06-I'm Kona Love You Forever

by JoAnn Bassett

  “Isn’t that Charlene Cooper?”

  “Yeah. She told Lili something that got her real upset.”

  “What’d she say?” I said.

  “Who knows? Lili says she doesn’t want to talk about it.”

  I ran to catch up with Charlene. It was none of my business why she’d gotten fired, and there was nothing I could do about her being rude and uncooperative with me. But it was my business to protect my client.

  I grabbed a handful of the silky folds of purple as she stopped to unlock her car door. She whipped her head around, her eyes mere slits.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she said.

  “I’m here to teach you some manners,” I said. “And today’s lesson is: don’t pick on kids. If you got a beef with me, let’s keep it between us.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Charlene hauled off and punched me. A sucker punch to the left side of my jaw. It didn’t hurt as much as it startled me. I stepped behind her and hooked a forearm around her neck.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” I said. “I’m obligated to tell you I hold a black belt in kung fu.” Her hair smelled like lavender. I’d never feel the same way about lavender again.

  “Let me go,” she said in a strangled voice. I loosened my grip and she laughed. “You idiot. Think of how this will play to a jury. I hit you because I thought you were trying to carjack me. Then you choked me and threatened me with your kung fu.” She trilled the musical refrain from Carl Lewis’ song, “Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting.”

  She went on. “What do you think I’ll get? I’m thinking a couple grand for assault and battery and maybe ten more for pain and suffering. Sounds reasonable, don’t you think?”

  I dropped my arm. She twisted around and then smacked me, open-handed, on my right cheek. Hard.

  “That’s to teach you a lesson,” she said. “And today’s lesson is: mess with me and you’ll live to regret it.”

  She dropped into the driver’s seat and slammed the door. She started the car and jerked it into gear. I had to jump back to avoid getting whacked by the side mirror as she screeched away.

  I looked around to see if anyone had witnessed her assaulting me, but the few people left in the parking lot seemed intent on finding their cars and getting back to their Saturday afternoon.

  I went to my car and considered where I should go from there. My adrenaline was pumping. Best to make good use of it.

  I flicked on my blinker and made the right turn toward Kealakekua. If Shayna was so anxious to hear the results of her mom’s autopsy, I was definitely in the mood to fill her in.

  ***

  I pulled in front of the messy yard and got out. The family dog headed toward the fence, warning me with a nasty growl.

  I pushed the gate open and growled right back, “Don’t even think about it. If you so much as drool on me, I’ll lay you out like a rug.” I guess that dog whisperer stuff works because the dog stopped growling and lowered its head, allowing me to pass.

  I went to the door and knocked. Shayna’s teen-aged daughter peeked out the window but didn’t open up. I knocked again. I heard yelling inside, and pretty soon, Shayna opened the door.

  “David’s not here,” she said. “The girls took him to the coffee farm.” She turned and left me standing in the doorway.

  “I didn’t come to see David. I came to see you.”

  She stopped.

  I waited for her to invite me in, but when that didn’t happen, I walked past her into the house.

  “It was a nice blessing, don’t you think?” I said.

  “I s’pose. Up until the part where they handed my brother the plaque. You see what I mean about him being the king? I swear; it’s like the rest of us are invisible. I’m the oldest. They shoulda given me the damn plaque.”

  “Do you mind if I sit down?” I said.

  “Suit yourself.”

  I looked around. Sitting would’ve required major trash hauling, so I stayed where I was.

  “The results from your mom’s autopsy are in,” I said.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because they told me what was in the report.”

  She looked stunned. I couldn’t tell if she was shocked because I’d gotten the information before her, or because she knew the coroner would have, no doubt, found the lethal glucose level, and it wasn’t looking good for her.

  “She died from the car exhaust, right?” she said.

  “Maybe.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “As you know, your mom had a lot of medical problems. And she counted on your help. I’m sure it wasn’t easy being at her beck and call every single day.” I hoped sounding sympathetic might smooth the way for a confession.

