, but hoped to provoke some information from her.

“No,” she snapped. The look she shot him would have killed an unprepared man.

“I just wondered,” he shrugged innocently. “The way you took hold of my arm, I thought maybe you were trying to make him jealous or something.”

Kelly jerked her hand away from his arm and folded her arms in front of her as they walked. “Don’t be absurd.”

“Well, it just seemed kind of odd,” he persisted in a wondering tone. “If you don’t still care for him, then why were you so upset?”

“Mr. Magnum.” She stopped in her tracks. “I assure you that I do not feel anything for David Kimbrough. I do not care if he stays, goes, or falls off the face of the earth. If I was gripping your arm as you suggest, then perhaps it was simply that I was afraid you might make one of your annoying little facetious remarks --- as you are so prone to do.” She turned and resumed her progress toward the pavilion.

“Well, I’m glad to know you don’t feel anything for him,” Magnum muttered under his breath as he followed behind her.

******

When Kelly announced that she planned to spend the next several days closeted in her office to tackle the final chapter of her book, Magnum decided to take the opportunity to catch up on some beach volleyball and socializing at the King Kamehameha club. Besides, he needed to talk to Rick. He knew that asking Rick to see what he could find out about Marco Linnet and the phantom Chameleon Bouchet mentioned was going to be asking Rick to overextend himself. He hoped Rick’s fondness for Kelly would help persuade him to try.

As it turned out, Rick was fairly agreeable to seeing what he could turn up on Marco Linnet. If the guy was still in Hawaii and looking to do any sort of illicit business, Rick knew Icepick would have caught wind of it. Magnum’s next request was not met with the same willingness, however.

“Let me get this straight,” Rick said when Magnum finished explaining the help he needed from him, “you want me to use my contacts to try to make contact with this Chameleon person? A person named after a lizard who happens to live in France? I don’t think so, Thomas!”

“Aw, come on, Rick. If you can handle making deals with people with names like ‘Icepick,’ you can handle someone named after a lizard. What difference does it make if he’s in France? Those types are the same all over, and you’re used to dealing with them.”

“Thanks a lot!”

“You know what I mean.” He watched Rick wrestle with his proposal and knew he was leaning away from agreeing to help. “Come on, Rick. This guy could be connected with someone who may be out to hurt Kelly in some way.”

Rick looked at him. “Could be, may be. It sounds like you’re asking me to stick my neck out for something that’s not more than a hunch.”

“Well, it’s a little more than a hunch. This guy Marco Linnet, who supposedly works for the Chameleon, did follow us to the museum.” He wasn’t sure about that, but decided not to tell Rick.

Rick looked unhappy. “Oh, all right,” he agreed reluctantly.

“Great!” Magnum slapped the bar and started up from his seat before Rick could change his mind. “Oh,” he added quickly, “and don’t mention that you’re from Hawaii. The Chameleon could get a little suspicious if he suddenly gets a call from someone here while Linnet’s in town.”

Rick looked annoyed and disgusted. “Anything else?”

“Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. See if you can turn up anything on a guy named David Kimbrough. He’s here supposedly visiting some friends.”

“Magnum!” Rick tried to protest.

It was too late. Magnum was headed for the beach and well out of Rick’s range.

******

There was only so much beach volleyball and beer-drinking time with his buddies that Magnum could, in good conscience, indulge in without taking a break to check on Kelly. Although she had said she would be glued to her office for several days, he had known her to make unexpected changes to her plans and, until he felt better about Kimbrough’s appearance and whether or not the French contingent represented any sort of threat, he wanted to keep pretty close tabs on her.

He ambled up to the main house early one morning, just in time to see Higgins loading two rifles in the trunk of the Audi. The rifles were in leather cases, but there was no disguising what they were.

“Higgins?” Magnum stopped by the back of the car and looked into the trunk then up at Higgins, an inquiring look on his face.

Higgins slammed the trunk. “I’m on my way to the firing range, Magnum, as if it’s any of your business.”

Magnum eyed Higgins’ shooting attire. “I can see that,” he said, stifling a laugh. “But, I thought you liked to do your skeet shooting here on the estate.”

“Not skeet shooting, Magnum,” he said impatiently as he moved toward the car door. “The Anglo-Hawaiian Society’s first annual target competition is coming up in a few weeks and I’m off to practice.”

“Target competition?” One of his trademark high-pitched laughs --- almost a giggle --- slipped out. “You mean like rows of little ducks and stuff like that?”

Higgins rounded on him. “I’ll have you know, Magnum, that this is a serious competition held in accordance with Olympic rules. I myself participate in the Men’s 50 Meter Rifle, Three Position wherein I fire a round of forty shots in each of the three positions: prone, standing and kneeling. The target is fifty meters away and its center ring is a mere 10.4 millimeters in diameter. “

Magnum raised his hands in surrender. “All right, Higgins. I was only kidding!”

Higgins scowled at him before getting into the car and driving away.

Higgins was an amazing man, Magnum thought, but his sense of humor needed a real overhaul. He strolled into the house, hands thrust into the pockets of his khaki shorts, and toyed with the idea of taking advantage of Higgins’ absence to lift a couple of cigars from the humidor on his desk. No, he decided. He’d go up and see Kelly first.

She wasn’t in her study, but he could tell by the materials spread on her desk and across the floor that she had been working. He made his way across the room by studying the documents and photos she had piled here and there. On her desk, there was a thick leaflet of handwritten notes with additional annotations, all in her handwriting, in the margins. There was a stack of photos and, as he sat down in her chair, he began leafing through these. One in particular caught his attention. It was a photo of an elderly woman with sharp features and intense dark eyes. The eyes were what held him. They were like two shiny beads peering distrustfully out of her angular face.

“Can I help you find something?”

Kelly’s voice coming from the door startled him. “Oh, I was just waiting for you.” he tried to get to his feet but the sunglasses dangling from his neck caught on the drawer handle. He laughed awkwardly. “I was just . . . who’s this?” he asked in an attempt to regain his composure. He held out the picture of the woman with the intense eyes.

Kelly crossed the room and took the photo from him. “Madame Genevive LeCompte,” she said. “She supposedly played an integral role in the early days of the French Resistance.”

“Supposedly?”

“Well,” Kelly sighed and sank into a chair. She stared at the photo as she spoke. “Everyone in Paris knows of Madame LeCompte. Stories of her heroism during the war circulate like cherished legends among the society there. But, when I went to interview her for my book, she was most uncooperative. At first, she said she thought topics related to the Resistance had been covered well enough and, perhaps I should consider focusing on other matters. When I persisted, she grew extremely impatient with me. Don’t you think that’s odd?” she looked up at Magnum.

“Maybe she just wants her privacy in her retiring years. Maybe she has developed a sense of humility.” He shrugged.

“Humility? The woman has built her entire existence on the perpetuation of these stories, Magnum. She has been lauded and feted over the years for her contribution, even parlaying it into a post-war marriage that everyone considered well beyond her status at the time. She came from the farthest reaches of the wrong side of the tracks to land the favorite son of a wealthy family. Francois LeCompte was already wealthy and powerful when she married him but, over the years, he evolved into the most successful shipping magnate in France.”

Magnum arched his eyebrows and nodded. She had a point.

“What really got me, though, was the fact that I could find absolutely no reference to Genevive St.Claire, which was her maiden name, in any of the old letters and diaries and other documents in the archive. If she did even half of the things they tell stories about, she should have been at least mentioned somewhere.”

“So, you think she’s a fraud?”

Kelly thought for a moment. “I don’t know. The whole basis for her legend is her telling of stories about her exploits. She has intimate details about Resistance activities and even about German operations that someone would have only if they’d been there. But, even though her stories are historically accurate, none of the other people involved in the events clearly remembers her being there. On the other hand, it’s hard to believe someone could create such a pervasive image of themselves if there wasn’t something substantial behind it.” She stood up and crossed the room to the desk. “But, until I find out for certain, I don’t plan to include anything about her in my book.” Tossing the photo on the desk she added, “Maybe Madame LeCompte is right. Maybe the French Resistance has been covered so much by other authors that I shouldn’t do more than a paragraph on it.” She folded her arms and looked at Magnum.

He picked up the photo and looked at it again. “Say Madam LeCompte is a fraud. How important do you think it is to her that she keep her image intact?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, do you think she would go as far as physical violence against you if she thought you were going ahead with your research on her?”

Kelly laughed. “She’s a frail little old lady, Magnum. I have no doubt that she’d send her lawyers after me, but she’s not likely to come after me with a tire iron!”

“It was just a thought,” he said. “Who runs her husband’s shipping company now?”

“Their daughter, Andrea. She’s a shrewd businesswoman by all evidence. She’s kept the company growing when everyone thought it would fall apart after her father died.”

“Would she have any interest in preserving her mother’s reputation as the Mother of Liberty”

“Genevive would like that appellation,” she told him with a smile. “But, no. I can’t see any reason Andrea would care one way or the other. All she cares about is the shipping business and its success has nothing to do with Genevive’s legendary status.”

He shook his head at all the notes and research materials she had spread across her desk and on the floor. “You would have made a good detective,” he said.

“Don’t you mean ‘private investigator’?” Smiling, she cocked her head to one side.

“Private investigator,” he agreed.

She laughed. “My father takes another approach. He says I would have made a good detective novelist.”

“Maybe he wants someone to take over the family business if he decides to retire.”

That really made her laugh. “I could never fill his shoes, Mr. Magnum, and I’m not talking about as a writer!”

He laughed and nodded, although --- even if she could not --- he imagined he could see her potential to live the full, exciting life her father had carved out for himself. “Why don’t you call me Thomas?” he asked suddenly.

She looked at him, an answer lurking just behind her pursed lips he guessed, but she refused to give it voice. Finally, saying he should let her get back to work, he excused himself to go back to enjoying the fine weather.

******

Normally, Magnum enjoyed helping T.C. give guided tours of the more remote parts of the islands. Magnum had hiked pretty much every trail and T.C. called on his expertise whenever a client wanted a guide for a day or two of getting up close and personal with the Hawaiian landscape. However, when one such morning rolled around a few days later, he was not disappointed when T.C. called early to tell him his tour had cancelled. He’d had another almost sleepless night haunted by images of a fearful Michelle and his own inability to protect her from harm. He slept a little later than usual and lingered over his breakfast before heading up to the main house.

Higgins was just around the corner of the house fussing over some of his prized flowers. The flowers must be suffering some affliction, Magnum decided, because Higgins already had a scowl on his face even before he looked up to see Magnum approaching.

“What are you doing here?” he barked. “I thought you were planning to be away from the estate for the day.”

Magnum laughed. “Sorry to disappoint you, Higgins. T.C.’s tour was cancelled so I guess you’re stuck with me.”

Higgins frowned and returned his attention to the flowers.

Magnum leaned over Higgins’ shoulder and studied the flowers as well. “What’s the matter with them, Higgins?” he asked with mock seriousness. “Too much manure?”

Higgins spun around and was about to give him a thorough dressing-down when their attention was diverted to the front of the house. Kelly emerged dressed in very uncharacteristic fashion and walked briskly toward the Ferrari. Her long hair fell loosely down her back, and she was wearing a short, very tight leather skirt, tight knit tank top, and high-heeled shoes. Moreover, she never had shown any interest in driving the Ferrari, preferring the more conservative vehicles. Magnum and Higgins looked at each other.

“What’s that all about,” Magnum asked, hands on his hips, watching her get into the car.

“I haven’t a clue,” Higgins replied, obviously dumbfounded by her appearance. “She told me she needed the Ferrari today, which seemed odd, but . . .”

“You were going to let her go out alone?” Magnum shrieked.

“No, of course not! She led me to believe T.C. would be with her.”

“Never mind, “ Magnum snapped. They watched her drive down the long gravel driveway toward the gate. “Do you have the keys to the Audi on you?”

“Yes,” Higgins said, momentarily confused by the question.

Magnum held out his hand and, understanding that this was not a time for argument, Higgins dropped the keys into his palm. Cursing as he ran, Magnum sprinted toward the garage. He sent gravel flying as he raced up the driveway in pursuit of his prodigal charge. It did not take him long to pull within sight of the Ferrari and he decided to stay there, just in sight, and follow her to find out what she was up to. The bright red car was easy to keep in sight, especially since Kelly was neither an aggressive nor an erratic driver.

He followed her across Honolulu toward a trendy nightclub district. The clubs were all upscale but flashy establishments that catered to the young, wealthy, fashionable crowd. Not exactly Kelly’s cup of tea, he would have thought. She pulled into the driveway of one of the clubs and turned the Ferrari over to a valet. Magnum winced as the young man peeled out on his way to the parking lot. He found a metered parking spot across the street from the club, parked and made his way inside. His jeans, Hawaiian print shirt and baseball cap drew disapproving looks from some of the patrons and he worried about his ability to blend in well enough to keep Kelly from noticing him. Keeping to the darker areas of the club, he made his way around the room until he spotted her. Her unusually heavy makeup made her features stand out even in the dim light. It unnerved him somewhat to see her looking so overtly sexual and, even though he could not deny taking a certain pleasure from her appearance, decided he preferred what he assumed was the “real” Kelly.

His discomfort with Kelly’s appearance became all the more acute when he saw whom she was meeting. David Kimbrough sat across the table from her. Kimbrough seemed more pleased by the meeting than Kelly did. He laughed loudly when she pushed aside his attempt to stroke her knee. Magnum frowned and wished he could move close enough to hear their conversation. Kimbrough seemed to laugh frequently, followed by a sharp look from Kelly that Magnum knew all too well. Kimbrough addressed a waitress who, shortly thereafter, brought Kelly a drink. The drink remained untouched and Kelly kept checking her watch. Magnum had the feeling she was waiting for a particular amount of time to lapse and he began checking his own watch. After they had been there almost a half-hour, Kelly abruptly rose from her chair, took an envelope from her purse, and tossed it on the table in front of Kimbrough. Without further word to him, she stalked out of the club, narrowly missing Magnum’s hiding place. Magnum stayed long enough to see Kimbrough laugh to himself as he watched Kelly leave, then stuff the unopened envelope in his jacket pocket before finishing his drink.

He had to wait until she had driven away before he could sprint across the street to retrieve the Audi. Once again, however, the Ferrari was easy to spot in the heavy Honolulu traffic, and he fell in a few cars behind her. As he followed her through the streets, he kept mulling what he had seen in the club. Clearly, Kelly was paying Kimbrough off for something, but what? And why, he wondered, was she dressed that way? On the one hand, she seemed to be trying to seduce Kimbrough, on the other hand she aggressively rebuffed his crude advances.

He realized he had been lost in his thoughts all the way across Honolulu and was surprised when he realized that she was turning onto the coastal highway in a direction that would take her away from the estate. She had opened the Ferrari’s sunroof and, although her hair was now pulled back in a ponytail, he could see blonde wisps blowing in the wind. At a stop sign just before they turned onto the highway, she leaned her head back, face to the sun, as though particularly enjoying the sensation. So intent was he on watching her that Magnum did not realize for some minutes that one of the two cars that separated him from Kelly had been there for quite awhile. Indeed, the more ground they covered, the more certain he became that the driver was following Kelly.

At his first opportunity, he pulled alongside the blue sedan and got a look at the driver. The man looked like the man in the photo Bouchet had given him --- Marco Linnet --- but he could not be certain. There was nothing really remarkable about the average-height man with dark hair and olive complexion. The resemblance made Magnum uneasy, however, and he fell back into the lane behind the sedan. He thought about attracting Kelly’s attention and getting her to pull over, but decided he didn’t know enough about the situation to make that call. Perhaps this man was another one of Kelly’s appointments for the day. If that was the case, he wanted to know, and the only way to find out was to let events take their course. He’d watch for a while and see what happened.

He didn’t have to wait long. The moment they reached a particularly winding part of the highway, the driver of the blue sedan closed the gap between himself and the Ferrari. Magnum glanced toward the steep, rocky cliff that fell off from the road and immediately thought of the accident that killed the three gang members. When Kelly slowed slightly to allow him to pass her, he cried out as though he thought she could hear him.  “No! Don’t let him get beside you!”

The sedan pulled alongside the Ferrari and, instead of passing, began to move into her lane in an effort to herd Kelly off the road.

Magnum winced and held his breath. Kelly swerved slightly and hit her brakes. “Don’t stop, Kelly,” he urged under his breath. “Speed up.” He had to hit his own brakes to keep from colliding with her.

As though she heard him, Kelly accelerated suddenly leaving them both in her wake. The blue sedan was able to slip back into the resulting gap between the Ferrari and the Audi. She had sped up appreciably, but not enough to get away. The blue sedan tried to pull up beside her again, but she maneuvered so as to block him. At one point, she seemed to lose concentration and over steered a curve.

