The curl of his lip didn’t seem to bother Rina. She stared him down until his face reddened and he looked away. “Why did I even bother trying to talk with you?” he muttered. “You’ve always been pigheaded.” He stomped back to his car and drove away, gunning the engine hard enough to spit gravel.
“Do you think we can stop him?” Lani asked. “I assume you filed the injunction against him?”
Her aunt nodded. “My lawyer filed it yesterday afternoon. No way is Willie going to plant genetically altered coffee. Ten percent of coffee trees crosspollinate. In no time, there would be no true Kona coffee left on the island—just some watered-down version without the full flavor of the bean.”
“Is there really such a thing as growing beans that don’t have caffeine in them?” Lani folded her arms over her chest.
“Unnatural, isn’t it? Coffee is meant to have caffeine. I’ve worked too hard on Kona Kai’s reputation as the best organic coffee in the world to let him ruin it.”
“There seems to be history between you two, but you’ve never talked about it.”
Rina nodded. “We were at Taylor Camp in the early seventies. He used to be my best friend.” Her mouth drooped. “He parted ways with us a few years after the camp burned down.”
“He’s not good enough for you.” Josie’s voice pulsed with loyalty. “And he doesn’t know you very well if he thought corrupting the natural order of things would be copacetic with you.”
The “us” her aunt mentioned must be the others who had helped Rina get the coffee plantation going after her trees started bearing fruit. She and her Taylor Camp friends had reconnected at a reunion a little over a year ago, and Rina hired several of them. The rest were due to come for a vacation and to help with the harvest. It would be a time for them all to get to know each other again, and Lani looked forward to getting to know the people who knew her aunt when she was young.
“Your best friend?” Lani murmured. “Is that all?”
Rina looked away. “I thought he might ask me out when we found one another again. He’s not married either. Divorced.”
Lani studied her aunt’s downcast face. She always seemed so self-sufficient. It had never occurred to Lani that Rina might be lonely. “Can he get around the injunction?” she asked.
“I doubt it. There’s an uproar on the entire island about it. Most of the coffee growers are opposed to any kind of genetically engineered coffee trees. Some altered plants are said to be nematode resistant; others are supposed to ripen at the same time. It all sounds fab, but no one knows what the alterations will do to the taste. Kona coffee is the best coffee in the world. The changes may make it funky.”
Josie smiled and patted Rina’s hand. “Don’t worry about it. It will all come together. Let’s boogie and get this done.”
Clouds obscured the blue sky by the time they finished and put away their equipment. The scent of rain freshened the air, and Lani felt the first drops begin to fall as she settled into the back of the truck for the ride back. Her aunt dropped her off at the Kona Kai Coffee Company building. She waved to the older women and went inside. A large shipment of extrafancy beans needed to go out today. When she finished, she could call her sister, Annie.
The back room held the heavenly aroma of roasting coffee. Lani sniffed the heavy note. It smelled like one of the darker roasts, double French or espresso. Small bags of roasted coffee lined the shelves. Fallen beans crunched underfoot, releasing even more aroma as she walked through the roasting room.
Pam Aberstrom waved at her from over near the coffee roaster. Lani stepped to the big roaster, a metal contraption that stretched an inch or two taller than her own height of five foot two. Pam moved out of the way, and Lani stopped at the drum. Glancing at the temperature gauges, she pulled on the small round cylinder to examine a sample of the roast. She smiled at the dark, rich brown color. “Double French?” she guessed. A typical roast took about twelve minutes, and the darker ones went a little longer and had to be watched. Inattention could ruin a batch in seconds.
Pam nodded. “It’s almost done. I was getting ready to dump it.” About fiftyfive, she’d been with Rina since the beginning—another Taylor Camp friend. A bandana kept her curly red hair off her face, and she wore shorts and a T-shirt to stay cool in the hot roasting room.
Lani didn’t know her well. Pam kept to herself, did her job, and went home. Lani thought the other woman resented her being hired as a supervisor when Pam had been there longer, though Pam had never been insubordinate. “Good job,” Lani said, moving on to the packing room.
