traffic at this hour, so the pilot should get clearance to land with no problem. I don’t know, Sophie, let’s just hope for the best.”
The hostess was back, the smile still on her face. Linda took the smile as a good sign. “Captain Ortega said we’ll be wheels on the ground at eleven fifty-one. If not, you get your money back.” At the stricken look on both women’s faces, she quickly added, “That was a joke. If Captain Ortega said wheels on the ground at eleven fifty- one, then it’s wheels on the ground at eleven fifty-one.”
Linda reached for Sophie’s hand and squeezed it. “We’ll make it,” she whispered.
Sophie nodded.
The private Learjet’s wheels kissed the ground at exactly 11:50 local time. It took another three minutes to taxi to the slot assigned to private planes, another two minutes to come to a complete stop, then a minute for the hostess to open the hatch and drop the portable set of steps. The moment the hostess motioned for the two women to come forward and disembark, Sophie barreled up the aisle, was out the door and galloping down the steps to the tarmac, Linda right on her heels.
“What time is it, Linda?” Sophie shouted.
“Two minutes to midnight! We made it, Sophie! We made it!” She reached for Sophie’s arms and hugged her as they danced around in a circle like two lunatics.
The pilot and hostess stood in the open doorway staring at their two passengers. “Hey, we just fly and deliver them. We got them here on time, so maybe we’ll each get a bonus, and if that doesn’t happen, we made two people really happy tonight. Wanna go for a drink somewhere? First, we have to lock this baby down, then we can take in some nightlife.” But neither moved as they watched the two women make their way to where a crowd of locals waited for them behind the gates, leis in hand.
“You think those women are VIPs or something?” the hostess asked the captain.
“Or something. Not our business. All we need to think about for the next few days is warm sand, gentle breezes, and golden sun. We are in Hawaii! What’s not to love?”
“You’re right, it’s none of our business,” the hostess said, flashing a winning smile that Captain Ortega thought was beautiful.
Across the tarmac under the lights, the entire Aulani family waited for one of the maintenance crews to unlock the gate that would allow Sophie and Linda to walk through, where they were immediately showered with deliciously scented leis, one after the other. And then everyone started to jabber at once. A baby in a front papoose sling started to cry while other children held out additional leis that Sophie and Linda accepted with smiling faces.
An older man, deeply tanned, with snow white hair, came forward. He held out a beautiful white orchid lei. “It means welcome and the love of our family. I am Sam, Kala’s oldest brother. She has entrusted you to my care. These people gathered here are our family. We came here to make you welcome. The hour is late; tomorrow, today actually, we will gather at the house and make a luau for you and your friend. Welcome to Hawaii, Miss Sophie, and welcome to you, too, Miss Linda. We have a car waiting to take you to the house. My grandson Kiki will drive you.”
The baby started to cry again as the group urged Sophie and Linda forward.
The two-hour trip was made in silence for no good reason. Later, Linda said it was the jet lag that had tired them out even though they’d slept for most of the trip.
When the car came to a stop in the driveway of crushed shells, Sophie got out and looked up at the stars. “This is real, isn’t it, Linda? I’m not dreaming, am I? Tell me I am not going to wake up back in prison. I want to hear the words, Linda, so please humor me, and say them, okay?”
“This is so real, it’s scary. You are not dreaming. You are not going to wake up back in prison. This is the beginning of your new life, Sophie, so start enjoying it right now!”
“In that case, I’m walking down to that beach right now, and I’m going to sleep under the stars. Kala said I could do that. I’m going to keep all these sweet-smelling leis and use them as a pillow. Want to join me?”
“Try keeping me away. Just you try,” Linda said, sprinting through the yard and down to the sandy beach, Sophie right behind her.
Linda stopped right at the water’s edge. “Tell me something,
“I feel like… I feel like I could fly if I flapped my arms. I feel safe, happy, and blessed that I’m here. I want to shout it to the world and to thank… everyone, even Adam Star.”
“Then do it!” Linda challenged her.
Sophie screamed until she was hoarse, her screams muffled by the roar of the ocean. The only one who could hear her was Linda.
Chapter 7
SOPHIE LEE WOKE SLOWLY. SHE WAS FULL OF SAND FROM HEAD to toe, even had sand in her mouth. She tried to spit it out. Looking around, she was stunned to realize that everything had not been a bad dream after all. She really was in Hawaii, and she really had slept on the beach under the stars.
It was still dark out, with a few stars twinkling overhead, but the new day was going to chase the darkness away within minutes. She could see a faint glow of light on the horizon. A new day. Wednesday, to be precise. Wednesday was good; not as good as Tuesday, but still good. Sophie sat up and hugged her knees as she waited for the sun to creep over the horizon. Her first sunrise in Hawaii. How good was that? Pretty darn good, she thought. She stared, transfixed, at the huge orange ball and the dark, velvety shadows, which were fast disappearing.
The first day of her new life. And it was a new life. She needed to think about that. Really think about it. Yesterday was still a blur in her mind. Events had moved at the speed of light, with no time really to sort through it all. Adam Star was dead. Adam Star had gone to Kala and confessed that he had killed his wife. Even though Kala and her legal team had suspected that all along, they had been unable to prove it. Given their absolute certainty that Sophie hadn’t killed Audrey Star, the only other person who could have done it was Audrey’s husband. Adam Star had left her his fortune. The Star fortune, whatever that might be. She, personally, had over $700,000 in a brokerage account. That meant she could buy whatever she wanted. Within reason. She had an active driver’s license, a current passport, and her nursing license was going to be given back to her. All thanks to Kala, Jay, and Linda. In a million years, she would never be able to thank the three of them for believing in her, standing by her, fighting for her. How could she ever repay them? Not that they wanted to be repaid. So many times during the trial they had all said they were doing the job they were trained to do. That turned her thoughts to Ryan Spenser, the man who had sent her to prison for life even though he did not have a shred of evidence that she, and not Adam, had killed Audrey Star.
During her ten years in prison she had tried not to think about Spenser, but she’d been unsuccessful. Plotting his death day after day was the only way she could fall asleep at night. She made promises to herself during those ten years that if she ever got out of prison, she would go after him and make him wish he were dead. In the darkness of her cell she tortured him, flayed his muscular body, tossed him to the coyotes in the desert, drowned him at sea. She particularly liked the scenario where she carved her initials over every inch of his body. The scenario where she managed to hog-tie him, then kicked and stomped him to within an inch of his life wasn’t bad either. She grimaced at her ugly, evil thoughts.
Those thoughts had carried her to the faster-than-lightning extraction from the state of Georgia. What were the lawyers so concerned about? She didn’t fully understand Linda’s explanation of what they were anticipating happening once the news broke about Star’s death, his confession, and her release from prison.
Sophie continued to hug her knees, her thoughts on her current situation. It must be noon by now back on the East Coast. Was news of her release public knowledge yet? Had Adam Star’s death made it to the obituary page? She wished she knew. But what she wanted to know more than anything was Ryan Spenser’s reaction to the news of Adam Star’s confession, his death, and his cremation. She wondered what Spenser looked like now, ten years later. Was he still so arrogant, so cocky, so mean-spirited? Leopards didn’t change their spots, Kala had said.
Sophie had never hated anyone in her whole life, not even the bullies back in the orphanage. She understood
