I grabbed the jug and went to find my stepmother.
CHAPTER 32
I pushed through the master bedroom door. Sunny was sitting in an armchair wearing a white terry cloth robe. She’d wrapped a bright blue towel around her head and she was chatting on her cell.
“What are you doing barging in like this?” she said, popping up. “As you can see, I’m on the phone.” I was holding the anti-freeze jug behind my back, and when I brought it out where she could see it, I watched her eyes widen.
“I gotta go,” she said to the caller. Then she threw the phone on the bed.
“Look what I found in the kitchen.”
“What are you doing going through my stuff?”
“You liar. You knew all along, didn’t you?”
“Don’t believe that old man, Pali. It just like I said. Robert started it. Phil just grabbed the bat.”
“And clubbed them both to death.”
“Look, I promised your father I’d—”
I advanced on her in attack position. “Don’t you ever refer to that murderer that way again. Philip Wilkerson killed my mother in cold blood.”
She stepped back and grabbed a lamp off the nightstand. Then she yanked the cord out of of the wall. “Don’t come any closer.”
“Why’d you poison Peggy?” I said. “Were you afraid she’d contest the will? Or was she blackmailing you? Threatening to air the Wilkerson’s dirty secret unless you threw a few bucks her way?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Peggy died in a car crash.”
“Yeah, after you’d laced her drink with anti-freeze. And then you sent her over to me so I’d be the last person to see her alive.”
“You’re nuts. All that Homeland Security crap must’ve turned you paranoid.” She parried the lamp toward me as if goading me to try and grab it.
“Put the stupid lamp down,” I said.
She threw it against the opposite wall and as my eyes flicked toward the moving object, she reached into the nightstand and pulled out a pistol. It was a small nine millimeter, probably a Kel-Tec PF-9 or maybe a Walther.
“Okay. I don’t want to use this,” she said pointing the gun at my chest. “But I just need some time to think.”
She sidestepped to the bed and picked up her cell phone. “Timo, I need you to bring the car around.”
There was a pause and then she said in a tight voice, “No, right now.”
I watched her bearing like I’d read a martial arts opponent. What were my odds? I ran through the likely scenarios and then acted.
I ducked and Sunny fired. So much for not planning to use it. The shot was not as loud as I’d imagined it’d be, but it was certainly loud enough to bring Timo running. I brought up one leg and caught her square in the sternum. She crashed onto her back, but still somehow managed to keep her grip on the gun.
With Timo on the way, my best recourse was to bolt. There was no way I could hold off both of them. The master bedroom had a door that opened onto the lanai. I figured it would be locked, but I managed to twist the lock open and make it outside before Sunny had a chance to aim.
Blam! I didn’t bother to turn around and see where the bullet had gone.
I headed toward my rental car but then remembered the keys were in my purse. Just as I hit the steps of the ohana, I heard running footsteps coming up on my right.
Timo.
“Stop right there,” he said.
In the split second I had to react, I made my decision. I hit the door of the ohana with just enough time to make it inside. But not enough time to lock the door behind me.
I dodged into the den and hid behind the door. I could hear Timo’s heavy breathing as he came through the open front door.
“I got no beef wit’ you,” he said. “Come out. We can talk.”
I controlled my breathing as best I could but I knew it wouldn’t be long before he’d start searching the house. And the den was the first room on his right. I hadn’t had time to notice if he was armed but I knew I should assume he was.
His heavy footfalls echoed on the hardwood floors as he came closer. I thought about my mother’s last moments and in a flash of resolve I knew what I had to do.
I waited until his bulky frame threw a shadow in the crack between the door and the frame. Then I pushed the door into his face as hard as I could. Even so, it wasn’t enough to knock him down.
“You bitch,” he screamed.
Now he knew my position so there was no sense staying trapped behind the door. I jumped out, ready to throw a punch or a kick or whatever I could manage against an opponent twice my size.
His face was smeared in blood. The door must’ve caught his nose. He looked even more frightening than before but I wouldn’t allow myself the luxury of being terrified.
In a display of despicably bad sportsmanship I shifted my weight left, cocked my leg and aimed right for his balls.
Timo went down like a harpooned whale. His howling was so pitiful I felt a flush of guilt but it evaporated when I saw Sunny’s Kel-Tec on the floor where he’d dropped it. I grabbed the gun.
“Get up,” I said, pointing the gun at him
“I can’t.”
“Fine. Stay there.”
I grabbed my purse off the coffee table and ran to my car. I had no idea where Sunny might be and no clue whether she had just the one gun or an entire arsenal. I stuck the key in the ignition and sent up a little prayer of thanks to the Ford Motor Company when the engine turned over. I bounced down the rutted road and had nearly made it to the gate when I had to slam on the brakes. A police car with lights flashing was blocking my way.
CHAPTER 33
Detective Kiki Wong used her onboard bullhorn to tell me to put down the gun and get out of the car with my hands up. I thought the bullhorn was unnecessary, maybe even a little melodramatic, but why have all the bells and whistles if you never get to use them?
I did what she’d ordered.
