by Dylan Keefer
***
“She’s my friend! Why can’t I see her?” Mano’s fists were balled up on the receptionist’s desk, and he saw her glare at them before looking back at him. He pursed his lips together and unclenched them with an apologetic look. “Right now, only family is allowed to see her. This is not just hospital orders, but police as well.” The police? Mano ran his fingers through his hair and backed away from the desk. He hated that Naia was going through something, and he couldn’t be there for her. Sure, he should have been used to it, but he wasn’t. Ever since they were young, they had been best friends. High school, college, and now they interned in the same company. It was unhealthy. He knew it just as much as everyone around him speculated. Though he denied having feelings for her, when she started dating Alex, his heart genuinely hurt. Mano didn’t just like Naia—he loved her. Mano decided that he would have to search the hallways. As long as he looked like he knew where he was going, there would be no issue. He had been on the way to the internship when he had gotten a text from Naia’s phone saying that she was in the hospital, but when he texted her back to figure out what had happened, he didn’t get a response. He tried texting Alex. Nothing. Two cops stood outside on of the patient rooms, and they eyed him as he walked by. I can’t see the name on the door. After walking around a few minutes, Mano came back. There were no other cops in the wing. Naia had to be in there. Mano pulled out his phone and texted her again. Come on, Naia. Answer. His phone buzzed after a few seconds. Mano. I’m okay. Cops won’t let anyone see me except family. Need your help though. Mano’s fingers typed the response quickly. Whatever you need! There were a few seconds pause. Then. Don’t tell anyone, but I need you to go to break into my car and get an envelope that is tucked into the glove compartment. Give it to a woman that works for HPD named Raine Michelson. She’ll know what to do from there. Mano frowned at the text. Mano stared at the words for several seconds before another text appeared. Erase these texts as soon as you read them. Mano quickly texted back. I’ll do it. Are you sure you’re okay? There was no response. Mano looked around the corner to the hallway where the police were standing. He shook his head and gripped his phone tight. Whatever was going on, Naia needed his help. He was going to do it.
Chapter Two
The boy that rushed by Micah consequently bumping into him apologized profusely before rushing off with his eyes on his phone screen. That’s what wrong with people these days. Everybody’s looking at their phones instead of where they’re going. The two cops standing in front of the door took a good look at his badge before letting Micah inside of the room. There were already several people inside. A woman sat on the side of the bed. A man stood next to the window. Two teen boys and a girl sat in various places in the room watching the TV. Micah eyed the girl in the hospital bed. He wanted to see her eyes. That always told him most of what he needed on the first encounter. "I'm Lieutenant Duscane with the military police here in Hawaii," he said speaking to everyone but looking at the patient. "You're Naia?" “Yes,” Naia said softly. Micah tried to give a reassuring smile. “It’s nice to meet you Naia.” “Why is my daughter being held here?” Her father stepped away from the window. The protective stance he took didn’t mask the fear that he had. “She’s been cleared by the hospital.” “Right. That’s why she’s being kept here,” Micah cleared his throat. “Um, Naia—do you mind if I talk to you alone?” “Why do you need to speak to her alone,” her mother asked worriedly. Her father grabbed his daughter’s hand. “Anything that you need to say, we can hear.” “It’s okay, Lieutenant,” Naia said. “I don’t mind them hearing this.” Micah nodded with a grim look on his face. “Let’s start with what you told emergency services when you were brought in,” he looked down at a tablet. “You said that you were walking to your car when you passed out.” “Right,” Naia said. “My boyf—fiancé and I were walking to his car just after our engagement dinner. He was going to drive me to pick up mine. I felt really dizzy suddenly, and then I passed out.” “And you were found in the driver’s seat of your fiancé’s car a couple of