“Hey,”
Farrah said, “must be my lucky day—seeing you two days in a row.”
“I
was down at the PoP. Thought I’d drop by before going home.”
“And…?”
She cocked her head.
“And,
I’m kind of at loose ends.”
“Still
worried about your girl?”
“More
than ever.”
I
told her about my breakfast meeting with Ono and Beni’s recent recollection of
having gone to the kidnapping site.
“Do
you believe him?” she said.
“Yes
and no.”
“Meaning…”
“Meaning
it seems like he knows a heckuva lot more than he’s telling me. But I can’t
push him too hard. He’s drying out from a drug binge and he’s paranoid.”
“What
about?”
“He
doesn’t think he’s safe up at my place,” I said. “And truthfully, I won’t be
sorry to see him leave. But I haven’t a clue where to stash him until his
lawyer can work out a deal with the police.”
“Why
don’t you bring him down here?” By now she’d moved from dusting stock to
standing behind the sales counter. She opened the cash drawer and took out a
fistful of coins and started stacking them into coin wrappers.
“Farrah,
the whole town comes through here. According to him, he’s got a target on his
back and probably a price on his head. Half an hour after someone sees him
here, one of your customers will blab to his sister, who’ll turn around and
tell her neighbor. Then the neighbor will call his cousin who’s either a cop or
a drug dealer. Whichever way it goes down, it’s not a happy outcome for Beni.”
“I
wouldn’t have him stay down here in the store. I’d put him in my
apartment—upstairs. Nobody but you knows I’m up there. He’d be totally off the
radar.”
I
hesitated. The last thing I wanted was to drag my best friend into what was
quickly becoming a complicated—and risky—mess.
“Besides,”
she went on, “you said yourself you don’t think he’s being straight with you.
I’ve got ways to make him talk.”
Unlike
me, Farrah doesn’t rely on physical strength to subdue her opponents. With her
it’s strictly mental. She’s skilled at using paranormal, psychological, and her
self-described ‘womanly wiles’ to get people to do what she wants. And once
she’s made up her mind about something—game over.
“Okay,
I’ll bring him down. You really think you can get him to tell all?”
She
pulled a ten-dollar bill from the till. “I got a handsome dead president here
who says I can.”
“I’m
not betting with you. I can’t afford to lose—again.”
“Okay,
no money—just bragging rights. Give me an hour or so, then bring him down—after
one-thirty. It doesn’t look like I’m gonna have much of a lunch rush today, but
just in case, let’s hold off until I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to get our
pal Beni settled in.”
***
When
I told Beni the news he scowled. “I know her. She’s that hippie chick who runs
the Pa’ia store. That place charges like double what you’d pay for a pack of
smokes at WalMart.”
“Doesn’t
matter. She won’t let you smoke there anyway.”
“I’m
not going.”
“Your
choice. But if you stay here I’m calling Detective Wong at the Police
Department and tell him how you and your buddy Slam kidnapped Crystal Wilson
and took her up to ‘Iao Valley. He’s got the ransom note so he’ll be eager to
see who wrote it.”
“I
told you—I didn’t kidnap her. I just planted the hair and stuff.”
“Doesn’t
matter. What you did is called being an ‘accessory to a crime.’ And guess what?
It carries the same punishment as the crime. And the crime we’re talking about
here—kidnapping with intent to extort a ransom—is a Class A felony. Conviction
means twenty years hard time.”
He
sneered as if I’d just told him a really old, really lame, joke.
I
went on. “And, thanks to you, now I’m in the same boat. Since I’m harboring a
fugitive involved in a major felony, I could be accused of obstruction of
justice. They can go for hard time on that one too, but if I give you up to the
cops, I’ll probably walk.”
“I
told you to
get
me a lawyer, not
talk
like one.”
“Okay,
I already did that. I asked Sifu Doug to call your cousin, James, and see if
he’s willing to help.”
Beni
shook his head. “That dude’s weak, man. I been to court with him like a million
times and every single time I end up in jail. He’s so lame he couldn’t keep his
own self out of jail if the judge was his mama.”
“Beni,
you’re a convicted drug dealer. I don’t think Gloria Allred’s gonna be flying
in anytime soon to defend your bony ass.”
“Who?”
“Listen,
Farrah’s offered to hide you in her apartment until you and James can work
something out with the police. Take it or leave it.”
“It
true she won’t let me smoke at her place? Not even regular cigarettes?”
“We
leave in about an hour. I suggest you use the time to take a shower.”
***
Farrah
greeted Beni with a warm hug, which was pretty darn big of her since Beni
hadn’t used his time to take a shower but instead had paced the backyard
sucking down cigarettes as fast as he could light them. My car, my hair, my
entire
body
reeked of burned tobacco—but it was nothing compared to the
cloud of funk coming off Beni.
“
Ho’okipa
to my home,
Peni’amina
,” Farrah said as she stepped back to survey the
skinny, disheveled man standing before her.
“Huh?”
said Beni.
“
Ho’okipa
means welcome.”
“I
know that,” he snarled. “What’s that other thing you said?”
“
Peni’amina
?
That’s your name—Benjamin—in Hawaiian. I looked it up.”
“The
name’s Beni. Just Beni. Nobody—not even my dead
tutu
—ever called me
Benjamin.”
Farrah
locked eyes on mine. Her face revealed she was none too pleased with her new
guest. She looked as if she’d been promised winsome George Clooney and
“winning” Charlie Sheen had shown up instead.
I
glanced around the tiny apartment. “Well, I’ll let you two work out the
sleeping arrangements. I need to get back down to Palace of Pain and pick up
James. He doesn’t want anyone to see him coming or going. Doesn’t want to tip
off anyone looking for Beni.”
