by J. E. Trent
Jessica gritted her teeth, “I knew it, my gut told me it wasn’t an accident.”
Jack nodded. “Let’s keep this to ourselves for now. The NTSB report won’t come out for months. We might as well use that to our advantage and figure out who did this before they’re even aware we’re looking for them.”
“Agreed,” Jessica said, with clenched fists.
Uncle Jack and Jessica had both started out in law enforcement in Kona. They knew there was a fine line separating a few of the cops and the criminals on the island. Some Kona families had their fair share of both—including the Murphy ohana.
Uncle Jack had finished rinsing the salt water off of the exterior of the boat and started to wipe it down as he talked. “I’m doing a contract job for Homeland Security right now because of my extensive contacts in Hong Kong. The Triads operating in California never worried the feds too much, but them gaining a foothold in Hawaii is a different story. They are serious gangsters with ties to the Chinese government. What’s interesting about this is that these guys have never operated in Hawaii—until now. There’s more to it, but I can’t talk about anymore details because it’s classified. But what I can tell you, is it’s related to the Chinese government.” Uncle Jacked threw a towel to Jessica, so she could help wipe down the boat while they talked, and then continued.
“I can’t go any anywhere near Mr. Lau. My boss says he’s off-limits. I’m not sure why, but I have my suspicions. So you’ll have to see if you can interview him. I’ll work the back channels and do what I can to help, but you’ll be the lead dog on this Jessica,” Uncle Jack said.
The sound of a car horn interrupted the conversation, and they both turned toward the parking lot and as Jasmine leaned out the window of her old Tercel. “Eh! I got places to go,” she yelled and flashed a smile.
Jessica held up her index finger and turned back to Jack. “Okay, Uncle, I get ‘um,” Jessica said with a pidgin tone that meant business.
Jessica and Jasmine threw Uncle Jack a shaka, as they left the harbor and headed back to Aloha Village. Jasmine had a hot date with a guy she planned to meet at the Ming’s bar. And Jessica had a hot date with the bathtub at her dad’s place. An hour’s worth of soaking in the tub to think about what Uncle Jack had said, was next on her agenda.
15
Breakfast
The following day at the Marlin House, Sam arrived half an hour early to claim his table. Like most people, he was a creature of habit and liked to have a morning ritual. The rest of the day, he could wing it. But mornings were sacred to him, and he wanted things just so.
Jessica liked the table at the Marlin House where Sam always sat because it had one of the best views of the bay. But she wouldn’t do what he had done the last time. No, she’d pick a different table to sit at and get to work, to think only about the next step in the investigation. A seaside romance was the last thing she wanted while she investigated her father’s death, but every time she saw Sam her armor weakened a little more.
When she arrived for breakfast at the Marlin House, she saw Sam sat at the table she’d hoped to get. She wanted to ignore him and headed to the opposite side of the restaurant, but she stopped and went back to his table so she could thank him for the ride to California and the car service.
Sam reiterated that if there was anything he could do to help find out what had happened to Mike, he was more than willing, all Jessica had to do was ask. She thanked him for his offer but politely conveyed that she doubted there was anything he could do to help. She was the homicide cop. He was the rich guy. What could he bring to the table?
***
Sam had finished his breakfast and sipped coffee as he stared at the ocean from his table when his cell phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen and saw it was Melissa. He picked up the phone and said, “Good morning, Melissa.”
“I got you an appointment to meet Governor Fitch on Thursday at 9 a.m. and you won’t even have to go to Honolulu. He’ll be in Kona to play golf at the Ming that day. He said he could meet you there at the clubhouse for a few minutes before his tee time.”
Governor Fitch’s willingness to meet so soon didn’t surprise Sam. Hawaii was the “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” state. The governor knew Sam wanted something, and he also knew Sam could contribute considerably to his reelection campaign if the governor could give him what he wanted. That was one thing about being a billionaire; people always took your phone calls.
Before Sam left the Marlin House, he walked over to Jessica’s table. “I’m meeting with the governor on Thursday, at the Ming, if you’d like to tag along. He might be of some help with your father’s accident investigation.”
Jessica had a mouth full of loco moco and couldn’t talk, but she nodded just before Sam turned and walked away, just as fast as he had approached the table.
She didn’t have any desire to meet the governor, but she wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to go next door and chat with Mr. Lau. That night she called Sam to confirm that she would like to go with him to the Ming on Thursday.
16
Governor
Sam picked up Jessica Thursday morning at 8:30 and they shared a golf cart ride over to the Ming next door. They hadn’t crossed paths the last couple of days because Sam had been out with Pua, and had looked at properties to buy. He liked staying at Aloha Village, but it wasn’t a long-term solution. If he moved to Kona, he would buy a place.
“Pua showed me a ninety-acre coffee farm yesterday that I liked a lot. It even comes with two dogs.” Sam said, with a grin.
“It comes with dogs?” she questioned, surprised at what he said.
