Murder at Dolphin Bay (Sand and Sea Hawaiian Mystery Book 1) by Kathi Daley

some of the investors when a thundering sound shook the whole building.
    “What was that?” Elva cried.
    I looked out the window. The rain was still coming down hard, the surf had increased in height, and the wind seemed to be pounding everything in its path.
    “Looks like one of those big palms near the water fell,” I answered.
    “Do you think we’re safe here?” Elva asked.
    I really wasn’t sure, but I knew trying to drive in this mess wasn’t a good idea. “I think we’re fine. I’m going to go check on Mr. B. He might be an introvert, but it seems like even an introvert would prefer not to be alone on a night like this.”
    “I’ll go with you,” Sean offered.
    Sean pulled waterproof jackets out of his hall closet for each of us. Personally I was fine with getting rained on, but I could see why Sean didn’t want to ruin his new shirt, which looked like silk. It only took a few seconds to walk from one unit to the next, but even a little bit of rain wouldn’t be good for the expensive fabric.
    I knocked hard on the door to unit 6 and waited. No answer. I knocked again and called Mr. B’s name. Still no answer. “I hope he’s okay.”
    Sean pulled something that looked sort of like a Swiss Army knife out of his pocket. “I can get in. We should check on him. There’s no way he’s sleeping through all this ruckus.”
    “You’re going to pick the lock?”
    “Funny but true story: My dad was a thief. A good one too.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    “’Fraid not. He taught me everything he knew before he passed on a few years ago.”
    “And your mom?”
    “They met when she tried to pick his pocket.”
    I laughed. “Are you pulling my leg?”
    “Would I do that?”
    He would, but I had the sense he wasn’t. What were the odds that a member of a family of cops would be such good friends with a member of a family of thieves?
    The door opened easily once Sean had worked his magic and we stepped inside.
    “Hello,” I called. “Mr. B, are you here? It’s Lani, from unit 1. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
    My announcement was met with silence. Unlike my condo, which was bright, messy, and lived-in, Mr. B’s was stark and devoid of personal items of any kind. The room reminded me of a hotel room, a place of temporary lodging but certainly not a home.
    “The place looks deserted,” Sean observed.
    He was right. I had to wonder why the television was blaring and all the lights were on. I quickly looked through the rooms of the one-bedroom condo just to make sure. The place was completely deserted.
    “I’m tempted to turn everything off so it doesn’t run all night, but I don’t want to give away the fact that we were here,” I commented.
    “It won’t run all night,” Sean answered. “Look here. The lights and television are on a timer.”
    “A timer? That means Mr. B might not have been home all the nights we thought he was just being antisocial.”
    “Could be. I’ve never even seen the guy. Have you?”
    “No. I haven’t ever seen him. I wonder if any of the others have.”
    The unit had been empty until a month before, when I first noticed the lights. I’d asked Elva, who was always around, who had moved in, and she’d said it was a man named Mr. B. I’d seen the lights go on and off every night, but I’d never had occasion to actually knock on the man’s door.
    We locked the door behind us and returned to Sean and Kevin’s condo. After posing the question to the group, it was determined that no one other than Elva had ever so much as caught a glimpse of Mr. B. She reported that she’d seen him pass by her window on the day he moved in, and then she saw him again on Wednesday, the night the condo was dark. We’d all heard the television and seen the lights go on and off; we’d just assumed he was holed up in his condo, but had he been?
    “Okay, it’s crazy to think there hasn’t been anyone living in the condo,” Kekoa insisted. “It seems like there would be