“I might retire.”
“You may, but I doubt it.” MacGruder stood up. “I’ve taken enough of your time, John. Finish the bottle. Max and I have to get back to Coronado. There are some things that need our attention, or at least that’s what people believe. We don’t wish for them to find out otherwise, now do we?”
“Thompson tried to blackmail you, didn’t he?”
There was a pause, and then he said, “Yes. He sent me a copy of a tape with Mary in it. It was, ah, not a pleasant experience. He followed up with a phone call, demanding money, threatening to ruin me.”
“Is that when you sent Max to see me?”
His gray eyes became steely. “Max did that on his own, John. I would never have considered asking you to do what you did. I could never do that. Max didn’t tell me about your involvement until you had left Pearl Harbor and were out chasing Thompson. By then all I could do was smooth the waters for you a little and get the law enforcement types off your back when you returned.”
“Thank you for that.”
“I didn’t send Max. He came on his own. Sometimes he listens to my telephone conversations. He heard Thompson’s threat. And I found that out only after the fact. Max knew Mary and it hurt him to see what had happened to her, and what Thompson was trying to do to me.”
Max had been quiet up to this point, and he leaned forward on massive forearms. “John, the man’s telling the truth. He didn’t know I was here. That’s why I only had one day to find you. And here you are. Guess I had the right idea. You know if Thompson had been arrested, and he got one of those asshole lawyers they have these days, he’d put Mary on trial. Thompson would have dragged everybody down with him, and the admiral would have gone down, too. This way it’s over, and it stays over.”
I nodded. Except Kate wasn’t with me, and never would be again. “I understand,” I said. “You did the best you could. Goodbye, Admiral. I hope to see you someday. Under better circumstances.”
He shook my hand. I was happy to see he still had a firm grip. Maybe he would get better. That’s what this was supposed to be all about, anyway. “Call me if you get bored, John, or if you need anything.”
As he left, Max patted me on the shoulder. “Well, sailor boy, you did good. I’m sorry about Kate. These things don’t always work out for everybody.”
“She was doing her job, Max. That’s all I can say right now.”
“You can reach the admiral through me. I’ll be there if you ever need anything. And so will he. He owes you now, John. And so do I.” He followed MacGruder, leaving me with my thoughts and the bottle of wine. And the briefcase. I opened it and saw neat banded stacks of currency. It looked like the same money I’d given Max. There was an envelope, too; a slim, cream-colored no. ten, and it was unsealed.
I picked it up and lifted the flap. Inside was a light blue certified check from something called WMG Holding Company payable to me in the amount of two hundred fifty thousand dollars. It was more than Duchess was worth, including the contents. I closed the briefcase and locked it. There would be time to consider it. There would be time to consider all of it. But not now. Not tonight. Maybe not for a long time. I reached for the bottle and filled my glass.
FOUR MONTHS LATER
“The wall looks good.” Ed Alapai delivered a slap on the back with his judgment. I was proud of my reconstruction of the ancient wall of the heiau and it gratified me that he approved. “This is good, Kane, you know?” Alapai always referred to me as Kane. Not since Kate’s memorial service did he call me by my name. It was his way of showing approval, his way of taking me into the family.
I was sweating under a December sun. This far north the Hawaiian sun could still be brutal even in winter.
“Here, man, it looks like you need it.” He handed me a water bottle. “Come into the trees. Only a commoner works in the sun like that.”
“Well, call me a commoner,” I said.
“You’re leaving,” said Alapai when we’d settled in the shade of a banyan tree. It wasn’t native, but we’d decided to leave it as it shaded the heiau all year round. It even provided protection from rainstorms. Mosquitoes left us alone. That was one of the mysteries of this place. Mosquitoes always attacked in the shade. But they didn’t here.
“You knew.”
He nodded. “I could see the signs, man. We’re not done here, but we’ve made progress. You’ve helped.” The temple site, on the northern flank of Anahola Mountain, had been covered by jungle growth and shrubs when Ed found it. He had already cleared an impressive area alone, with just his machete, before I arrived. Together we had uncovered more ancient structures, one of which I’d taken on as my project, and I reconstructed its black lava rock walls. It was hard work, demanding of both mind and body, just what I needed. As my injuries healed and my spirit mended it became easier.
“How long have you known?”
“When did you first think about leaving?”
“The thought hit me last week, when we went into town for groceries.”
“You were looking at the newspapers. I knew then.”
I nodded. He was right. That was when the idea solidified. It had been building over the past month, gaining strength, but I didn’t recognize it for what it was. When I saw the headlines of the happenings away from this island paradise and felt a hunger for information, I knew that my isolation was no longer necessary.
“When will you leave?”
“Can you take me to the airport tomorrow morning?”
“Yes,” he said. He raised his arms to enfold the forest around us, encompassing the north shore of Kauai. “It will be here for you when you need to come back.” He smiled, a fierce, grim smile of a warrior-priest from outside of time. “And you will find the need to return. I know you, brother. You will come to miss Kauai as you do Kate. There will be always a longing for this place. And here you will always be welcome.” The big man got to his feet. “Wait here a moment. Relax in the shade while I get something.”