Several Filipinos filled burlap bags with the dark roast that had to go out today. Looking at the sacks piled by the shipping bay, Lani smiled. The order would be shipped out on time.
Joey, the shipping room supervisor, wiped his broad face with a bandana, then stuffed it back in his pocket. “It’s finished,” he said. “We’re cutting out now.”
Thanks to her aunt’s remarks, Lani found it impossible to even look him in the face. “That was fast,” she said. “I didn’t think you’d be done till midday.”
“Um, I was wondering if you’d want to go see a movie sometime,” he asked.
What defect in her character made her flush with pleasure that he found her attractive? Something inside made her feel better about herself when men fell all over her. Maybe she would always have to fight the urge to seek male admiration.
“Sorry, Joey, I’m not ready for a relationship.”
He sniffed. “I’m not talking about a relationship. From what I hear, you just like to have a good time.”
Heat scorched her cheeks, but she felt cold inside. She could blame no one but herself for her poor reputation. “I’m a different person now. I’m a Christian.”
He stiffened, giving her a long look before turning away. “Yeah, right.”
She was sure her face was beet red. Would the shame never leave her? Maybe she should move away, go where people didn’t know her. Her eyes burned, and she turned away from him and walked toward the shelves of coffee. As she left him behind, she gave a slow shake of her head. No, she wouldn’t run. Someday everyone would see that she’d changed. She wasn’t the good time girl anymore. And she had a new future, one spent with the beauty of flowers.
Stepping to the stack of burlap sacks, she lifted a bag and inspected it. Fancy-grade beans, large and perfectly formed, were inside. Though she normally didn’t inspect further than that, she couldn’t resist digging her fingers into the rich, dark beans. The handful of beans she brought to the surface were complete perfection—
Blue? Intermingled with the perfect coffee beans lay a blue object larger than her hand. She glanced behind her, but the workers had dispersed. She walked to the window and examined the odd item. When the sun hit it, she realized she held a piece of blue coral, a richer color than she’d ever seen. Exquisitely beautiful—and illegal. Blue coral was rare, and trading it was forbidden.
Who would hide illegal coral in the beans? And why? Someone was taking advantage of Rina’s trust. Maybe Pam or Joey.
“What are you doing?”
Lani whirled to see Pam standing in the doorway. “Do you know anything about this?” Lani asked, holding up the coral.
Pam moved to Lani’s side and stared down at the coral in her hands. “Where did you find it?”
“In this bag of coffee. It’s coral.” Pam bit her lip and avoided Lani’s gaze. “Who’s behind this, Pam?”
Pam backed away. “Don’t ask me. I need to get to work.”
Lani’s stomach muscles tightened. Pam knew something. “How could you betray my aunt like this?”
Pam opened her mouth, then her gaze shot over Lani’s head, and her eyes widened. “No!” she shouted.
Lani jumped at the sound of a car backfiring. At least that’s what she thought she heard until she saw Pam slump to the ground, a red stain flowering on her T-shirt. Something whizzed by Lani’s head, and she realized bullets flew around her. She ducked and scrabble
d for cover behind the stack of coffee bags. Peering over a bag, she saw a face over the top of a rifle. The eyes mesmerized her. They locked gazes, then something stung her head, and she fell into the pool of the eyes’ darkness.
Blackness pressed in on Lani, pushing against her head, her throat. Why didn’t someone turn on the light? A vicious pain pounded at her temple, and the back of her head ached. A scream built in her throat, filling her mouth and nearly suffocating her with the need to let it out. In spite of every attempt to hold it back, a whimper escaped her lips.
“Lani?”
A whisper of movement, the light breeze of someone nearby impressed itself on her senses. The voice seemed familiar. Lani touched her eyes and found them unbandaged. “Can you turn on the light?” She heard the squeak of shoes on the tile floor and the rattle of a tray. She rolled onto her side.
“You’re awake. Good morning, Lani. I’m Dr. Cooper.”
The man’s deep voice penetrated the cocoon around her. “Where am I? Please turn on the light.”
His cool hands, smelling faintly of antiseptic and soap, touched her face. “Can you tell me how many fingers I have up?”