“Don’t look in your mirror so much!” Magnum shouted. “Just watch the road!” He gritted his teeth when, responding to an almost successful attempt by the sedan, she spurred the Ferrari forward, too fast for the twisting road. “Hold your speed down, Kelly,” Magnum urged. “Wait for the straightaway. Just stay in front of him.” He knew a long straight stretch of highway was ahead of them and, if Kelly was willing to push the Ferrari, there would be no way the sedan could keep up with her. He hoped she would then head for the nearest police station, leaving him to deal with the driver of the blue sedan.

He pulled alongside the sedan and made every effort to divert the driver’s attention from Kelly. The tactic worked. The driver lost his concentration and slowed sufficiently to create a big enough gap between himself and Kelly for Magnum to slip the Audi into. Taking the pressure off allowed Kelly to settle down and concentrate on negotiating the road. She swerved less and was able to pick up a little speed. He hoped he could hold his position until they reached the straightaway.

She didn’t wait for the stretch he had in mind, however. To his astonishment, at the first reasonably straight stretch of road, she dropped the Ferrari into a lower gear and shot forward. The words “not yet” were hardly out of his mouth when she veered sharply onto a bit of unpaved shoulder that sent the car into a spin. Magnum slammed on his brakes causing a near collision between himself and the blue sedan. Expecting her to hit the guardrail, Magnum held his breath. She further astonished him, however, by recovering the spin. Before the driver of the blue sedan could react, she shot across to the other side of the highway and turned back in the direction from which they had just come.

“Damn it, Kelly!” Magnum exclaimed as he whipped the Audi around to follow her. “What are you doing?”

The driver of the blue sedan was slower in making the turn, but came quickly up behind Magnum, who now trailed closely behind Kelly. He was determined to keep the gap between the Ferrari and the Audi closed so the blue sedan could not pull in and harass her again. Both vehicles handled the curves better than the sedan, so it was not difficult to keep him at bay for the moment. But, if Kelly didn’t take advantage of the Ferrari’s superior horsepower when they reached the long straightaway that was a couple of miles away, the playing field would become more level. Magnum, one eye constantly monitoring his mirrors, stuck close on her bumper through the curves. The sedan made a couple of attempts to pass, but Magnum had little trouble blocking him. Finally, straight roadway opened before them.

“Now!” he urged Kelly. “Use those horses and get the hell out of here!”

The Ferrari broke stride for only an instant as she dropped into a lower gear and began to accelerate. Within seconds, she had put distance between herself and her pursuer that would be impossible for him to overcome. Magnum knew the relatively straight stretch of road followed the coastline for miles. Furthermore, it would take her in the direction of the estate. The police might stop her, but no one else would he assured himself as he turned his attention to the blue sedan.

Magnum’s tactics now changed from offensive to defensive. He wanted to find out what he could about the driver. He slowed to allow the sedan to pass and cursed under his breath when the driver took a swipe at him on the way by. Just before the sedan cleared his front bumper, he swerved sharply and prodded its rear fender. The driver swerved momentarily, but quickly regained control. Undaunted, the driver of the sedan then returned the bump, which sent the smaller, lighter Audi onto the unpaved shoulder of the highway. Dirt and gravel flew as Magnum fought to maintain control. Tires spinning, he accelerated back onto the highway and the two vehicles resumed their jousting.

With Magnum in close pursuit, the driver of the blue sedan made a sharp turn onto a side road. Refusing to be shaken off, Magnum followed every turn and detour the sedan made, until he began to get an uneasy feeling about his surroundings. Slowing down, he began to suspect that the man in the sedan did not want to shake him off, but was, instead, intent on luring him into increasingly remote areas. No gun and no backup --- Magnum decided it was time to cut his losses and, perhaps, live to fight another day. He let the sedan go and returned to the highway.

By the time Magnum reached the estate, he was raging mad. Furious with Kelly, he skidded to a stop in front of the house. Higgins was just coming out the front door and cast a condemning eye at the damaged Audi.

“I’ll explain later,” Magnum growled as he strode past Higgins into the house. “Where’s Kelly?” He didn’t bother to wait for an answer. He was through the foyer and up the stairs before Higgins could find words.

Wide-eyed, Kelly backed away from him as he stormed into her sitting room. She opened her mouth as though to protest, but the expression on his face stopped her short.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.

“What were you doing following me?” she shot back indignantly.

“Don’t you dare try to turn this back on me, lady. You’re the one who screwed up here, not me!”

“You have no right to follow me!” she insisted.

“I sure as hell do! Your father gave me that right when he hired me to protect you. And besides, if I hadn’t been following you, you and the Ferrari would probably be a pile of wreckage at the bottom of a cliff right now!”

“Oh, fat lot of good you did!”

“Kelly!” he gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes in frustration. The veins in his neck were standing out and his voice was screeching out of control. “I ought to wring your ungrateful little neck! You nearly got us both killed today you selfish little brat!

“Don’t talk to me like that!”

“Answer my question. What were you doing?”

“I’m not answering your questions as long as you keep talking to me like that!” she shouted.

“I’ll talk to you anyway I like until you answer my questions,” he shouted back. “I’ll yell, I’ll curse, I’ll do anything I damn well please until you tell me what I want to know, Kelly. And if that doesn’t work, I swear I’ll dangle you off the balcony upside down if that’s what it takes!”

“Magnum!”

Higgins’ alarmed voice coming from the doorway spun him around. Without a word, Magnum crossed the room, gently pushed Higgins back out into the hall, then shut and locked the door.

Kelly’s eyes grew wider.

“Now,” he said in a lower but no less intense voice, “why did you sneak off the estate today?”

“Sneak? I wasn’t aware I was a prisoner.”

“Oh, come on Kelly,” he plead in exasperation. “You thought I was going to be gone all day, and you lied to Higgins because you knew he wouldn’t let you go out alone. You took the Ferrari, and you went out dressed like a hooker. Now I want to know why.”

“I am not dressed like a hooker,” she snapped.

“Kelly,” he narrowed his eyes meaningfully.

“I’m not dressed like a hooker,” she repeated less forcefully, “and, since you were following me, you already know where I went so I don’t see why I have to tell you about it.”

“You have to tell me about it,” he said in a cautionary and deliberate voice, “because I want to hear the truth come out of your mouth just once, and because I don’t just want to know where you went, I want to know why.”

“You make it sound like I lie to you all the time. I don’t do any such thing.”

“I don’t know whether you do, or not, Kelly,” he said. “After what I saw today, I don’t feel like I know anything about you!”

“I didn’t lie to you about today. I just didn’t tell you I was going out.”

“Oh, great! You know, your father has it all wrong. You shouldn’t have been a detective novelist, you should have been a lawyer!”

She wrinkled her face in response to his sarcasm, then folded her arms in front of her. She planned to maintain her silence, but his probing stare was more and more difficult to ignore. “I didn’t tell you about today because I needed to go by myself and I knew you wouldn’t let me,” she said, capitulating. “I was meeting David and I knew you wouldn’t let me go alone.”

“You’re right about that. Why were you meeting Kimbrough?”

She looked him squarely in the eye, determination not to answer the question clear upon her face. “You don’t need to know that,” she insisted.

“Kelly,” he sighed in irritation. With hands on his hips, he began to pace thoughtfully. He decided to come back to that question later, and switched tracks. “Who was the guy in the blue car?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you sure? You’ve never seen him before?”

“Never.”

“Would Kimbrough have hired him to go after you.”

“No,” she replied with absolute certainty.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because . . .,” she seemed to search for a way to answer his question, “that man seemed to want to kill me. That’s the last thing in the world David Kimbrough would want.”

“Why?” he asked pointedly, “Because he’s still in love with you?”

She laughed. “No. David Kimbrough has never really loved anyone in his life.”

“Then why were you going to marry him?”

She looked at him sharply. “I thought you wanted to know about today, Mr. Magnum. That’s a bit off the subject, isn’t it?”

“Is it?”

“Look, I’ve told you that I left the estate today because I wanted to meet with David and didn’t want anyone to know about it. I’ve also told you I have no idea who the man in the blue car was.” She started toward the door as though she thought she could open it and dismiss him. “I believe that’s all I have to say about today that is relevant to your job.”

He grabbed her arm as she swept by and spun her around to face him. “What are you paying Kimbrough off for?”

She looked as though he had thrown cold water in her face.

“I saw you give him the envelope, Kelly. You’re paying him off. Why?”

He was holding her so close she could see the irises of his eyes constrict. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?” she asked quietly.

He shook his head. There appeared in her eyes such pain that he loosed his grip slightly. The muscles in her face flexed and he knew she was wrestling with something difficult. He released her and her hands went unconsciously to the places where his hands had gripped her arms. “He’s blackmailing you, isn’t he,” Magnum said quietly.

She nodded and rubbed her arms. “He has some photos,” she stammered. “From when we were engaged.” Unable to face Magnum, she turned her back as she continued. “He apparently had a camera hidden in his bedroom, or had someone hidden in the closet with a camera on several occasions when . . .,” her voice trailed off.

Magnum closed his eyes tightly. He could guess where this was going.

“It isn’t that we were doing anything wrong . . . anything . . .,” she seemed unable to find the appropriate word, “perverted or obscene. They’re just photos of me . . . of us . . ..”

“I get the picture,” he said softly. “But that’s hardly something you should allow yourself to be blackmailed over. Even if he published them, it would be embarrassing, but that’s all. I can’t believe you’ll let this guy use you as his unlimited money machine just to save yourself some embarrassment. I’m sure your father would not want you to pay this guy off.”

“I’m not worried about my father, Mr. Magnum.” She turned to look at him. “Nor am I worried about saving myself the embarrassment. If that was all there was to it, I’d tell David to go to hell.”

            “Well, what then?” He shrugged.

            “My grandparents. If you knew my grandparents, you’d understand why I can’t let David publish those photos. They would be devastated by the humiliation. It’s not just their sense of propriety; it goes much deeper than that. It has to do with their age, and most of all, it has to do with their love for me. They would just be crushed, Mr. Magnum, and I can’t let that happen.”

            “Don’t you think you ought to give them a little more credit than that? Do you really think they would prefer that you submit to blackmail over having their little world upset?”

            “Of course they wouldn’t want me to submit to blackmail. It’s my choice, my decision. I know you can’t understand this, Mr. Magnum, but this is the way it has to be. I refuse to let David Kimbrough hurt people I love.” The determination in her voice was beyond argument.

            “Does your father know about this?”

            “Of course not. And he’s not going to know,” she said pointedly.

            “How much are you paying Kimbrough?”

            “He has asked for varying amounts . . . anywhere between five-thousand and twenty-thousand dollars.”

            “How often?”

            “He approaches me a couple of times a year.”

            Magnum sighed and began pacing again, trying to sort out what seemed to him to be beyond reason. Suddenly, he remembered something else about her meeting with Kimbrough. “Why were you dressed like a . . . the way you were dressed?”

            Kelly’s face reddened and she looked away from him again. “I really upset David’s plans for a comfortable life when I broke off our engagement,” she said quietly. “He’s not inclined to forgive me for that. So, it isn’t enough to him to extract payment to keep the photos from being published, he likes to demean and embarrass me as often as possible. Whenever he tracks me down to hit me up for more money, one of the parameters he places on our meeting is that I dress in a manner that he finds . . . exciting,” she met Magnum’s eyes briefly. “We always meet in a bar and he demands that I stay for a minimum of a half-hour and have a drink with him.”

            Magnum studied her profile, the color in her cheeks, and her shaking hands. This last admission seemed more uncomfortable for her than even the photos. He moved nearer to her, but resisted the temptation to touch her. “Kelly,” he said softly, “You can’t keep paying this guy off. Sooner or later, a guy like that will . . . well, he’ll either demand more than you can pay, or he’ll …”

            She looked up at him, her eyes glittering with tears. He knew she did not need to hear from him what David Kimbrough was capable of doing --- and would eventually do. He turned to go.

            “Thomas,” she momentarily halted his progress toward the door. “I didn’t tell you all of this because you bullied me into it. I told you because I thought you would understand why it has to be this way. And I told you because I believed I could trust you to keep my confidence.”

            He looked at her for a long moment then, without any promises, turned and walked out of the room.

******

            “If this Marco Linnet character is here in Hawaii to do any kind of business . . . you know, buy or sell anything . . . he’s sure not doing a very good job of it.” Rick pushed a beer across the bar toward Magnum.

            “What do you mean?”

            “He’s not making any contacts. I can’t find anyone who has heard anything from him or knows anything about him.”

            “Is it possible they’re just not talking?”

            Rick gave him an impatient look. “C’mon, Thomas. You know if there’s anything out there I can find it.”

            “Okay,” Magnum conceded, “what about the Chameleon. Any luck there?”

            “That one’s gonna be a little tougher. I’m going to have to use some contacts on the mainland. You’re talking about calling in some major markers on this one, pal.”

            Magnum nodded and gestured for Rick to continue.

            “The word on your lizard friend is that he’s very big-time in Europe and Asia. Not so much in the U.S., but he’s done some business here.”

            “Will you be able to make contact?”

            “Not me. This guy only does business with really big fish. That’s why I’m having to use someone on the mainland.”

            “Who?”

            Rick shook his head. “You don’t want to know, Thomas. You don’t want to know.”

            Magnum took a swallow of beer and studied Rick for a moment. It never failed to amaze him that someone as soft on the inside as Rick could ever have gotten mixed up with the toughest of the tough in the world of organized crime. He was strictly legitimate these days, Magnum knew, but the aura still clung. “Okay, one more favor,” he ventured.

            Rick sighed. “What now?”

            “This one should be a lot easier,” Magnum assured him. “See if anyone knows anything about a guy named David Kimbrough.”

            “Kimbrough?”

            “Yeah. I’d just like to see if he’s doing any kind of business here that isn’t on the up-and-up. He’s here visiting the Bannisters, supposedly.” He took another swallow of his beer, draining the bottle.

            “The member-of-the-club Bannisters?” His eyebrows shot up when Magnum nodded. “I don’t know, Thomas. If he’s a friend of a club member . . . I don’t want to step on any influential toes, if you know what I mean.”

            “I know. Go lightly if you have to but just see if his name rings any bells out there.”

            “What’re you going to be doing while I’m busy sticking my neck out for you?”

            Magnum made a distasteful face. “Taking Kelly hiking on Maui.”

            “Oh, you poor slob,” Rick said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. “You get all the tough jobs, don’t you?”

            “Thanks for the beer, Rick, “ Magnum said with a mincing look.

Chapter 4

            The main part of the hiking trail on Maui was not accessible only by helicopter, as T.C. had told Kelly. But one branch of it was, and that was the branch Magnum favored. He liked for T.C. to drop him in a clearing near the top the trail along a rocky ridge so he could hike to the bottom. The trail took several hours to complete, and was rough going in places. The view it offered was worth the effort, however. For most of the trek along the spiny ridge, the land fell off into endless ocean on one side, lushly vegetated valley on the other.

            Magnum and Kelly both carried lightweight backpacks for the daylong trip --- lunch, plenty of water, sunscreen, rain parkas and first aid kit. She impressed him with her no-nonsense hiking clothes, including long loose-fitting pants that she bloused in the tops of her boots. He had taken out many a female hiker who insisted on wearing short shorts that allowed for a nice tan on her legs, but offered no protection from brush and insects. However, he couldn’t admit to being impressed and, indeed, couldn’t think of much at all to say for the first half-hour or so of their hike.

            “So, tell me about this hike along the Great Wall of China,” he finally called back over his shoulder to where she walked a few paces behind him.

            “It’s a wonderful trek,” she said. “It covers the Beijing section of the wall. You do it in sections . . . about ten to fifteen kilometers a day. You walk along the trail on the top of the wall, of course. Some of it is in ruins and gets a little dicey, but it’s not too rough. Just takes a lot of endurance.”

            “Sounds great.” It suddenly occurred to him that the portion of trail they were on ran precariously close to the edge of a steep, rocky cliff that tumbled into the ocean. He doubted Robin would be happy to hear that his daughter had slipped and fallen to her death on the rocks below. He slowed his pace a tad.

            “It is! The view is breathtaking and the history is humbling. When I told Jonathan about it, he was so intrigued that I invited him to come along when I go again.”

“Higgins?” He stopped and turned around laughing. “Higgins on a hike like that?”

“Well, yes.” She seemed taken aback. “I think he’d be fine and his wealth of knowledge would make it even more interesting.”

“Oh, yeah,” Magnum agreed sarcastically. He turned and resumed the hike.

Kelly could hear him chuckling. “You know,” she said thoughtfully, “I was planning to go at the end of the year. My father worried awfully about me when I went last time. I’ll bet he’ll want you to go along, as well.” Before he could respond, she called out as though something had startled her.

            “What?” he cried, spinning around quickly.

            She was too absorbed by the view to notice the alarm on his face. “Talk about breathtaking!” She was looking out over the ocean. Though there was an almost sheer drop from where they stood to the ocean below, they could see farther around the curving coastline to where lush, green hills rolled more gently toward a sugar-white beach. “Oh, Thomas,” she murmured, “this is just beautiful. Not a building in sight, and the water is as blue as the Aegean.”

