The Greatest of These by Greg Wendleton (booksvooks txt) 📕

at the restaurant, our rooms would be cleared out. Accommodations had been obtained at a safe house in Kihei that would be our new home until Sunday, March 7. My rental vehicle would be returned to Enterprise for me, by the FBI.

I looked at my watch, it was half past noon, and I was soon going to be a dead man walking. Special Agent Presley asked for my phone. He explained it was necessary that they confiscate all of our communication devices to protect the integrity of the charade. After some argument from me, I grudgingly handed over my phone and my laptop.

“You promise me that Fonda will know the truth?”

“Garret, I promise you. Have I misled you at any point since we met?”

“No. No, you haven’t. But, I trusted Conrad for fifteen years.”

“I’m not Conrad.”

From one of the beds came, “You better not be. Our lives are now in your hands.”

Jamie Wilhite was staring a hole straight through Special Agent Jerry Presley.

CHAPTER FORTY

At precisely 12:30pm a controlled blaze was set at a rundown shack one mile outside of Hana. The Chief of Police and the Fire Chief were present, and two of the four fire trucks belonging to the Hana Fire Department were parked in the grassy area around the shack. The Fire Chief was busy directing his team of trained firefighters in order to control the blaze and prevent the fire from spreading into the areas bordering the Haleakala National Park. An uncontrolled fire could spread quickly and gain a foothold in the dense forests in this part of Maui.

The men and women of the Hana Fire Department did an amazing job and contained the blaze to the structure and the area immediately surrounding the shack. The dried timbers and siding crackled and popped, the roof collapsing in on the building. Within thirty minutes the shack was nothing more than glowing embers and a few beams heaved in on the floor and kitchen cabinets.

The site would be declared a crime scene and around the clock security would be assigned by the Chief of Police. The fire department would maintain a single truck and crew on site for several more hours to ensure no wind gusts would blow hot embers into the air and present a hazard to the forest. If there were any bodies, presumed, to be inside at the time of the blaze, it would be days before that could be confirmed.

The two Chiefs, working in concert with the FBI, determined that the blaze was the result of arson and that two or three bodies were suspected of being consumed by the fire. The arsonist, was at large.

Of course, the alleged arsonist was dead, and the assumed victims were safe.

Special Agent Presley, as part of the charade, had instructed the team in Kahului, to send the following text message from the burner phone to Conrad:

Cooper showed up this morning. I neutralized him. Blaze set and I’m going dark. See you 3/6 @ 6pm.

There would not be a follow up message from Conrad.

The charade was now in full motion. A release would be sent to the local media on Friday, February 26 stating:

In a series of bizarre events over the past several days, a San Antonio couple have disappeared from their north shore rental cottage on Maui. The couple, Chad Wilhite, 62, of San Antonio, Texas, and his wife, Jamie Wilhite, 61, also of San Antonio, were last seen Monday, February 22, leaving a Paia restaurant, after having had dinner around 8 pm.

A family friend had flown to Maui due to concern about the couple. That man, Garret Cooper, 47, of San Antonio, is also missing.

In a potentially related event, a small house located one mile outside of Hana, burned to the ground yesterday afternoon. The Chief of the Hana Fire Department has classified the fire as arson. The arsonist is at large.

The fire department investigators have begun sifting through the residue of the blaze searching for additional clues and any signs of human remains.

At this time, the three people are considered missing and presumed dead.

Anyone with information that could help solve these crimes is encouraged to reach out to the local FBI Field Office in Kahului or their local police department.

At 2:00pm, Chad and Jamie were released and their records were given over to Special Agent Presley. Officially, they were never patients in this hospital. The Medivac flight and the patients in the ICU suite were created by the FBI to reflect victims of an automobile accident.

The three, missing and presumed dead, ghosts, exited the back of the hospital via a loading dock. Waiting for them was a new rental vehicle that the FBI had secured. It was a 2020 BMW 7 series, silver with rich leather interior. Chad and Jamie slipped into the sumptuously upholstered rear seat and I took my place behind the wheel.

Special Agent Presley stuck his head inside the car and pronounced, “A change in plans. Garret, follow Special Agent Mears to the safe house. We don’t want to risk anyone seeing you. We have a team over at Mama’s getting your belongings from the suite and the cottage. They’ll check you out of the Inn. We are being extra cautious.”

“Pat, one of the managers, knows that we found Chad and Jamie and they’re safe.”

Presley paused, rubbing his chin, “Well, I’ll have the agents explain to him the importance of keeping his mouth shut.”

“I had reserved a table for dinner…”

“That will get cancelled.”

“What an absolute cluster…”

“Watch your mouth Garret Cooper!” Jamie had cut me off before I dropped the “f-bomb”.

“It’s all for your protection. Agent Mears will stay at the safe house with you. This car is for emergency use, and as a small consolation for the inconvenience.”

Chad piped in, “Not a bad consolation prize!”

Presley grinned, showing his appreciation, then leaned back out of the driver’s door frame and closed the door. With that, I put the car in drive and began following Special Agent Mears to the safe