by Kay Hadashi
“Actually, I do mind. The part about the bear being my problem isn’t exactly right. It’s your problem, also.”
“Why me?”
“You touched on something with the residue. The bear was stuffed full of methamphetamine.”
Melanie sat again. “What?”
“Part of evidence collection is to check for the presence of drugs, on the bodies and everything around them. There was nothing on the bodies or in the couple’s room. But when we checked the bear’s fur, we found minute traces of meth, the approximate amount that would be considered transfer amounts while being handled. That made us a little more curious about the bear, and when we looked closely at the stitching that held the back closed, we found a slightly different color and type of thread down the back from the rest of the seams on the toy. When we opened up the back, lo and behold, it was stuffed with one hundred one-gram packets of meth. Excellent quality, by the way.”
Melanie was shocked. “Meth? I had meth in my home?”
“With your permission, I’d like to send a team there to look around.”
“You sincerely believe I’m cooking meth and moving it by means of stuffing toys with it?”
“No, I don’t. But checking the place out now will save everyone a lot of grief and questions later. A defense attorney will try and make it look like you had something to do with the meth, not just with the teddy bear. If I find no traces of the drug, or the things needed to make it, it’s a lot easier for you when the case comes to trial. And the sooner, the better.”
“Fine with me. Maybe when they’re done, it’ll give my in-laws the incentive to run the vacuum cleaner and do a load of laundry. Anything else?”
“I’d like to check your office, if you don’t mind?”
Melanie stepped away from her desk. “Help yourself.”
After opening a couple of drawers in a cursory check, he got the door for her. “Doctor…”
“I know. Don’t leave the island.”
***
By the time Melanie got out of work that afternoon, she had an hour to spare. That gave her time to go to the small building she had bought recently to inspect the progress on her adventure sports store and bistro café. Since it had been designated a historical example of early twentieth century island architecture, she was limited with how many structural or aesthetic changes could be made. Parking toward the back, she found the foreman just packing up for the day. Maybe the most satisfying thing she found was how the old sign of Gonzo’s Surf Shop had been painted over.
“We got the electrical done today, Mayor, and hooked up the alarm system,” the foreman told her. “Nice system, too. It has an audible alarm outside, plus it sends an alert to the security company. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to set up the Wi-Fi and the closed circuit video system. If anyone comes in during closed hours, or even while the place is still being worked on, the police will have very clear images of them, and everything they do, inside and out of the building. Safe and sound, classy but laid back when we’re done with it.”
“That’s what I’m hoping for.”
He took her on a quick tour of the inside. “You’re planning on selling surf, rock climbing, and camping gear here?” he asked.
“I know surf equipment is a little over served here on Maui, but not climbing or camping. I’m hoping the surf stuff brings in people who will discover climbing and camping is just as much fun.”
“I think the bistro will bring them in. Get the right person to work it, and you’ll have a winner.”
Melanie laughed. “Yes, a pretty girl with lots of personality to serve legal addictive substances called coffee and pastries will always be a winning strategy. How much longer until I can bring in merchandise?”
“The roof, siding, windows, and doors are all on. That’s half the battle but only one-third the time. Give me two weeks to finish the store’s interior and another week after that to do the bistro. Then a week to paint and decorate everything. Give me a month and the place is yours.”
***
By the time she got home, the evidence team that Detective Nakatani promised had come and gone. Dinner was on the stove, with Josh attending to it.
“Where’re your parents? They didn’t want to help with dinner?” she asked.
“Dad’s with Thérèse and Mom’s with the baby.”
“But you must’ve just got home just a little while ago. I don’t see why you have to work all day and then come home and make dinner.”
“I don’t mind.” He turned off the stove. “At least it’ll be edible.”
It was an understatement, considering Dottie’s attempts at preparing vegetarian meals.
“Did those crime scene people take much?” Melanie asked.
“They looked through cabinets with flashlights, stuck little pieces of tape on things, swabbed stuff with Q-tips. Mom couldn’t quite figure out what was going on and Pop followed them around asking one question after another.”
“What did they tell him?”
“They mostly ignored him. Then, all of a sudden they packed up their stuff and left.”
Hearing her daughter’s voice telling a story to her grandfather drew Melanie to that room. Seeing her daughter pretending to read a book but making up a completely new story, she continued on to where the baby was left alone with Dottie, who had been having more trouble than usual that morning in remembering things.
“How are you feeling?” Melanie asked her mother-in-law. She quickly took over at the diaper job, turning it around to put it on the right way.
“Just so tired. There are so many things to keep up with now that the wedding is almost here.”
Melanie wondered if she missed hearing some news from her friend Trinh, that her wedding to Harmon was back on instead of them just moving in together. “Wedding?”
“This is the biggest thing to hit Willow Springs in years. A local boy marrying a girl from Maui. Everyone will be there.”
Melanie put a small blanket over the baby before turning her sights on her mother-in-law. She looked into the woman’s eyes first, before scanning the rest of her face with a physician’s eye. “Dottie, are you feeling okay?”