hours later about thirty miles from the restaurant,” Micah read. “EMT’s said that you were telling them something about him being missing.” “Right before I passed out,” Naia thought back, “I remember seeing someone dragging Alex off. I remember—screaming for him.” Micah chewed on his lip. Naia’s father frowned. “There’s something you aren’t telling us, Lieutenant. What is it?” “Naia, the police checked your fiancé’s car. There was blood in the truck. A lot of blood.” Tears sprang to Naia’s eyes as her mother squeezed her hand tightly. Naia cleared her throat. “They think it’s Alex’s?” “It’s a match from DNA records,” Micah said. “Plus, there were strands of hair and a small torn piece of fabric that was a match to the uniform he was wearing.” “You’re gonna catch the SOB who did this, right?” Naia’s mother asked. “You’re going to find Alex?” Micah's eyes never left Naia. "Naia, how do you think that you got in the driver's seat and at the location, you were in if you were passed out?" “Whoever dragged Alex off must have driven me there?” “What if I told you that the only fingerprints and DNA we found in the car were yours other than Alex’s in the trunk?” Naia’s eyes betrayed her. She knew that question was coming, Micah thought. She knows I’m here to ask about her. “I—don’t know—maybe the car was wiped down?” “And the tox screen came back negative for anything found in your system.” Naia’s father stepped closer to Micah. “I don’t like where you are leading this conversation,” he said. “It almost sounds like you’re accusing my daughter of something.” “No accusation being made,” Micah said. “We just want to find out what happened to Chief Petty Officer White. We have to explore all avenues.” "Well, if my daughter says tha…" "Dad, stop," Naia scolded. "He's doing his job." He closed his mouth but didn't stop glaring at Micah. Micah nodded his thanks to her. "I didn't do anything to my fiancé, Lieutenant Duscane. I promise," Naia said. "I'll do whatever you need to get him back." Micah stared into her eyes. He wanted to see a victim, but all he could see was a giant hole in the information that he needed to figure this all out.
***
Ailani threw open the door to the office. Raine looked unexcitedly at the room only furnished with a desk, chair, and somewhat decent-looking computer. She looked at Ailani and felt like he expected her to give some sort of reaction. She gave a weak smile, and he looked dejected. "Getting an office around here is like hoping that U of H is going to catch the football," he said. "I wanted to make sure that you had one.
“I know that you’re making sure that I’m comfortable here, Ailani, and I get it,” Raine said. “You and I both know what I want to hear, though, and you’ve been avoiding the subject since I got here.”
Ailani nodded. “You’re right. I guess I should just rip it off like a Band-Aid. Right now, Samuels is on the back burner.”
Raine’s eyes widened. “What! You mean you’ve stopped looking for him at all?”
Ailani put his palm on his head. “Not really. I’ve just had a hard time convincing my bosses to focus on one man when we have a ton of cases to go through, and we haven’t seen a trace of him in two months.”
“Ailani, this man kidnapped two girls, indirectly caused the death of a man, and,” Raine looked around and lowered her voice, “my fiancé.”
"Raine, I know what this means to you. I'm not saying give up. I'm saying that we're going to have to go with a bare-bones crew on this—outside of work." Ailani counted on his fingers. "Me, you, Tai, Micah…"
"Um—don't count on Micah," Raine mumbled. Ailani narrowed his eyes, and then understanding flashed across his face.
“I don’t want to know, do I?”
“Probably not,” she said. Raine leaned against the door to her office. “Fine, skeleton crew.”
“Excuse me.” Ailani and Raine turned to an officer who approached them with a confused look on his face.
B“What is it?”
“She’s got someone a
sking for her.” They both looked at each other.
“Me?” Raine pointed to her chest. “I’ve got someone looking for me?”
The officer nodded. “In the lobby.”
Ailani shrugged. “Well, looks like you’re already getting into things here,” he smiled. “Just don’t get into too much trouble. I think that the chief might want to speak with you in a bit so look out.”
“Look out for what?” Raine frowned. Ailani walked away with a quick wave. “Ailani? Don’t wa—ugh.”
