by Kym Roberts
“Daven would have found the opportunity at another time and another place. Peter’s murder is not your fault.”
Pai nodded, and I felt his tension ease a bit, but I wasn’t quite sure he truly believed he held no responsibility for Peter’s death. In time, I hoped he would.
After we finished eating, we hopped into his Jeep and I called John and put him on speaker. He sounded like he’d been up all night. Again.
John apologized to Pai, making me feel a whole lot better about my brother and then told us about his interrogation. Mutt admitted he got involved when Windy introduced him to her boyfriend, MD, who became Mutt’s supplier of Special K. Windy’s boyfriend worked for Raines, putting up drywall and painting, and hooked Mutt up with a job. But somehow construction graduated to burglaries of Raines’ properties.
Mutt didn’t know why, he just joined MD on the burglaries to earn money for his dope. When Mutt and MD arrived at The Garden of the Gods on the night Peter Johnson was killed, they were supposed to burglarize the construction site again, or so Mutt believed. Then everyone arrived in the middle of the job. To make matters worse, Peter hung around after the meeting. Mutt confessed that Pai left first, confirming Pai’s version of the story. Then Raines left, by himself. Which pointed the finger at Windy’s lie, and left Peter alone, walking the grounds of his dream.
That’s when MD shocked the hell out of Mutt by sneaking up on Peter, and smashing his skull with a ball-peen hammer. When Mutt wanted to run, MD ordered Mutt to help dispose of the body, or go down for Peter’s murder. Mutt got the impression the plan never really involved stealing any copper, since they’d taken jet skis that MD had Mutt rent, to the site for the first time. The same jet skis they’d ended up using to dispose of Peter’s body at sea.
Before lawyering up, Mutt insisted that Peter never saw it coming. Never felt a thing.
I was relieved to know Peter didn’t experience any pain. He didn’t deserve to die, but at least his family would know he didn’t suffer.
“I’m going to text you a mug shot of a guy. I want you to tell me if you recognize him.”
“Okay.” My phone beeped almost instantaneously. I looked at the photo.
“Holy Shit!”
Pai jerked the wheel. Kind of like when you’re daydreaming and someone comes up behind you. I didn’t scare him, just startled an over-reactive jolt out of him.
“Who is it?” My brother and Pai asked in unison.
“That’s the guy at the convenience store with Joe. The guy who was going to beat the shit out of him.” I looked at Pai. “Remember? I nick-named him Mad Dog.
“It was Mad Dog that killed Peter Johnson… and he was going to kill Misty. Mad Dog was MD.”
Pai caught up, his body relaxing now that he was in his comfort zone. In my head. And MD tried to kill Makaio. When you met Mad Dog, Peter was trying to tell you about him, Malia, but you wouldn’t listen. He told you to ‘Run!’”
Okay, that was too deep for me to shovel, but still MD was Mad Dog. The coincidence was pretty freaky.
Pai continued for John’s ears, “I didn’t see the guy’s face last night, otherwise I would have been able to identify him for you. I saw a hole in the side of his head, kicked his gun away and went to my cousin. But what Malia’s trying to say, is that we ran into him at Windy’s job. He was not a nice individual.” Pai’s voice showed confidence in my powers.
Fate brought Mad Dog and me together, I argued. If I believed anything else, I would have to believe I was a Guardian of the Menehune race. Yeah, I wasn’t quite ready to go there yet.
You will, Baby Doll, you will.
Ignoring Pai’s onslaught, I started thinking more about what I’d observed Windy doing at LeLe’s Convenience Store both times I’d seen her. But the first time, I only watched her actions for a few moments. I’d been watching Joe getting his coffee, walking up to the counter and Windy boob dancing, then Joe stumbling out. The second time I’d gone in, I’d tried to avoid her, but she wouldn’t let me.
Whap. It hit me like a two by four right across the forehead. The other customer. The woman dragging her very short husband out of the store. He was tipsy.
