“No problem. Would you like a standard size? Maybe a Jeep or something fun like a convertible?”
“Fun isn’t necessary,” I said. Then I thought that sounded a little rude so I followed it up with, “I just need a small, inexpensive car. My brother’s in the hospital, at Queen’s. I just need something to get back and forth.”
“Oh, sorry to hear. You kama’ aina?
“Yeah, I’m from Maui. My brother’s the guy who got fished out of the Ala Wai Canal this week.”
“No! That’s rough, man. I saw it on the news. Tell you what—my sista’s over on the mainland for a couple of weeks. She left her car wit’ me so she don’t have to park it at the airport. You can use it, no charge.”
“Oh, mahalo, but I couldn’t—”
“No, no, I mean it. It’s nothin’ fancy. Just a little car. Pretty old too.”
I didn’t say anything for a couple of beats and he went on, “Oh, I gotta ask: you know how to drive a stick? The thing’s got a stick.”
“I have a manual transmission on my car at home.”
“See? How many wahines these days can drive a stick? This is the least I can do. Please, take the car. For as long as you need.”
At seven that night he called to say he’d brought over the car. I went downstairs and he pointed to a red Nissan Sentra parked under the portico. He handed me the keys. “You want to take it out now? Or have me park it for you until tomorrow?”
“Mahalo, I’ll take it now. I need to get back to the hospital.”
I didn’t tell him I first had to go out to a fancy mansion at the end of Kahala Road and convince a high-strung pregnant woman to come with me to visit her gravely ill husband.
***
After the maid opened the front door, Natalie strode into the foyer and gripped me in a tight hug.
“Pali, I’m so glad you came to see me. You can’t believe how horrible these past couple of days have been.”
“Oh, but I can. It’s been rough for everybody.”
“How’s Stu? Tell me everything.”
I couldn’t help but wonder how weird it was that she was asking me—the long-lost sister—to give her updates on her husband’s fight for life.
“I’m sure Moko already told you that Stu’s leg surgery went well. He’s resting, but they’re still blasting him with antibiotics.”
“And he’s still unconscious?”
“Not totally.”
She looked shocked. “He’s awake?”
“Yes, and that’s why I’m here. He’s been asking for you.”
She clamped her hand over her mouth, and then took it away. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“I think I just did.”
We rushed out and when she saw the faded red car I’d come in, she stopped. “We can take mine.”
“No, get in. I don’t want you driving. You’re probably going to need to rest after seeing Stu. I have to tell you; it’s not pretty.” I thought I’d leave it at that. No sense talking her out of what I’d come there to talk her into.
We made it to Queen’s Medical Center in record time, especially considering there was a wreck on the H-1. Natalie gowned up and went in with me to see Stu without so much as a peep of protest, but when we got there Stu had lapsed back into unconsciousness.
“Stuart,” she said peering into his sleeping face. “It’s me, Natalie. Don’t you want to see me? Open your eyes, Stuart. Please?”
Nothing.
Since with Stu unresponsive there was no reason to subject Natalie to more than a couple minutes of the horror that had befallen her husband, I touched her gowned arm and whispered I thought we should leave.
We stripped off our ICU attire and Natalie appeared to be in shock. “I shouldn’t have come,” she said. “I need to stay positive. My unborn child and I need to imagine Stuart in a bubble of white light, where he’s healing and happy and coming home to us soon.” She began to sway and I was concerned she was going to pass out.
“Let’s go downstairs and get some tea,” I said. “The doctor says he’s doing better than he looks.” I don’t know why I lied to her. It just seemed like the kind thing to do.
When we were in the elevator she broke down. “What am I going to do?” she wailed. “He’s my everything. We’re having a baby, and he needs to be here for me. I want him to shake this thing off and get out of that bed right now.”
