“Sure,
whatever it takes.”
He
got up and left the room, then came back a few minutes later.
“By
the way, did you enjoy your little helicopter ride, Ms. Moon?” he said, handing
me my phone.
“How
did you—”
“Ms.
Moon, it seems you fail to remember even the most rudimentary information I
pass along to you. Not long ago I told you it’s my business to know who’s on
this island and what they’re up to. Well, that includes locals—like you.”
“You
have no right—” I stammered.
“You’re
free to go now,” he interrupted. “I suggest you call your friend, Mr. Winston,
at your earliest convenience. When he left here he seemed rather concerned
about your welfare.”
When
I got outside I was surprised to find Ono still in the parking lot, sitting in
his bus. I walked over and he rolled down the window.
“That
was quick,” he said.
“Yeah,
I gave him a statement, but mostly I let the pictures do the talking. He even
downloaded them onto his computer. Looks like there’s no way he can weasel out
of this now.”
“Pali?”
he said.
Our
eyes met. I could tell we were both thinking the same thing. I yanked my cell
phone out of my pocket and punched buttons until I got to the pictures
screen.
CHAPTER 29
Of
course the pictures weren’t there. The most recent photos on my phone were
shots I’d taken of Steve in his Halloween costume. He was going to a classic
movie party and he’d dressed up as
Citizen Kane
. He’d bulked up his
middle by wrapping a towel under a 1940’s-style shirt and he’d found a
great-looking fedora and a little fake mustache. I thought he looked great, but
people at the party mistook him for the ruthless banker in
It’s a Wonderful
Life
.
“We
need to go back to the valley,” I said to Ono. “Before they—”
“Hop
in.”
By
the time we reached the park they’d pulled the gate shut across the parking lot
entrance. We parked along the road and hiked up to the park. A park ranger was
stationed at the trail leading in.
“Sorry,
the park’s closed for the rest of the day,” he said as we approached.
“Why?”
said Ono.
“We
got a problem up at the ‘Iao Needle. Seems some big dude leaned too hard on the
guard rail and it gave way. Gotta get it re-welded.”
“How
long will that take?” I asked.
“Who
knows? You know how it goes. Could take an hour, could take a week,” he smiled
and shot us a
shaka
sign.
“We’re
not going anywhere near the needle,” Ono said. “We left something on one of the
upper trails. It’s kind of valuable and we need to get it.”
“Sorry,
brudda
, no can do. This whole place
kapu
until we get a green
light from the big boss.”
I
couldn’t be sure, but his voice sounded a lot like one of the two guys we’d
heard when we were hiding in the bushes up on the trail.
The
walkie-talkie on his belt squawked, and he put it up to his ear. He said some
stuff like,
ten-four
and
roger that
and then he turned back to
us. “I’m real sorry guys, but you gotta go now. We’re getting ready to do a
sweep of the park, make sure everybody’s out.”
On
the walk back to Ono’s bus my cell phone chimed. I checked the caller ID—it was
Bessie Yokamura. As much as I wanted to hear her whine and wheedle her way back
into my good graces, I let it go to voicemail.
“Now
what should we do?” I said to Ono.
“It’s
your party, you tell me.”
“I
need some time to think. Would you mind taking me back to my car at the police
station?”
“No
worries. I’ve done some of my best thinking in this bus. Maybe it’ll work for
you too.”
By
the time we got to the police station neither of us had come up with any brilliant
ideas for recovering the evidence of Crystal’s murder. Seeing the cop cars
parked out front brought up ugly feelings of betrayal.
“How
can that man live with himself?” I said.
“I
gotta say, I’ve run into some questionable cops in my day, but this guy
wins—hands down.”
“It’s
mind-boggling to think Wong’s in on this,” I said, looking at the front door of
the police station. “I mean, we’re talking
murder
.”
“Yeah,
but we’re also talking drugs. There’s a boatload of money in drugs. On both
sides. The government spends
billions
of tax dollars fighting the
so-called drug war. And meanwhile, the drug traffickers are raking in a hundred
times that selling their crap to willing buyers.”
I
leaned over and gave Ono a kiss on the cheek before opening my door. “
Mahalo
,
for everything. I’ll call you.”
He
frowned. “What? We spend the whole day chasing bad guys and now you’re just
gonna kick me to the curb? How about we grab some dinner tonight—maybe take
your mind off what we saw today.”
“My
mind will never be far from what we saw until Crystal Wilson gets justice. I’m
sorry, but I’m not exactly in the mood to go out.”
“But
you’ve still gotta eat. How about I bring some take-out over to your place?”
“You
know, that’d be great.”
I
gave him directions to my house and then hopped down and went to my car. I
drove up up to Pa’ia and parked in front of Farrah’s store. I hadn’t heard from
her, so Beni probably still hadn’t surfaced, but I wanted to clue her in on
what we’d found up in the valley and what Wong had done when we reported it.
***
“What?”
Farrah shrieked. “I can’t believe this. You found that poor girl’s body and the
cops are in on getting her killed?”
“Looks
like it,” I said. “We’ve got to find Beni. He’s a witness so he’s our only hope.
Tomorrow I’ll contact Honolulu—the attorney general’s office or state police or
somebody over there—and see what they say. But I’ll need Beni to confirm my
story.”
“I’ve
put the word out all day here at the store. So far, nothing.”
“Oh,
guess who called me?”
“Hatch?”
she said.
“Hardly.
I think my Hatch days are over. I can’t even imagine what he’ll say when he
hears how I spent my Sunday.”
“You
mean about you and Ono?”
“Take
your pick—me and Ono, me finding Beni a safe haven, or me tromping through the
woods looking for a dead girl murdered by drug scum. Any one of those things
could be a deal breaker. Taken all together—well, it was nice knowing him.”