            Muttering some sort of vague agreement, Magnum watched her. Her face was lit with absolute pleasure. The exertion had put a light flush of pink in her cheeks and her eyes seemed to reflect the blue of the sky and water. When she turned and caught him gazing at her, he had to look away quickly and recover himself.

            “What’s the matter?” she asked.

            “Nothing,” he insisted, his gaze firmly fixed on the horizon. “Just thinking how fun it would be to hike across the Great Wall of China with you and Higgins.” He flashed her a grin that underscored his sarcasm. “Let’s go a little further down the trail. The view’s even better from there.”

            Following along behind him, Kelly silently shook her head. “You know,” she muttered, “the more time I spend with you, the more you remind me of my father. Just a little rougher around the edges, that’s all.”

            Her voice had been carried away by the wind. “What?” he asked, turning to face her. “I didn’t hear what you said.”

            “Nothing,” she sighed. “It wasn’t important.”

            They hiked down the sloping trail for almost two hours with frequent stops so Kelly could drink in the view or take a few photos. Higgins had loaned her a book on the local fauna, and she paused often to look up the identity of some plant she found interesting. Magnum was well versed on the trails and the native legends that permeated the area, and she seemed fascinated by his every word. She could not stifle a smile, though, when he talked about the ocean. Even from their high vantagepoint, he could point out features in the clear water far below and describe every nuance.

            “What?” he asked, finally noticing the smile. “Am I boring you?”

            “No,” she laughed. “I just like the way you talk about the ocean. You really are a water baby, aren’t you? When you talk about diving or being on the water, it sounds like the way I feel when I’m flying.”

            “Well, yeah,” he conceded with a shrug, “I guess it’s probably similar --- the sense of freedom, and all. But,” he grinned, “the scenery is better in the ocean.”

            “Yes, but there aren’t any sharks in the sky.”

            He laughed and started walking again. “Is that why you’ve never learned to dive? I mean, you seem to have tackled just about everything else imaginable. I know your dad likes to dive. He goes whenever he’s here.”

            “I know.” Her voice sounded pensive. “When I think about it . . . you know, stop and analyze it, I assume it has something to do with the fact that my mother died in a diving accident. But I’m not conscious of being afraid to learn or anything like that. It just hasn’t caught my fancy.”

            Magnum stopped, closed his eyes and winced before turning to face her. “I’m sorry,” he offered quietly. “I didn’t know.”

            She looked up at him blankly.

            “I didn’t know your mother died in a diving accident. Higgins just said she died in an accident. I guess I assumed it was an automobile accident.”

            “That’s okay,” she assured him. “Even if you had known, it would be okay.” She started down the trail ahead of him.

            They didn’t have to hike much farther before they reached the spot at which Magnum had planned to stop for lunch. It was a wide spot in the trail where it dipped to the leeward side of the ridge. It was grassy, with just enough shade, and afforded a beautiful view of the rolling hills and valley below. 

            “Thank heaven for Jonathan,” Kelly sighed as she began unpacking the lunch Higgins had arranged for them. “If this had been left up to me, we’d be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”

            Magnum decided not to admit that peanut butter would have been fine with him.  He took a long swallow of water. “Why? Don’t you cook?”

            “No, I don’t.” She shot him a warning look. “And don’t look so surprised.”

            “I wasn’t being sexist,” he asserted with a laugh. “I just figured, well . . .,” he shrugged, “you seem to do everything else, I’m just surprised you’re not a gourmet cook, too.”

            “I don’t do everything else, Mr. Magnum, and I’ve never claimed I could.”  She offered him some chicken, her expression saying clearly that she did not appreciate his mocking tone.

            He laughed again as he selected several pieces of chicken. “I didn’t mean it that way. You always get so defensive! It’s just that you know almost as much about everything as Higgins does, including all that artsy stuff. You’re a pilot, and you’re athletic. And,” he lowered the chicken leg he was working on, “you drive like a pro. I’ve been meaning to ask you about that day the guy was chasing you. You handled that Ferrari like you were born in it. Where’d you learn to drive like that?” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

            “I’m almost embarrassed to tell you,” Kelly laughed.

            “Let me guess, you used to date a race car driver?”

            She laughed harder. “No. Last year my father was doing research for one of his books. He was writing a chase scene and wanted to give a lot of detail. He started asking our chauffeur a lot of questions and the chauffeur finally suggested that father go to a performance driving school. As usual, I got drawn in, too.”

            “You’re almost too much,” Magnum told her.

            She laughed. “That’s what I always tell my father. Everything he decides we need to do seems like a step too far . . . too much to me. But he always talks me into it, and I always end up enjoying it. Sometimes I feel like he is trying to cram twenty-something years worth of adventure into however many years we have left together. I didn’t get to spend much time with him while I was growing up, you know. While I was under my grandparents’ guardianship.”

            He nodded, understanding that he would do the same if Lily came back into his life --- try to make up for lost time.

            She grew reflective and looked out over the valley as she spoke. “ I learned a lot about art and history and all those things you can learn from books when I was growing up. But I don’t think I really learned much about the world – about life – until I went to live with my father.” She turned to look at Thomas. “In a way, I think he sent me here to Hawaii to continue my education.” 

            He studied her for a moment,  the loss of his own father suddenly overwhelming him. “Do you ever wonder what your life would have been like if your mother had lived?”

            “Sometimes. Mostly, I wondered what she was like. The image my grandparents gave me of her just never seemed quite right for some reason. I mean, they always talked like she was this frail, perfect little flower who never raised her voice or got her hands dirty or anything like that. But, I knew she had to have more to her than that. After all, she ran away to marry my father, totally against her family’s wishes.” She laughed. “They even threatened to cut her off without a penny, and she still did it. That was before my father was successful, too, so for all she knew, she’d be living in poverty the rest of her life. I think there must have been a lot of passion in her soul to do that. I finally worked up the nerve to ask my father what she was like --- which took a lot of nerve because he has never gotten over her and it’s difficult for him to talk about her. He said if I wanted to know what she was like, I should look in the mirror because I am exactly like her.”

Her mood brightened and she smiled at Magnum. “You have no idea what a relief that was to me because it explained so much about the way I am. None of what I have inside me made sense or felt right until I realized that I inherited it from my mother.”

            Magnum gave her a sideways look. “I suspect you’re a little like your father, too,” he accused lightly.

            “Only a little,” she laughed. “He’s the one who is always wanting to push the envelope. I just go reluctantly along.”

            “Yeah, but you said you always end up enjoying it.”

            “I know,” she sighed. “I think that’s how it was with he and my mother, as well. He was always proposing some adventure, and she’d go along even though it scared her. Then, she’d realize it felt so good to set free the adventurer she had locked inside herself that she loved it. He loved that she was smart and polished and beautiful --- all those things that added to his life --- and she loved that he breathed life into her. They made a good team.”

            “Why were you going to marry Kimbrough?” He blurted the question out before he could stop himself. “I mean, he doesn’t exactly seem like your type.”

            She laughed. “Really, Mr. Magnum? I’d have thought you would consider him exactly my type.” Her expression grew dark. “My grandparents sure did,” she added darkly.

            “Is that why you were going to marry him?” He decided not to admit that there had been a time when he thought Kimbrough well suited to her.

            “Yes, in a way. While I was growing up in my grandparents’ home, I always tried to do what they expected of me. It was awfully hard sometimes because I frequently found myself wanting to do things I knew they would definitely not approve of. I always thought there was something very wrong with me --- until I learned about my mother’s nature. Anyway,” she sighed, ” the engagement to David was the last in a long string of things I did because it made my grandparents happy.”  She watched his expression. “Don’t feel sorry for me, Mr. Magnum,” she chided. “This is not a poor-little-rich-girl story. Mostly, I was happy while I was growing up, and I love my grandparents. The life they wanted for me just didn’t quite fit, that’s all.”

            “So, you were going to marry someone you didn’t love, just to please your grandparents?”

            “Something like that. Except, I thought I did love him. The problem was, I hadn’t experienced enough to know what love was.”

            “You said he never loved you. Did you know that then?”

            “Not at first. He was very charming, very everything he was supposed to be. He could not have seemed more devoted to me, or more solicitous of my grandparents. He totally swept me off my feet and swore that he loved me truly.” She had adopted a dramatic voice, as though talking about the plot of a bad romance novel. “And, although he was from an old Charleston family, he forgave the fact that my father made his living as a writer of tacky spy novels.”

            Magnum laughed. “So, what was the fly in the ointment?”

            “The fly,” she said coolly, “ was a sweet, sexy little lady David had on the side. One who not only kept his bed very warm for him, but who was perfectly willing to stay in the background as his mistress while he married my money.”

            He tried to hide his shock and disgust, but knew it had shown on his face before he turned away.

            “You see,” she continued, “the Kimbroughs may be an old Charleston family, but they’re a broke family. It was David’s job to find himself a rich wife to help restore the family coffers and, not incidentally, support him in the style in which he liked to live.”

            “Which is where you came in.”

            “Exactly. Stupid little me who believed all the moonlight-and-magnolias he dripped all over me.”

            “So, how did you get wise to him?”

            She laughed. “Now, that’s the best part! His sweet little girlfriend --- who, I have to tell you, really was sweet. She was just not the right sort for his family, if you get my drift. Well, she’s the one who did him in. She confronted me one day when I was coming out of a museum in Richmond, said she needed to talk to me about David. It seems that she had managed to let herself get pregnant, and David wanted her to get an abortion. She didn’t want to get the abortion, and was angry at David, so she decided to offer me information on him in exchange for a sum of money that would take care of her and her baby for awhile.”

            “Did you pay?”

            “Yes. But not so much for the information as for her baby. David was such a jerk, I figured it served him right for her to get some money out of me while he wasn’t going to --- I thought.”

            “She could have been lying.”

            “I know. But she proved everything up. It wasn’t hard for me to find out enough to realize she was telling the truth about David, either. I could have found out before with a minimum of effort.”

            “I’m surprised your grandparents didn’t have him checked out.” He was only half joking.

            “That’s the ironic part,” she laughed. “If he had been just anyone off the street, they probably would have. But, since he was from an old Charleston family, well . . ..”

            “Did your father ever meet him?”

            “Once. I could tell he didn’t like him at all, although he didn’t say much. Knowing my father, if the engagement had lasted much longer, he would have had David investigated himself.”

            Magnum laughed to himself. He knew Robin Masters well enough to know that he would have left no stone unturned in checking out David Kimbrough.

            “I think my father didn’t say anything because he figured it would make me more determined to marry David.” She sighed. “I can be obstinate that way.”

            He gave her a meaningful look. “No kidding,” he said heavily.

            “Hey!” she objected, tossing an apple at him. “You’re one to cast stones. You have more than a little stubbornness in you, too!”

            He caught the apple and grinned at her. “Maybe you just bring it out in me.”

            “No,” she laughed. “T.C. and Rick have both told me stories, and Jonathan and my father both said you can be stubborn. I believe my father worded it that, let’s see,” she searched the sky for exactly the right words, “oh yes, he said that you push yourself, but you hate to be pushed.”

            He had no doubt that Higgins took every opportunity to criticize his character to Kelly, he expected no less. However, the thought that Rick and T.C. had been talking to her about him sat a little less easily. Knowing that her father had told her things about him was too much, though. “What else did your father tell you about me?” he asked warily.

            She thought for a moment, a smile touching her lips as she worked to choose the most tactful words. “He told me that you have a reputation with the ladies, that you march to your own drummer, and that you’re a little bit dangerous.”

            “Dangerous? He said I’m dangerous!” he shrieked. “I’m a womanizer, I don’t follow rules and I’m dangerous!”

            “Well, he didn’t use those words,” she tried to soothe. “His words were really a little closer to mine. I mean, he certainly didn’t call you a womanizer . . . exactly.”

            “Jeez! I’m amazed he was willing to hire me to protect you! I’m amazed you were willing to come up here with me all alone. Aren’t you afraid? Being up here with someone who is dangerous?”

            She couldn’t help but laugh. “Thomas, I assure you he didn’t mean it the way you’re taking it. Especially when you consider that people apply some of the same labels to him! Anyway, he also said you’re very professional when it comes to your work, extremely loyal to your friends, and,” she softened her voice,  “that you’re one of the most decent, honorable men he’s ever known.”

            Magnum looked at her, almost startled. He had not expected the last --- not from Robin, anyway. He had only met the man a few times.

            She saw the question in his eyes. “Jonathan keeps him well informed of your activities,” she explained. “And, you and my father have a mutual acquaintance.”

            “Who?”

            “Admiral Hawkes.”

             He frowned, uncertain which informant made him more uncomfortable, Higgins or Hawkes. His mind reeled at the things he knew either of them could have told Robin.

            Kelly laughed. “So, Mr. Magnum,” she asked in an attempt to lighten his mood, “how does someone who likes to march to his own drummer manage in the Navy for nine years?”

            “Well, you notice I’m not there anymore.”

            “Do you ever miss it?”

            “Sometimes,” he admitted with a shrug.

            “Do you ever think of going back?”

            The question caught him off guard. It had crossed his mind lately, but had told no one. ”Yes,” he heard himself say, “sometimes.”

            “You’re not thinking of re-upping just to get away from me, are you?” she asked with a sideways smile.

            “No,” he chuckled. “Actually, if I went back, it would be to quit running, not to run away from anything.”  He could hardly believe he heard himself say the words. When she did not respond, he found himself uncontrollably trying to fill the silence. Trouble was, he was filling it with thoughts he had not shared with anyone else --- and now he was telling her. Before he could get a grip on himself, he had told her about his dad, about Annapolis, about Vietnam --- everything. He was telling her details about missions, about their time as POWs, and even, eventually, about Michelle. The only thing he held back was Lily. He could let go of Michelle, but something would still not allow him to let go of Lily. To say out loud that she had been in that car with Michelle when it exploded made it impossible for him to keep Lily alive in his heart, so he did not mention her at all.

            He watched Kelly’s face as he talked, and she, silent and taking in every word, gazed unflinching into his eyes. Where he had always been loath to talk about these things before, now there was a kind of catharsis in doing so. Kelly’s unblinking, unquestioning acceptance of all he was telling her represented a kind of salvation he had never realized he needed.

            A cloud passed between them and the sun blanketed them in shadow. Magnum shook off his thoughtfulness and looked his watch. “Damn!” he snapped. “We’ve been here a lot longer than I planned. The afternoon rains will be here soon. We need to get down the hill.” As though they had been talking about nothing more serious than the baseball playoffs, they gathered up their gear and started down the trail. He wished she would forget all he had told her, but knew she would not.

            In an attempt to make up for lost time, Magnum was walking faster and stopping less frequently. Kelly did not complain, but had difficulty matching his stride. She found that she had to take smaller, quicker steps to keep up. They had traveled only about a half-hour when a light rain began to fall. They stopped under the protection of a tree and put on rain parkas, then took up the trek once more. The rain completely transformed the scenery, and changed the fragrance and sounds that drifted about them. Kelly wished they could linger longer and enjoy the sensuousness of it all. Magnum showed no sign of slowing his pace, however.

            When the rain stopped, it was as abruptly as it had started. Now all about them was beginning to steam. When they stopped for a drink of water and to remove their parkas, Kelly shook out her damp hair, then re-pinned it. Watching her made Magnum ache, and gave new urgency to his resolve to get her quickly to the bottom of the hill where they would meet Higgins. “Safety in numbers,” he muttered to himself.

            As they continued down the trail, Kelly was practically jogging to keep up with him. When she protested the pace, he called something over his shoulder about the sun setting. Indeed, she could see that the sun was getting precariously close to the top edge of a distant ridge. The trail would be impossible to negotiate in the dark. She held her complaints to herself and worked to keep up. Finally, she saw a chance to save herself a few steps when the trail swung around a formation of boulders protruding above the ground like a group of bald men’s heads crowded together so that only the very tops were visible. Magnum was going around the formation, but she felt it would be easy enough to cross and would cut the distance she had to travel.

            She stepped up onto the formation easily enough and started across, effortlessly hopping the gaps between the rounded domes. When she hopped the last gap, however, her landing foot hit a patch of moss made slippery by the rain. Crying out as she fell, she came down hard with one leg in the trench between the two boulders. She was just pulling herself up to sit on the boulder that had betrayed her footing when Magnum came up the other side of the formation.

            “What are you doing up here?” he asked irritably.

            “It was one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time,” she groaned. She was rubbing her ankle and studying a conspicuous scrape on one elbow. The rock had torn through her shirtsleeve, taking a layer of her skin with it.

            Holding back the lecture he wanted to deliver, Magnum set down his pack and dug out the first aid kit. “Let me see that,” he said, taking her arm and examining her elbow.Frowning, he took out a cleansing pad and wiped at the scrape.