“You’re under arrest,” she said as she told me to put my hands behind my back. She clamped on handcuffs. I was surprised at how much it hurt when I tried to wiggle my wrists.
“You have this all wrong,” I said.
“Wow, that’s a new one,” she said. She opened the back door of the cop car and put her hand on my head as I ducked to get inside. She leaned in. “Really. You win the prize for most original comment made during an arrest by a citizen in a starring role.”
Once she and her partner had climbed inside, I went on. “No, I’m serious. That wasn’t my gun. It was Sunny’s. She pulled it on me when I confronted her about the anti-freeze.”
At the mention of ‘anti-freeze’ the two cops glanced at each other. Then Detective Wong’s partner, Akuna, turned and looked at me. “Do yourself a favor and save it for the interview, okay?”
We got to the station and Wong and Akuna escorted me to the same room I’d been in the day before. “Don’t you guys have more than one interview room?” I said. “Because I’ve been here four times now and I always get put in this same room.”
They chose to read me my rights instead of answer my question.
After a grueling hour of questioning I asked how long I was going to have to wear the handcuffs.
“Oh, my bad,” said Akuna. “I forgot.” He winked at me as if we were sharing a joke. My wrists were red and starting to swell so the humor was lost on me.
In mid-afternoon they brought me a sandwich and a Diet Pepsi. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I’d taken a bite. Then I wolfed down the rest of the sandwich in less than a minute.
“You still hungry?” said Wong. “I could get you a candy bar or something.”
“How much longer is this going to take?” I’d already told them everything I knew about Phil and Arthur’s cover up of the murder of my mom and my uncle Robert. I’d explained about finding anti-freeze under Sunny’s kitchen sink and how it pointed to Peggy’s unexplained intoxication before her accident and my vomiting that mornin
g. It seemed to me their time could be better served corroborating my allegations than asking me the same questions over and over.
“You’re no longer a suspect,” said Wong. “We’ve dropped the arrest and upgraded your status to witness.”
I looked around the interview room. “I’m a witness?”
“That’s correct.”
“I have a degree in criminology, so I know the drill. You can’t hold a witness against their will.”
“That’s also correct.”
“Then I guess I will have that candy bar. And I’ll buy it on my way out of here.”
***
I flew back to Maui without retrieving my overnight bag at Sunny’s. I called Steve and he came down and picked me up.
“A lot has happened since you’ve been gone,” he said.
“Yeah?”
“Farrah and Shadow had a falling out. Seems Farrah got in Shadow’s face about something to do with Hatch.” He looked over at me as if hoping I’d talked to Farrah and could fill in some details.
“What? Don’t look at me. I’ve been on Kaua’i.” But I had a hunch I knew what it was about. And bless Farrah. I couldn’t wait to see her.
“So anyway, Shadow moved to a women’s shelter in Wailuku and she’s applied for unemployment benefits.”
“Don’t you have to have had a job in the first place to get unemployment?” I said.
“Yeah, but she’s saying she worked at Farrah’s store.”
“You’re kidding. But Farrah’s a sole proprietor. She doesn’t have employees.”
“Bingo,” he said. “So now Shadow’s gotten her in big trouble. She told them Farrah made her work off the clock and she paid her under the table. She also claimed Farrah’s been doing it for years with Beatrice.”
“But Bea just comes in a few hours a week. And Farrah pays her in groceries,” I said.
“I know. But the State of Hawaii doesn’t see it like that. You’re supposed to pay minimum wage, and workman’s comp and taxes and stuff.”
“Great. So Shadow’s gotten her in trouble with the state.”
“Unfortunately, that’s the least of it,” he said.
I looked over and he looked genuinely troubled.
“What else?” I said.
“Shadow’s decided she doesn’t want Farrah to have Moke after all.”
“What?”
“Yeah. I guess she called Farrah a bunch of names and said she’d changed her mind.”
“But they had a hanai agreement,” I said. “We had the baptism.”
“It’s her kid. She can do what she wants.”
By then we were approaching Pa’ia. “You want me to drop you at the Gadda?” he said.
“Yes, please.”
Farrah looked positively haggard. Luckily, there weren’t any customers when I got there. I went behind the counter and gripped her in a tight hug.
“I heard,” I said. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“I loved him so much,” she whispered. “I only had him two weeks but I loved him as if he was my very own.”
“I know.” Her shoulders shook with her sobbing. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and went over and locked the front door.
Screw the pot-head craving the Snickers bar. This was a family crisis.
***
I called Hatch that night. I wasn’t sure how it would go. Could we get through this or had we finally reached the tipping point?
“I’m back,” I said.
“Hey, I wanted to call, but… anyhow, did you hear?”
“About Farrah and Moke? Yeah, I heard.”
“I feel real bad,” he said. “Kind of like it was my fault or something.”
“Ya think? She and Shadow were friends, Hatch. You two hooking up was just—”
“What? You think I was doing that? Look, can I see you? I don’t want to talk about this on the phone.”
“I don’t know, Hatch. This is serious. I’ve just been through hell with this thing with my mother, and now you sneaking around like this. Farrah’s my best friend and you’ve betrayed us both.”