“There was a woman who dragged her tipsy husband out of the convenience store immediately after he…” I looked at Pai and said for John’s benefit, “interacted with Windy. At the time, I thought the woman was irritated because he was looking at another woman wiggle her boobs, but maybe she was protecting him.”
Pai was with me all the way this time. John, not so much. “Mal…”
“Maybe she thought Windy was selling him some drugs?” I suggested.
Or the woman knows something I know nothing about, Pai added in my head.
John brought our conversation back to reality. “Short of finding the couple, that theory is dead in the water.”
“Did you arrest Windy?” I tried to conceal the hopefulness in my voice, but I knew I failed miserably when Pai’s left eyebrow arched.
“No, I’ve had her in, and questioned her extensively. She claims she didn’t know anything about it. Raines threatened to have MD arrested for drugs and murder if she didn’t provide Raines with an alibi, but she refused. Then MD threatened to kick her ass if she didn’t do it, so she did. She admitted that she never saw Raines or MD the night Peter Johnson was killed. But, because she lied the first time, we’re back tracking trying to prove everything.”
My entire body tightened. Un-frickin’ believable. I could tell by the tone of his voice, John was frustrated. He knew Windy was involved. She’d been in the middle of too much. Yet, she’d also been victimized and the lines were completely blurred.
“What about the other night when she did something to the guard at The Garden of the Gods?”
“His tox-screen was negative. She says she went there to ‘have a good time.’ He can’t remember anything after seeing her boobs. He could have gotten too excited and passed out for all we know. I’ve got her on giving false information, but if she was coerced into her statement…” John was ready to move on, I could tell.
I wouldn’t accept that. Couldn’t accept that. “But…”
“Listen, Malia, I’m knee deep in this investigation. I shouldn’t be talking to you, but you were instrumental in catching Mutt and MD, and I thank you for that. I will let you know when we catch up with Raines. In the meantime, stay safe.”
My brother hung up and I turned toward Pai. He already knew what I was going to say.
“You’re the only one who can get close enough to Windy to find out about the Menehune Curse. You can drop me off at my apartment on your way. I have two surf lessons this afternoon, but I’ll talk to you after that.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to separate.” His voice was unrelenting. He wasn’t going to give in without a fight.
I found his reluctance to drop me off endearing. He was worried about my safety, but it was unnecessary.
“Pai, Raines is on the run. He’s not about to waste his time with revenge. He’s the type to have others do the dirty work for him. Besides, there’s no way Windy will talk in front of me.”
And I had no doubt Windy would be tripping all over herself to get into Pai’s pants. I did not want to see that.
“So you trust me enough to be able to free myself from a booby trap?” The tone of his voice was light. Teasing.
“If you know what’s good for you…yes.” I tried to hide the jealousy rolling off of me like water crashing down the jagged rocks of Wailua Falls. Nevertheless, Pai’s sideways glance and barely concealed smile were proof that he knew exactly what I was feeling.
Placing my jealousy aside, Pai and I worked out our plan of attack, and I gave him several locations to look for Windy. The different beaches, her parent’s address, her job at the convenience store, and the address of her boyfriend before MD, just in case Windy found herself needing to be consoled.
Pai pulled into the parking lot behind my apartment. Like teenagers on their first dat
e, we sat there wondering if we should kiss goodbye. That awkward feeling engulfed us, threatening to ruin the moment if we waited too long.
Pai leaned over and pulled my head toward him with one hand on the back of my neck. His slow, lingering kiss left no doubt he wanted more. And there was no doubt I wanted more, which produced his dimple as he pulled his lips away and put his forehead against mine.
We stayed there a moment in each other’s heads, but in control. I was the first to pull away, amazed that I could.
“A hui hou, Pai.”
A hui hou aku, Ki`i pēpē.
Goodbye, Baby Doll. I’d never get tired of hearing that.
Chapter Thirty
Makaio’s bike was still in my parking lot. I hadn’t noticed it until Pai drove off, then the guilt slammed into my chest.