“Ha!
What he don’t want,” Beni said, “is to get the window in his fancy Mercedes
busted out, like last time. The guy’s
hupo
—stupid. He got no street
smarts. When I get a chance I’m gonna find me a better lawyer—an
akamai
one with enough brains to bribe the judge. I’m sicka doin’ time ‘cuz that
dude’s a Twinkie.”
“Twinkie?”
said Farrah.
“Yeah,
you know, like brown on the outside but white and squishy on the inside.”
I
hurried down the stairs. The faster a deal could be worked out with the police,
the faster Beni’d be gone and my best friend could get someone to fumigate her
apartment.
***
The
blinds were drawn in Sifu Doug’s office. I heard James and Doug talking in low
tones but they stopped as soon as I rapped on the office door.
“Who
goes there?” said Sifu Doug in his Army Ranger voice.
“It’s
me—Pali.”
“Enter.”
I’d
seen James before, under both social and professional circumstances, but he
looked different this time. His face looked pale and pinched; his eyes merely
slits. He was perched on the edge of a folding chair, wearing a black and tan
aloha shirt and khaki pants. A beige sport coat was draped over the back of his
chair. He stood when I entered.
“James,”
I said, extending my hand.
“Hey
Pali.” He gave me a half-hearted handshake.
“C’mon,
brudda
,” Doug said, sounding as if he was picking up their conversation
from where they’d left off. “He’s family. And it’s not like it’s you who’s
going to jail.”
“Dealing
with him is worse than jail. Beni serves his time and it’s over. For me, it’s a
never-ending string of insults and snide remarks. He’s trashed my reputation.
Even the judges take shots at me ‘cuz I sound like a fool trying to defend
him.”
“I
got that, but you know Mom would freak out if you refused. No way she’s gonna
allow her sister’s baby boy to use a public defender when we’ve got a lawyer in
the family.”
James
turned to me. “He’s up at your place?”
“No,
he moved. He didn’t think it was safe at my house, so I found him new digs.”
“You
gonna tell me what’s going on here?” said Sifu Doug.
“It’s
best if you don’t know any more than you do,” said James.
James
and I went outside and he pulled a briefcase from the trunk of his midnight
blue Mercedes sedan.
“Gorgeous
car,” I said.
“Yeah,
well, there’s the good news and the bad news with this ride. Everybody sees it
and thinks I’m doing great. But the truth is, I’m working fifty to sixty hours
a week to keep up the payments. And all this
pro bono
crap with Beni
sure doesn’t help.”
We
went over to my sad-looking car and James got in without comment. I pulled out
of the alley and headed up Baldwin Avenue.
“The
state doesn’t pay you to defend guys like Beni?”
“I’d
get a small fee if the case was assigned to me by the court. But when you do it
on your own—like this, with my family putting the screws to me—then it’s
totally on my dime. I’ve even got to foot the bill for expenses.”
“Well,
I’m sure Beni appreciates it.”
He
laughed. “Hardly. He’s the worst client possible. I bust my butt getting
through law school and passing the bar exam and I’m rewarded with a
blood-sucking dipshit of a cousin as my number one client. He’s never paid me a
dime—or even given me so much as a
mahalo
for my effort.”
I
pulled into the alley behind Farrah’s store and parked.
“He’s
here? At the Pa’ia Store?” said James. “Not a very smart hiding place.”
“He’s
upstairs.”
“I
didn’t know there was an upstairs.”
“Exactly.”
I
checked to make sure there was no one in the alley before we got out. We went
up the back stairs and I used my special knock to let Farrah know it was me.
When she opened up, she looked liked she’d been sucking on a lemon and a seed
had gotten stuck in her throat.
“Way
glad to see you,” she said.
“Where’s
Beni?” said James, looking around the cramped living room.
“He’s
barricaded himself in my bathroom. I even had to go downstairs to pee.” She
pointed toward her bedroom. “It’s through there.”
James
went into the bedroom and a few seconds later I heard him tapping on the
bathroom door announcing his arrival.
“How’re
you doing?” I said to Farrah.
“You
should’ve warned me.”
“I
tried. But he’ll only be here a day or two at the most. I’ve alerted James that
time is of the essence if we hope to find Crystal in decent shape. After ten
days the poor girl’s probably wondering if anyone’s even looking for
her.”
Farrah
shot me a look.
“What?”
I said.
“Pali,
you’re a good person. But these people aren’t. Don’t get your hopes up.”
“Sheesh,
what’s with everybody? First Sifu Doug goes all gloom and doom on me and now
you? We need to get moving, but since we know where she is, we should be
able to find her pretty fast.”
“From
your lips to God’s ear,” she said. “But, as you said before, chances are Beni
hasn’t told us everything.”
CHAPTER 23
That
night, as Steve and I were eating dinner, the phone rang. He got up and checked
the caller ID. “It’s Farrah,” he said, handing me the receiver.
“Hi,”
I said. “What’s up?”
“Can
you come down here?”
“I’m
in the middle of dinner. How ‘bout giving me half an hour?”
“Pali,
I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. Please, get down here as soon as you
can.”
“What’s
going on? Are you okay?”
“Just
get down here.” She hung up.
As
I headed for the back door I asked Steve to stick my plate in the oven. “I’ll
be back in a little while to finish it.”
“Everything
okay?” he said.
“Apparently
not.”
The
trip down Baldwin Avenue seemed to take forever. What had Beni done now? The
guy was smelly, rude, and infuriating, but Farrah had infinite patience. I was
speeding ten miles over the limit and yet it felt like my wheels were slogging
through mud.
Farrah
opened her apartment door. “Come in.”