“Just tired.”
That wasn’t good enough. The woman’s sensorium was off and Melanie needed to know by how much. Relying on a basic test used at the hospital, she asked three simple questions.
“Dottie, do you know where you are?”
“Why, at home, of course.”
“Who is the President right now?”
Dottie seemed to give it some thought. “Your father isn’t in office anymore, right?”
“What year is it?”
Dottie now seemed embarrassed. “Oh, I’d have to check the thing…”
“What thing, Dottie?”
“The…what’s it called?”
Melanie felt the pulse in Dottie’s hand and found it racing, uncountably fast. She took the woman’s arm and gently led her to the front of the house. “Josh!”
“What?” he asked, coming to the kitchen where Melanie was getting her keys and wallet.
“We’re going to the hospital.”
“You just got home. You’re going back to go on rounds? Why is Mom going with you?”
“Not for rounds. Your mother needs to be seen in the ER.”
“What? Mom, what’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure, Joshua. I don’t feel well at all.”
“She’s not doing well right now,” Melanie said. “I’d like her to be evaluated by a neurologist. Did you ever bother making doctor appointments for you guys?”
“Well, not yet. I was waiting for…”
Melanie kept Dottie headed for the back door. “For what? A crisis? Because we’re really close to that right now.”
“Mom just needs some rest. She’s been busy…”
“You’ve had your chance, Josh.” While Dottie waited on the back porch, Melanie went back to face her husband. “Your mother is confused. She was having trouble
putting Chance’s diaper on, and thinks we’re having our wedding pretty soon. From the sounds of it, she thinks she’s back in Wyoming. I just hope nothing irreversible has happened to her. I’ll call you later.”
“Want us to come?” Pop asked. He had come into the kitchen.
“It would take too long to get the kids ready to go. As it is, I should be calling for an ambulance, but I can get to the ER quicker if I just drive her.” She turned back one last time to glare at them. “I’ll have Trinh come over and check on Thérèse and the baby after dinner.”
Chapter Five
Melanie hovered close by while Dottie was given a battery of tests in the ER, with a full EKG, blood tests, and a neurological exam by experts at the hospital. It was already late in the evening when she was in Radiology for a brain scan. Wondering what was going on at home, and more than a little disappointed that neither Josh nor Pop had come to the hospital, Melanie called Trinh.
“Did the kids get to bed?”
“Fed, bathed, and tucked in. Since when is Thérèse so resistant to taking a bath?” Trinh asked.
“Since she discovered dirt was fun. What about the other two?”
“I’m not babysitting grown men, Mel. What’s going on with Dottie?”
“She was in atrial fib when I brought her in and it looks like she’s been having TIAs because of that. She’s getting scanned right now.”
“Seriously? Transient ischemic attacks, like mini-strokes? You never noticed anything before today?”
“I’ve been too busy lately to notice much of anything, other than the baby and Thérèse having all their body parts attached. I’ve been nagging Josh to get all three of them in to a doctor for physicals. Maybe now he’ll listen.” The icon for an incoming call appeared on her screen from a number she’d been expecting a call from. “Trinh, I got to go. I have a call from my next nanny-wannabe, someone thoroughly unfit, but now that I’m down one granny-nanny, I might have to hire her anyway.”
Melanie switched to the incoming call and spoke with Detective Nakatani’s niece for a moment.
“Georgianne, did your Uncle Nate tell you anything about what you’d be walking into if you joined the circus we call a life here on Maui?”
“He said you’re super busy, and you have a nine-month-old baby and a four-year-old daughter. He said your parents are living with you?”
“I wish. My in-laws have been our nannies since the baby came, but that isn’t working out very well. In fact, they can’t continue. Long story, but I’m pretty desperate for someone to help us out.”
They discussed what the job entailed, of taking care of the baby from breakfast until dinner, and taking Thérèse to preschool and picking her up again later, along with the occasional errand.
“I pay double minimum wage, you’d live with us at the house for free, eat with us if you like, and would have a fairly new car to use. From the time Josh and I are home in the afternoon until we go to work in the morning, the time is yours while we have the kids.” Melanie bit her lip for a moment. “One other thing. This is a vegetarian home and I’m rigid and narrow-minded about meat being brought into the house.”
“Food’s not so important to me. Is it weekends, too?” the girl asked.
“Not usually. It would be nice to have some help, and you’d be welcome to come on our little adventures around the island, but weekends would be yours. Would you be thinking of going back to Honolulu to see friends every weekend? Do you have a boyfriend there?”
“Boyfriend? No. I’m exploring other options.”
“Like going to school on the mainland? We have a nice college here on Maui that offers evening GED classes.”
“Options other than guys.”
“Ah, I see. That’s something I wouldn’t be much help with.” Dottie’s doctor came out and jotted a few things in the chart. Melanie gestured for another minute on the phone. “Are you interested in helping us, Georgianne?”
“When would you like me to start?”
“As soon as you can. Feeling a little desperate.”
“Tomorrow?”
