Black Jasmine (2012) (6 page)

“So what do you know about who organized the cockfight?” A stab in the dark but worth a try now that she had him talking.

“Nothing. I don’t know nothing! I got a text with the date and time like everyone else!”

“Someone sends the texts, keeps track of who’s fighting their birds, who’s attending. Someone organizes these things.”

“I don’t know anything real. I swear. But I hear it’s a guy on Oahu who gets a cut. All the owners who put birds in the ring pay a fee to him; he’s the ‘house’ you can bet against, and somehow the ‘house’ does better than most.”

“That’s gambling for you. So what do they call this guy?”

Silva looked up. “My wife could leave me over this. You think it’s a good idea for me to get two in the head, too?”

“C’mon, quit being such a drama queen. This is Maui. No one rolls like that around here.”

“You just never find the bodies.” He looked down, shook his head, his voice a whisper of defeat. “I don’t know anything worth anything. He’s called the House. That’s all I know.”

“Oh. Didn’t realize that was his handle.” She gave a nod to Bunuelos, who unclipped the handcuffs from the ring. “Thanks, Mr. Silva. We appreciate your cooperation. Now, was that so hard?”

“You sure my wife won’t find out? She’ll just leave me in here if she knows. . .”

“You gave us a name, so we’re square. Couple of names, in fact. But we know where you live.” Lei did the grin again.

He nearly ran out of the room, followed by Bunuelos. Lei collected the recorder and notepad and followed him out. Stevens was waiting in the hall. Her heart gave a familiar thump at the sight of him.

“Michael!”

Lei knew Stevens was ever aware of setting a good example in front of the men, so while not keeping their relationship a secret, they weren’t advertising it either. The echoing linoleum hall was empty, so he leaned over and gave her a kiss, a hard stamp on her mouth that left her wanting more.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were here? I caught about half your performance from the gallery.” The back wall of the interview room was two-way glass.

“Sorry. I was in a hurry, wanted to get to the interview before Silva got released.” They walked side by side toward the main work area. Lei slid her hands into her pockets, familiar guilt irritating her. She seldom remembered to do the right girlfriend shit, like calling him. She turned to him with a bright smile. “Well, it’s time to head home. Want to go get something to eat on our way?”

“We can hit Ichiban. I have to shut down the workstation first.”

“I’ll meet you there; just want to wrap things up with Bunuelos. He was a big help.”

Stevens peeled off to the left, and Lei went onto the main floor, a typical government maze of soundproofed cubicles in industrial gray with the occasional “inspirational” print to liven things up. Bunuelos met her at his cubicle after releasing Silva. He gave her a high-five.

“You have a gift. Silva is totally paranoid now. He was practically peeing himself.”

“Good. Maybe he’ll keep it in his pants now. What a scumbag, so worried about his wife finding out.”

Bunuelos’s partner, Abe Torufu, came in. Lei had noticed the contrast between the two of them from day one—Bunuelos was a wiry Filipino with the build and energy of a rat terrier, while his partner loomed, a slow-moving Tongan mountain. Torufu sat down on his chair. The overwhelmed equipage squealed and moaned, but held.

“Well, I’m off for the night, but I just wanted to thank you for helping me out. We got some names to follow up on, and that’s huge. I’m crazy to know this girl’s name.” Lei tapped the folder with the photos.

“A pleasure. Interesting case. Keep me posted on it, and if you need any help, let me know.”

“You and Stevens a thing?” Torufu asked, spinning his chair in her direction, a toothpick protruding from between Chiclets-sized teeth.

“Uh. Yeah.” Lei felt a blush prickle her hairline. “Is there a problem?”

“No. Just explains it; that’s all.”

“Explains what?” Lei put her hands on her hips.

“Nothing.” Both of them turned to their computers.

“C’mon, guys. Really. He a bad boss or something?”

“No, fine; it’s all good.” They’d become very intent all of a sudden, eyes on their monitors.

“Okay, then. Bye.” Lei shook her head as she left.

“Lemme know if you need me,” Bunuelos called after her again.

“Will do.” Lei hurried down the hall. She didn’t have time for male mind games. Japanese food sounded delicious, and the sooner the better.

Stevens was already seated at the little hole-in-the-wall restaurant minutes away from the station. He’d ordered a Kirin for her, which she sipped while perusing the menu. They chose tempura and teriyaki beef, and when the waitress left, Lei bounced and wiggled a bit in her seat.