The young man standing in the lobby was easy to spot. For one thing, he stood extremely still as if he knew that pacing back and forth would make him look suspicious. He had a nervous tick though. His arms, placed strategically across his lower abdomen clasping his hands together, were twitching involuntarily. That brought attention to the fact that he was wearing a jacket in blazing hot weather. It was a light jacket, but Raine couldn't believe that he was even a little bit chilly.
He turned his wide, brown eyes towards her when she approached. “You're Raine Michelson?”
“That's me. You should know that since you asked for me. Which makes me suspicious because no one knows I'm here that you would know.”
“I need your help,” he whispered. He looked around and licked his lips as if they were drier than the desert. “Can we talk—you know—away from here?” Raine narrowed her eyes at him. “What's under your jacket?” He glanced down quickly and brought his eyes up to see her glaring. “Listen, there's a coffee shop down the street to the left. You'll see it at the next intersection across the street. It has outdoor seating. I'll meet you there in five.” He nodded quickly and shuffled out of the precinct.
Raine walked back up to the office and over to Ailani's desk. Ailani was watching a new report on his tablet. "Hear about this, yet?" he said nodding to the screen. Raine looked over his shoulder. "This military guy was abducted right after his engagement dinner. His fiancé was found a couple of hours after the dinner in his car claiming that she passed out when he was taken, and she didn't know anything. They found the guy's blood all inside the trunk of the car."
Raine heard what Ailani was saying, but her focus was on the lead officer from the military police that was talking to reporters. Micah looked troubled—more than usual. It wasn't the case, and Raine didn't want to think that it was her.
“You with me, Michelson?”
Raine shook herself back to the present.
“Huh?” “I asked who it was that wanted you in the lobby.”
“Oh! Some kid. He's doing some sort of report on criminal psych for a class, I think. I told him I would give him a little bit of insight on the subject.”
***
Mano sat with his arms crossed over his midsection. It was nerve-wracking enough to have gone to Naia's car and broken the window. He hurriedly opened the door and grabbed the envelope before rushing back to his car and peeling out of the parking lot. Even still, he felt like someone had seen him. It had taken all the willpower that he had not to open it, and now, he was wondering if he should have. Not that he believed Naia would be involved in something illegal, but whatever was in the envelope, she didn't want anyone to know about it. Now, they were saying on the news that Alex was missing, and there was evidence against Naia. "You should take the jacket off," he heard the woman say. She startled him, and he almost fell out of his chair. She shook her head. "You gonna get something to drink?" Mano shook his head quickly. "No. I mean—I don't know." "Listen," Raine sat down across from him at the table. "You're making me very nervous, and I'm not good nervous. So, how about you tell me what's going on." "Right. Right." Mano took a deep breath. "My name is Mano Pailo. My friend is in desperate need of your help. At least, I think that's why she sent me to you." "Do I know your friend?" "You may know her now. Her name is Naia Maikai." Raine remembered the name. "She's the one whose fiancé is missing. That's a military police investigation. It has nothing to do with me." Mano unzipped his jacket and pulled out the tanned envelope. "She told me to get this to you. I haven't looked at it, but maybe you'll know what it is." Raine grabbed the envelope. It wasn't bulky. Whatever was in it was paper of some sort. Raine pulled out the contents and immediately felt her heart stop. What the hell is this? She felt her throat constrict as she stared at the images of—her. There were photos of her at her home on the mainland, at work, out to dinner, in the airport, on cases—everywhere. Raine looked up at Mano. “Mano, where did she get these.” “I don't know. I didn't know she knew you.”
“I don't know her,” Raine slammed the photo's down on the table. She swallowed back the panic in her gut. “What does Naia do?” “Um—she--we intern together for a company called Wave. It's a social media news platform that just started up a year ago. It's big now, but she works in the investigative stories area. People like good conspiracies and dirt to follow. I work in political news.” Raine ran her fingers through her hair. “You don't know what she was working on recently?”
“No,” Mano confessed. “I know that she seemed a little frazzled lately, but I thought that—well.”