Kelly drew her breath sharply between clinched teeth. “Ow!” she cried when he dabbed a bit harder. She jerked her elbow away.

“Would you stop.” He took her arm in his hand and began cleaning the wound again. “You’ve got all kinds of dirt and crud in here and it needs to be cleaned out before we put a bandage on it.”

“Well, it hurts!”

“Oh, stop being such a baby.”

He finished cleaning and took out a bottle of disinfectant.

“No!” she said jerking her arm away once more. “You’re not putting that stuff on it! You’re just doing this to get even with me for that time at the museum!”

“Would you rather get a shot when it gets infected?”

Sulkily, she offered up her elbow. Ignoring her wincing, he dabbed the scrape with disinfectant and found a large bandage to cover it with.  “You’re enjoying this way too much,” she charged.

Magnum’s eyes flicked to hers and he fought a smile. “C’mon, kiddo,” he sighed as he stood and offered her a hand. “If you’ll stick to the trail, maybe we can still make it down before dark.”

She accepted his help up, but winced when she put her weight on her right ankle.

“What? Did you hurt your leg?”

“It’s just my ankle. I think I twisted it a little.”

“Well, let me look at it.” He began to shrug his pack off his shoulders again.

“No,” she said, stopped him. “It’s fine. Just a little sore. I’m fine. Let’s go.”

Taking her word, he led her off the formation and started back down the trail. She had lied to him about her ankle. The truth was, every step sent excruciating pain up through her leg into the pit of her stomach. At first, the sharp pain made her feel queasy. After awhile, however, a kind of numbness set in and she found that, although she still had to favor the ankle, the pain was more bearable. The feeling that the pain was subsiding encouraged her. She was certain the ankle was not broken, but nonetheless felt some concern. In twenty minutes, they were at the end of the trail.

Magnum turned to tell her they were supposed to meet Higgins in a parking lot a hundred or so yards away. When he looked at her, however, he pulled up short. Her face was so white it was as though she had no blood in her veins, and her eyes had a glassy look that disturbed him. “Are you alright?” he asked haltingly. Clearly she was anything but alright.

“I’m just a little tired,” she insisted. More out of breath than she should have been, she collapsed on a nearby bench. She could hardly manage the strength to take off her backpack.

Magnum sat beside her, helping her with her pack before removing his own. “What is it?”

“It’s my ankle,” she breathed. “I think I might have sprained it when I fell and now it’s really hurting.”

“Well, why didn’t you say anything?” Before she could stop him, he reached down to take off her boot and roll back her sock. As soon as he unlaced the boot, she grimaced and moaned. No wonder, he realized. Her ankle had swelled so much that the boot was cutting off her circulation. When he unlaced it, blood rushed into the ankle, flooding it with new pain. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me how bad you were hurt?” he demanded both alarmed and angry.

“Because I didn’t want to be one of those silly females who always falls and hurts her ankle at a critical moment --- like in old movies,” she said hoarsely. She kept closing her eyes against the pain.

“So you decided to be one of those silly females who walks on a possibly broken ankle and is too stubborn to admit she needs help,” he charged. “Let me see that.” He pulled her foot up into his lap so he could get a better look at the ankle.

“It isn’t broken,” she insisted.

“And how do you know that? Look at this!” He gestured toward her purple, swollen ankle.

“I’d rather not, if you don’t mind.” She tried to pull her foot away from him. “Let’s just go find Jonathan. I’m sure it will be better if I can get some ice on it.”

He shook his head in exasperation. “This is way beyond ice, Kelly. And you’re not walking anywhere. You wait here while I go get Higgins to help us.” He stood up and took a few steps before turning around again. “I mean it. Don’t you dare get off that bench.”

She saluted.

Gnashing his teeth and muttering about stupidity and stubbornness, he made his way toward the parking lot to find Higgins. It didn’t help his mood much when Higgins greeted him with a lecture on being almost two hours late, or when Higgins further lectured him on his responsibility to look after Kelly while they made their way to where she waited for them on the bench. He only stopped when he saw Kelly’s condition.

“Oh my God!” he exclaimed with equal emphasis on each word. “Magnum!”

Magnum grimaced at him then handed him the two backpacks.  “Here,” he said, “you carry these and I’ll carry her.”

“You don’t have to carry me,” she insisted. “I can manage if you’ll just . . .”

“I don’t think so.” Ignoring her protests, he scooped his arms under her. “Put your arms around my neck,” he ordered.

Seeing that he was in no mood for more of her protests, she complied. “This isn’t Mr. Magnum’s fault,” she told Higgins as they headed to the car. “I hurt my ankle and didn’t realize how bad it was, so I didn’t tell him.”

Magnum narrowed his eyes at her. She was lying through her teeth, and he knew it was as much to assuage Magnum’s anger as to keep Higgins off his back. He was glad she resisted what he knew was the temptation to argue when he and Higgins decided to take her by the emergency room on the way home.

******

Once they had determined that Kelly’s ankle was not broken, merely very badly sprained, Magnum calmed down some. Riding home from the hospital, it even occurred to him that Kelly’s injury and resulting incapacitation would work in nicely with some plans he had been working on. This, combined with the fact that she clearly felt bad enough already, made him decide not to say anything else about how stupid he thought she’d been. Never mind that he had done similar things on occasion, he still thought she had behaved stupidly and staunchly refused to change his own mind on the matter.

He was still nursing that notion of her singular stupidity when he went to see her the next morning. He found it helped him concentrate on what he needed to do rather than on trying to sort out all the conflicting emotions she aroused in him --- emotions that had moved from the conflict stage to all-out warfare because of the dream that kept him awake the night before.

In the dream, he felt a pleasant glow when he watched Kelly tilt her head and allow him to take down her hair. The silky tresses fell past her bare shoulders and he could not resist touching first hair, then shoulder. She turned her face up, welcoming his kiss. Before he could taste her lips, however, she inexplicably backed away. The scene changed and he was forced to watch her get in a car, which vanished in a fiery explosion before his horrified eyes. Magnum started awake and sat bolt upright in bed. This time, it was Kelly’s image that had disturbed his sleep. It was Kelly he was reaching for, Kelly he could not save, and Kelly who left him in a cold sweat.

He pushed that out of his mind now, and focused on his irritation at her stupidity. It helped that she seemed totally unrepentant when she saw him. “I wanted to let you know that I have to go home to Virginia for a few days,” he told her. When she merely looked at him as though she didn’t understand, he forged ahead with the vague explanation he had planned. “I’ve been needing to go visit my mom, and I have an Aunt who’s pretty sick. I figure if I don’t go see her soon, it may be too late.”

“Okay,” Kelly said frowning uncertainly.

“Don’t worry, I’ve cleared it with your dad.”

“No, it isn’t that. You just surprised me, that’s all. You’ve never mentioned that you were planning to go.”

“Well, my plans have been kind of loose. But, I figure with your ankle keeping you out of commission for a few days, this would be a good time for me to go.” He gave her a sarcastic smile. “Since you probably can’t even outrun Higgins right now, I figure you can’t slip out of here and get into too much trouble.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t be so sure, Mr. Magnum.” Then, seeing his unappreciative look, she changed her tone. “I’m kidding. Enjoy your trip.”

“I will,” he assured her, “if you’ll promise to stay put and behave yourself.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off with a laugh. “I’ve got to go, Kelly,” he said, waving as he went out the door. “Stay off that ankle.”

Magnum was only partly lying to Kelly. He did go see his mother in Tidewater, and he did visit his Aunt. But, then he drove down to Richmond. His business there was the real purpose of his visit and, if he had his way, Kelly would never know about it. If she did find out he had been in Richmond, he could claim he went to visit an old friend. That was partly true, too. Thing was, the old friend was someone he hadn’t seen in over four years, and probably wouldn’t be seeing now if it hadn’t been for the information and assistance he could provide. The old friend also just happened to be with the National Security Agency.

His phone was ringing when he returned to the guesthouse. It was Rick with word on David Kimbrough.

"You know that Kimbrough guy you asked to find out about?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it turns out he left Hawaii the day you asked me about him."

Magnum frowned.

"If he did any business while he was here, it must have been legit," Rick continued, "because there's nothing on the street about him."

"He did some business, alright," Magnum muttered, "and I wouldn't call it legitimate."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Anything else?"

"Yeah, well, sort of. I don't know if this matters, or not, but I heard some talk around the club that the Bannisters won't be welcoming Kimbrough back into their house anytime soon."

"Why?"

"I don't know the details for certain, but the gossip is that he was caught sneaking out of a maid's bedroom the morning he left. I guess that wouldn't have been so bad, except he was apparently courting one of the Bannister's daughters pretty aggressively while he was there. Probably slipping into her bedroom at night, too, from what I hear. Anyway, I think the Bannisters were more upset because they felt it was a slight to her than because they were concerned about the maid."

Magnum wrinkled his face in distaste. "Thanks, Rick," he said.

******

The last time Magnum had seen Tucker Harrington, it was Tucker who needed help, and Magnum had come through. He was thankful Tucker remembered that when he called. Tucker was all too willing to return the favor and provide Magnum with the assistance he needed. They met late one evening in a Richmond coffee shop. The meeting would have made Magnum feel like he was playing a role in a bad spy novel if it hadn’t been for Tucker’s gregariousness.

“Magnum,” he beamed shaking Magnum’s hand as he slid into the booth across the table from Tucker. “I can’t believe it’s been so long!”

Magnum felt momentarily guilty for the fact that it had been so long since he’d looked Tucker up. “Yeah, it has been,” he said. “That’s the problem with living half way across the world from everyone. I don’t get to see old friends or family as often as I’d like.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Tucker assured him. “As much as I travel, you might not see me much even if you lived right here in Virginia.”

“NSA keeps you busy, huh?”

“Sure does.” Tucker shrugged. “What the hell. That’s what I signed on for. It’s no worse than Naval intelligence, and,” he lowered his voice and winked, “we’ve got better toys.”

Magnum laughed. “I really appreciate your help on this little problem of mine,” he said after a momentary pause.

“Hey, no problem. Besides, I figure I owe you a couple. Actually, the NSA owes you, but I know you wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t been the one asking.”

“I’d prefer not to think of it that way,” Magnum said. “You know if you ever need me, I’ll be there --- but because we’re friends. Not because anyone owes anyone a favor."

Tucker chuckled. “I know, Magnum. But, well, you know how it is. We all have a lot of friends. Some of them we’d maybe bail out of jail, or let ‘em stay over when their wife throws ‘em out of the house for a night. That’s it. But others, well . . . you know.”

“Yeah, I know.” Magnum glanced at the team ring, bearing the Cross of Lorraine insignia identical to his own, on Tucker’s right hand.

“Here.” Tucker passed a large brown envelope across the table toward Magnum. “This was easier to get than I’d have thought. Your man Kimbrough must be a real jerk. It was a piece of cake to bribe his maid for most of the information.”

Magnum opened the envelope and slid the contents partially out.

“There’s a detailed floor plan of Kimbrough’s house,” Tucker said, “and the locations of the two safes are marked.”

“Two?”

“Yeah. The one in the downstairs study is an old clunker that was installed when the house was built about eighty years ago. That one was a piece of cake to get the make and model on. It’s in there.” He pointed to the envelope. “The other one’s a different story. It’s upstairs in Kimbrough’s bedroom. He just had it put in a few years ago, and not by a local retailer. If I’d had more time, I could probably have come up with a make and model, but . . .”

“That’s okay. It can’t be too tough.” Magnum thought of all the safes and locks Higgins had thrown at him over the years. He looked at the spec sheet Tucker had included on the alarm system. “The alarm system won’t be a problem.”

“Yeah. It’s pretty lame,” Tucker agreed. “But then, he wasn’t thinking about people with your, shall we say --- background --- when he installed it.

 “Did you find out anything about his finances?”

“Now, that was much more challenging, and interesting, than this lot,” Tucker told him gesturing at the envelope. “The guy makes a so-so salary at a local law firm, yet he lives very well.”

“Beyond his means?”

“Definitely.”

“Bank accounts?”

“Only one in the U.S. and all it shows are his regular paycheck deposits along with the occasional dividend deposit from some investments --- all of which he very properly reports on his income taxes.”

“How about offshore accounts?”

“Bingo. We found one fairly easily in the Caymans. It’s got a balance that would make the IRS and possibly a law-enforcement agency or two sit up and take notice, especially since there’s no indication of where it all came from.”

Magnum frowned. “Well, I know where some of it came from.”

“And that’s why you’re here?”

“Right.” He stuffed the papers back in the envelope. “The thing is, he isn’t getting that kind of money from the source I know about. He’s got to be involved in something else, too, and I’m betting it’s not legit.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to take care of my little part of the problem. If the IRS or someone else decides to look into David Kimbrough’s activities, it won’t bother me.”

“I can’t tip them off, Magnum. The way I got this information wouldn’t exactly stand up in court, if you know what I mean.”

Magnum grinned. “Well, don’t worry about it. These things have a way of working themselves out.”

Tucker raised an eyebrow curiously. “Especially when there’s a good fairy to help things along?”

Magnum just kept grinning at him. “Tucker, how have you been?” Stuffing the envelope into his jacket, he steered the conversation onto other things and the two men spent the next couple of hours catching up on each other’s lives.

******

Dressed in black camouflage, face paint and black mask, and loaded down with an arsenal of lock picks and other useful equipment, Magnum felt like anything but a “good fairy.”  It was 2:00 A.M., and he knew Kimbrough had been asleep for several hours, and that he was alone. Originally, he had planned to wait until Kimbrough was away from his house. After thinking it through again, however, he had decided it suited his purpose better if Kimbrough were at home. It made things slightly more risky, he decided, given what he surmised of Kimbrough’s nature and abilities. Men like David Kimbrough were basically cowards. He bet Kimbrough owned a gun, but had probably never used it even in target practice. He would keep his guard up, though. Cowards could be even less predictable than the courageous.

Bypassing the alarm system to get into Kimbrough’s house was as easy as Magnum expected. He shook his head in disbelief as he disabled the system and jimmied the dining room window open. The room with the safe in it faced the street, but this window was well concealed by some shrubbery on the back of the house. He took great care to leave as little evidence as possible, even re-locking the window once inside. He had studied and memorized in great detail the route he planned to take through the house, including the furniture arrangement. It was with great ease, therefore, that he made his way to Kimbrough’s study.

As Tucker’s intelligence had indicated, the large safe was housed in its own closet and easily accessible. He exchanged his leather gloves for a pair of latex surgeon’s gloves, crouched in front of the safe, and tried the dial. Once again he shook his head in disbelief. The old tumblers were so loose and fell so easily that he could almost hear them without putting his head against the door, and suspected he would have been able to feel them through even his leather gloves. In no time at all, he had cracked the combination. He opened the door carefully, shining his penlight around the edges to check for an alarm. Kimbrough wasn’t that wily. The door opened without complication.

Magnum almost fell back in surprise when his light hit the contents. The safe’s top shelf was stuffed with bundles of currency. He guessed there was over a hundred-thousand dollars in American money in the safe. Even Tucker’s information about the offshore bank account hadn’t prepared him for this and he paused to consider the situation for a moment. Deciding that, regardless of where the money came from, its presence fit nicely into his plans, he turned his attention to the rest of the safe’s contents.

On the lower shelf, he found several ledger books. One contained an accounting of monies received from a number of people, most of them women. A second was a running balance for a bank account with a very high balance. Magnum had credited Kimbrough with more smarts than this. That he kept these handwritten ledgers was beyond belief. He decided that David Kimbrough was either very stupid or very arrogant. Whichever it was, it made his mission all the easier. He didn’t bother to look at the other ledger books, but poked around in the safe some more, frowning when he didn’t find what he was looking for. Leaving the ledger book that documented the bank account on the floor in front of the open safe, and keeping the other with him, he moved to Kimbrough’s desk.

One by one, he pried open the locked drawers, making no effort this time to leave the surfaces unmarred. He pulled the contents out of each one and, once he had satisfied himself that what he was looking for was not there, left them strewn on the floor. Personal correspondence, bank statements, income tax returns, old appointment books, everything was scattered and left in plain sight of anyone who walked in the door. Off the top of his head, Magnum could think of at least three government agencies that would be interested in these documents and what they said about David Kimbrough’s activities, and even more curious about the contents of his safe. Surveying his handiwork, he scowled and cursed to himself. His good luck had run out, it seemed, for he had not found what he had come for.

Magnum had planned for this contingency, but had hoped he would not have to implement the plan. Removing his surgeon’s gloves and putting them in a zippered pocket, he put his leather gloves back on, sighed, and steeled himself. He switched on the desk lamp and lifted the receiver from the telephone and laid it aside, effectively busying the line. He didn’t want Kimbrough calling the police just yet. Taking the ledger book containing the women’s names with him, he moved to the study door. There was a small table near the door with a lamp on it that he decided would suit his purpose.