“Got a good lead. The name of a guy who hired a company that provided the girls. Our Jane Doe was one of them.”

“I know. I was there for that part,” Stevens said dryly. “I like your bad cop. Nicely done. The smacks on the photo were a tad theatrical, but they worked.”

“I shouldn’t enjoy it so much, but damn, that guy was so gross. I mean, can you see him with some poor little teenage girl?” She shuddered. “I wanted to put the fear in him so bad he can’t get it up for a hooker ever again.”

“That’s the world we live in. Nasty people doing nasty shit.” Stevens rubbed his eyes with his hand. She noticed for the first time they were even more deep-set than usual, ringed in shadows. She put her hand on his on the table; he turned it up and warm energy flowed between them. They laced their fingers together. Lei felt a rush of compassion for him.

“What’s the matter?” She finally had the nerve to ask.

“Nothing really. Just getting tired, I guess. Office politics.” He still wasn’t telling her.

“Okay.” Lei couldn’t tell if the feeling she had was relief or disappointment.

The food arrived, and Lei ate with her usual focus and enthusiasm, hungry from all the exercise. Between bites, she told him about the raid, making Stevens laugh with her rendering of the irate rooster owners tackling each other with their hands tied. It felt good to hear him laugh, see him relax, the darkness around his eyes pull back a bit.

“Pono took it hard about the birds, though.” She finished the story. “He left work early—meaning on time for once. I’ve never seen him so upset. The Steel Butterfly finally got to him.”

“Watch out for her,” Stevens said. “I hear she can be a bad enemy.”

“I’m doing my best. I never speak unless spoken to. I can’t help that she thinks I’m a train wreck, though.” Lei took a sip of her beer, swallowing past the lump in her throat.

“Hey.” She looked up. His penetrating blue eyes were on her, stripping her bare. He saw past her defenses—he’d always been able to. Then Stevens smiled, the crooked flash she loved so well.

“You could take her. That’s a chick fight I wouldn’t mind seeing.”

“I don’t know. I hear she has a black belt.”

“Well, what are you up to in Tae Kwon Do? Red?”

She ducked her head. “It’s going okay, yeah.” She’d joined a nearby dojo in Wailuku and took a class twice a week. “So what’s got you so bothered? I’ve been telling you a lot about my cases. I’m not hearing anything about yours.”

“Not much to tell. They got me doing a lot of training with the new detectives. That’s not what’s on my mind, though.” He sighed.
Uh-oh
. Here it came—the problem he’d been holding on to.

“I’m just…wondering where this is going.” He gestured back and forth between them. “This. Us.”

“I don’t know. We’re living together and having some excellent sex? What more is there?” She tried a smile.

He shook his head. “I just feel like we’re…not going in the same direction. Maybe it’s that I’m older, got this promotion, starting to build something here that I know I won’t want to leave. I don’t get that feeling from you. You’re still thinking about the FBI, aren’t you?”

“Marcella keeps in touch, yeah. You know she thinks I’d be a good agent out here because of the multicultural thing.”

“So I’m wondering, where does that leave me if you take off for the Academy?”

“Well, it’s not forever, the Academy. I’d be back. Eventually. Marcella says they’ll want to post me some places after training, so I can get some seasoning.”

“I’m not getting any younger. I can’t go with you.”

“Thirty-four isn’t old.” She took his big, warm hand, bit his finger, and laid it against her cheek. “My biological clock’s not even wound yet. We’ve got plenty of time.”

He pulled his hand away. “You’re not the only one with a biological clock.”

He reached into his pocket, set the little black velvet box on the table between them.

“Dammit, Michael, you promised you wouldn’t do this to me again.” Tears prickled the backs of Lei’s eyes, and she blinked rapidly. “You know this freaks me out.”

“I need something, too. I need to know we’re going to be together. If I know that, I can wait. I can tell myself, someday she might be ready to settle down—have a family.”

“I can’t make those kinds of promises.” Her heart had begun thundering, blood roaring, claustrophobia bringing blackness around the edges of her vision. She pinched her leg through her jeans to anchor herself.

“Then I’m thinking I need to get this over with. I can’t put my life on hold forever, hoping you’ll be…ready for more.”