"What?" "She's been a little obsessed with that kidnapping that happened a couple of months ago," he said. "But she never did anything on that. She said that it gave her leads to something else. Something big."
Raine tapped her fingers on the pictures. She needed to see this girl, but if she was under suspicion, then there was no way that Raine was going to be able to get with her. She definitely didn't want to bring Micah into this either. Raine picked up the envelope again. There was something else in there—a page. "E.S. Love Killer. R.M. is the key to it all." Raine read. She held up the paper. "Is this her handwriting?"
“Yeah,” Mano said. “Does that mean anything?”
E.S. Assuming they were initials, then Naia was definitely someone she needed to talk to. Raine looked at Mano. “Mano, you're going to be my new best friend. Okay?”
Chapter Three
The desk chair was so comfortable. In fact, the reason that Micah switched it out for the piece of crap plastic one was because the department had everyone sitting on them for days like today. Tai sat in his wider version and chewed on a bite of a snickers that he had been saving in his drawer along with all the other candy he had amassed.
"You're gonna attract ants," Micah said nodded to the drawer.
"I'm not. Da wife don't let candy in da house, and Malanie don't eat it eider." He chomped on another piece. "By da way, wat you know bout dis vegan diet?"
Micah raised an eyebrow. "No dairy, no animal products. Ever."
Tai's eyes grew wide. "Hell no! Why Lao tink I gonna do dat. Woman lost her mind!"
"Well, did you find anything from Alex's family today?" Tai shrugged. "Parents said he been deployed fo eight monts. Only got back, two monts ago. Spent most a dat time wit Naia. Dey live togeda. Said he been plannin da engagement since he got back."
“What were their feelings about her?” “Dey didn't like her at first,” Tai said. “She's a pardy gurl. At least, she was in college. Dey started dating wen she was a junior. She's neva been in trouble, but she was wild. He's a boy scout compared to her.”
Tai tossed Micah a folder. Micah whistled. He was top of his class from grade school all the way through college, and in the military. He literally was a boy scout. His parents retired down in Hawaii when he decided to go to school down here. He was an only child.
“Well, opposites attract I guess,” Micah said.
"And he was rubbin off on her dey said." Tai tossed the empty candy bar wrapper in the trash can. "His parents said before he was deployed, dey didn't speak to Naia much. While he was deployed, Naia started to visit dem all da time. Took dem out. Became a daughter to dem. Dey love her."
“Well, that doesn't give me much to go on. Naia isn't talking, and I know she's hiding something. She was released to go home, but I'm going to go back and talk to her tomorrow once I've gotten the chance to really look over things. The lab came back and confirme
d that it was only Alex's blood, but we did find some of Naia's DNA in the trunk, too.”
“She coulda been in da trunk, too.”
“Nah, they didn't find any blood on her,” Micah said. “She would have had some on her if she had been in the trunk with him. She's got fingerprints on the wheel, DNA in the trunk, and no trace of drugs in her system. It doesn't look good.” “Motive is da only ting missing.”
Tai was right. They needed a motive. He pointed to Tai. “Let's find a motive. I want you to see if you can find out who was at the engagement party and start questioning them about the couple. Someone has got to have a lead on why this happened on this night specifically.” “Where are you going den?” Tai asked as Micah stood up. “I'm going to find out more about Alex from the other people who know him the best,” he said. “The ones he was deployed with. Then I'm going to find the people that know Naia the best.” “You tink her family gonna tell you any mo?” Micah smiled. “Not talking about her family. I want to know what changed for Naia while Alex was deployed. Something isn't adding up.”
***
Naia looked at Raine with some intimidation in her eyes as she waited for the room to empty. Raine glanced around the pink walls and stuffed animals that littered the floor beside the bed.
"Haven't been home in a while, have you?" Raine surmised. Naia shrugged. She walked over to a dresser and grabbed a small tube of chapstick. She moistened her lips.
"I'm twenty-two, home is just a place to eat and vent sometimes," she said. "You got the envelope, I'm assuming."