  “You’re right; it wasn’t easy. And it sure wasn’t fun. She never appreciated a single thing I did. If David called her, she’d talk about it for hours. I mean, a lousy phone call! But day-in and day-out, I’d fix her meals and go over there and tend to her meds. And did she ever once even thank me?”

  She barked a laugh. “No-o-o. In fact, the few times I forgot to pick up her insulin at the store, or I cooked something she didn’t like, she’d bitch about it for days. You know how they say, ‘no good deed goes unpunished’? Well, that was me and my mom all the way.”

  I took a cleansing breath and centered myself. I had to be careful with what I said next.

  “Shayna, sometimes a simple mistake can lead to a really bad outcome.”

  She squinted at me and shifted her weight. “I know that. After all, I’m a nurse. What are you getting at?”

  “When your mom died, her blood glucose level was about twenty milligrams per deciliter,” I said.

  “That’s ridiculous. That’s, like, off the charts.”

  “Yeah. And she had some cuts and bruises.”

  “What?”

  “Do you want to talk about what happened when you gave your mom her shot that morning?” I said.

  Her mouth gaped open and her eyes widened as if she’d smelled smoke and suddenly remembered she’d left the iron on in the bedroom.

  “Oh, no,” she said. “I messed up.”

  Shayna’s wail started deep in her throat and rose to a high-pitched keening within seconds. Her daughter came flying out of a back room. “What’d you do to my mom?” she said. “Get out of here. Right now.”

  I hustled past the dog and back to my car. I could still hear Shayna’s wailing as I got inside and cranked the engine. She wasn’t a very likeable person, but it was hard not to feel sorry for her. Whether intentional or unintentional, she’d admitted to “messing up” and now her mother was dead.

  ***

  When I got back to the coffee farm, Lili was lying down. She looked a tad better than she had at the blessing, but her face was still pale and puffy.

  “Where’s David?” I said.

  “His sisters came and got him a few minutes ago,” she said. “They’re all going to Shayna’s. I guess something bad must’ve happened. As if David and me need any more bad stuff.”

  I thought about telling her about the autopsy, then decided to leave that to David.

  “Do you want to tell me what Charlene Cooper said to you?” I said. “I don’t mean to pry, but I feel kind of responsible since I introduced you to her.”

  Lili blinked as if trying to dislodge a stray eyelash. I worried she was about to launch into tears again, so I quickly back-tracked. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

  “No, it’s okay. She told me my birth mom suffered when I was born. In fact, she died. Charlene said she was able to contact her last night and my ‘spirit mom’ told her to tell me she still loved me. Even though I killed her.”

  “What a horrible thing to say.”

  “Yeah. It made me so sad, you know? I mean, my mom gave up her life for me.” Her voice quavered, and she looked like she was teetering on the edge of another crying jag. “I always thought she’d just dumped me. Like she didn�
�t want me. And now I find out she…” Lili pressed her lips together so tightly they disappeared.

  “Listen, Lili. I’m not a mom yet, but in my job I get to talk to a lot of mothers—of both brides and grooms. And, in almost every case, their kids are their first priority. It may seem hard to believe, but I think if your birth mom had been given a choice to save you or save herself, she would’ve chosen you. Because she loved you.”

  “You think?”

  “I do.”

  There I go saying that again. Where did I get the nerve to expound on the complexities of love? As if I had even a nickel’s worth of expertise in the matter. How does that go? You know, “talk the talk but can’t walk the walk?”

  I felt like a fraud. I’d talked enough. It was time for me to get on my feet and start walkin’.

  CHAPTER 28

  Lili asked if I’d take her to Shayna’s and I readily agreed. It’d be nice to have the cabin to myself for a few hours, especially since I had a delicate matter to resolve. I decided to call Farrah before I called Hatch. She answered on the first ring.