I wanted to call him. Go see him. Images of him lying on a couch while his kapuna wahine doted over him brought a smile to my face. I wasn’t sure if it was real, or if my imagination was running away with me, but I did know, he was okay.
The bad news? My feelings continued to bounce back and forth like a beach ball in a football stadium with a crowd consisting of two. Pai and Makaio. Boing, Pai. Boing, Makaio. Boing — I didn’t know where the ball would bounce next. I really had no clue. But I think Pai and Makaio were just as confused as I was, so I cut myself some slack.
I grabbed Makaio’s helmet (mine being nailed up tightly inside my apartment), and I bypassed the Ducati Streetfighter calling my name. But only because I didn’t have the keys. I got on the now friendly orange scooter and headed in the direction of Menehune Pharmacy, the face of a certain young pharmacist popping into my head. Jade knew something about the race of people who were no longer mythical to me. (I wasn’t quite convinced of their magical state, but they definitely existed.) And she had a past with Pai, no doubt a member of his harem. (Had they touched, or cheated in the telepathic airways?)
I found Jade in the back of the over-stuffed, aisles assisting an elderly man with his medication. Bending over his cane, he flirted shamelessly with the woman a third his age. And Jade flirted right back; she’d always had a way with men that I envied. After a few minutes, he thanked her and went to pay for his medication, smiling as he passed me. I returned the gesture, but couldn’t think of anything to say.
Jade saw me, and the same warm, inviting smile spread across her face. “Aloha, Malia.”
I gave her a lopsided grin. “Aloha, Jade. I wasn’t sure if you’d be happy to see me or not. Is there somewhere we can talk privately?” I asked, looking around the store.
“Certainly. There’s a consultant room just past the pharmacy desk.”
We walked to the glassed-in room talking about her daughter the whole way. Chills went down my spine at the thought of being a parent. Jade was completely wrapped-up in the real world of adulthood, with a real job and a real husband, who just happened to come from a mythical race.
We entered the enclosure marked Consulting, Jade closed the frosted glass door behind us, and we took a seat in the metal chairs with padded seats.
Jade hooked her long black hair behind her ear. “I knew you’d come see me.”
Taken aback, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”
“I figured you’d come back when you wanted more information…about Al…Pai.”
I blushed and looked at her sheepishly. “Was I that transparent?”
She smiled that secret smile we shared as teenagers when we had a specific guy one of us couldn’t get out of our heads. Funny how applicable that really was. “All women are when it comes to men like Pai. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here, would you?”
“Actually, Pai is kind of a secondary reason for me being here.” I confessed.
She raised an inquisitive feminine brow. “Oh?”
“This is completely confidential, okay?”
“I understand what confidentiality means, I never told your brother you were sneaking out with me to go to the bars, did I? Or the midnight surfing parties? Or—”
“Okay, sorry. I know you won’t say a word.” I smiled, realizing just how many times she’d covered my ass during my rule-breaking teen years.
“What can I help you with?” Jade crossed her slim legs and appeared relaxed.
“I’m looking for a drug that wouldn’t leave a trace in a person’s urine. Something undetectable, extremely fast working, but I don’t know how it’s ingested.”
Jade laughed. “I’ve been trying to think about that since the other night. To be honest, there is only one thing that could affect Joe like that.”
I leaned forward on my chair. “What?”
Jade shook her head. “I can’t tell you.”
“What? Jade, don’t be ridiculous. It’s me. You know I won’t go blabbering it to the whole world.”
“I can’t. It will put too many people at risk.”
“You should know that Windy has made four men of Menehune descent, including Joe, become ill. The last guy was hospitalized. If you know what’s causing this, you have to help me stop her.”
Jade’s brain hooked on the name of the woman who’d taken advantage of her husband. “Windy was the one who did that to Joe?”
“Yeah, it was Windy.”