I slumped against the log and rested while he walked down to the little house where he lived with his family. The house was the first thing we built. Before I came they had been living in a rough A-frame that was little more than a tent. With some of the money recovered from the diamonds we built a sturdy two-room pole house with indoor plumbing and a solar water heater. I split the rest of the diamond recovery with him fifty-fifty. That would have been Kate’s share and since Ed Alapai was her closest living relative it was all I could do. As the admiral had said, it was only right.
I was nearly asleep when he returned. “I have a gift for you.” Ed handed me a small wooden object. It was smooth to the touch, and had a hole drilled through the small end for a string woven from rough fibers. “This is a paloa. That means ‘tongue.’ It represents friendship and trust.”
I took the paloa and hung it around my neck.
“You will be Cain, again,” said the big man. “Condemned to roam the earth. That seems to be your curse. But always remember you now have a place to come home to.”
I nodded. I tried to say something, but my throat closed upon itself.
“It’s to go with you on your travels and to remind you of us, of home. Someday, my friend, you will find what you are searching for.”
“And what’s that?”
“Peace. And a good woman. You can’t have one without the other, you know.”
“They keep killing them off.”
He nodded. “That’s why the good ones are so rare.”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“There’s a flight out of Lihue to Honolulu at seven-thirty. That early enough?”
“Sure.”
“Where are you going?”
“San Diego, I think. That’s where I was headed when I came to Hawaii with Duchess. I think I’ll buy a new boat. Maybe drop in on Max.”
“Kimo tells me he’s a good man.”
“One of the best.”
“So you’re a rich man, Kane. You got goo
d friends, and you had love. You got money. What more could you want?”
“She’s out there,” I said, pointing toward the ocean beyond the green cliff face of Anahola Mountain. “Use your magic. Bring her back.”
“I wish I could. I miss her, too.” He shook his head. “Better get back to work. Clean your tools and we’ll run down to the beach to clean off this sweat. Last time for you. On the way back we’ll buy beer, chips, maybe a ham. Have some friends over tonight. Throw a party, a luau. Do a little dancing. Give you a send-off in style. That sound good to you?”
It did.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful to many people who helped in the creation of this novel. Rear Admiral Bill Cockle (Ret.), who knows every nuance of the United States Navy and assisted in technical matters; Maxime Dougé, for his steadfast enthusiasm and for being a good friend in times both good and bad, here and there; Detectives Joyce Alapa and Mike Johnson, for letting me see inside the Honolulu PD (and for being there to watch my back when it really counted); Adrian Turley, for being a best friend who can always find the flaw; Bob Randisi and the Private Eye Writers of America, for being the first to see something special in the story; Ruth Cavin and the rest of St. Martin’s editorial staff for their professional, patient and insightful guidance. There is something very special about these people. I am the better person for counting them as friends. It is a better book because of their association.
And I have to thank my children, Sarah, Abigail and Charles, for putting up with a missing father from time to time. I love you all.
Finally, this book would not have been completed without the unflagging support and love of my wife, Ildiko. No man could be more blessed
from “Shark Hula for Kalaniopu’u”
(for Ka’lani’opu’u, uncle of King Kamehameha I)
Ka llkea, ka man ke’ehi ‘ale,
Ka niuhi moe lawa ‘o Ka-lani-‘pu‘u,
‘O ka h’elo’elo wela ‘ole ia o ka maka,
‘O ka umu ia nana e hahao i ka ‘ena’ena.
‘O Ka-welo loloa nana e ho‘lili,
A ‘a’’o Ka-lani-kau-lele ka hiwa.
O lalapa n ka lua keiki
‘O Ka-p-likoliko-i-ka-lani,
A kau maka man, o ka maka ‘anapa,
‘O ka nanana i ‘ a i ’ane’i.
You are a white-finned shark riding the crest of the wave,
O Ka-lani-‘pu’u:
a tiger shark resting without fear
a rain quenching the sun’s eye-searing glare
a grim oven glowing underground:
towering Ka-welo lighted it
who caused Ka-lani-kau-lele, the Chosen,
to blaze.
Their child was flaming Ka-p-likoliko-i-ka-lani
she with the shark’s face and flashing eyes
she of the restless questing gaze.
Reprinted by permission from The Echo of Our Song:
Chants & Poems of the Hawaiians. Translated & Edited by Mary K. Pukui & Alfons L. Korn. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1991.
DIAMOND HEAD. Copyright © 1996 by Ildi Co. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Production Editor: David Stanford Burr
Design by Ellen R. Sasahara
eISBN 9781429925303
First eBook Edition : May 2011
Library of Congress Catatloging-in-Publication Data
Knief, Charles.
Diamond Head / Charles Knief.—1st ed.
p. cm.
“A Thomas Dunne book.”
ISBN 0-312-14558-6
I. Title.
PS3561.N426D53 1996
813’.54—dc20
96-21238
CIP
Diamond Head Page 21