“So,
who called you?” Farrah said.
Just
then my phone rang.
“Well,
speak of the devil,” I said looking at the caller ID. “It’s Bessie Yokamura.
Mind if I take this?”
Farrah
grinned. “Go ahead. You deserve a laugh after what you’ve been through.”
“Hey
Pali,” Bessie said in a cheery voice. “How’s it going, girlfriend?”
“Not
that great, Bessie. I’m still doing that hour-long commute to Lahaina every
day. You know, what with gas prices and all, it’s getting tough.”
“Well
then, I’m gonna make your day,
sista
. I’ve decided to reconsider the
lease on your old shop space in our Pa’ia building. I got to thinking—weddings
are very important to our native culture. Hawaiians have always respected
lineage through marriage as an integral part of the warp and woof in the weave
of our social fabric.”
“I
don’t know, Bessie. As much as I hate that commute, I know how much you want
your tourist office. By the way, how’s that coming along?”
“Oh,
it’s going good—great, actually. Lots of interest. In fact, looks I’m going to
need an even larger place in town. I’m calling you because I want to give you
first dibs on your old space—before I put the word out to the many other
interested parties who’ve contacted me.”
“Hmm,
I don’t know. Even though it’s a long drive, I’m getting really good rent down
in Lahaina. It’s a sublet, you know.”
“How
much are you paying?”
“Well,
to tell you the truth, hardly anything. But that’s not the big issue, of
course.”
“What’s
more important than the rent price?”
“Oh,
I don’t know. Maybe working above a fish restaurant is preferable to working
above sacred ancestor bones.”
After
a beat the line went dead.
“She
hung up on me,” I said to Farrah.
“Huh,
imagine that. You serious about staying down in Lahaina?”
“No
way. But she’s gotta know everyone in town’s heard about that
heiau
being under here.” We both looked down as if we could look right through the
floorboards and see the pile of stones and bones. “It’s gonna be impossible to
rent that space to anyone from Pa’ia.”
“Or
pretty much anyone on the island,” Farrah said. She picked a copy of the Sunday
Edition of
The Maui News
from the stack on the counter. The headline
read, ‘Ancient Human Bones Uncovered in Pa’ia.’
“Wow,
I wonder who tipped them off,” I said.
“Yeah,”
said Farrah. “I wonder.”
“Can
I see it?”
“The
heiau
? Sure.”
She
pulled a key from a nail under the counter and grabbed a flashlight hanging by
the back door. “Follow me. I’m getting to be a pretty good tour guide.”
She
unlocked the door to my old shop and as I went in my heart squeezed in my
chest. I loved the place. It didn’t smell like it had when I’d worked there.
The fire and the water from the fire fight had pretty much ruined all the
floors and walls. Everything had been stripped down and replaced with new. But
the windows were where they should be, and the mahogany door out to Baldwin
Street was still there. How many times had I sat at my desk, staring out those
windows trying to come up with the perfect attendant’s gifts or puzzling over a
complicated seating chart for a rehearsal dinner?
Farrah
stood quietly by while I wallowed in my reverie. I looked over at her and she
lifted an eyebrow.
“Yeah,
I’m okay,” I said. “Where are the
iwi
?”
She
crossed the room and dragged aside a three by five piece of plywood that
covered a large hole in the floor.
“Down
here.” She flicked on the flashlight and shined it down into the crawlspace.
It
took my eyes a minute to focus. Then I saw it: a pile of lava stones—maybe
twenty or thirty—with a half-dozen bleached bones at the base.
“There
you have it,” she said. “I told Bessie to get a
kahuna
to come over and
check it out but she refused. Said it would just make things worse—you know,
people talking and all.”
“Lucky
for you,” I said.
She
shot me a quizzical look.
“Farrah.”
“Yeah,
Pali?”
“Anything
you want to tell me?”
“I
miss you being here.”
“Yeah,
and I miss you. So, what kind of bones are those?”
“
Pua’a
—pig.
From that luau down on Ka’anapali Beach. I asked your sifu’s brother who works
there to save me some and he did.”
“You
were able to fool the historical society with a stack of volcano rocks and some
pig bones?”
“Pretty
pathetic, huh?” she said.
“No,
pretty damn smart.” I gave her a hug. “I probably should go.”
“It
kind of creeps me out that Beni just vanished,” she said as she moved the
plywood back into position. “You don’t think he’s gonna end up like Crystal, do
you? I mean, he’s a weird little dude, but he’s Doug Kanekoa’s cousin.”
“When
I get home I’ll call Sifu Doug and tell him to get in touch with James. No way
James should be talking to the cops after what happened today. Hopefully I’ll
be able to convince someone in Honolulu to come over here. Until then, James
needs to think of a way to protect his client.”
“Assuming
his client ever shows up again.”
I
went out the front door and Farrah locked up behind me. I noticed a plain white
Ford Fairlane parked across the street. There were two guys inside. I trotted
over to see if either of them was Wong, but as soon as I approached, they took
off.
I
got in my car and headed for home. Even though I was still smiling from seeing
Farrah’s artful
heiau
hoax, inside I felt like I’d swallowed a sack of
cement. I was knock-down tired. I’d been only five when my Auntie Mana told me
my mother had died. At first I didn’t believe her. For a week I did all kinds
of superstitious things: I told myself if I ate all my dinner in less than ten
minutes then mama would come back; or if I was nice to my little brother and
gave him a long piggy-back ride in the back yard, mama would come to the window
and smile at me.
It
didn’t work back then, and nothing I did now would erase the overwhelming sense
of loss I felt at seeing Crystal’s body. A beautiful young woman had been
brutally executed by thugs who were still at large. My hometown police were hell
bent on covering it up. And the only witness to the crime was in the wind—or
worse. I choked up and my eyes started leaking as I drove home.