I had the urge to slap her. To smack her hard across the cheek and say, ‘Snap out of it!’ or ‘Get a grip’ or whatever line seemed best at the moment. Instead, I put a hand on her shoulder and said, “Natalie. He’s doing the best he can. We all are.”
“Easy for you to say,” she hissed. “You’re not the one who’s working hard to stay positive.”
We got our tea ‘to go’ and I insisted on taking Natalie home. She remained silent the entire journey, which was a blessing since I’d had enough of her so-called ‘positive mental attitude.’ Maybe it was best she didn’t want to be at the hospital. For my money, Moko’s outlook was a hundred times more positive, and that made him a thousand times better company.
I dropped Natalie off and headed right back to the hospital. My tea had grown cold but I gulped it down anyway. I was hungry and two nights of sleeping in a waiting room chair was taking a toll.
When I got back to the fourth floor waiting room, Moko was there. I filled him in on Stu waking up and asking for Natalie and me bringing her in only to find him out like a light.
“You look tired,” Moko said. “You want I take the night shift tonight?”
“Don’t you have work tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow’s Sunday. No work on Sunday.”
I wanted to object. As the big sister it seemed I should be the one to shoulder the tough duty, but I didn’t have the strength to protest.
“Nah, I mean it,” he said. “Go home, get some sleep. I promise I’ll call if I hear anything.”
***
It was a quarter after one on Sunday morning when my phone buzzed on the night table. I thought about letting it just go to voicemail but then remembered where I was and who might be calling.
“Hello.”
“Hey Pali,” said Moko’s voice. At least I thought it was Moko’s voice. It sounded like someone had a grip on his windpipe.
“Moko? What’s up?”
“Stu’s gone.”
“Gone?” For a split second I nearly said ‘Where’d he go?’ but I managed to snatch it back before it slipped out.
“I’ll be right there.”
CHAPTER 26
Apparently doctors take great offense if you die on their watch. They act as if it’s a personal affront; as if the dead person scorned their expertise and went off and blatantly disobeyed doctor’s orders and croaked.
The nurse in the ICU was sympathetic. She quietly advised us of where Stu’s body had been taken and what would happen next.
The doctor was anything but sympathetic. “It was a miracle he lived as long as he did,” he said. “We were fighting infection on three fronts. And no matter what we tried, the patient remained unresponsive to even the most advanced drugs. But to be fair, these were nasty bugs. Have you ever heard of necrotizing fasciitis? It’s called ‘flesh-eating bacteria’ but that’s a misnomer. It doesn’t actually eat the flesh, it merely renders the patient…” He went on like that for what seemed like an obscenely long time but it was probably only a minute or so.
Moko stared blankly at the man; his face a veneer of self-control I hoped I was successful at mimicking. Inside, a hot rage was building in my gut.
“Thank you, doctor,” I said. “We appreciate the explanation, but we’ve got work to do. Your work is done.”
The doctor leaned back as if offended, and then he turned and walked away.
“Snap that,” said Moko when the doc was out of earshot.
“Yeah, I know. But I didn’t want to hear any more of his lame excuses. What’s he think we’re gonna do—sue the hospital or something?”
/> Moko plopped down in a chair and covered his face with his hands. His back shook as he allowed himself to absorb the full impact of Stu’s death. I sat beside him and put my arm around his shoulders.
“Love you,” I said.
***
As if we hadn’t dealt with enough that night, Wendi Takeda showed up a half-hour later.
“Sorry for your loss,” she said. “I heard it was peaceful.”
I stared at her the way you’d stare at a naked stranger at your wedding. “What are you doing here?”
“Okay, so maybe I’m jumping the gun a little. But you need to hear me out. And you need to act. Now.”
Moko eased out of his chair. He stood over her as if his sheer bulk might intimidate her enough to scurry back under whatever rock she’d crawled out from.
She didn’t budge.
“Pali, Moko, you both need to consider this. Don’t you think your brother would want you to look into what happened? To seek justice for him?”