Melanie laughed. “Tomorrow would be great, but I know people need a couple of weeks to think about taking jobs like this.”
There was the sound of clacking on a keyboard as Melanie listened on the phone.
“There are two more flights from Honolulu to Kahului tonight. I bet I could make the last one.”
Melanie was surprised. “Tonight? Don’t you need to think about it? Or at least pack?”
“What’s to think about? Anyway, I can toss a few things in a bag and go to the airport. Is somebody able to pick me up if I come?”
Almost in shock over the girl’s willingness to help out, Melanie answered, “Just call before you board and I’ll meet you.”
She ended the call wondering if Georgianne really was serious about showing up that night. Remembering why she was there, she stood to greet Dottie’s doctor. Dr. Hennessey was the neurologist assigned to Dottie’s care, one of the few people she had never met at West Maui Med.
“I want to keep her here in the hospital for a couple of days. She needs rest, oxygen, blood thinners, and to be watched closely,” Dr. Hennessey said. He had some sort of East Coast big city accent. “Stroke prevention protocol, of course.”
“How were her scans?”
“They didn’t turn out well because she wasn’t able to lie still.” He held them up to the ceiling light for her to see. “I think her A-fib has been causing tiny transient ischemic attacks in her brain. With some meds, she’s already back to a normal sinus rhythm, but I’ll have a cardiologist come see her. It shouldn’t be anything serious but she needs to change a few things about her health and lifestyle. Maui isn’t home for her, is it?”
“They’re from Wyoming. Why?” Melanie asked.
“Getting her back in familiar surroundings and her usual way of life would be as helpful as any therapy I could prescribe. Other than daily aspirin and plenty of exercise, being home and in a stress-free environment would be best for her as a long-range plan.”
“Her being my nanny has been a lot more stressful for all of us than what we ever imagined. I sure got that wrong.”
“She said something about how hard it was. But I don’t want her to travel home to Montana right away.”
“Wyoming.” Melanie was a little surprised by the comment. Apparently, Dottie and Hennessey had been chatting. All she needed from her mother-in-law were Chance’s diaper changes and feedings, and Thérèse to be taken to and from school. It wasn’t a particularly demanding schedule for a woman still early in her senior citizen years. “May I go see her?”
“Just for a couple of minutes. In fact, could you wait until tomorrow? You seem to be at the heart of her stress right now.”
“Wow. That’s a little demoralizing.”
“Don’t worry about it. Her husband and son can come in tomorrow during visiting hours. Where will she be staying once she’s discharged?”
“Since I’m too much of a bitch to live with, I’ll find them a room. I think I know of a place that might be available pretty soon.”
“Everything else at home okay?” he asked.
It was too personal of a question for them being newly acquainted, but in a way, she was glad for it. “A little rough around the edges right now, but tomorrow will be better than today, and that’s what counts, right?”
“Mrs. Strong’s health is my primary concern, not her family,” he said dismissively.
“Yes, ours, too.” Melanie hated to bring it up, but ever since finding Dottie’s pulse skyrocketing, she had been troubled by something. “Could an accidental ingestion of meth in a small amount have caused her A-fib?”
“Unlikely. Is she using?”
“Not that I know of.” Melanie quickly explained about the teddy bear with its residue of methamphetamine on its fur, and wondered if that could’ve been a causative agent for her episodes.
“I’ll have to read a few journals, but
I doubt it. In tiny amounts on intact skin it shouldn’t cause an effect. Maybe if she inhaled some, but it would have to be a fair amount of it.”
“I was also wondering…” Melanie began to say.
“Let me take care of my patient, Doctor Kato,” he said, cutting her off.
***
Instead of trying to face Josh and Pop when she explained what happened with Dottie, she called them from inside her pickup truck, still parked at the hospital.
“You’ll be home pretty soon?” Josh asked. “Thérèse was asking for you.”
“Why is she still up?”
“Waiting for you, I said. When will you be home?”
“I’m not done yet,” she said. Even she didn’t believe it. “I still have things to do.”
That wasn’t much better.
“How long will you be out?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“Not going drinking, are you?”
“Have you ever seen me take a drink?” she asked.
“No, but I know you could be triggered if pushed hard enough.”
“There is nothing you could do to push me hard enough.”
“Everybody has a limit, even you, Melanie.”
“You have no idea of what I can endure.”
“Just be safe driving around so late at night. Maui’s roads are tricky.”
“No, duh,” she hissed after ending the call. “Lived on this island most of my life, take care of injured drivers, and he tells me island roads aren’t safe after dark?”
Melanie knew she didn’t want to go home yet, but also had nowhere else to go so late. Surfing was near impossible at night, even deadly, so that was out. Instead of starting the engine, she eased the seat back and let her eyes roll closed. Almost asleep, the chime of a text message came to her phone.
Flt 516, arr 10:37pm.
Melanie looked at the time and saw that if she hurried, she could meet Georgianne at the terminal. Starting up the truck, she went off to the other side of the island, the windows wide open, wind blowing through, bringing the fresh Maui sea air to her nose, refreshing her soul as she went.