He set the book on the table then picked up the lamp and, drawing a deep breath, sent it crashing onto the hardwood floor. He crept across the foyer to the foot of the stairs. Kimbrough was stirring --- trying to call the police, Magnum guessed. He counted on Kimbrough’s stupidity being consistent and that he would get his gun and come downstairs to route the intruder himself.

Kimbrough did not let him down. Within a few moments, he could hear Kimbrough creeping down the stairs. Magnum moved silently back into the study and waited behind the door knowing the desk lamp would draw Kimbrough into the room. For what seemed like long minutes, Magnum stood so still he felt as if even his breathing had stopped. Kimbrough was moving painfully slowly, but Magnum knew he was coming. Finally, Kimbrough entered the room, gun protruding at arm’s length in front of him. As soon as Kimbrough’s arm cleared the door, Magnum wrenched the gun from his grip and dragged him around against his chest, his arm around Kimbrough’s neck. Kimbrough had only enough time to let out a small yelp before Magnum tightened his grip sufficiently to cause him to lose consciousness.

As soon as Kimbrough slumped in his arms, Magnum eased him to the floor, bound his hands and feet, and taped his mouth. Finally, he pulled a syringe out of his pocket, uncapped it and poked the needle hard into Kimbrough’s arm. He would have preferred to just hit Kimbrough over the head. It would have kept him unconscious as long as the drug he had just injected into him, but would leave a more painful reminder when Kimbrough awoke. This was safer, though. No danger of hitting him too hard and killing him --- though the option was not wholly distasteful to Magnum. Taking Kimbrough’s gun with him, Magnum sprinted up the stairs toward the bedroom safe.

Leaning over a dresser that stood underneath, Magnum determined that there was no alarm trip wire on the painting that covered the small wall safe in Kimbrough’s bedroom. It was only a small piece of good fortune Magnum realized, however, when he saw the safe. He knew now why Kimbrough hadn’t purchased it from a local retailer. The average customer would not likely have need for something so sophisticated, nor would they be willing to pay the price. Kimbrough would have had to go to a specialized retailer for this piece of equipment. Magnum hadn’t seen a safe like it since his Navy days --- and that one had not been easy to crack. Cursing his bad luck, he pulled the mask off his head and glowered at the safe.

“Okay,” he whispered, “you can do this.” He unzipped a pocket on the thigh of his pants and pulled out a roll of black fabric, which he spread on the top of the dresser. When unrolled, the fabric revealed a myriad of small pockets, each holding a different instrument. He changed back to his surgeon’s gloves and got to work. Poking and prodding, teasing and coaxing, he knew he could get into this safe if he would just concentrate.

There were actually multiple locks on the safe, and it took him a full thirty minutes to get past the first one. Sweat was running down his face as he checked his watch. “Don’t worry about the time,” he chided himself, “just work the locks.” He recalled the last time he’d worked on a safe like this. Imitating Higgins, he began a recitation of the event in a soft voice. “It was in 1975,” he began, “just before the fall of Saigon. There was a high-ranking government official that we suspected would turn over names of operatives to the North Vietnamese, or whoever took power. An informant told us that he kept lists, and we wanted to get our hands on them.” Click. The second lock fell.

As he worked the final lock, he found that even his Higgins-like recitation would not help keep his mind from wandering. He started thinking about Kimbrough. Why, he wondered, did Kimbrough keep all that incriminating evidence in the rickety old safe downstairs when he had something like this on the premises? He did not have to wait long for the answer to his question. He heard the final lock fall and turned the handle to open the safe. It was crammed so full that not another piece of paper would have fit inside. Whatever was in this safe, Magnum realized, was even more valuable to Kimbrough than the stuff downstairs.

Most of the safe’s cavity was filled with three black fabric bags. Around those, Kimbrough had stuffed a dozen or so thick brown envelopes. Magnum went for the bags first. He untied a drawstring that held shut the mouth of a bag and pulled out the contents. It was a large plastic pouch full of powder that he bet was not powdered sugar. “Four agencies,” he said to himself, adding the DEA to the list of agencies that would be interested in Kimbrough’s activities. The contents of the other two bags were the same.

Shaking his head, Magnum set the bags aside on the dresser and started checking the contents of the brown envelopes. On inspection of the first, he knew he had hit paydirt. It contained photos, along with the negatives, of a woman having sex with someone he assumed was Kimbrough. The photos were taken from two angles, but he was pretty sure they were from concealed locations. What he had come for had to be among these envelopes. He skimmed quickly through the other envelopes looking for the photos of Kelly. Some of the photos he came across were of older women. He guessed they were probably married and had been lured into affairs by David so that he could blackmail them.

Finally, he found the envelope with Kelly’s photos. He slid the contents out only enough to reveal the top portion of one of the photos. Kelly was sitting up, her head tilted back and a blissful expression on her face. Her long hair fell loose down her back. A part of him wanted to linger on the nude image, and to look at the other photos in the envelope. He felt a pang of guilt, however, at seeing even this much. He slid the pile out to make sure the negatives where there, then, without looking at the photos, he then put the whole bunch back in the envelope and closed it up.

Magnum stuffed all of the brown envelopes inside his vest and zipped it up, then closed the safe and replaced the picture on the wall. After changing back to his leather gloves and pulling the mask down over his face, he gathered up the bags of cocaine and made his way downstairs. As expected, Kimbrough was still unconscious on the study floor. Magnum checked his watch. He had plenty of time before Kimbrough would awaken, but still wanted to get out of the house as quickly as possible.

He placed Kimbrough’s gun on the floor and crossed the room to the safe and tossed two of the bags of cocaine inside. The third he removed from its fabric bag, then made a thin slit in the bottom of the plastic bag. He dashed it hard against the floor causing the contents to spill out. If someone rescued Kimbrough before the police arrived, there would be no way they could adequately clean up that mess, he decided.

Magnum circled the far side of the desk so as to leave no footprints in the powder on the floor and, retrieving the ledger book of women’s names he had left on the table, returned to the study door. He stopped to survey the mess he was leaving behind. Between the cocaine on the floor and the stack of money in the safe, there was plenty here to start the police asking questions about Kimbrough, he decided, and it was all in plain sight so there shouldn’t be any problems regarding how they came by their evidence.

He left the house through the front door, then turned and broke the glass to make it look as if that was the way the intruder had entered. Keeping to the shadows, he made his way to where he had left his rental car parked two blocks away. There was a payphone nearby. Using a voice-altering device Tucker had loaned him, Magnum called the police. He breathlessly rattled off that he had been out jogging and noticed broken glass in a neighbor’s front door, and that the door was standing ajar, and it sure looked like there might be something wrong at Kimbrough’s address. By the time the police entered Kimbrough’s house, Magnum was almost out of Richmond on his way back toward Tidewater.

Stopping to take off his outer clothes before returning to his mother’s house, Magnum sighed in relief. Thanks to Kimbrough’s arrogant notion that no one would ever challenge him, and his stupidity in keeping so much incriminating evidence at his house, it had all been easier than expected. He pulled the brown envelopes out of his vest and separated out the one with Kelly’s photos. That one he put in his gym bag with his camouflage clothes. Somewhere between Tidewater and Hawaii, he would put it in a plain envelope with no return address and mail it to Kelly. He supposed she would assume that Kimbrough had tired of his game and returned the photos to her. It didn’t matter what she thought, just so she knew it was over and did not suspect Magnum’s involvement. The other photos and the ledger book he would destroy at the first opportunity. In his head, he knew the end was never supposed to justify the means. In his heart, however, this one felt very right.

******

Things were quiet for the first week after Magnum returned to Hawaii. Kelly’s ankle had healed to the point that she could walk on it, but not well enough to resume her morning runs on the beach. Furthermore, she had --- as she put it --- gotten into a groove, and wanted to keep writing as long as the flow was coming. So, aside from flying and a lunch at the club, she stayed put. It suited Magnum fine. He was tired from the trip to Virginia, and bored with the routine of watching after Kelly. He’d been approached with a case that interested him and, with things so quiet, was considering taking it.

Before he left for Virginia, Magnum had arranged for another investigator to locate and tail Linnet. It hadn’t been necessary; Linnet left Hawaii a few days after he tried to run Kelly off the coast highway. At least, Magnum assumed it was Linnet. He had never got a close look at the guy, but could think of no one else that it could have been. The motive still puzzled him, though, and he hoped Rick would be able to turn up something helpful on the Chameleon.

Rick was not having much luck in that area, however. He reported that his underworld contact had hit a brick wall in his attempt to connect with the Chameleon. True to the behavior that had kept him a step ahead of French authorities for so many years, the Chameleon was refusing to meet personally with Rick’s contact. In return, the contact had dug in his heels and refused to deal with intermediaries claiming it was beneath him. The ball, therefore, was in the Chameleon’s court, and would not likely be returned. Since Linnet was no longer in Hawaii, it might all be irrelevant anyway.

The only blip on the radar screen was a small one, easily dealt with. Kelly related to him that Madame LeCompte had contacted Robin the previous week to see if he knew whether or not Kelly planned to go ahead with her plans to build a section of her book around Madame LeCompte and the women of the French Resistance. Not realizing Kelly had all but decided to leave Madame LeCompte out of the book, Robin had said yes. He reported to Kelly that LeCompte had flown into a rage and restated her threat to file a lawsuit. Then, a couple of days later, Madame LeCompte’s daughter, Andrea, had called and asked to meet with Kelly. She was to be in California on business, and thought the matter important enough to warrant a side trip to Hawaii.

The LeComptes’ attempts to intimidate her had raised Kelly’s ire so that she was now determined to explore Madame LeCompte’s legend --- if not in this book, then in an article devoted to the subject. Yes, Kelly was feeling better, he decided. He would go with Kelly to the meeting next week --- as much for Andrea LeCompte’s protection as for Kelly’s.

Other than that, he saw no impediments to taking another case. It would be a relatively painless case involving a family dispute over the actual origin of a family heirloom that had something of a legend attached to it. A tedious case, he knew, but one that would get him out of his routine. Initially, he was delighted to be out investigating again. His delight was dampened, however, when he found himself doing research in the estate library. The initial phase of his investigation called for a little historical research, and the section of Robin Masters’ library on Island history rivaled that of the public library.

Kelly interrupted him as he plowed through the shelves trying to decipher Higgins’ filing system. She clearly had something on her mind, but was reluctant to come out with it. Contrariness caused him to pretend to only give her half of his attention.

“Mr. Magnum,” she began, idly fingering the books he had laid out on the table. 

“Hmmm?” He kept searching the titles of the books on a shelf.

“Something odd happened earlier in the week, and I thought I should let you know about it.”

“What’s that?” He still did not look at her.

“Well, a couple of days after you returned from Virginia, I received an envelope I presumed to be from David Kimbrough.”

“Really?”  Now he certainly was not going to look at her.

“Yes. It had . . . the photos. You know, the ones I told you about? It had those in it.”

“Well, that’s good,” he said still feigning disinterest. “I guess he got tired of his little game and decided to turn over a new leaf.” He looked at her. “You must be relieved.”

“Yes, I suppose,” she said uncertainly. “It just seems odd, that’s all.”

He pulled a book off the shelf and sat down at the table with it. “What’s odd about it? Maybe his conscience got the better of him.”

“I don’t think so. Besides, there’s another odd thing.”

“What else?” He tried to sound somewhat impatient.

“This morning, I talked to a friend of mine who lives in Richmond. She said everyone is abuzz ---“

“Abuzz?” He chuckled at her choice of words.

Kelly sighed. “She said everyone is talking, Mr. Magnum, because it seems that David’s house was broken into last week.”

“Why should that have people ‘abuzz’?” he asked. “Don’t houses in Richmond ever get burglarized?”

“Yes, of course. But the thing is, it turns out that David had a lot of money and a large quantity of cocaine in his safe.” She paused as though watching Magnum for a reaction. When she got none, she continued. “The police think maybe he was selling cocaine and cheated someone and they broke into his house either to get their money, or drugs, or both back. They’re not really sure. My friend says there is a rumor that the police uncovered a bank account in the Cayman Islands that had over a million dollars in it.”

“Well, you knew Kimbrough wasn’t exactly salt of the earth. Why should it surprise you that he was probably dealing on the side?”

“It doesn’t really, I guess,” she said. She was circling the table in a manner that made him uneasy.

“Then what is it that you think is odd?”

“I think the timing is odd.”

“The timing?”

“Yes. I think it’s odd that this all happened while you were in Virginia and the envelope arrived here only a few days after you returned home.” She paused again, watching him.

Magnum mustered up his best poker face and looked her right in the eye. “I’m not following you.”

“I just think it’s funny that David’s house was broken into while you were in Virginia, that’s all.”

“Kelly,” he laughed. “Are you trying to suggest that I broke into David Kimbrough’s house? What? Do you think I’m his supplier or the customer he stiffed?”

“Neither! I didn’t mean that.”

“Well, what did you mean?” He returned her blank look for a few moments, then turned his attention back to the books on the table.

“I just wondered if you knew anything about it, that’s all,” she stammered.

“No, I can’t say that I do. I was in Tidewater with my family, and there was nothing on the news about it while I was there.” He could feel her exasperation growing and decided to add to it. “My mom has some friends in Richmond. I could ask her what sort of gossip they’ve heard if you’re interested.”

“Never mind,” she sighed.

He looked up at her, his face a perfect imitation of confusion, and shrugged. “Whatever.” He started shuffling through the books and picked up his pen and pad as though he were actually going to write something, but she didn’t move to leave. “Was there something else?” he asked.

“Yes, actually,” she said, her voice quivering with nervousness.

Magnum stopped looking through the books and gave her his full attention.

“I have a favor to ask you,” she started with obvious difficulty.

“Yeah?”

“A big favor.”

“Okay,” he laughed, “what is it?”

“Well, you know the symphony gala is this weekend.”

“Yeah,” he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He wondered if she was going to try to con him into doing one of the piddling jobs Higgins was always trying to push off on him. Last time, it had been selling raffle tickets in the lobby. He’d even made him wear a tux.

“Well,” she cleared her throat. “We had four tickets and I suggested to Jonathan that he ask Agatha to go with him. He was going to escort me, but I thought it would be nice for him to take Agatha.” She looked at him as though she thought he would know what she was driving at and she wouldn’t have to actually ask.

“Okay, so Higgins is taking Agatha. What’s the favor?”

“Well,” she started circling the table again. “I really didn’t want to go with just the two of them. I’d sort of feel like a third wheel you know. And I don’t want to go alone. You’ve seen how it is every time I go someplace without an escort. I feel like a magnet for anyone shopping for a wife.”

He had to admit he had noticed.

“And, I asked Rick if he could escort me, but he has a date for that evening. T.C. was going to do it, but he found out he has something at his son’s school that night. Or, so he says, I think he just didn’t want to have to spend that much time with Jonathan.”

“Kelly,” he said in annoyance, “You’re making me dizzy. Would you please sit down, or at least stay in one place, and tell me what it is you want?” He had already guessed, but was determined to make her ask.

“I want to know if you’ll escort me,” she blurted out. “I know it’s asking a lot, because I know you don’t like that sort of thing, but I would really appreciate it. I’ve arranged for a limousine to take the four of us, and I’m paying for our dinner before the concert, and I’ll pay for your tuxedo rental, so it won’t cost you anything but your time.” She stood looking at him like a person who has fired all of their bullets and is waiting for the return fire. “Please?” she added.

Magnum laughed. “Yes, I’ll go with you,” he said, “and you don’t have to pay to rent my tux.” He shot her an angry look on the last remark.

“Really?” she smiled.

“Yes, on one condition.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “What condition?”

“That you help me with this stuff.” He gestured at the books. “I know how to do an investigation, but historical research is not exactly my strong suit.”

Kelly laughed and sat down across the table from him. “Okay,” she agreed. “What are we researching?”

Once he had explained, she began sorting the books out into some sort of order that apparently made sense to her. “Let’s start with these,” she said dividing one stack and giving him half. She had just opened her mouth to suggest things he might look for.

“Hey,” he said, interrupting her.

“What?”

“You asked Rick and T.C. before you asked me?” he demanded resentfully.

Kelly’s mouth hung open for a moment. She had no response. It had not occurred to her that he would have wanted it any other way.

******

Magnum hated the little bow ties that came with tuxedos. They always gave him trouble, and tonight was no exception. Tonight, however, he could not get the thing properly tied at all. With a sigh, he decided he’d have to swallow his pride and ask Higgins for help. He walked over to the main house and was standing in Higgins’ study, tie in hand, when Kelly came down the stairs. It had been a long time since someone had literally taken his breath away. Kelly was always beautiful, but tonight, she was stunning.

She wore a form-fitting black silk dress that left her shoulders bare and showed an ample décolletage. The long, tight skirt had a slit on one side that came up to her thigh. Her hair was swept up, but in a loose pile on her head instead of her usual tight braid. The whole effect was elegantly sexy.