She batted at his hand. “Turn on the light! No one can see anything. What time is it?” She tried to remember what had happened. Pam. She’d been there. “Where’s Pam?”
“Calm down, Lani.” Her aunt’s voice came through the darkness. “You’re going to be okay.”
“Aunt Rina?” The scent of coffee blossoms—her aunt’s signature perfume, a sweet fragrance that smelled much like jasmine—floated up her nose.
“Do you want to sit up?” Her aunt slipped a small hand behind Lani’s back.
Lani struggled to a sitting position. “Why won’t you turn on the lights?” Her questing hand touched her aunt’s face. Rina caught it and pressed it to her cheek.
The doctor cleared his throat. “The lights are on, Lani. What happened?”
A blanket as suffocating as the darkness covered her memory. How did she end up here? The last thing she remembered was heading into the coffee building to check the shipment. “I don’t remember,” she said. She felt her aunt inhale sharply. And why were they lying to her? Did they think she couldn’t tell the lights were off? What was going on? “What happened?”
“Someone shot Pam, I’m afraid.”
“She’s going to be all right, isn’t she?” The silence echoed around her. “She’s okay, right? Aunt Rina?”
“I’m sorry, Lani, but someone killed Pam.” Her aunt’s voice sounded thick.
“Turn on the lights!” Lani screamed. She threw back the covers and swung her legs to the side of the bed. She opened her eyes fully, straining to see something, anything. It was as though she swam in a black sea that blocked out all light, all visual sensation. The darkness seemed impenetrable. She could almost touch it, thick and stifling. She reached for some kind of anchor, anything she could grasp, but felt only air.
“I can’t see,” she whispered. “I can’t see!” Her shriek rose and echoed off the blackness.
She heard the sound of the door whooshing open, and a familiar voice spoke out of the darkness. “She’s okay, isn’t she?”
“Yoshi?” she whispered. She stretched a hand out toward her cousin. If only she could touch him, he’d be her anchor. He was a police detective, and she wondered vaguely if their aunt minded being around this particular cop, given Rina’s antipathy to the police.
His warm fingers held hers in a tight grip. “I’m here, Lani. Did you see the shooter?”
“Shooter?” She rubbed her forehead. “I can’t remember,” she moaned. She clutched at her cousin’s hand. Bile rose in her throat. “I’m going to throw up.”
“Here.” The doctor pressed something hard into her hand. “If you feel sick, use this.”
Her fingers traced the perimeter of a small plastic bowl, kidney shaped. If she remembered right from her last stay in the hospital, it was pink. She clutched it to her chest, the hard edges reassuring. “Why can’t I remember?”
“I’m Dr. Cooper,” the doctor said. “Your memory loss is not unusual. With a trauma to the brain, the actual incident may be lost. Or it may come back when the swelling goes down.”
“Can you remember anything?” her cousin asked. He kept hold of her hand, and he sounded grim.
“I don’t know,” she moaned. Pressing her hands to her temples, she tried to think, to remember. “I remember eyes. Dark ones.”
“Describe them,” Yoshi prodded.
She wrinkled her forehead, but nothing came. “I don’t remember.” She put her hand to her mouth to cover her sobs, the tears burning her cheeks.
“Hold still.” The doctor’s cool fingers held her chin and tipped her head up.
A trembling started inside her. Don’t say it. If she didn’t hear the words, it might be a nightmare. She dug her nails into the palms of her hands.Wake up, wake up. This couldn’t be real.
The doctor released her chin. “Try not to worry, Lani. The bullet only grazed you, and I doubt you’ll have much pain from it. The real problem came when you walloped your head against a metal bar. As the swelling in your brain goes down, we can tell better whether the blindness is temporary or permanent.”
Blindness. She shook her head, whipping it in such a frenzy her hair slapped her cheeks. “It’s not true. I can’t be blind.” Permanent, permanent. The word echoed in her head. She couldn’t live like this the rest of her life. She couldn’t be blind.