  “I’ve been thinking about you,” she said. “I was worried you’d jumped off a cliff.”

  “Trust me, it crossed my mind,” I said.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m still on the Big Island. A lot has happened in the past couple of days. I’ll be coming home tomorrow morning, but I had to talk to you first.”

  “About?”

  “Don’t mess with me, Farrah. You know what about.”

  She laughed. “I was going for cool. You know, like in our keiki times when we both got scared when we slept outside on the lanai, but neither of us would be the first to admit it?”

  “I really blew it, didn’t I?” I said.

  “You mean with Hatch?”

  I didn’t answer. Her attempt at “cool” had already been well established.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I think he’s more bummed than mad. He’s come in the store every day since we got back asking about you. So, I take it you two haven’t talked?”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “How about starting with, ‘Sorry, my bad’? I mean, girl, his bruddahs were all there. He ended up with, like, a three-egg omelet on his face.”

  “I know. I feel terrible about it. I don’t know why I froze. I guess I never imagined he’d ask me in public like that.”

  “Well, he is a public servant,” she said.

  “Very funny. How did Ono propose to you?”

  “It was mega-romantic. A full moon was rising over Ala Wai Harbor. We were sitting on the deck of his boat and he looked over at me and said, ‘How would you like this to go on forever?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ I knew what he meant ‘cuz we’re groovy like that. We don’t need to say much to know what the other one’s thinking.”

  “Maybe that’s our problem,” I said. “It seems like all Hatch and I do is talk.”

  “Well, you aren’t talking enough now. Are you gonna call him?”

  “I don’t think so. There’s no way I can do this over the phone. I’ll stop by his place when I get back tomorrow. If he’s kept to his work schedule, he should be off duty.”

  “When he comes in the store, do you want me to say anything?” she said.

  “No. I’d rather surprise him.”

  “You sure you want to do that? I mean, how’d the surprise thing work out for him on Wednesday night?”

  We said our good-byes, and I hung up wondering if I should text Hatch and alert him I’d be stopping by. But, before I could make up my mind, my phone chimed. I hurriedly answered it. No sense doing something hard when something easy was so close at hand.

  “Pali?” It was Lili.

  “Yeah, are you okay?” I said.

  “I’m fine, but everybody here is going nuts. Would you mind coming back here and getting me? David says he’d like to get out of here, too.”

  I told her I’d be right there. I walked to the car, toying with the idea of taking fifteen seconds to text Hatch. But it struck me as kind of a chicken’s way out. Email, texting, FaceBook. Instant communication was supposed to bring us closer together, but what it really does is give us a way to keep everyone a safe distance away.

  I owed Hatch an explanation and an apology. Anything I had to say was going to have to be done the hard way. The scary way. Face to face.

  ***

  It annoyed me that Lili and David weren’t waiting outside when I pulled up at Shayna’s. So far, I was batting a thousand with the cranky dog but it was only a matter of time before its puppy brain would realize I had way more bark than bite. And when that happened, I was pretty sure Fido wouldn’t hesitate to claim his pound of flesh.

  I beeped the horn and waited. Nothing. I shut off the car and went to the gate. The dog snarled. I wished I had a Milk Bone, or even an old tennis ball, to distract it. We locked eyes.

  “C’mon, give me a break,” I said. “I’m only here to pick up some people. It’ll take five minutes, tops.”

  The dog flattened its ears and snarled louder.

  I put a hand on the gate latch and the dog flew at it like I was dangling a porterhouse just out of reach. I pulled my hand back.

  “Fine. We’ll play it your way.” I crossed my arms and waited.

  About two minutes later, the front door opened and David and Lili came hurtling out onto the porch. The door slammed behind them. They stood toe-to-toe, apparently arguing about something. I was still standing by the gate; the dog still shooting me doggie stink eye. Finally, Lili looked out toward the street.

  “Why didn’t you come in and get us?” she said. “We’ve been waiting forever.”