The instant she came into the room and saw Magnum standing there, she gauged his plight. “My father can never quite tie these things, either,” she said with a light laugh. She tossed her beaded jacket over the back of a chair and handed Magnum what looked like a handful of diamonds. “Here, hold these,” she said, “and sit here so I can reach you.”

Magnum perched on the arm of a chair and looked at the jewelry she had put in his hand. “Are these real?”

“Of course,” she laughed. “I inherited them from my mother. I thought, since my father is a major patron of the symphony, that I would disappoint everyone if I didn’t show up dressed like an heiress.”

“I don’t think you’ll disappoint them,” he said eyeing the jewelry in amazement.

“Here, hold your chin up,” she said with a touch of her finger to his chin, “I can’t see what I’m doing.” She expertly threaded the tie around his collar and began to make the bow.

Once he got his mind off the jewels, Magnum realized that she was standing quite close to him between his legs. His free hand was on his thigh and he knew if he moved his legs just slightly, his fingers would brush her thigh where it showed through the slit in her skirt. He could not resist. To his surprise, she did not flinch. The few seconds that followed that touch went by in the blink of an eye. He would replay them in slow motion over and again in his mind all evening, however, dragging out each tiny look and gesture into long moments he could savor.

Kelly finished his tie and smiled at her work. “There,” she said, unconsciously letting her hand drop so that it lightly brushed along his chest as it fell.

Normally, he would have been looking away, making sure she could not see his eyes and know the effect she was having on him. Now, however, he was watching her.  Without looking up, she smoothed the front of his jacket then, suddenly realizing what she had done, pulled her hand quickly away. Color rose in her cheeks and her eyes flickered up to his.

That was the moment that would make him smile to himself when he thought about it later. That was the moment when he saw in her eyes the thing he had missed all along. That was the moment he realized the reason she so often seemed ill at ease around him, and seemed to work so hard at keeping a certain distance between them. That was the moment he realized that she was fighting the same attraction that plagued him. She wanted him, he realized, as much as he wanted her --- and was fighting it just as hard.

The moment passed as quickly as it had come, and he knew it would mean no real changes in how they interacted with each other. She took her jewelry from him, moved to the mirror and began putting on her earrings as though nothing had happened. But, what it meant to him was monumental for it meant that she did not enjoy the advantage over him he had assumed. The playing field was level, and she was as determined as he to keep things at stalemate. She would be doing half the work, so he could sit back and enjoy the game.

His eyes narrowed and he grinned roguishly as he watched her.  His eyes had made their way down to where her leg jutted from the slit in her skirt when she turned and caught him.

“Just now discovering I have legs, Mr. Magnum?” she asked smartly.

“No, just appreciating them a little more,” he said with a brazen grin.

“Really.” She narrowed her eyes in apparent disapproval of his impudence.

“Yep.” He shrugged and kept grinning.  “You know. I’m a man, and legs kind of get our attention.”

“Indeed.” His smugness amazed her.

“Well, some legs more than others, of course.” He grinned.

“Well, we’re even then,” she told him. “Because, I have to admit that a man in a tuxedo always gets a woman’s attention.”

He realized with some confusion that she was looking past him toward the door.

“Some men more than others,” she added as Higgins walked into the room, impeccable in his perfectly tailored tuxedo. “Jonathan,” she gushed as he walked into the room, “you look smashing.”

“As do you, my dear.” Higgins was positively beaming.

Magnum closed his eyes and shook his head.

“I always have such trouble with the clasp on this necklace, Jonathan,” Kelly said moving toward the mirror. “Could you help me?”

“Of course.” Higgins stood behind her and fastened the necklace in the same perfunctory manner he might have used to pin a medal on a soldier’s chest.

Magnum found himself, for the first time he could remember, envying Higgins. He doubted, however, that he would have been able to remain so detached had he been in Higgins’ shoes. Certainly, he would not have been able to resist letting his fingers brush the back of her neck after he fastened the clasp, and he likely would have given in to the temptation to stroke her bare shoulder as well.

Kelly looked at him smugly as she slipped into her short beaded jacket and asked if he was ready. Magnum studied her for a moment before getting to his feet. This game was going to be amusing, he decided, and would require some skill and finesse if he wanted to keep a step ahead of her.

Chapter 5

Magnum was glad it was stormy the day of Kelly’s meeting with Andrea LeCompte. Kelly preferred that they take the Mercedes instead of the Ferrari, and he would have considered it a waste of sunshine and fresh air if the weather had been suited to the convertible. He was also glad they did not have to drive very far. His little voice had been nagging at him for the past week or so, saying something he could not quite make out. It was distracting, and he didn’t feel like fighting distractions and blinding sheets of rain while he was driving.

Though she would be in Hawaii only a couple of days, Andrea LeCompte had laid out a lot of money to rent a house only a few miles up the road from Robin’s Nest. Unlike Robin’s Nest, however, the house was not on the beach side of the road. It sat back from the road, dark and secluded in jungle-like growth. After they had been buzzed through the security gate and started up the long driveway, Magnum began to feel that same uneasiness that had kept him alert in the jungles of Vietnam. Always, when he could see nothing but the tangle of dense vegetation, he’d had a sense of being watched or preyed upon even when he himself might be functioning as predator.

They pulled up under a dank portico and his discomfort increased. As Magnum rounded the car to open Kelly’s door, he knew for certain that they were watched. He rang the bell and, in short order, a maid opened the door and gestured for them to enter. Magnum recognized the maid’s Vietnamese features and guessed that she came with the house. The woman seemed old at first, but Magnum realized she was merely old beyond her years. The light dancing in her dark eyes when they briefly met his own showed youth.

Kelly gave their names and said they were there to see Andrea LeCompte. The maid continued to smile and nod, and motioned for them to follow. As they walked down a long hallway, Magnum broke the silence by asking the maid in Vietnamese first her name, then, when she responded, if there were other servants in the house. Yes, she said, there was a gardener. She was the housekeeper. Leaving them in a large, dark living room the maid let her eyes flick up to Magnum’s once more when he thanked her in Vietnamese. She smiled, and he suspected that few of the house’s guests or inhabitants bothered to notice her.

The room was uncharacteristically formal for Hawaii. To Magnum, it felt oppressive, and he sensed that Kelly was not much more comfortable. When Andrea LeCompte entered the room, the chill she brought with her would have stood up to a blowtorch. She cast a disapproving glance in Magnum’s direction before, speaking in French, she invited them both to sit down. Two men had followed her into the room. One, whom he suspected to be a bodyguard, remained standing at the fringes of the room just behind Magnum’s line of sight. The second sat in a chair off to the side --- not quite part of the group, but clearly more involved than the bodyguard. Magnum shifted imperceptibly so that the bodyguard would be within his peripheral vision.

With a tilt of her head in Magnum’s direction, Andrea said something in French, to which Kelly responded in English, “My father has concerns for my security. I’m sure you understand since you obviously have the same concerns.” She nodded in the direction of the two men who had entered the room with Andrea.

An annoyed look passed quickly over Andrea’s face before she regained her cat-like composure. She looked at the man who was seated near them and he repeated what Kelly had said, but in French. “But you see, mademoiselle,” the man said to Kelly, “I am a translator. Mademoiselle LeCompte does not speak English.” He left the presence of the other man unexplained.

Magnum could tell that Kelly knew as well as he did that Andrea spoke English. She was merely trying to complicate their discussion and perhaps throw Kelly off balance. Kelly smiled a cool smile and responded in flawless French that clearly startled Andrea. The smile on Andrea’s face turned to stone when Kelly explained that she was quite fluent in French and would not require a translator. The two women continued making polite small-talk in French, but Andrea did not ask her “translator” to leave.

The turn of events made Magnum all the more uncomfortable. His French was not exactly what one would call fluent, and he knew he would have trouble understanding their conversation. Indeed, as the talk grew more serious, he found he would still be mentally translating one sentence while they had moved on to the next two or three. Finally, he gave up trying to understand every word and settled for understanding the gist of what they were saying. He understood, in general, that Andrea was laying out the legal arguments that she felt should prevent Kelly from writing about her mother. Kelly was rebutting with her own legalities. She had done enough writing to know what constituted bona fide historical dissertation and what constituted gossip and slander. Concern and anger just made themselves visible behind Andrea’s well-practiced mask, and he suspected that she knew Kelly’s arguments were more valid than her own.

Andrea’s fists began to reflexively clench and unclench in her lap, and she took the discourse up a notch. Kelly refused to be cowed and began to ask Andrea the reason behind her mother’s objections to the research. He noticed that their argument had somehow shifted from the subject of Genevive’s inclusion in Kelly’s book to the more fundamental issue of her research. He found that intriguing and sensed that Kelly did, as well.

Abruptly, Kelly switched to English. “Mademoiselle LeCompte,” she said in a take-no-prisoners tone he had heard her use on him once or twice, “after talking to you, it occurs to me that it would indeed be a mistake to include your mother’s story in the book on which I’m currently working. I think your mother’s story deserves the more in-depth discussion that a journal article or short book could offer.” She ignored the fire that began to rage in Andrea’s eyes. “Indeed, in rethinking my research last night, I had begun to wonder if the more interesting angle wasn’t the fact that, in addition to her knowledge of Resistance activities, your mother had such intimate knowledge of German operations. It really didn’t occur to me until I began to look at all the pieces together --- and talking to you today has helped gel the idea for me.”

Magnum stifled a groan. Kelly had managed to raise tensions to the point of becoming physical. She added that she suspected there was nothing more for them to discuss.

Andrea did not wait for Kelly’s statement to be translated. She responded, still in French, that she agreed. That was all Magnum understood. The flow of words she unleashed after that went by in a rushing torrent that seemed to leave Kelly struggling to keep her composure. He could not understand the words, but the tone was clearly threatening. The only understandable word he caught as it flew by was something about the Ferrari. That left him more baffled than his attempts to translate Andrea’s tirade.

Kelly’s response was in English again. As she stood, she said that she and Magnum would not need to be shown out. As they walked down the hall toward the front door, they passed a small connecting hall that Magnum guessed led to the kitchen. The maid was standing there, in a posture of hiding he thought. As they passed, he looked down and smiled at her. She bowed her head, but he caught the glimpse of an appreciative smile on her lips just before her face ducked out of sight.

Before he would let her get in the car, Magnum got down on his hands and knees and checked the undercarriage. He then inspected the doors and under the hood as best he could. He wished he had thought to tape the doors and hood, but he had not realized they would be going into such a hostile environment. Andrea’s bodyguard made him nervous. He seemed much more professional than a legitimate businesswoman would need when traveling in the United States.

“What was that all about?” Kelly asked as they drove down the long driveway toward the street.

“I just wanted to make sure no one had tampered with the car,” he said without looking at her. When she didn’t respond, he glanced at her and thought she looked pale. “I’m probably just being overcautious,” he added dismissively.

“Maybe not,” Kelly offered. “I think I got under her skin a little.”

“A little? What was all that stuff about Genevive LeCompte and the Germans? Were you just trying to see if you could push Andrea into taking a swing at you?”

“No,” she laughed. “I really have begun to wonder about that. She just seems to know so much, and yet . . . well, I don’t know. Something doesn’t fit right.”

“You think she might have been a German spy?”

“You tell me, Thomas. That’s your area of expertise, not mine.”

He made a face at her. “Why wouldn’t any of this occurred to anyone before now?”

“I don’t know. Probably because there is no compelling information in any one place. You have to pull together hundreds of little pieces before the incongruent picture begins to emerge. Whatever Genevive LeCompte was, she wasn’t a big enough fish for anyone to go to that much trouble over.”

“It seems kind of far fetched,” he said. “But, it’s certainly one way of putting the picture together.”  They turned into the driveway at Robin’s Nest, and Magnum caught sight of the Ferrari as they headed up the driveway. “What was it Andrea was saying about a Ferrari?” he asked. “I couldn’t understand the rest of it, but I caught the word ‘Ferrari’ in there somewhere.”

Kelly thought for a moment. “Oh, she was just being very French,” she laughed.

“What do you mean?”

“It wasn’t enough to threaten me with her attorneys,” she explained, “she had to add some drama. She said if I wasn’t careful, I would not be driving Ferraris in the future, but would be relegated to being pushed about in a wheelchair.”

Magnum slammed on the brakes so hard that Kelly was thrown forward against her seatbelt. “Thomas!”

“You told me you don’t drive a Ferrari when you’re in Europe,” he said.

“That’s right.” She looked confused. “The only time I’ve ever driven one is here in Hawaii.”

“And the only time you’ve driven the Ferrari here was the day you went to meet Kimbrough, right?”

“Yes,” she agreed, not certain where his train of thought was going. “That’s right.”

“The day Linnet tried to run you off the road?”

Kelly stared at him.

“Kelly, how did Andrea know you drive a Ferrari? For her to make that assumption, someone has to have told her what you were driving that day. Why would someone tell her that, and who would tell her?”

“I don’t know,” Kelly stammered.

Magnum stared ahead, his mind whirling. It had to be Linnet. But, what was the connection between Linnet and the LeCompte’s? From what Bouchet had told him, Linnet wasn’t a freelancer. He worked exclusively for the Chameleon. On the other hand, maybe it wasn’t Linnet that chased Kelly that day. Maybe it was just someone Andrea Lecompte had hired to put a scare into her. He kept going back to the teen-aged boys who were forced off the road. No, whoever was chasing Kelly that day wasn't just trying to scare her. Magnum looked at Kelly, who was watching him uncertainly. Since getting Kimbrough off her back, she had clearly become more relaxed. He didn’t want to take that away from her until he had something more solid.

“Never mind,” he said, putting the car in gear and starting forward toward the house. “I just need to check some things out.”

******

Early the next morning, Magnum unobtrusively planted himself outside Andrea’s rented house. Without alarming Kelly, he had managed to get her promise that she would not go off anywhere alone. She had planned to go flying later in the day, but Higgins was perfectly willing to drop her off at the airpark on his way to T.C.’s place.  He had hired T.C. to fly him to the big island to participate in the Anglo-Hawaiian Society’s shooting competition. Magnum could tell Higgins was nervous about the much-anticipated event, and resisted any derisive remarks. Besides, ever since the night of the concert, Higgins had inexplicably been considerably more cordial where Magnum was concerned, and he felt obligated to reciprocate.

Magnum did not have to wait long for some activity. Andrea and her bodyguard came out of the house and loaded their bags into the trunk of a car. He knew Andrea planned to leave Hawaii today, so it didn’t seem out of place. He did wonder, however, where her “translator” was. Andrea and the bodyguard pulled out and headed toward town. Magnum started to follow, then changed his mind. There were no other cars around, so he decided to take the chance. He drove up the driveway and rang the doorbell.

To Magnum’s relief, the Vietnamese housekeeper answered the door. Knowing what the answer would be, he asked if Andrea was there. When the woman said no, he asked if anyone else was still there. Smiling at his halting Vietnamese, she once again said no. She added, however, a bit of information that got his attention. The other two men, she said, had left earlier that morning.

“Other two?” Magnum asked, checking his translation of what she had said.

“Yes,” she responded in careful Vietnamese.

A chill went up Magnum’s spine. He pulled Linnet’s photo from his pocket and showed it to the housekeeper. “Is this one of the men?”

“Yes,” she replied.

Linnet and the man Andrea had claimed to be her translator had left very early that morning, and the housekeeper had no idea where they were headed. When Magnum asked if she knew where Andrea and the bodyguard had gone, the woman smiled secretively and, gesturing for him to follow, turned and walked toward a back bedroom. There, beside a desk, she pointed to the unemptied wastebasket. Magnum searched through the crumpled paper until he came up with something that looked promising. There was a name that he guessed to be the name of a boat, pier number, and today’s date.

Magnum thanked the housekeeper and stuffed the slip of paper into his pocket before leaving the house. He guessed Andrea was on her way to the boat, but could not figure out why. She had planned to leave Hawaii today, but she had come in on a private jet, which he knew was still in the hangar because he had checked that morning. Why would she leave on a boat? He decided to stop by the estate and give Rick a call before heading out to the pier.

“Rick, I need you to do me a favor.”

“What’s new, Thomas,” Rick said sarcastically.

“It’s important.”

“It always is.”

“Rick, I think someone may be after Kelly. Now, would you help me?”

“Okay,” Rick said hesitantly. “But, it ‘d better not involve any lizard people this time."

“No. It involves a boat.” He took the piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. “See what you can find out about a boat called the “Kyudo.” It’s out of pier . . .”

Rick interrupted before he could say more. “Thomas, I don’t have to look that one up. I can tell you all you need to know about the Kyudo, and all you need to know is to stay the hell away from it.”

“Rick,” Magnum laughed, “I need to know a little more than that.”

“The Kyudo is a yacht, Thomas. A hundred-footer, I think. Ocean-going type, you know?”