“What on earth are you talking about?” I said.
“Your brother didn’t die from an accident. Or from a normal infection. Your brother was murdered, clear and simple. The City of Honolulu has been pumping millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Ala Wai Canal with no regard for human life or property. That sewage infected your brother with bacteria rarely seen in waterways in the civilized world, let alone the United States of America.
“The guys at City Hall are still claiming the sewage spill is safe. They’re saying the currents are pulling it out into the ocean and it’s being absorbed and neutralized by the greater ecosystem. They haven’t even closed Waikiki Beach, for crying out loud. It’s only a matter of time before a tourist with an open sore gets infected with the same scary stuff that killed your brother. Stuff that modern medicine can’t treat.”
“Look, Wendi,” I said. “I don’t care about tourists. Or sewage. Or the guys at City Hall. My brother is dead. And right now, that’s the only thing I care about.”
“Fair enough. But tomorrow, or the next day, or whenever it’s appropriate, I want to talk to you. Because like I said, your brother didn’t die from natural causes. There was nothing ‘natural’ about it.”
She left and Moko and I let out a collective sigh.
“You think she’s right?” he said. “That we should look into what happened to Stu?”
“I don’t know. And right now it doesn’t matter what happened. What matters is getting our ohana together and taking care of Stuart.”
“Do you think the hospital has called Natalie?” Moko said. “Or do we have to do it?”
Our eyes locked.
“Poor Natalie,” I said. “No way she can go on wishing it away now.”
“Yeah, I hope she’ll be okay.”
“At least her sister’s there with her,” I said.
Moko grunted. “Her sister can’t stand her.”
I was confused.
“That sister who works in their house?” he said. “She’s like some kinda slave, man. Natalie brought her here from Hong Kong and she works for her for nuthin’. That was their deal.”
“Like an indentured servant?”
“Whatever that is. Thing is, as far as I know, Natalie’s got nobody. Her parents are dead; her sister hates her. And now that Stu’s gone the sister will probably run away. She already tried it once but Stu got the cops to bring her back. He said she woulda ended up on the street. Like a prostitute or somethin’.”
“Some family.”
“Yeah. We Wilkersons are pretty much the only ohana she’s got.”
“Then we need to help her,” I said. “And I guess that starts with shattering her bubble of denial.”
***
Natalie didn’t answer her phone. There was no way I was going to leave a ‘detailed message’ as she’d requested on her voice mail, so I just said, “It’s me, Pali. Call me as soon as you can.”
It was already almost six a.m. in Montana. I figured Hatch would be awake. He’d always been an early riser, and in Maui his shift started at eight. No telling when shifts start when you’re out in the woods fighting wild fires.
“Hello?” he said. “That you, Pali?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” I sighed.
“Hey, is it some kind of chore to call me?” he said. He chuckled. Then, as if we were in a cartoon and a little light bulb had gone off over his head, he quickly followed up with, “Oh, no. Has something bad happened?”
“Yeah. My brother Stuart died.”
“Died? I thought he was in the hospital. I thought he was getting the full Rolls Royce treatment.”
“He was and he did. But he had infections that the drugs couldn’t touch. Flesh-eating bacteria.”
“Oh my God. That’s awful.”
“I’m just feeling so alone. I know it’s stupid. I just met Stuart a week ago. But I feel like ever since I found my family it’s been nothing but bad. Like I’ve caused a whole raft of crap to come raining down on these people.”
“Don’t think that way. That’s not true. Not true at all. Your brother would’ve fallen in that canal with or without you. You just wouldn’t have known about it.”
“Well, I actually would have known it happened. It’s been all over the news. It’s just that I wouldn’t have known he was my brother.”
“Yeah, that’s what I meant.”
There was a little pause and the line made a swishing sound while we each waited for the other one to pick up the conversation. The sound on the line reminded me that Hatch was over three thousand miles away. In a different time zone and a totally different part of the country.