  “My friend Fido here is playing TSA and I showed up without a boarding pass. There was no way I was going to take off my shoes and try to make it past his ‘meal’ detector.”

  “Huh? What are you talking about?”

  “Never mind. Let’s go,” I said.

  “Could you take me to my dad’s?” said David.

  “Are you sure?” I said. “I thought he kicked you out.”

  “He did. But I need to talk to him,” he said.

  They both climbed in the back seat and I drove to Pono’s. No one said a word on the way over. I felt like a taxi driver hauling a feuding couple to Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws. When I pulled up at the house I turned around and stared at them. The car had child safety locks so there was no way they could get out before I’d gotten some answers.

  “Okay, something’s going on, and I think I deserve to know what it is.”

  They flicked their eyes to each other to see who would get stuck answering. Lili lost.

  “David’s sister, Shayna, saw their dad’s truck parked in front of their mom’s house on the day she, uh, you know.”

  “She’s sure about that?” I said.

  They both nodded.

  My mind went six directions at once. Pono and Gary were buddies, and I’d seen the respirator in Gary’s carport. The two of them could have easily overpowered Malia and wrestled her out to her car. But then, Shayna was the one who gave Malia her insulin. Had she gotten rattled by Pono showing up and overfilled the syringe? Or maybe Shayna had turned around and gone home when she saw her dad’s truck, thinking she’d come back later. After years of watching her parents bicker, maybe she wasn’t willing to referee another argument. Or, maybe Shayna had given Malia a normal injection, but after she left, Pono said something that pushed Malia over the edge and she’d overdosed herself. She might have had second thoughts and staggered out to her car and passed out with the car running. But, if so, what had Shayna meant by saying she’d “messed up”?

  My whirling thoughts were interrupted by Lili’s peevish voice. “Would you unlock the doors so we can get out?”

  “Oh, sorry.” I clicked the locks open and the two kids scrambled out. I watched as they gave each other a quick hug before slowly making their way up to the house. By now the sun had gone down and night was settli
ng in, turning the tranquil neighborhood into a scene from a black and white photo from days gone by. There was no porch light on at Pono’s house, but a faint blue flicker danced across the sheer curtains in the front windows.

  I jumped out of the car. “Wait,” I said. “I’m going with you.”

  CHAPTER 29

  Pono had been drinking. A lot. The odor of hops and malted barley hung in the air of the tiny living room like formaldehyde in a biology lab. David and Lili had found the front door unlocked and marched inside, but I’d hung back in the doorway in case I had to make a quick dash for back-up.

  “Whaddaya doin’ here?” Pono slurred. He was draped across the sofa, wearing only baggy plaid boxers and white socks so dirty that in the harsh glow of the TV they looked like they had black rubber soles. The television was tuned to professional wrestling or cage fighting, I couldn’t tell which. I try to avoid passing judgment on that form of entertainment. After all, I’d been kicking and grappling my way to self-actualization for most of my life. But to get paid to fake punches or seriously maim someone while blood-thirsty onlookers hooted for more? No thanks.

  “Dad, I need to talk to you about something,” David said.

  Pono grunted and reached for one of the many beer bottles lined up on the floor in front of him. He tipped it up, found it empty, and then heaved it across the room. The bottle hit the edge of a door frame but, surprisingly, didn’t break.

  “How ‘bout that?” Pono said. “I can’t even bust a beer bottle no more.”

  David flicked on the overhead light and his dad put up a beefy arm to shield his eyes from the glare.

  “Shut that off! Damn kid. Come here makin’ trouble.”

  “Sit up, Dad,” David said. He grabbed a stretched-out knitted afghan from the back of the sofa and threw it over his father’s lap. “And make yourself presentable. You’ve got women visitors.”

  “What women vis’tors? I don’ see no women. All’s I see is a little girl and some cop-faced gal looks like she’s come to arrest me or sump’un. You here to arrest me?”