“Yeah, so?”

“It belongs to a guy you don’t want to mess with, Thomas. He’s a Japanese businessman, in the import-export business, if you get my drift.”

Magnum frowned.

“Thomas, from what I hear, this guy makes Icepick look like Shirley Temple. I’m telling you, you don’t want to mess with him. And I don’t care what you say, I’m not going anywhere near his yacht.”

“Rick, I wasn’t going to ask you to.”  What he was planning was to try to get close to the yacht himself to see if Linnet was on board. He just wanted Rick to go along for backup. “Look, I’ll pick you up in a few minutes. I just want you to help me check some stuff out, that’s all.” He hung up quickly before Rick could ask more questions.

Magnum was still turning all of the pieces of the puzzle over in his mind when Rick got into the Ferrari.

“So, where are we going?” Rick asked.

Magnum wasn’t quite ready to tell Rick his plans for the yacht, so he stalled by thinking out loud. He told Rick about the connection between Andrea and Linnet, and Linnet’s connection with the Chameleon. “There are just too many coincidences, Rick. Why else would Linnet be at the museum that day if he wasn’t after Kelly?”

“You don’t think Andrea LeCompte is this Chameleon, do you? She’s too young for one thing.”

“Yeah, but her mother isn’t. And, if Kelly is right about her involvement with both the Germans and the Resistance movement, she would certainly have had an effective network in place after the war to launch her smuggling business. Then she marries someone in the shipping business? It’s just too convenient. What I can’t figure is, how does Andrea fit in? When Kelly met with her yesterday, Andrea threatened her with an army of lawyers if she went ahead with her research on Genevive.”

Rick laughed. “Sounds like Icepick and his nephew.”

“What do you mean?”

“Icepick’s always saying how, in the old days, you went to a meeting with an army of muscle. These days, his nephew --- who has sort of taken over the family business back on the mainland --- goes to a meeting with an army of lawyers.”

Magnum swerved the Ferrari off the road and made a sudden, screeching U-turn. The little voice that had been whispering to him for days was now shouting.

“What the hell are you doing?” Rick yelled.

“Family business,” Magnum replied. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.” He slammed his hands against the steering wheel. “It’s so simple. Genevive and Andrea don’t care about protecting Genevive’s legend, they care about protecting the family business. If Kelly keeps digging around and asking questions, they’re afraid she’ll turn up something that will put The Chameleon out of business. Protecting Genevive’s legend wasn’t worth killing Kelly over, but protecting the kind of business the Chameleon supposedly runs would be.”

“Okay, so where are we going?”

“If I’m right,” Magnum said checking his speedometer to see if he could push it a little more, “Linnet isn’t with Andrea. He’s after Kelly. We’re going to the airpark.”

“Well, could you slow down just a little?” Rick begged. “Kelly’s up in the air. Linnet can’t do anything to her while she’s in the air, and we’ll be there in plenty of time before she lands.”

Magnum’s little voice was telling him that Linnet wouldn’t simply wait for Kelly to land to make his move. He pushed the accelerator harder.

Rick stretched his hands tensely toward the dashboard as Magnum swerved through traffic. "Thomas, would you slow down! You don't even know Linnet's at the airpark. How would he have known Kelly was going flying today?"

"Because she always goes on the same days, Rick." He thought with irritation about the number of times he had asked her to vary her schedule more. "If Linnet's all Bouchet says he is, then he'll have figured that out by now."

Being a weekday, the airpark wasn’t very busy. Magnum parked the Ferrari, and he and Rick made their way through the main building looking for signs of Linnet. They checked the flight board and learned that Kelly had departed only about fifteen minutes earlier. When they didn’t spot Linnet, they moved out to the hangar area.

Magnum had just about decided that he had overreacted when an idea occurred to him. Waving at Rick to follow, he headed over to the hangar used by the skydiving school. There weren’t many people around, and only one of the school’s two planes was in the hangar. Magnum found someone in the school’s office and showed him Linnet’s picture. The man had seen Linnet, all right. He and another man had rented one of the school’s planes earlier that day. The school had been reluctant to rent the plane, but Linnet had insisted that he wanted that type --- and had put up a lot of money. Furthermore, he had his own pilot, who Magnum guessed to be Andrea’s “translator.” The man did not know where they were planning to go, and suggested that Magnum check with the airpark’s office for the flight plan. He did know, however, that Linnet had taken off only a few minutes earlier. The man thought it odd that Linnet had waited around all morning and only just taken off.

Magnum cursed. He knew exactly why Linnet had only just taken off. It was because he was following Kelly. “Rick, get to a phone and call T.C. If you can catch him before he takes off, tell him to swing by here and pick us up.”

“Why?”

“Rick, just do it!” Magnum started toward the airpark office. “I’m going to check Kelly’s flight plan.” He thought about calling the Coast Guard, as well, but doubted they would scramble their choppers based on his flimsy suspicions.

When T.C. arrived and settled his chopper to the ground, Magnum didn’t waste time arguing. He and Rick piled into the back seats behind T.C. and Higgins, and Magnum gestured to T.C. to get off the ground. Higgins had to wait the several seconds it took Magnum to put on his headset before he could start chastising him.

“Magnum! How dare you!”

“Higgins, just wait,” he said in a tone that Higgins could not ignore. “T.C.,” he handed a copy of Kelly’s flight plan up over T.C.’s shoulder, “this is Kelly’s flight plan. We need to go after her.”

“Magnum, I say . . .” Higgins started up again.

“Higgins, I think someone is trying to kill her,” Magnum said firmly.

T.C. laughed. “While she’s flying? What’re they going to do, go after her with a fighter jet?” He laughed again.

“Not exactly, and I don’t know how they’re planning to do it, I just know they are!” he yelled. “Now, would you look at that flight plan and follow her?”

T.C. glanced over his shoulder at Rick, who just shrugged. Still uncertain, he looked down at the flight plan. “She’s planning to loop up around Kauai, then come back down, circle between Maui and the big island, then back up to Oahu.”

“That stretch above Kauai is pretty remote,” Magnum said. “There’s not usually a lot of traffic through there. That’s got to be where they’re planning to strike.”

“Strike, how?” Higgins demanded. “Magnum, you really go too far sometimes. If I miss my competition because of one of your ridiculous larks, I will never forgive you!”

“The guy who tried to run Kelly off the coast highway that day chartered a plane this morning,” Magnum said tersely.  “Not just any plane. He chartered a plane used by skydivers. That means he’s got a fuselage door configuration that will let him do all sorts of things from that plane. Then, he took off just a few minutes after Kelly.”

“Maybe he just wanted to do some skydiving,” T.C. offered.

Magnum thought about Andrea and the yacht, and all the open water between Oahu and Kauai. Maybe Linnet and his pilot did intend to do some skydiving --- eventually. “Damn it, T.C.! Just do what I’m asking. Please?”

“They’ve got a pretty big head start on us,” Rick pointed out looking at his watch. “We’ll never catch up with them anyway.”

“We might,” T.C. said pushing the chopper forward. “I’ve been up with Kelly before. She likes to stay in sight of land, but she doesn’t always fly in a straight line. She likes to play around a lot. If she’s doing that, we’ll catch up.”

So will Linnet, Magnum thought. He had T.C. set the radio to monitor air traffic going to the makeshift tower at the airpark. If something happened, he assumed Kelly would radio in immediately. Other than that, they flew in silence, each one scanning the horizon for some sign of her plane. What they spotted first was the skydiving school’s plane. It was very wide of Kelly’s planned flight line.

“If that’s your suspected assailant,” Higgins said tightly, “he’s a bit out of position, isn’t he?”

“Not necessarily,” T.C. said. “That thing is a lot bigger and faster than that little Piper Cub Kelly flies. If Magnum’s right and he doesn’t want to move in until she gets up above Kauai, he’ll take a wider flight line.”

“That’s it,” Magnum said. “T.C., see if you can raise the Coast Guard. Tell them to get out here.”

“Tell them to get out here! Why? What am I supposed to tell them, that you think someone in this plane might try to somehow knock Kelly out of the air, and you’re not sure about any of it but you want them to spend the money to send their choppers out here anyway? I don’t think so, Thomas. I happen to like being in good stead with the Coast Guard."

Magnum cursed and scowled. They flew awhile longer when, suddenly, Linnet’s plane made a tight bank and took a path that more closely mirrored Kelly’s. Higgins picked up the binoculars. “I think I see her,” he said, describing the plane. “You’re right, T.C. She’s flying like a bird out to enjoy the thermals. Good lord! It makes the stomach uncomfortable.”

T.C. laughed. “That’s Kelly. She does like to put a plane through its paces.”

“Could we save the analysis of her flying for later,” Magnum snapped. “Can’t you fly any faster, T.C.?”

“Maybe a little. If you’re willing to do something that ‘makes the stomach uncomfortable’.” He glanced at Higgins.

“Just get us up there,” Magnum ordered. “I don’t care how you do it.”

“Okay,” T.C. said. “You’ve got it.”

Rick groaned as T.C. pitched the chopper sharply and adjusted his altitude to one with a stronger air current. The current pushing on the underside of the steeply pitched chopper made the ride rougher, but they were definitely moving more quickly.  Coming in high over the two planes, they caught up with Linnet just as he moved in on Kelly. He was unable to move in too close, however, because of her erratic looping and diving. She didn’t know he was there and could easily pull her plane up right under him if he weren’t careful.

“Just keep flying like that, Kelly,” Magnum said under his breath when he realized her acrobatics were keeping Linnet at bay.

“She’ll have to cut it out when she gets up around Kauai,” T.C. said. “The thermals that come through that channel can be pretty stiff. She’d be asking for trouble if she goes in there flying anything but straight and level.”

They came broadside of Kauai, and Kelly did indeed level out in preparation for the turn around the island. Linnet’s pilot kept his plane above her, but moved in closer. T.C. stayed above both planes, but slid to one side so Linnet’s plane was to his starboard side.

“Get on the radio,” Magnum told T.C., “and warn her. Tell her Linnet’s above her.”

T.C. flipped a switch on the radio and began to attempt to contact her when Rick interrupted him. “Did you see that?” he yelled.

“My God,” Higgins said in a deathly tone. “I’d swear that was a muzzle flash.”

“Are you kidding me?” T.C. cried. “He’s gonna try to shoot her down?” He looked at the other three men in disbelief. Instinctively, he slid the chopper to the other side so that Linnet’s plane was to his port and he was out of Linnet’s line of sight .

“Why not?” Higgins said in amazement. “All he wants to do is cause her to crash. You of all people know how fast a well-placed bullet can bring down an aircraft.”

This time, T.C. didn’t wait to be told. He got on the radio and started trying to call the Coast Guard. “T.C.!” Magnum hollered. “Give Higgins the radio! Just fly this thing! Get us down there!”  He pulled his .45 out of the back of his jeans as T.C. swooped down to bring them within a hundred yards of Linnet’s plane. Another muzzle flash jumped from the side door of the plane. This time, Kelly’s plane dipped suddenly before regaining stability. Magnum guessed the shot had hit something that got Kelly’s attention.

Kelly’s voice broke over the radio between Higgins’ attempts to raise someone. She identified herself to the airpark’s control tower then said hesitantly, “I have a problem up here.”

“Go ahead,” the tower prompted.

“Someone’s . . . shooting at me.”

“Say again?”

“I said, I think someone is shooting at me!”

There was a long silence from the tower. T.C. took over the radio from Higgins. “Tower,” he said, “this is N1095. I’m above N92T, and . . . uh . . . I know this sounds crazy, but there really is someone shooting at her.” He gave the plane’s description and tail number, then practically ordered the controller to scramble the Coast Guard.

“Affirmative N1095,” the tower responded, still sounding a bit mystified. “We are notifying the Coast Guard. Will keep you informed.”

“Even if they take off now, it’ll take them thirty minutes to get here,” T.C. groaned.

“She hasn’t got that long,” Magnum shot back. He was trying to keep one eye on Kelly and one on Linnet’s plane.

“Magnum,” Higgins chimed in, “surely now that he realizes he has witnesses, he’ll break off this ludicrous attack.”

“I don’t think so, Higgins. He doesn’t care if he has witnesses or not. You can bet he gave a false ID to the guy who rented them the plane, and I don’t think he’s planning to fly back to Oahu.” He thought of Andrea and the Kyudo. “He’s probably planning to ditch the plane. Andrea LeCompte is out there somewhere on a yacht that can get them back to Oahu to pick up her plane, and out of the country before the Coast Guard knows to start looking for them.”

“Good Lord,” Higgins moaned. “All to protect a her mother’s legendary status.”

Magnum decided not take the time to explain his theory about The Chameleon. “Get us closer!” he yelled to T.C. He had loosened his seat belt so that he was practically hanging out of the chopper door.

“You’re not going to hit anything with that!” Rick yelled.

Magnum looked in frustration at the .45 in his hand.

“My rifles,” Higgins called back. “My rifles for the competition are in the kit behind your seats!”

In an instant, Rick and Magnum were breaking out the two high-powered rifles and mustering ammunition.

“Hey!”  T.C. hollered back over his shoulder. “This ain’t no Marine gunship!”

“It is now!” Rick yelled as he loosened his seat belt and slid to the side of his seat, his legs dangling out the door.

“Get us down there, T.C.!” Magnum commanded again.

Kelly broke hard to her right causing Linnet to do the same in pursuit. T.C. fell in above, with Linnet’s plane just below and off his starboard side.  Linnet had moved unbelievably close to Kelly, and was taking shots calculated to disable her plane. “He’s going for her stabilizer,” T.C. said. “She won’t be able to land or do squat if he takes that out. C’mon, Kelly,” he urged. “You’ve got the more maneuverable plane. Dodge that sucker!”

“I don’t think they teach dogfighting tactics at the Sorbonne, T.C.!” Rick yelled as he lined up a shot.  He squeezed the trigger and sent a bullet into the fuselage of Linnet’s plane.

The pilot rolled back hard, causing T.C. to have to do the same to avoid a collision. T.C. gritted his teeth and pulled the chopper into a steep half loop that put them directly between Kelly and Linnet. They could see Linnet in the open fuselage door, gun leveled to take a shot at them. Just as a barrage of bullets loosed from Linnet’s gun, T.C. slid the chopper forward of the plane’s wing so that Linnet would not have a clear shot at him.

“Son-of-a . . .!” Magnum cursed, his voice trailing off. “What’s he using, an M16?”

“I don’t know,” T.C. responded, “but it’s automatic whatever it is, and it’s gonna do serious damage to my chopper if he gets another chance at us.”

Magnum cursed under his breath as he tried to collect his thoughts. Getting along side Linnet’s plane would be suicide. He knew he’d never get off a shot accurate enough to take out Linnet before the man unleashed on them again. “Can you get above and in front of him, T.C.? Get me close enough to put a bullet in the cockpit window.”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” T.C. said sarcastically. “Can you guarantee me he’s not gonna suddenly change altitude while we’re sitting on top of him?”

“T.C.!”

“Okay,” T.C. sighed. “I don’t know why I let you get me into these things.” He skillfully guided the chopper above Linnet’s plane.

“Get just ahead of him,” Magnum yelled, “then turn hard to port.”

“Man, you are crazy,” T.C. said as he complied.

“I only need a moment, T.C. Just get us there and hold it for a moment.”

“That’s good, because a moment’s all you’re gonna get.” 

He pulled just ahead of Linnet’s plane, then made the hard left pivot maneuver Magnum had asked for. They were less than a hundred yards ahead of the plane and staring straight at the pilot. Magnum already had his eye to the scope when they turned on the plane, and it took him only an instant to send a shot through the windshield into the pilot. Hovering, they watched as Linnet’s plane did a steep nosedive into the water. Though he doubted there would be anything to rescue, Higgins radioed their location to the Coast Guard.

Laughing triumphantly, T.C. took the radio and, bypassing the tower, addressed Kelly. “N92T,” he said in an affected voice, “this is your wingman. That bogey’s lights are out, and it looks like you’ve got clear sky all the way home.”

Rick and Magnum exchanged looks as they pulled themselves back into more secure positions in the chopper. T.C. always complained his way into every tense situation, then enjoyed the hell out of it while they were there.

“Thanks, T.C.” Kelly’s voice came back a bit shaky. “I’ve got a slight problem, though.”

“Another one?” He frowned and looked at Higgins.

“I’m losing oil pressure fast, T.C.,” she said. “There’s no way I can make it back to Oahu.”  When T.C. didn’t respond right away, she said, “I’m going to have to go in the water.”

“Negative, Kelly,” he shot back quickly. “You do not want to put that little kite in the water if you can help it.” Then, with the radio switched off, he told Magnum, “She’ll never survive a water landing in that thing.”

“Is there any place on Kauai she can land?”

“Yeah, maybe. If she can make it around the point. But it’s gonna be pretty rough.”

“Just tell her,” Magnum insisted.