“Stop. Let me come up there. I’ll only stay five minutes.”
“I’m not in the mood for a sales job, Hatch.”
“No sales job. Just hear me out. I think I deserve that much.”
“How about I come down there? Steve’s making dinner for Steven up here tonight and I’d rather talk about this without an audience.”
When I got to Hatch’s he’d already poured two glasses of wine. “You want some cheese and crackers?” he said. “How about chips? I’ve got some taro chips around here somewhere.”
He looked trashed. Two-day stubble; dark circles under his eyes. His slumped shoulders made him look two inches shorter.
“Okay,” he said. “Before you start yelling, let me explain what happened. And then I never want to talk about it again. Deal?”
“Go ahead.”
“That girl started coming on to me from day one. When Farrah was here she kept her in line, but after Farrah left, the little bitch put on a full-court press. I told her to cool it and she promised she would.”
“I wouldn’t call her little lingerie show after the baptism exactly ‘cooling it’.”
“I know. She was calling my bluff. I’d warned her if she pulled anything in front of my friends I’d kick her to the curb. But she used those kids like hostages.”
It added up.
He ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I was stunned when she came parading out like that. You may think I’m just a dumb smoke-eater but I know when I’m being played. When you left, I was fighting mad at you.”
“Mad at me? What’d you have to be mad about?” I said.
“Mad that you had so little faith in me. Mad that you thought I was such a dumb-ass that I’d wreck us for the likes of her.”
“I guess I underestimated you.”
“Damn straight you did. That girl’s bad news, Pali. She may be able to take that kid away from Farrah, but I’ve put her name up on emergency services radar. One complaint, one nine-one-one call, one hang-nail on any of those kids and I’ll have child services on her ass like white on rice.”
That was the Hatch I knew and loved.
Making up may be the only upside to a having a fight. But in the right hands, it’s the best upside there is.
EPILOGUE
The Kaua'i Police Department got to work unraveling Arthur Chesterton’s cover-up of the 1981 murder of Marta Warner Wilkerson and Robert Allen Wilkerson. As it turned out, the mayor got his wish to have his time run out before he could be taken to task. He died of a lung infection before charges were filed and before they could strip him of his pension.
The medical examiner ran a secondary tox screen on samples taken from Peggy Chesterton’s body. He determined that although the anti-freeze, or ethylene glycol, markers had vastly deteriorated due to refrigeration, he could reasonably state she most probably had been poisoned prior to her fatal accident.
Sunny Wilkerson was indicted on one count of first-degree murder and a second count of attempted murder. Valentine declined to represent her, citing conflict of interest. If Sunny is found guilty she won’t be allowed to collect her share of Phil Wilkerson’s inheritance until she’s served her time. And even then, probably Peggy’s two kids will sue her in civil court for every last dime.
I’m at peace with my decision on what to do with Phil’s money. I intend to have a double gravestone made for my mom and Robert and have it placed in the Maui cemetery where Auntie Mana is buried. I’m going to have it engraved, Beloved Parents of Pali and Jeff. I figure if I can blow off the stupid name my father gave me, I can also blow off acknowledging our biological relationship.
I’m going to take some of the money and pay off my mortgage and buy myself a new car. Why not? Phil never gave me squat, so the SOB can make up for it now.
I’m going to put the bulk of the money in a trust for Phil’s other kids. I’ve talked with most of them, and, as
much as it pains me to admit it, I agree with Phil on one thing: they’re spoiled rotten. How does the law describe it? Fruit of the poison tree? Yeah, that’s them.
Finally, telling my brother Jeff about how our mother died was the hardest conversation I’ve ever had. I hated telling him on the phone, but I had weddings coming up and I’d blown my airfare budget going back and forth to Kaua'i. His silence made the revelation even harder since I wanted to hug him but twenty-four hundred miles of ocean stood between us.
“I want to come over when you install the gravestone,” he said.
“I’d love that.”
“And then let’s spend a little time together.”
“Great. I’ll make up the guest room.”
“No, I’ve slept on that nasty sofa-bed of yours,” he said. “I think we should get away.”
“Get away? To where?”
“I think we should spend a few days in the city.”
“San Francisco?”
“No. Who wants to hang out in the fog and rain?” he said. “I’m talking Honolulu.”
And so Honolulu it will be.
Acknowledgements
Every book begins as a tiny kernel of an idea and grows into a few hundred pages of love, sweat and tears. This book turned out to be a lot of all three, especially sweat, but I thank everyone for hanging in there with me.
My first shout out goes to Roger and Diana Paul. They’re big Kaua'i enthusiasts and generous to a fault. Thanks again for everything.
I also want to thank Sam and Ann Densler who trooped along without complaint as I researched every tourist trap and hidey hole on the island. I hope you enjoyed lunch at the Kong Lung Historic Market Center in as much as I did.
Mahalo to Preston Myers of Safari Helicopter on Kaua'i for a never-to-be-forgotten look at the entire island, but especially the bird’s eye view of the Pali Coast.
4 Kaua'i Me a River Page 19