“Isn’t what we have enough?” Her throat seemed to close, strangling words to explain. Their relationship was perfect to her; it was all she wanted. She loved what they had—the little house, runs with Keiki, leisurely weekends having adventures or making love all afternoon. Why couldn’t that be enough for him?

“I love you. I love what we have.” He must have seen the panic in her eyes, because he took both her hands, rubbed the palms and then the backs with his thumbs, touch keeping her in her body. “I just want that and to know we’ll always be together—and throw in a couple kids someday, too.”

She closed her eyes, did some relaxation breathing, feeling the calm his touch brought. His thumbs caressing the thin skin of her wrist, the pulse point of her blood, seemed to be the only thing that meant anything. Panic brought on by her inadequacies, his possible abandonment, and the use of the word “kids”—all gradually receded. After a long moment, she opened her eyes and found herself looking into his—eyes so blue they held bits of white like stars. Those eyes reflected everything he felt, always had.

“I can’t promise,” she finally said, her voice a whisper. “But I can think about it. I can try.”

She took her hands out of his, opened the box. In it was the old-fashioned ring his grandmother had left him, a cushion-cut diamond surrounded by baguettes set like petals on a daisy. She knew that ring and had missed it. She’d worn it for several months before the actual wedding plans had sent her running away in terror to Kaua`i.

“I love this ring.” She picked it up. “You don’t even know how much I wish I could be what you want, say yes, do the whole white picket fence thing. But I tried already and broke your heart. I don’t want to do that to you any more than you want me to. But I can wear this on a chain, and when I know one way or another, I’ll either give it back to you and we’ll be
pau
, finished, or I’ll put it on my finger, and we’ll get married. That’s the best I can do.”

“That’s fair.” She could tell it wasn’t what he wanted to hear by the way he sat back against the orange plastic of the booth, dark brows lowering—but it was all she could give.

“It’s Charlie Kwon’s fault. If I do something about what he did to me—I might be able to move on.”

“Fuck Charlie Kwon and that old pedophile shit. This is you; this is me.” He leaned forward, intense, and lifted the hand she’d slipped the ring on. He nibbled her fingertip, drew it into his mouth. Tingles of feeling shot down her arm and headed south. She’d forget about Charlie, forget anything, if he kept that up. The waitress appeared, and Stevens let go of her hand and picked up the check.

“Let’s get home so you can start convincing me to get married,” Lei said, leaning forward to put her hand on his leg, working upward.

“On it,” he said, fumbling for his wallet.

They hurried home. Lei’s hair was sure to be a wreck again in the morning.

Chapter 6

The dark was blooming with dawn when Lei got up. She padded into the bathroom, washed up, brushed her teeth, and got into running clothes. Back in the bedroom, she looked over at Stevens, his body a dark outline against the white sheets. Her mind filled in the long, solid contours of his body, the warm hollows and ridges she’d come to know so well, fitting under his collarbone, tucked against his side like she’d been measured for the space.

She wanted to climb back into bed, spoon up against the long, elegant curve of his body into that spot that was hers. But inside her, an inner restlessness wound tight in her sternum, pounded along her veins, demanding freedom and movement.

It hurt to leave, even while that tension drove her.

Lei opened the simple koa box Stevens had given her to hold her few jewelry items. Coiled in the bottom like a handful of rose petals was the Ni`ihau shell necklace she’d been given on Kaua`i, her Tahitian pearl earrings, and an eighteen-inch gold snake chain with a cross that Aunty Rosario had given her for Christmas. She slipped the cross off of it and fumbled the diamond ring out of its box. She threaded it onto the chain, tucking it under her shirt as she headed for the door.

Keiki danced happily by the gate as Lei put on her running shoes. She slipped the choke chain over the big dog’s head, snapping the leash to get her back on task.

They set off down the deserted two-lane road, a few wild roosters crowing greetings from the tops of mango trees as mynahs began their morning gossip against the lightening sky. The steep, jungled green slopes of `Iao Valley rose around her, cradling her with the ancient intensity they’d always held, making the Valley one of Maui’s most sacred places. Keiki lunged and snorted.

“Okay, girl.”

They picked up their speed to full blast, running down the deserted two-lane road toward the back of the valley, and the relaxation she’d been looking for came to Lei at last. At the park at the end of the paved road, they turned back, jogging beside the stream.