“Kelly,” T.C. said, trying to sound more positive, “if you can keep that thing in the air just a little farther, there’s a ridge just the other side of the point. Over that ridge, there’s a plateau. It’s flat enough, and there’re no trees, you ought to be able to set it down there.”

“I don’t know, T.C. This thing is failing fast.”

“Aw, come on!” He urged jovially. “I’ve seen you fly. You can probably glide in from here. You’re always telling me those fixed-wing things are better than choppers because you can glide.”  He gave Kelly the heading she needed to take, and told her he’d follow her in.

“T.C.?” she asked as they rounded the point and turned toward the ridge. “How did you know to come after me?”

T.C. laughed. “You’ll have to talk to Magnum about that. I think it had something to do with his little voice, or something.”

There was a long pause. “Tell him something for me if this landing doesn’t work out alright, will you?”

Magnum looked at the radio. It hadn’t occurred to him that she did not know he was in the chopper.

“Tell him yourself,” T.C. said. “He’s right here listening to every word you say. Besides, this landing is gonna work out. So, don’t be thinking any other way.”

“Thomas is with you?”

“Yeah, and Rick, too. The gang’s all here. But, don’t be feelin’ any extra pressure just because we’re all watching you do this landing,” he joked half-heartedly.

Kelly said nothing more until she had cleared the ridge. Her engine was sputtering badly and beginning to smoke, and she was fighting for every inch of altitude. Just over the ridge, she spotted an expanse of open ground. It was treeless, as T.C. had claimed, but anything but smooth and level. “Please tell me that’s not the clearing you had in mind,” she begged T.C.

“You got enough engine left to make it any farther?”

“No.”

“Then, that’s the clearing.”

If Magnum hadn’t been so worried, he would have laughed out loud when he heard Kelly curse. They watched helplessly as she set up her landing approach and began a descent that was steeper and faster than she would have liked. Within seconds of the small light plane touching down, things began to go wrong. Rocks too large for the landing gear to negotiate sent the plane careening along the uneven ground, and smoke was pouring from the engine into the cockpit. Finally, the landing gear on one side of the plane could take no more strain and collapsed. From the chopper, the four men watched in horror as the plane first whipped hard to one side snapping off one wing, then began to flip end-over-end before coming to a rest on its port side. The smoke turned from grey to ominous black.

As T.C. set the chopper down, Magnum instructed him to give the Coast Guard their location, then was on the ground running toward the plane.

“Thomas!” Rick called, chasing after him. “Watch it! That thing’s on fire!”

As T.C. shut down the chopper, Higgins located the first aid kit and followed Rick and Magnum. He drew up even with Rick and they both stopped short of the plane, watching in apprehension as Magnum braved the smoke and flames in an attempt to get to Kelly. They lost sight of him completely in the smoke when he pulled himself up on the plane’s side.

Peering through the passenger side window, Magnum could see Kelly slumped on what was now the bottom side of the cockpit. He worked the handle and tugged at the door, but it was jammed shut. By now, T.C. had caught up with him and was spraying the engine compartment with the fire extinguisher from his chopper. It was a vain attempt, for the fire had spread beyond the capabilities of the small extinguisher. In desperation, Magnum hit the window glass with his fist. When the glass did not break, he turned and kicked it. The glass broke this time, and Magnum shimmied through the opening. He felt Kelly’s throat, and was relieved to find a pulse, albeit a faint one. Her hair was soaked in blood, which ran down one side of her face, and she was unconscious.

Gesturing for T.C. to come around to the window and help him, Magnum lifted Kelly and eased her through the opening into T.C.’s hands. T.C. pulled her out of the cockpit, and Magnum hauled himself up through the opening behind her. He dropped to the ground and reached up to take Kelly from T.C.

As he eased her down into Magnum’s arms, T.C. said, “Man, I don’t think she’s breathing.” He watched Magnum carry her clear of the plane before kneeling to lay her on the ground. “Higgins!” he yelled. “She needs CPR!”

“I’ve got it,” Magnum said as began the process of resuscitating her. “Find out how far away the Coast Guard is,” he instructed T.C. 

Rick and Higgins joined them, and Higgins made apt suggestions to help Magnum improve his CPR technique. In only moments, they had countered the effect of the smoke in her lungs and she began to cough and gasp for air on her own.

“How far out is the Coast Guard?” Magnum asked when T.C. returned. Magnum was exhausted, but more from stress and anxiety than from the exertion of resuscitating Kelly.

“They’ll be here in ten minutes,” T.C. said.

“We could be ten minutes closer to the hospital by then,” Magnum said as he leaned over to pick Kelly up. “Let’s put her in your chopper and get in the air.”

“No, Thomas,” T.C. argued reaching out to stop him. “Their bird’s a lot faster than mine when it’s loaded down. Even if we wait, they’ll get her to the hospital faster than we could.”

“T.C.’s right,” Higgins agreed. “The Coast Guard undoubtedly will have medical equipment on board. We should wait.”

Defeated, Magnum dropped his head in assent. Only now did he notice the blood running down his own arm. At some point, he had cut it --- on the window glass, he assumed --- but had not been aware of the injury before now.

Higgins broke open the first aid kit, and Rick helped him clean and assess Kelly’s wounds. They bandaged her head to stop the bleeding and made her as comfortable as possible while they waited for the Coast Guard. They heard the Coast Guard chopper before they saw it, and it crossed Magnum’s mind that the sound of an approaching chopper had never been more welcomed. He didn’t wait for the crew to disembark, but lifted Kelly and carried her the fifty or so yards to where the pilot had set down. Dazed by exhaustion and worry, he failed to respond when the crewman asked him to set Kelly down. Rick and T.C. had to intervene to break through his fog get him to turn Kelly over to the Coast Guard crew.

Magnum stood, unspeaking, frowning down as the crewmen eased Kelly onto a stretcher and prepared to load her into their helicopter. When Magnum started to climb aboard after her, a crewman reached out to stop him but pulled up short when he saw the look in Magnum’s eyes.

“He’s her brother,” Higgins lied knowing that they were more likely to allow a family member to go along and trying to avoid the trouble he knew was sure to come when Magnum was in this state.

The crewman looked from Kelly to Thomas doubtfully, but then looked at the blood on Thomas’ arm. “Alright, sir,” he said finally, his voice barely audible above the chopper’s winding engine. Get on board.”

Without a nod or any sign that he had even heard the crewman, Magnum pulled himself up into the chopper. Rick and T.C. exchanged relieved looks, then T.C. yelled to Magnum that they would follow him to the hospital. In a roar and rush of air, the huge machine lifted off the ground and headed back toward Honolulu.

Magnum perched on the edge of the examining table waiting for the nurse to bring papers she said he’d have to sign before he could go. His arm needed only a few stitches, but the doctor insisted on putting it in a sling to keep him from moving it excessively and starting up the bleeding again. He had been kept waiting an unbearably long time, and his mood was not good. Nor did it improve when Rick, T.C., and Higgins entered the room shaking their heads at his sling and complaining that he had, once again, put them all in harm’s way.

“Have you seen Kelly, yet?” he asked, ignoring their barbs.

“Yes,” Higgins said, “and no. She slips in and out of consciousness, so I don’t know that it registered that we were there.”

Magnum frowned. It irritated him that they had been able to see Kelly while he was kept waiting on this cold metal table. “How is she?” he asked.

“She has a concussion,” Higgins said, “some cracked ribs, and a broken leg. Not bad, really, all things considered.” He watched for Magnum’s reaction. “The police stopped by, and someone from the Coast Guard,” he added.

“Yeah,” Magnum said, “they were here, too. They’re not too happy that we put a plane and two men into the ocean.”

“You,” T.C. corrected. “You put two men and a plane into the ocean. Don’t be telling the police any of that ‘we’ stuff. It was you.”

“T.C.!” Magnum protested. “What was I supposed to do? Let them shoot Kelly down instead?”

“Relax, Thomas,” T.C. chuckled. “I was only kidding.”

Magnum shot him a look that clearly said he was not amused.

“The police detective I spoke with said they had already determined that the two men who rented the plane presented false identification,” Higgins interjected. “So they are anxious to find out their true identities.”

“Yeah, I know.” Magnum said. He squinted his eyes and rubbed his forehead in an attempt to stave off an advancing headache. “They asked me about that, too. I told them I think one of the men was Linnet and the other was Andrea LeCompte’s pilot. The Coast Guard is going to try to find the Kyudo, and talk to Andrea, but I figure she’s already picked up her plane and left the country.”

“Extraordinary,” Higgins murmured. “I still find it difficult to believe that anyone would go to such lengths to protect a falsified image of their heroics.”

“I don’t think that’s all there was to it, Higgins,” Magnum said. “I think Andrea’s mother is --- or was --- this Le Chameleon Inspector Bouchet is looking for. And I think Andrea is taking over the family business. According to what Bouchet told me, it’s a pretty lucrative business and one they’d most certainly kill to protect. I’m sure they knew that if Kelly continued to dig up stuff that shed doubt on Genevive LeCompte’s claims about her past, it would start her asking questions about exactly what Genevive’s role was during the war --- and might eventually lead her to exposing their illicit activities. Before Kelly came along, everyone accepted Genevive’s stories without question and assumed that the family’s wealth came from the shipping business. Kelly was asking questions and coming up with answers that kept the pieces from fitting together so neatly. I think they were making money off the shipping business, alright, but the real wealth was coming in as a result of the underground contacts Genevive cultivated during the war and exploited afterwards.”

“Extraordinary,” Higgins murmured again. “How will you find out whether or not your theory is correct?”

“I don’t know,” Magnum shrugged. “I’m going to tell Bouchet all I know and let him pursue it. If I’m right, he’ll shut the LeComptes down.”

The four men continued to chat even as the nurse brought in the paperwork for Magnum to sign. She seemed annoyed at the crowded room, which made Magnum all the more inclined to encourage the others to linger. He listened impatiently as she explained a prescription for some pain killers, which he had no intention of getting filled, then asked Higgins to show him to Kelly’s room.

“Do you want us to wait?” T.C. asked as Magnum pushed open the door and peered into the dimly lit room. “You want to ride back to Island Hoppers with us so you can pick up the Ferrari?”

“No,” Magnum said softly, “I think I’ll stay here tonight.” He ignored the looks the three men exchanged, and barely heard what Higgins said about getting the cars back to the estate as he waved them off and crossed the room to Kelly’s bedside.

With the blood cleaned away, he could now see the dark bruises covering her face. Though she was asleep, her face was anything but relaxed. He wondered if it was from pain, lingering fear, or both. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Kelly,” he said. “It’s alright. Everything’s alright.” She seemed to stir slightly, but he was not sure. Gingerly, he took her hand and raised it to his lips. For reasons he did not want to think about, let alone explain, he kissed her hand then replaced it gently beside her. Intending to wait for her to awaken, Magnum sank into a chair that stood in one corner of the room where, overcome by exhaustion, he drifted off to sleep.

A nurse bustled into the room early the next morning and opened the window shades waking both Magnum and Kelly. Startled, Magnum got quickly --- if unsteadily --- to his feet.  Watching Kelly’s face, he felt pretty sure she had not comprehended what the nurse said about bringing in her breakfast. He stood beside her bed and gave her a moment to focus on him.

“Thomas?” she said hoarsely.

“Yeah,” he grinned and toyed with the baseball cap he held in one hand. “I was going to stay until you woke up last night, but I guess I kinda dozed off.”

Kelly smiled as much as her bruised face would allow. “I know,” she said softly. “I woke up a couple of times. I decided not to wake you.”

Magnum pursed his lips. He would have preferred otherwise.

“Are you okay?” she asked with a vague gesture in the direction of his sling.

“Oh, yeah,” he laughed. “I’m fine. Just a little cut. Nothing compared to . . .” he let his voice trail off and silently indicated her own condition.

“I’ll be okay,” she assured him. “The doctor says I just need to take it easy for awhile.”

“And don’t laugh,” he added with a knowing look. “Cracked ribs are hell when you laugh.”

She laughed, then immediately moaned.

“See what I mean?”

“Thomas, did you come by here just to torture me?” she asked painfully.

“No,” he smiled. “I just . . .” he shrugged and left the sentence unfinished. Her gaze was clearer now, and he felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny of those blue eyes.

“Thomas,” she said in a suddenly serious voice, “thank you. Thank you for . . . what you did. Higgins was here last night, and he told me everything that happened. Thank you.”

He shrugged again and waved his baseball cap in a dismissive gesture. “Well, you know. It was no big deal, really,” he stammered.

“You risked your life to save mine,” she said. “Personally, I think that’s a pretty big deal.”

“Well . . . of course, so did T.C. and the others.” He continued to fidget uncomfortably. “It was just . . . you know. We just did what had to be done, I guess.” He shrugged.

Laughing painfully, Kelly reached up and rested her hand on his uninjured arm. “I forget. Risking your life is the norm for you.”

Magnum stopped fidgeting. He did not want her to take her hand away from where it gently warmed his arm. “Kelly,” he asked hesitantly. “What were you going to ask T.C. to tell me?”

She looked up at him in confusion.

“Before you landed --- or, tried to land. You told T.C. to tell me something if things didn’t work out. But, when he said to tell me yourself, you never said anything.”

Kelly looked at him for such a protracted moment that he thought she might not respond. “I wanted to tell you I’m sorry,” she said finally.

“Sorry for what?”

“I’m sorry I was such a pain. I didn’t mean to be, you know. I’m sorry I gave you so much trouble and made your job so difficult.”

Chuckling, Magnum dropped his head. “Don’t worry about it,” he assured her. Instinctively, he knew that this was not the message she was going to give T.C. Not the whole message, anyway. She wasn’t going to give up any more, however, and he wasn’t certain he wanted her to.

“I’m staying in Hawaii,” she blurted out suddenly. “I decided to stay at the estate.”

“Okay,” he said, uncertain of why she felt the need to declare this to him.

“After I’m healed, I have to go to Spain for a couple of months to do some work for my father I promised him I would do. But, after that, I’m coming back here.” She seemed to be watching carefully for his reaction. “And, I want you to know that you have a home there for as long as you want,” she added.

“I appreciate that,” he responded thoughtfully. “A couple of months, huh?”

“Yeah, a couple of months. Is that a problem?”

“No, it’s just interesting, that’s all. See, I’ve been thinking that I need to take some time . . .. I think I need to go home to Virginia and work some things out. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the direction my life’s going and everything . . . and, Rick and Cleo are talking about getting married, and T.C. is spending more and more time being a dad . . .. It’s just a lot of stuff, you know?”

She nodded. She did understand, probably more than he would have liked.

Despite himself, he rambled on. “I’ve let go of some things I needed to,” he told her in a cryptic reference to Michelle, “and I’ve come to terms with my reasons for leaving the Navy and all.” He looked down at her. A part of him wanted to tell her how, although he had been able to accept Michelle’s death, he could not let go of Lily; and how the Navy had been tugging at him lately; and so many other things he could not even clarify in his own mind let alone articulate to Kelly. But, he just stood there wordlessly.

“That’s fine, Thomas,” she said gently. “Do what you have to do. I just hope Hawaii is part of whatever direction you choose. We would miss you terribly if you didn’t come back.” She slid her hand down his arm and squeezed his hand, just as Rick and T.C. entered the room.

The two men stopped short when they saw Kelly, neither doing a good job of hiding their shock at her appearance.

Kelly smiled. “It’s not as bad as it looks, guys. I was just assuring Thomas that I’ll be up and around, and a pain in the neck again in no time.”

Rick and T.C. laughed while Magnum looked at the wall above Kelly’s bed to avoid making eye contact with them.

“That was some landing, girl.” T.C. joked. “You know, you’re supposed to land those things right-side-up.”

“I don’t know,” Magnum ventured. “Isn’t any landing you can walk away from considered a good landing?”

“Yes, but I didn’t exactly walk away from this one,” she pointed out.

“Close enough,” Magnum said in a gentle voice.

“Close enough, indeed.” Higgins entered the room carrying a large bouquet of flowers. “These came from the garden,” he told them defensively when the three men gaped at the flowers. “The ginger is particularly vibrant right now, and I thought it would brighten these dull surroundings.”

“They’re beautiful,” Kelly assured him. “Thank you.”

They had come to entertain her, and they set about doing just that. Rick and T.C. told enough harrowing flying stories to get Kelly’s ribs good and sore on laughter, then they all discussed plans for bringing her home. As they talked, Magnum dropped back and quietly sauntered around the perimeter of the room ostensibly to look out the window or otherwise cure his boredom, but, in fact, surreptitiously watching all of them. It was, indeed, time to put his life in order. He’d often said that he woke up one morning when he was thirty-two and realized he had never been twenty-two. He felt, now, that he had regained those lost years in sumptuous fashion. He had found himself again, and it was now time to move forward. He knew in his heart, however, that whatever resolutions he arrived at, they would, indeed, bring him back to Hawaii.