Water Lily by Terri Farley Read Free Book Online Page B

as if fate was picking on him.
    â€œColic.” Kit confirmed Jonah’s diagnosis with an almost indifferent tone. “Only brought ’em up because we’re too busy to fuss over him down there.”
    Darby’s first impression of the two men was that they were muddy and grateful for the coffee Jonah had just given them. Although the sun dominated the cloudy sky, the men cupped their hands around their mugs as if they needed the warmth. They’d probably been wet for a while.
    When she glanced up to take a good look at them, she decided the two men were physical opposites. She was trying to place the slim one with slicked-down black hair. Though they hadn’t been introduced, she recognized the name badge on his uniform and his presence made her smile as she realized where she’d seen him before.
    Mr. Nomi looked slight-bodied, but she’d seen him in action and he was tougher than he looked. He’d sounded friendly as he’d questioned Manny after the tsunami.
    Manny had rushed up to the official-looking Mr. Nomi and demanded he take action against Darby. By the time they’d finished talking though, Mr. Nomi had discovered Manny had disobeyed the evacuation order that might have saved his livestock.
    â€œSuper-duper,” Mr. Nomi had said, as soon as he had enough information to arrest Cade’s stepfather, and though Manny had struggled to free himself, Mr. Nomi had grinned and clicked a pair of handcuffs around his wrists.
    Jonah introduced the other man to Kit as Mr. Klaus, and Darby thought he looked a lot like Santa Claus without a beard. He had wavy white hair, a flushed face, and a potbelly propped up by sturdy legs that ended in tightly laced hiking boots. But he sure didn’t have merry Santa Claus eyes. His stern gaze probably didn’t miss much.
    For some reason, he made Darby nervous, but she remembered Jonah saying the ARC had been all over the island, searching for earthquake damage, so obviously Mr. Klaus’s job demanded such watchfulness.
    As Kit joined the group, crossing his arms and listening, Darby noticed Cade had slipped away with the horses and she did the same.
    She untacked Navigator, picked up a hoof pick, and began cleaning mud from the gelding’s hooves. Using the tip of the pick, she pried the mud away from the heel toward the toe just as Jonah had taught her so that she wouldn’t push any grit into the sensitive partof the toe. She was glad to see that Navigator hadn’t picked up any stones along the way.
    As she worked, she eavesdropped, and wished she knew more about reservoirs, aquifers, ditches, and flumes. She only understood about half of what the men were talking about, although she was pretty sure they’d already tested ‘Iolani’s well and found it as pure as Jonah had insisted it would be.
    â€œMostly, the underground water is fine. The ponds and streams, they’re polluted from all da kine storm wreckage,” Mr. Nomi said.
    As Darby put down the last hoof, she began grooming Navigator. Da kine was a pretty useful term, Darby thought, because it meant “that kind of thing.” Mr. Nomi could mean everything from landslides that muddied the water to dead animals that tainted it.
    Like Honi the pony drinking from the pond where the dead mongoose lay, Darby thought, but her alarm was interrupted by Navigator bumping against her, reminding her the currycomb felt as good as a massage and she should keep applying it to his sleek hide.
    She smooched at the horse and kept brushing, even when Mr. Klaus spoke up.
    â€œThe county could have prevented some trouble.”
    â€œHow’s that?” Jonah asked.
    â€œThey’ve been turning a blind eye to people using unpurified water from ponds and streams instead of paying for municipal sources. Like the, uh, neighborhood above Crimson Vale.”
    One of the men cleared his throat. It sounded like Kit, but she didn’t look over to see. It