Someone shuffled into the room, then her aunt spoke. “I tried to get hold of Annie and your father, but there’s been an eruption on Montserrat, and the phones weren’t working over there. I left a message at the consulate. They were going to try to find them. I also left a message for Tomi with the consulate office in Iraq. They said it might be weeks before they could locate him, though.”
Lani wanted Annie, longed for her sister’s calm, take charge attitude. “Try again,” she said. “I need Annie.” She stifled a moan.
A clatter came from behind her, then the doctor pressed her back into the bed. “Let’s give it a couple of weeks. I’m going to discharge you in the morning if you’re as alert as you are today.”
Her pulse fluttered at the thought of going outside. People would stare. She would need someone to lead her around. “How can you discharge me when I can’t see?” she asked. “You have to fix this. You have to!”
“It’s going to take time,” Dr. Cooper said. “You’ve had an IV of mannitol to reduce the swelling. That’s all that can be done right now. I’ll check you every week, but you must be patient. And I can assign a therapist to help you learn to cope with your blindness.”
“I’ve got a friend who might do it,” Yoshi said. “Let me check with him.”
“What will I do?” Lani muttered. She ran her hand over her face. It felt the same, the angles and planes. She hadn’t changed, but she felt such distance from everyone. The black bubble insulated her from her family in an unpleasant way.
“I’ll take care of you, Lani,” Rina said.
She was an adult—she shouldn’t need taking care of. Lani dropped her hand and shuddered. “What day is it?”
“Wednesday,” Rina said.
Metal clinked on metal again. The doctor must be putting his instruments away. The finality of it began to sink in. Hadn’t it been Monday? “Pam,” she whispered.
Rina pressed her hand. “Her funeral is later today.”
“I’ll find who did this,” Yoshi promised. His hand patted her back in an awkward gesture.
Their reassurances felt like platitudes. “I’m going to sleep now,” Lani said. Maybe when she woke up, she’d be able to see the blue sky.
Chapter Two
Ben Mahoney stood at the busiest intersection in Kona. The light went from yellow to red, and the sound of traffic changed. He glanced down at Fisher, the two-year-old golden retriever at his side. The dog glanced up as if to ask if he was going to give the command.
A smi
le lifted Ben’s mouth. “Forward,” he said. Ben kept a tight grip on the leather harness and started to step out.
Fisher stepped in front of him and pressed against his legs, preventing him from walking into traffic. “Good boy,” Ben said. He’d never seen a dog as quick to learn as Fisher. Intelligent disobedience was often tough to teach. He rubbed the dog’s ears and waited for the light. When it was safe to cross, he gave the command again, and they hurried across the street.
The sun beat down from a cloudless sky, and steam rose off the pavement as the dampness of the night’s rain evaporated. Ben saw Fisher look longingly at a mud puddle, but at least the dog didn’t jump into it. That’s what Fisher usually did if he didn’t have the halter on.
A rainbow shave ice would hit the spot about now. Ben stopped outside the Scandinavian Shave Ice shop on Ali’i Drive. Most establishments allowed service dogs, and Fisher wore his working dog vest with the patches that announced his occupation.
A figure hurried toward him. “I thought I recognized that ugly mug,” Yoshi Tagama called.
Ben turned to see Yoshi jogging through the slow traffic. Yoshi had been his partner when Ben was still on the force. They used to get together for coffee, but as they each went on with life, the meetings became fewer. When had he seen Yoshi last? Six months ago at least.
Yoshi’s dark eyes looked somber. He took off his cap and swiped his black hair into place. “I was going to come see you. You saved me the trip. I need your help.”
“My help? I’m off the force, Yoshi. Don’t go trying to drag me back.”
“You’re still the best.”
“Flattery won’t get you anywhere. What’s up?”
“My cousin needs protection. Someone shot her a couple of days ago and left her blind, at least for now. But whoever shot her killed another woman. I doubt he’ll want to leave a witness. There’s no man in the house, just my aunt, my cousin, and my aunt’s friend. They’re clear out in the middle of nowhere. My aunt owns the Kona Kai Coffee Company.”
Midnight Sea (Aloha Reef Series) Page 2