“Are you gonna be okay?” he said. “Do you need me to come be with you?”
“There’s nothing I’d like better, but I’ll be fine. I just miss you. And it makes me worry to think about how fragile life is. I mean, one minute Stu was at a meeting at his private yacht club and the next minute they were fishing him out of a cesspool.”
“What’s that mean? I thought your brother fell into the Ala Wai Canal.”
“Yeah. Well, that canal is now contaminated with tons of raw sewage. He got infected by the flesh-eating bacteria in that water.” I was starting to sound like Wendi Takeda.
“Seriously? Look Pali, I want you outta there. I want you to go back to Maui ASAP.”
“I’ll go home as soon as I can,” I said. “But I’ve got to stick around to help with the funeral.”
“I thought you’d be the one nagging me to be careful. Now I’m the one nagging you.”
“That doesn’t get you off the hook,” I said. “You stay safe out there, okay?”
“Will do.”
“It’s weird isn’t it?” I said.
“What?”
“We’re battling opposite problems: raging fire and filthy water. Seems whichever way you turn, the world just isn’t a safe place to be anymore.”
CHAPTER 27
By eight a.m. I still hadn’t heard back from Natalie. I called again but didn’t leave another message. Where could she have gone? Church? She didn’t seem like the church-going type, but under the circumstances anything was possible.
Moko’s wife called me and offered to handle the funeral arrangements. I thanked her profusely and promised I’d help out any way I could.
“You’ve already done so much,” she said. “I don’t know what Moko would’ve done without you.”
The funeral was set for Wednesday. It creeped me out that we had a funeral date before we’d even notified the widow, so I called the bell desk and asked to have my car brought around. I decided I’d camp out at Natalie’s until she showed up. Or maybe the sister/maid knew where she was. In any case, I wasn’t going to rest until Natalie had been brought up to speed.
The maid answered the door with a small smile playing across her face. She looked like the proverbial ‘cat who ate the canary.’
“Is Natalie here?” I said. I wanted to ask her what she found so amusing the morning of her emplo
yer’s death, but I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.
“No. She out.”
I remembered I’d only heard the woman speak Chinese. Apparently her English was limited. I tried to get more information out of her anyway.
“Do you know where she is?”
The maid shook her head ‘no.’ I wasn’t sure whether the head shake meant she didn’t understand my question or she didn’t know where Natalie was, so I pressed on.
“When will she be back?”
This time I got a shoulder shrug. I took that to mean she understood my questions, but she wasn’t in a chatty mood. Or maybe Natalie was in the habit of coming and going without telling her anything.
“Mind if I wait here?”
She stepped back and allowed me to enter the foyer. The smile was back on her face.
***
I waited until nearly noon. The maid brought me coffee and some yummy pastries at about ten, so I was pretty comfortable, but I was bored out of my skull. I couldn’t imagine where Natalie could be.
I went into the kitchen and for no reason that makes any sense whatsoever, I began telling the maid the story of how Stu fell into the canal and contracted a massive infection and that he’d died that morning. She shot me a tentative smile and kept nodding as if I were regaling her with silly tales from my college days. Even though I knew she couldn’t understand what I was saying, I couldn’t stop talking.
Finally, when I got to the part about Moko’s wife being kind and offering to handle the funeral arrangements, she put up her hand. Like a cop signaling ‘stop.’
“Kepola,” she said.
“Pardon me?”
“You’re sister-in-law’s name is Kepola,” she said in English with only a trace of accent.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you spoke English.”
“Then why have you been talking to me for the past fifteen minutes?”
“Look. I’m so tired and stressed I don’t know why I’m doing anything I’m doing. I probably shouldn’t be allowed to operate dangerous machinery for the foreseeable future.”
She smiled. “Yes, probably not.”
“Do you know where Natalie is?”
O'ahu Lonesome Tonight? (Islands of Aloha Mystery Series #5) Page 14