“Yeah, the owners haven’t been home in six years, and they want to leave the dogs with the only place they’ve known as home. The dogs think the caretakers are their masters, anyway, since the owners haven’t been back. No need to rock the boat, I guess, if I buy the place. Besides, I like dogs. Speaking of boats, I’m thinking about starting an inter-island ferry,”
“You know you’d have a better chance of going to Mars first, right?”
Sam turned his head from the golf cart path and looked at her for a moment, with a gleam in his eye. “Yeah, I know. I like a challenge, what can I say?”
She was starting to see why Sam was so wealthy. He had big ideas, and he went after what he wanted. She didn’t want to discourage him, but she thought she should at least warn him that getting a ferry going in Hawaii would be a lengthy battle.
“I think the ferry is a wonderful idea. But you’ll have a fight on your hands with the people on Maui and Kauai. Hire a lot of lawyers. You’ll need them.”
It rolled right off Sam’s back, he threw his head back and laughed. “Somehow I don’t doubt it for a minute.”
* * *
Governor Fitch was a short, heavyset man with a beard, a bad toupee and an agenda. He was at the Ming to play golf with Mr. Lau and discuss when the gambling law in Hawaii would change. Fitch wanted to legalize gambling, and he also wanted to get re-elected. Lau had put close to a million dollars into his reelection campaign through various phony shell companies so they could both achieve their goals. And the way Lau saw it, he owned the governor, and he wanted the gambling law changed sooner than later.
Sam and Jessica arrived at the Ming’s Hibiscus Room at 9 a.m. to meet with Fitch. Lau hadn’t planned to stick around—that was, until he saw Jessica was with Sam, then he made it a point to stay.
Governor Fitch and Sam stepped off to the side of the room to keep their meeting private. Lau took the opportunity and asked Jessica if he could show her around while the two men talked. She agreed, and they stepped into the room next door, where there was a mockup of a proposed extension to the Ming. It showed the Ming as one big resort, with the grounds of the model extended to include Aloha Village.
After she’d looked at the model for a minute, and noticed a proposed golf course where her father’s bungalow sat, Jessica had to fight to keep her composure. She shoved her fee
lings aside and listened to Lau talk about his plan for the Ming. With no emotion on her face, she looked him squarely in the eyes and remarked, “I notice your model encompasses our resort.”
Lau smiled. “This would be the plan, if we could come to an agreeable price for Aloha Village at a later date. I don’t expect you to make any major decisions about Aloha Village, right now, so soon after your father’s passing,” he said solemnly.
Sure, you don’t, she thought with a half smile on her face. She returned to the Hibiscus Room to see if Sam’s meeting with the governor was over.
Fitch and Sam had just finished up. They shook hands, and Sam said, “Thank you so much for your help today.”
The governor smiled. “It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Stewart.”
Sam and Jessica headed back to Aloha Village in their golf cart. She was silent as Sam drove through the lush grounds of the Ming that lined the path back to Aloha Village. She held a plumeria flower to her nose that she had picked up before she’d gotten in the cart. It contrasted the anger felt that radiated through her body.
Since the governor was on board with Sam’s plan to start a ferry, Sam was all smiles. Except for the fact that it would require a significant campaign contribution to the governor’s reelection fund. Sam hated to pay politicians to get them to do their jobs, but he looked at it as a necessary evil of doing business.
“So what did you and Mr. Lau do in the room next door?” Sam asked.
“He told me about his plans to destroy everything my father ever worked for. Other than that–it was a great time.”
Sam noted her clenched jaw and didn’t say anything else.
As a homicide detective, nothing bothered her at work except dead kids. But this was different. This was her family, and she had a hard time suppressing her feelings. Her father had fought the mainland developers for years to keep Kona from becoming like Honolulu. She understood her father’s love of Aloha Village and the people who came to work and play there. And for some Chinese gangster to come in and build a golf course on top of what her father held sacred, the thought of that was unbearable for her.
After a period of silence, Jessica asked Sam,
“Why do you want to start a ferry system? Wouldn’t a cruise line or something else be more profitable with a lot less headache?”
It didn’t take him more than a second to respond, “After the first billion, making money gets boring, and you look for ways to help your fellow man instead. Well, at least some of us do when we get to that income level. And besides, I already own a cruise line.” He grinned and looked at Jessica.
Until now, Jessica didn’t care for rich men. All the perks that came with them were nice, but there was a lot of baggage that went along with that. In high school, she had worked part-time jobs at various resorts on the Kona Coast and had been hit on by a lot of wealthy men. Most of them were married and looking for something on the side. She could see that wasn’t the case with Sam. And with that, another chink in her armor fell on the path, as she rode back to Aloha Village.
Unlike the others she had known over the years, Sam appeared to be the real deal. A good guy with a good heart. She’d grown rather fond of him, even though the circumstances of their being together right now were not what she would consider ideal.
* * *
After Jessica and Sam left, the governor and Lau sat at the private bar inside the Ming.
“Well, did you make her an offer?” the governor asked Lau.
“No, but I let her know an offer was on the table at a later date if she would like to sell.”