Jade’s lips pursed, no doubt remembering the quarterback who left her for Windy. Yeah, high school had been full of sex drama, thanks to Windy. The floodgates of information opened. “I’ve noticed an influx of Menehune coming into the pharmacy to buy drug tests, so I started quizzing them about it. Men were coming home, for lack of a better word, intoxicated. But they hadn’t ingested any drugs or alcohol. The women in their lives were angry, their routines disrupted, and the men were confused. Periods of consciousness were lost to them, but several of the men remembered seeing a woman’s breast right before everything went dark. When I pushed for more information, they were either unable to give it or refused to talk about it anymore. I’m pretty sure that none of the men remembered anything after seeing this woman’s breasts.”
“Windy,” escaped my lips.
It couldn’t be that easy. A woman’s boobs? Sure, some men can’t take their eyes off any set of boobs. They prefer to talk to a woman’s chest instead of her face, but why wouldn’t the Menehune men get drunk from every pair of boobs they saw, if that was the curse? What made Windy’s double Ds so special?
“Windy exposed herself and immediately afterwards men became intoxicated. No drugs or alcohol. Just Windy. And her boobs. I know she’s the source, I just don’t know what she’s doing to them.” I explained.
Jade folded her arms across her chest. “I need to see her breasts.”
If a man had said that to me, I would have scoffed, and been disgusted with his sly attempt to see Windy’s double Ds. Coming from Jade, it was kind of funny. Jade didn’t think so. Her lips were pressed in a thin, determined line and her eyes sparkled with anger. She didn’t see anything humorous about Windy exposing herself to Joe.
“Why do you want to see her breasts?” I asked, not sure I wanted the answer.
“If I see her breasts, I may be able to figure out the cause, which will lead me to the cure.” Jade leaned forward, excitement burned in her eyes. It was kind of freaky.
“But what do you hope to find?” I certainly didn’t want to look at them.
She grinned, a sly look of a mongoose on the prowl. “Tattoos.”
“Excuse me?” The whole thing was getting too much on the hocus pocus side of thinking for me.
Jade’s smile softened, knowing her excitement wasn’t shared, her shoulders rose and fell in a sign of resignation. “This cannot go beyond these walls.” She searched my face.
“I understand.” Not really, but hopefully I would soon.
“The Menehune people left Hawai’i because of the Menehune Curse, but it’s not so much of a curse as it is a spell, written in kakau or tattoo art. According to the legends, a Menehune man can be enslaved for various purposes if exposed to the spell. It sounds as if the
spell has been unearthed, but Windy’s tattoos may not be placed properly on her body to cast the spell effectively. If I see the tattoos, the men can have wards placed on their body to protect them.”
I must have looked skeptical, probably because I was saying ‘bullshit’ in my head.
Jade tried to convince me. “Kakau wasn’t just designed to distinguish roles in society and tell family history, it was for protection of health and spiritual strength. It’s the art of the gods carefully placed on the body by the kahuna to keep our people safe.”
Trying to follow what I didn’t believe, I asked, “So you think Windy’s spell is…misplaced?”
“Yes,” Jade unfolded her arms and grabbed my hand. “I need to see her tattoos to protect my husband.”
Despite not believing, I completely understood her desire to protect her family, and if she thought a tattoo on her husband would protect him from evil boobs, who was I to argue.
“I have a picture…”
Jade squeezed my hand in anticipation.
I hated to disappoint her. “But I left the camera at Pai’s and it doesn’t show all of her tattoo.”
“We need a picture of the entire tattoo. My mom is a healer in the ancient ways. If there is something unique about Windy’s tattoos, she’ll know.”
I thought about bringing the police into the investigation, but so far, John believed the men just got excited and passed out. Without more information, and a little imagination on everyone’s part, I’d be laughed out of the station. Unfortunately for me, the only person I knew who could get us a picture of the tattoos was Pai.
Hua.
I pulled my hand away and squirmed a little in my chair. I couldn’t make any promises. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you.” Jade stood up and smoothed out the front of her lab coat.
I wasn’t quite done. “Jade, I…I need to know what happened between you and Pai.”
Jade smiled sadly and shook her head. “That’s not for me to tell you, Mal.”
“But—”
“I’m sorry. Let me know when you have the pictures.” She turned and walked out the door.