Governor Fitch narrowed his eyes and puffed out his chest. “If she doesn’t accept the offer, let me know. I’ll figure out a way to impose eminent domain so you can take possession of Aloha Village and build the casino, once gambling is legal.” He raised his whiskey glass in a toast and continued, “No worries, my friend. We will get control of that property, and one day we’ll have the largest casino in the state.”
Each man smiled and as they drank, their thoughts of power were more intoxicating than the liquor.
17
Pua Cancer
Jessica sat on the lanai of her dad’s bungalow, and stared at the ocean. Comet’s head lay on her lap, as she rubbed his ears and listened to the surf crash on the beach. Her mind had aimlessly wandered when the phone inside the house rang and jolted her out of the trance. She couldn’t believe her dad still had a landline.
She gently nudged Comet off her lap, she went into the kitchen and grabbed the phone off the counter. She glanced at the caller ID and saw it was Pua. She felt a twinge of guilt in her gut. She had paid no attention to her sister since she had gotten back to Kona. “Hey, sis. How are you feeling these days?” Jessica asked quietly.
“Like I’ve been beat with a stick. I suspect in a hundred years from now, people will look back at how we treated cancer patients and think how barbaric it was.”
“I’m so sorry, honey. I know I haven’t been there for you–that changes today,” Jessica said, and slapped herself on the forehead.
“No worries, I know you’ve been busy trying to figure out what happened to Dad.”
Jessica appreciated that her sister understood but felt guilty just the same.
“I thought I’d give you a heads-up. Uncle Jin’s coming over to visit. He heard you were back and called to say he wants to talk to you. But didn’t elaborate,” Pua said.
Jessica went from guilty to annoyed and tapped her fingers on the counter. “I see he still has eyes in Kona,” she mused. “I don’t want him on the property. Hell, I don’t even want to be out in public with him. Tell him we’ll meet at your place, if that’s okay with you.”
“Sure, you guys can meet here, he likes coming here anyway. He’s been a good uncle to Kainoa the last few years. I hope you two can set aside your differences.”
Jessica frowned but held her tongue and decided to change the subject. “Do you have plans today? Can we hang out?”
“Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?” she teased. They both laughed.
“I have plans to show your new boyfriend, Sam, some property today,”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Jessica answered, in a flat tone.
“Okay, if you say so. But I’ve seen how you look at him.” Pua seemed to take pleasure in teasing Jessica. Pua continued, “You’re welcome to tag along. I’m sure he won’t mind. Besides, maybe you’ll want to go into real estate now that you’ve retired from the force and you can see what A Day in the Life is like.”
Jessica knew Pua trying to be nice, but the thought of selling real estate was the last thing on her mind. “Okay, it’s a deal,” she said and hung up the phone.
Pua called Sam and asked if he minded Jessica tagged along for the day when they went to view property. He was almost giddy with excitement at the chance to spend the day with her. He had two properties he wanted to look at. One was up mauka, it was a coffee farm at a higher elevation, and the other was ocean front at Keauhou Bay. He liked them both but decided he would let Jessica pick which one he bought, though he wouldn’t let her know she had the deciding vote. If their relationship progressed to the next level, she would eventually live there someday.
18
House Hunting
Mike Murphy’s bungalow sat on a hill which overlooked the entire Aloha Village Resort and the ocean. As Jessica sat on the lanai she could see Sam as he walked up the long driveway toward the bungalow. “Aloha, Sam,” she said, as he neared the lanai.
“Aloha, good morning. It’s a beautiful day in Hawaii,” he answered with a big smile.
Jessica stood up and walked down the three steps of the lanai to give Sam a hug. After the warm embrace, she handed him a small gift box she had waited to give him.
“What’s this?” he asked, as he shook the box.
“Just a little something for your generosity. Open it.”
He untied the bow and opened the box. Inside was an ex
quisite hand-carved fish hook necklace made of koa wood and tipped with cow bone. “It was my father’s. He would have wanted you to have it, and I want you to have it, too.”
“I’m honored, thank you.” Sam slipped the necklace over his head. Jessica reached over and turned the hook to point toward his heart. “There, that’s better. That’s how it’s supposed to be.”
Sam reached into the pocket of his aloha shirt and pulled out a yellow plumeria flower. He gently placed it above her right ear and bent to kiss her on the cheek, but before he could she turned her mouth toward his. Their lips met for the first time and, at that moment, she knew it was fate–she couldn’t fight it any longer.
Momentarily surprised, Sam placed his hands on each side of Jessica’s face. Cradling her cheeks as he looked deeply into her eyes. She met his gaze, just as intensely. Both smiled, knowingly, as Sam’s hands moved to her lower back and pulled her into his body, Jessica wrapped her arms around him. They kissed, as it was their last, with an urgency too long denied. After several minutes, Jessica giggled and pulled away. “Pua will be here very soon. “All right—I almost forgot,” Sam said, and laughed. Jessica grabbed his hand and led him up to the lanai. “This day’s turned out to be better than I anticipated—way better,” Sam said, as he grinned.
They sat next to each other on the lanai swing and took turns as they rubbed Comet’s ears. They rocked back and forth, in rhythm to the bliss and contentment each felt, as they waited for Pua.